CCSLC Apprentice

[GFB]

Welcome to the second challenge! I am very excited about this challenge, so let's get right down to it...

A few days after announcing the contest, Mac (Mac the Knife) approached me about teaming up for this challenge. After hearing his idea, I quickly agreed...

Mac is in charge of developing the identity for a softball team, the North State Senators. Your team has been "hired" by Mac to develop an identity for the Senators, therefore Mac is your new customer...

What you need to know for this challenge:

The team has no planned direction as of yet; this gives each team freedom to take the identity in any direction they please. Your only limitations are that you must use royal blue as the t-shirt color and that you may only use 3 colors (royal blue included). Everything else is up to you... but remember, the identity should still remain one fluid design...

What is required of you:

- List of colors chosen.

- Wordmark to go across the chest.

- A logo to put on the sleeve.

- Custom numbers. (Numbers only, letters are not required)

- A presentation of what the t-shirt will look like from the front and the back.

Some tips:

- Remember the medium you are designing for.

- Task Managers, use your time wisely.

- It may be a good idea to do some research into your design.

Deadlines:

Task Manager - Noon, Tuesday

Final Presentations - Noon, Next Monday

Because Devin and William were Task Managers last challenge, they are ineligible for the position for the next 3 challenges. This gives other people the ability to step up and experience leading the team...

... and what better way to encourage stepping up than with a reward? Mac has kindly offered to give a free shirt to the winning Task Manager! (NOTE: The final designs may be somewhat different due to changes made by the budget or Mac's softball board... But hey! One shirt is better than no shirt!)

Mac, if I missed anything, feel free to post. Best of luck to both teams!

[gingerbreadmann]

So the T-shirt you refer to is the uniform, correct?

[GFB]

Correct

[heernumurr]

What is the prefered way of contacting Mac in this challenge? PM or through our respective threads?

[GFB]

Whatever way you think is best...

[Mac the Knife]

Mac has kindly offered to give a free shirt to the winning Task Manager! (NOTE: The final designs may be somewhat different due to changes made by the budget or Mac's softball board... But hey! One shirt is better than no shirt!)

Mac, if I missed anything, feel free to post. Best of luck to both teams!

Actually if anything GFB has expanded on any requirements I may have initially made by a few steps, but no matter; I'm still looking forward to seeing the finished product. And I may have mentioned it to GFB or maybe I didn't, but instead of giving a free shirt to the winning TM, I'm planning to order one for each member of the winning team.

Other than that, again I'm looking forward to seeing what your creative talents bring to the table. GFB, who are serving as the judges for this one?

[Mac the Knife]

What is the prefered way of contacting Mac in this challenge? PM or through our respective threads?

Feel free to PM me, but GFB has pretty much given you all the direction that's necessary here. I'm planning on letting whatever judges GFB has chosen decide the outcome and the winner, so asking me to provide guidance in this case won't help you much.

[BB61]

Man, if I would've known there was a T-shirt involved, I'dve wanted to join this.

[ShinyHubCaps]

If we need to submit our Task Managers, I will be it for Optimus this week.

Also, quick question: Do black and white count into our maximum of three colors that we can use? I assume the limitations are for printing the shirts and you can only use three colors, but I don't know how black and white work into the situation.

[Mac the Knife]

If we need to submit our Task Managers, I will be it for Optimus this week.

Also, quick question: Do black and white count into our maximum of three