A guide to ENTERING contests

Ok, as promised I've found time to complete my Contest Forum Guide! This part is all about ENTERING the design contests on these boards. If you would like to read the Contest Holder Guide then please click here.

Entering a contest is obviously a different process to hosting one. The difference is that you are entering your design to hopefully get chosen by the contest holder. Your responsibility is not as high as the contest holder, so this guide is not as thorough.

The Basics

To enter a contest, all you have to do is read one of the briefs that pop up regularly on this board and submit your design. That's it. But are some 'unwritten' rules which should be followed to make it easy for people to read. If anyone has any issues/points to raise, then please do - but for now, here are mine:

1. If you need somewhere to upload your designs, there are a number of different free uploaders one the web, such as Photobucket, ImageShack and various others.

2. When entering a contest, I think I speak for a few people here (In fact i know I do)... There is NO NEED to post your image multiple times with different colours unless the contest holder requests it. There is nothing more annoying than having to scroll through this:







Yes, we all know what the design will look like in each of these colours. There is no need to waste page space and increase loading times for something so plainly obvious. Only complex designs should MAYBE require this.

3. Please, please, please take into account the INDUSTRY that the contest is mean for. By this, i mean that if Mr. Holder states clearly in his brief that he needs a logo for his lawyer company, then engage your brain and come up with something that reflects the professionalism he is after. He is not after:



Read carefully his requirements and think of how you can achieve the style he wants. This leads me to my next point:

4. Consider the prize that the contest holder is offering. If the holder is offering $300 for a logo for his/her company, you are not going to be able to do a five minute job and expect to be taken seriously. Using a JPEG that you found on the web, then slapping text on top will not bank you that money. If they are offering that sort of reward, they are expecting a well-thought out design which uses ORIGINAL art.

5. NEVER use pre-made art from the web for your work... it's is quite plainly insulting to the people who take the time and effort to create their own. It was only recently that someone (I shall leave unnamed) was caught using the actual AT&T icon with different colours... Not only is this cheating, rude and amateur - it could also land the contest holder in serious trouble, and I'm sure they won't hesitate to shift the blame your way, and rightly so.

This goes for icon packs too. We can all download them and put supporting text... where is the skill in that? There is none. It is up to all of us to firmly put a stop to this. The amount of generic icons being used on this board, particularly for web 2.0 stuff is appalling and needs to stop.

6. Mr Holder sets his contest up with a $200 reward. NEVER EVER say something along the lines on "I can do for $20, PM sent thanks!") - Why? You are bringing down the whole design economy when you do this. If this carries on, a skill in high demand will be reduced to pittence, I don't want to spend an hour on a design that will be up against competition for $10, do you? I tend to ignore the $5/$10 contests unless they are extremely easy jobs or are in need of a bit of help, i.e. some of the younger kids getting into the web world. Ask yourself if you think they would do the job they are asking for, for the payment they are offering.

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Like I said, nice and short. If you have any other points, please feel free to write them and if they are valid I will edit them to this list.

Alex

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