Graphic Designer Draft concept

[ramsjetsthunder]

We take the folks here at sportslogos.net and whoever wants to enter this "draft". We do a for-fun kind of made-up draft this May with graphic designers on this website. There could be the top-level designers or anyone interested on this site to be the drafters, and they could draft those who entered based off logo designs. There could be a design "combine" maybe in which there is a sports team assigned and the draftees must redesign their look.

I think it would be a cool way to get all of us involved, yet stay fun and local. It would be amazing if your idea became a reality! But for now, I think having young, local designers on the site could be a fun project for everyone.

How would you determine who is eligible for the draft and who is eligible to be a drafter? And why would a "top level designer" (however that is determined) want to "draft" a "low level designer"??? For what purpose? Just so the "low level designer" has bragging rights that a "top level designer" thought his designs were good? Your combine idea just sounds like a normal design contest budding off this draft concept. It would make more sense if the combine was used to gauge talent ahead of the upcoming draft, just like what the NFL does in real life. So I could see some kind of design contest with "Combine" in the name being held like a month or two before the draft and the designs submitted for that contest are used to judge the talent of the draft-eligible designers and therefore help the drafters decide who they want to draft.

This is kind of turning into Fantasy Graphic Design.

ramsjetsthunder's idea is exactly what I was thinking, except much more eloquently put.

We've got the competition council, they could take applications for the drafter positions, say like 10 of them, and determine who gets to pick for their team. Then everyone else can submit themselves for the draft. The "combine" could be used to supplement the existing body of work, just like it does in real life sports.

Then we could use the draft for a team competition where the designers on each team work together to complete a series projects to a panel of judges, who can award prizes (maybe this could include a combination judge vote and "fan reaction" similar to the Russell challenge, to simulate real-life. Then the winners can be deemed the top "firm" of the boards, similar to how Nike, Under Armour, and Adidas are "ranked."

Sure, it's pretty much Fantasy Graphic Design, but it takes your initial idea of having a draft, and could be extremely fun. I think this could also be a valuable teaching tool for newer designers, by giving them the opportunity that they otherwise wouldn't have to work with some more experienced designers, who could give them pointers and share their own experiences (I know that, I for one, would love to have the opportunity to work with the elite designers on the CCSLC).

And who knows, maybe it could get some publicity (through uniwatch or some other place), and companies or teams take some interest in designers on here, which would achieve the ultimate goal that you were originally going for. And think about it this way, sports just started out as something fun for people to do, then people realized it could make money. Why can't this be the same thing?

Wow. Very well put, this should happen. A once a year thing, the Graphic Design Version of the combine, draft, regular season, and super bowl/finals/etc. To some people this might sound weird, but to us on the boards I think this could become an annual tradition.

[mattb6]

This (the CCSLC Draft version) sounds really cool. Id love to see this happen, and even participate.

[biscuit faces of them]

Great idea. There are many geniuses (besides me cause im a moron) who deserve it

Why are you always negative towards yourself

Has anyone seen my work. IT STINKS.

[ForwardProgress]

This (the CCSLC Draft version) sounds really cool. Id love to see this happen, and even participate.

Yes, I think there is huge potential for a very cool new feature on the CCSLC.

Since I am the originator of the concept--albeit my original idea differed in many ways--I would like to be on the board of development for this concept.

Here is an idea:

Since the position a football player plays has a huge influence in when they are drafted in the NFL Draft, and it seems like there are going to be "teams of designers" drafting designers to join their teams in the CCSLC Graphic Designer Draft, I think the graphic designers should be drafted by position as well.

Here are the possible positions:

1) Logo Designer

2) Typographic / Wordmark Designer

3) Uniform Designer

And you could have backups for each position (could call it The Bench).

So the combine would be a three-piece contest for designing (or redesigning) the visual look of a particular sports team: logo, wordmark, and uniforms.

You could also have divisions based on ability / experience so everybody on the team--including The Bench--gets to participate: Rookies, Veterans, All-Pros, Hall of Famers (or whatever names you guys think are best. We could have more divisions than that, or less, whatever everybody is cool with.)

The playoffs would have the winners of each division compete against each other en route to the Super Bowl.

And hell, for a basketball twist on this idea, there could even be a March Madness style tournament with an online bracket with one-on-one, team vs team design tasks for each "game".

[Whittier S]

Great idea. There are many geniuses (besides me cause im a moron) who deserve it

Why are you always negative towards yourself

Has anyone seen my work. IT STINKS.

Great idea. There are many geniuses (besides me cause im a moron) who deserve it

Why are you always negative towards yourself

Has anyone seen my work. IT STINKS.

Every single designer starts out stinking. Practice, hard work, determination, study, taking the advice of more experienced designers: these are the keys to get beyond "stinking."

Myself, I know I'm a mediocre designer at best. But that doesn't have anything to do with my innate ability, my ideas, or my potential. It's simply that I haven't been able to prioritize improving my design skills. I'm not making a complete career out of this; it's just a hobby. For now. I've been brought on for this fall to do marketing design and production for a literary journal, so this summer, I'll be upping my game considerably--through hard work.

You can do it. You've just gotta give yourself the space and time to do so.

[VitorioArts]

This (the CCSLC Draft version) sounds really cool. Id love to see this happen, and even participate.

Yes, I think there is huge potential for a very cool new feature on the CCSLC.

Since I am the originator of the concept--albeit my original idea differed in many ways--I would like to be on the board of development for this concept.

Here is an idea:

Since the position a football player plays has a huge influence in when they are drafted in the NFL Draft, and it seems like there are going to be "teams of designers" drafting designers to join their teams in the CCSLC Graphic Designer Draft, I think the graphic designers should be drafted by position as well.

Here are the possible positions:

1) Logo Designer

2) Typographic / Wordmark Designer

3) Uniform Designer

And you could have backups for each position (could call it The Bench).

So the combine would be a three-piece contest for designing (or redesigning) the visual look of a particular sports team: logo, wordmark, and uniforms.

You could also have divisions based on ability / experience so everybody on the team--including The Bench--gets to participate: Rookies, Veterans, All-Pros, Hall of Famers (or whatever names you guys think are best. We could have more divisions than that, or less, whatever everybody is cool with.)

The playoffs would have the winners of each division compete against each other en route to the Super Bowl.

And hell, for a basketball twist on this idea, there could even be a March Madness style tournament with an online bracket with one-on-one, team vs team design tasks for each "game".

I like the idea of the "CCSLC Draft"

I feel like it would be better if there was no set "positions" but rather have a group of designers collaborate on certain tasks (like a rebrand of a team) and compete against the other groups to see who would win. The board will decide what team/sport/league the groups will rebrand. And they will pick a winner. There can be a season and playoffs, and a championship. And after that, the Draft will start all over. Sounds like fun.

[MDGP]

This (the CCSLC Draft version) sounds really cool. Id love to see this happen, and even participate.

Yes, I think there is huge potential for a very cool new feature on the CCSLC.

Since I am the originator of the concept--albeit my original idea differed in many ways--I would like to be on the board of development for this concept.

Here is an idea:

Since the position a football player plays has a huge influence in when they are drafted in the NFL Draft, and it seems like there are going to be "teams of designers" drafting designers to join their teams in the CCSLC Graphic Designer Draft, I think the graphic designers should be drafted by position as well.

Here are the possible positions:

1) Logo Designer

2) Typographic / Wordmark Designer

3) Uniform Designer

And you could have backups for each position (could call it The Bench).

So the combine would be a three-piece contest for designing (or redesigning) the visual look of a particular sports team: logo, wordmark, and uniforms.

You could also have divisions based on ability / experience so everybody on the team--including The Bench--gets to participate: Rookies, Veterans, All-Pros, Hall of Famers (or whatever names you guys think are best. We could have more divisions than that, or less, whatever everybody is cool with.)

The playoffs would have the winners of each division compete against each other en route to the Super Bowl.

And hell, for a basketball twist on this idea, there could even be a March Madness style tournament with an online bracket with one-on-one, team vs team design tasks for each "game".

I like that idea, though I have an idea for a slight variation on the position idea. What if each round required a different "head designer" for each element?

So, what I'm thinking is that throughout the competition, each member of the team must be the "head designer" of one of the elements of the design. Each member of the team could help with the design of each element, but a specified member would be required to do all the rendering.

Let's say there are three rounds with a logo package, uniform, and wordmark/number package in each and there are teams of let's say 5. Each of the five members could work on each of the elements, but the three selected members would be required to each render their assigned portion. There could be a rule where each team member would be required to be a "head designer" for at least one element during the competition. I think that this could allow for all the members to work, while helping to develop the skills of the less experience guys and not require divisions (the only reason I'm not too keen on divisions is that I think it would just sort of group all the elite guys together, and might result in less effort from the more experienced guys to help the less experienced). This would also retain the idea of "backups"

I think this could be paired with your three-part combine and help the captains choose specialists for different tasks. Where you mentioned football positions in yours, I'd say my version of the proposal was more like hockey positions, where they draft a "forward," who can be used in different positions depending on their skills and the situation involved. That way, you could have a guy brought in to do wordmarks, but could also have them do a logo if you think their skills would benefit the team in a certain round.

Great idea. There are many geniuses (besides me cause im a moron) who deserve it

Why are you always negative towards yourself

Has anyone seen my work. IT STINKS.

Great idea. There are many geniuses (besides me cause im a moron) who deserve it

Why are you always negative towards yourself

Has anyone seen my work. IT STINKS.

Every single designer starts out stinking. Practice, hard work, determination, study, taking the device of more experienced designers: these are the keys to get beyond "stinking."

Myself, I know I'm a mediocre designer at best. But that doesn't have anything to do with my innate ability, my ideas, or my potential. It's simply that I haven't been able to prioritize improving my design skills. I'm not making a complete career out of this; it's just a hobby. For now. I've been brought on for this fall to do marketing design and production for a literary journal, so this summer, I'll be upping my game considerably--through hard work.

You can do it. You've just gotta give yourself the space and time to do so.

This 100%. It takes time and effort to get good. Even the guys who are naturally gifted needed practice to improve. Look at it this way, rather than saying you stink, say "I presently struggle with..." and then work on getting better (oh god, I just quoted Tony Horton... p90x IS a cult!).

[ForwardProgress]

This (the CCSLC Draft version) sounds really cool. Id love to see this happen, and even participate.

Yes, I think there is huge potential for a very cool new feature on the CCSLC.

Since I am the originator of the concept--albeit my original idea differed in many ways--I would like to be on the board of development for this concept.

Here is an idea:

Since the position a football player plays has a huge influence in when they are drafted in the NFL Draft, and it seems like there are going to be "teams of designers" drafting designers to join their teams in the CCSLC Graphic Designer Draft, I think the graphic designers should be drafted by position as well.

Here are the possible positions:

1) Logo Designer

2) Typographic / Wordmark Designer

3) Uniform Designer

And you could have backups for each position (could call it The Bench).

So the combine would be a three-piece contest for designing (or redesigning) the visual look of a particular sports team: logo, wordmark, and uniforms.

You could also have divisions based on ability / experience so everybody on the team--including The Bench--gets to participate: Rookies, Veterans, All-Pros, Hall of Famers (or whatever names you guys think are best. We could have more divisions than that, or less, whatever everybody is cool with.)

The playoffs would have the winners of each division compete against each other en route to the Super Bowl.

And hell, for a basketball twist on this idea, there could even be a March Madness style tournament with an online bracket with one-on-one, team vs team design tasks for each "game".

I like that idea, though I have an idea for a slight variation on the position idea. What if each round required a different "head designer" for each element?

So, what I'm thinking is that throughout the competition, each member of the team must be the "head designer" of one of the elements of the design. Each member of the team could help with the design of each element, but a specified member would be required to do all the rendering.

Let's say there are three rounds with a logo package, uniform, and wordmark/number package in each and there are teams of let's say 5. Each of the five members could work on each of the elements, but the three selected members would be required to each render their assigned portion. There could be a rule where each team member would be required to be a "head designer" for at least one element during the competition. I think that this could allow for all the members to work, while helping to develop the skills of the less experience guys and not require divisions (the only reason I'm not too keen on divisions is that I think it would just sort of group all the elite guys together, and might result in less effort from the more experienced guys to help the less experienced). This would also retain the idea of "backups"

I think this could be paired with your three-part combine and help the captains choose specialists for different tasks. Where you mentioned football positions in yours, I'd say my version of the proposal was more like hockey positions, where they draft a "forward," who can be used in different positions depending on their skills and the situation involved. That way, you could have a guy brought in to do wordmarks, but could also have them do a logo if you think their skills would benefit the team in a certain round.

Your "different head designer in each round" idea reminds me of rotations in volleyball, how after ever possession change everybody rotates and somebody new serves. So the "head designer" in your idea would be like the "server" in a volleyball round, although how you determine how much design work the head designer does and how much the rest of the team does is beyond me. That's why I like my specific positions idea, because I like the idea how ONE person worked on the logo, ONE person designed the wordmark, and ONE person designed the uniforms. Then the team is stuck with each designer's submissions, kind of like in football how the entire team wins or loses depending on if one player, the kicker, makes or misses a field goal at the end of a game.

What if we combined your idea and my idea and the three main positions, Logo Designer, Wordmark Designer, and Uniform Designer, were assigned to a different person for each round of competition (or game)? Then one person isn't always doing the same thing, and if someone is stronger in one position and weaker in the other, it could make the competition more fair by exposing weaknesses and forcing the designers to improve their skills (by practicing, just like in athletics! LOL!)

I think if the draft is going to be based on the NFL it should try and mirror the NFL in all other aspects as much as possible. So in this case, my specific positions idea would work better, but if there was a separate draft that was NHL based, your "head designer" idea would be more appropriate.

Haha, I am already talking about having separate drafts for all four big four leagues AND college basketball before we have even hashed out the specifics of *ONE* CCSLC draft. I think it would be incredibly fun to have five separate ones, especially since people usually prefer one league/sport over the others, but if this concept was limited to only one league, you could take aspects from football, baseball, basketball, and hockey and combine them all into one draft concept. I would prefer separate ones though and have the theme of each one be a different sport (with separate drafts for the NBA and college basketball). For example, the playoffs for the NBA CCSLC Draft would play several series, whereas the NCAA Basketball CCSLC Draft would have a single-elimination tournament just like March Madness.

Obviously the design tasks for each draft would only involve teams / elements from that sport / league, so designers in the NFL themed draft would only design stuff for NFL teams (or hypothetical NFL teams), NBA for NBA, etc.

If there was only one draft you could have the designers design stuff for any sport, pro or college, but personally I think 5 separate drafts (or more appropriately, "leagues") would work better. Or maybe have six, with NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and NCAA Basketball, with the sixth one being a combination of the five and also include soccer, lacrosse, and other pro and college sports.

My divisions idea wouldn't put an entire team in a division, I was thinking it would be divisions for the individual designers on each team. For example, let's say Team X just drafted a kid right out of college who's name is John Q. Sample. John Q. Sample would obviously be in the Rookie division, but his more experienced teammates would be in different, higher divisions. So I was thinking voting would be separate for each design element (logo, wordmark, and uniforms) but whether or not a team wins the "game" is based on the TOTAL number of votes. So it is possible that John Q. Sample was drafted as a Logo Designer but as an inexperienced rookie got less votes than his opponent in his first game. However his more experienced teammates did excellent work and won in a landslide bringing the total number of votes high enough so that John Q. Sample's team wins the game. Even though John Q. Sample's logo wasn't good enough to get the design element win, he still gets a win in his division standings (we could have separate columns for element wins and team wins).

To determine what teams make the playoffs, divisions wouldn't matter. The top 12 (or whatever) teams with the best team win records would make the playoffs. And I was thinking instead of calling the Championship Game the Super Bowl you could call it the Doodle Bowl, or Scribble Bowl, or Crayon Bowl (something art related haha. Just don't call it Super Bowl so the NFL doesn't get upset!)

[MDGP]

I'm not going to quote that last post, because it would make this post crazy long, but I'll try to hit on all the points.

---------------------------

"What if we combined your idea and my idea and the three main positions, Logo Designer, Wordmark Designer, and Uniform Designer, were assigned to a different person for each round of competition (or game)? Then one person isn't always doing the same thing, and if someone is stronger in one position and weaker in the other, it could make the competition more fair by exposing weaknesses and forcing the designers to improve their skills (by practicing, just like in athletics! LOL!)"

--------------------------

This is actually what I started thinking a little bit after I had initially posted. I think that would be a good idea. Though I still like the idea of having everyone be able to contribute their ideas, just to foster teamwork and advice. That way, one person could do the drawings while others could give pointers on how to achieve a certain look. I think this would also help stylistically, since a lot of designers have different styles, by allowing the members to work together, but only allowing one to make the final project, it can help make a cohesive style, which is extremely important.

-------------------------

I think if the draft is going to be based on the NFL it should try and mirror the NFL in all other aspects as much as possible. So in this case, my specific positions idea would work better, but if there was a separate draft that was NHL based, your "head designer" idea would be more appropriate.

------------------------

Interesting. I had actually been viewing this more from a design-firm perspective. What I pictured was having it be like Nike and Adidas, where each is designing to try to get the contract for a school or a league. I was picturing each round being a different sport, where one round might be a college athletic department identity, then another round might be trying to get the NBA's exclusive contract by designing an exclusive uniform template for the league, and maybe the design an all-star game.

Actually, the more I think of it, the more I think the single sport idea could possibly work. For instance, going off your football idea. The first round could be designing a template for the league to use, the second round could be a redesign of a team, the third round could be designing the logo and uniforms for the pro bowl.

Obviously, this would be a different direction from the games and playoffs format, but that's what right now is for, throwing ideas out there and seeing what sticks.

[ForwardProgress]

I think if the draft is going to be based on the NFL it should try and mirror the NFL in all other aspects as much as possible. So in this case, my specific positions idea would work better, but if there was a separate draft that was NHL based, your "head designer" idea would be more appropriate.

------------------------

Interesting. I had actually been viewing this more from a design-firm perspective. What I pictured was having it be like Nike and Adidas, where each is designing to try to get the contract for a school or a league. I was picturing each round being a different sport, where one round might be a college athletic department identity, then another round might be trying to get the NBA's exclusive contract by designing an exclusive uniform template for the league, and maybe the design an all-star game.

Actually, the more I think of it, the more I think the single sport idea could possibly work. For instance, going off your football idea. The first round could be designing a template for the league to use, the second round could be a redesign of a team, the third round could be designing the logo and uniforms for the pro bowl.

Obviously, this would be a different direction from the games and playoffs format, but that's what right now is for, throwing ideas out there and seeing what sticks.

The single sport idea could totally still use the games and playoffs format.

Say for the NFL Graphic Design League: you start off with a combine to draft designers, then you have a preseason to get everybody's feet wet, then you have a 16 game regular season, and then playoffs and championship game. Then at the end of the season you could have some kind of Pro Bowl competition where the best designers get voted in or it's determined by some other stat. You could even have voting for league MVP, Logo Designer MVP, Wordmark Designer MVP, and Uniform Designer MVP.

[Jake3roo]

This (the CCSLC Draft version) sounds really cool. Id love to see this happen, and even participate.

Seconded

I think if the draft is going to be based on the NFL it should try and mirror the NFL in all other aspects as much as possible. So in this case, my specific positions idea would work better, but if there was a separate draft that was NHL based, your "head designer" idea would be more appropriate.

------------------------

Interesting. I had actually been viewing this more from a design-firm perspective. What I pictured was having it be like Nike and Adidas, where each is designing to try to get the contract for a school or a league. I was picturing each round being a different sport, where one round might be a college athletic department identity, then another round might be trying to get the NBA's exclusive contract by designing an exclusive uniform template for the league, and maybe the design an all-star game.

Actually, the more I think of it, the more I think the single sport idea could possibly work. For instance, going off your football idea. The first round could be designing a template for the league to use, the second round could be a redesign of a team, the third round could be designing the logo and uniforms for the pro bowl.

Obviously, this would be a different direction from the games and playoffs format, but that's what right now is for, throwing ideas out there and seeing what sticks.

The single sport idea could totally still use the games and playoffs format.

Say for the NFL Graphic Design League: you start off with a combine to draft designers, then you have a preseason to get everybody's feet wet, then you have a 16 game regular season, and then playoffs and championship game. Then at the end of the season you could have some kind of Pro Bowl competition where the best designers get voted in or it's determined by some other stat. You could even have voting for league MVP, Logo Designer MVP, Wordmark Designer MVP, and Uniform Designer MVP.

I vote Raysox for all of these (and maybe sparky chewbarky for a few as well)

[ramsjetsthunder]

Well, i'm loving this idea. I think we should gather up all the information for each event, and then get this thing underway later this month. I would be glad to participate and i'm sure many others would as well. Very good ideas.

How long would each season be? Maybe two months, one month, three months?

[FFWally]

This is a brilliant way to get designers better... we all struggle somewhere, and having a team of designers working together to accomplish a design goal, will help a lot of us get better.

[VitorioArts]

I say a three month season would be fun

[mattb6]

Another neat idea I just had: maybe divide up into different conference/divisions. These divisions (or whatever else you'd want to call them) could be the program the designs were made in. An Illustrator division, Photoshop, Inkscape, GIMP, paint, and whatever else. Just brainstorming here. Then, a winner of each would be declared, and a playoff would ensue.

[ramsjetsthunder]

And while this might be difficult, we could go with a more realistic division system based on location. There could be 4, north, south, east and west?

[ForwardProgress]

And while this might be difficult, we could go with a more realistic division system based on location. There could be 4, north, south, east and west?

Yes, I thought about divisions based on location too, but didn't mention it because I thought it wouldn't be practical, mainly because it would be impossible for people to prove where they live. I mean, I guess you could show a photo of your driver's license, but sometimes people, especially college students, have an address on their license that is dramatically different from where they currently live. So say someone is from New York City but they go to college at UCLA... which division would they join? East or West?

[Whittier S]

And while this might be difficult, we could go with a more realistic division system based on location. There could be 4, north, south, east and west?

Yes, I thought about divisions based on location too, but didn't mention it because I thought it wouldn't be practical, mainly because it would be impossible for people to prove where they live. I mean, I guess you could show a photo of your driver's license, but sometimes people, especially college students, have an address on their license that is dramatically different from where they currently live. So say someone is from New York City but they go to college at UCLA... which division would they join? East or West?

We have members/designers who live all over the world. Also, we are unevenly distributed.

[ForwardProgress]

I don't know when they debuted it, but Dribbble, the social networking/portfolio website for creatives, pretty much uses my exact idea, going so far as to even use the term "draft". Right now to join Dribbble you need to be invited, or you can be "drafted" after you make a profile for yourself with a link to your online portfolio.

I'd love to know when Dribbble adopted this concept because if they debuted after I made this post I am gonna be SERIOUSLY ANGRY!!!!!!!!!!

With all the creatives who visit this site I'm surprised there wasn't at least one that was familiar with Dribbble and gave me the heads up that they used my concept already. Unless, of course, my post inspired Dribbble and they came up with their own "Graphic Designer Draft" system after reading my idea.

Soooo... anyone on Dribbble? When did you join? Has their drafting system always been a part of their site or did it just randomly appear one day? If so, I wonder where they got the idea from!

Here are some relevant links:

Main Dribbble home page: https://dribbble.com/

List of "prospects" who can be "drafted" to Dribbble: https://dribbble.com/designers/prospects

Official explanation of the Dribbble drafting system: http://help.dribbble.com/#how-are-players-drafted

One more thing: I just realized that even the name of this company is sports related: "Dribbble", as in dribbling a basketball! I don't know if that was intentional to tie-in with the whole drafting idea, but Dribbble as a whole isn't sports-centric so it's kind of odd that they'd pick a sports term for the name. If the whole basketball / sports theme is intentional they keep it VERY subtle. Also very odd that they would spell the name with three b's. I wonder why...

[derschwigg]

Dribbble's been around a long time - they didn't rip your idea.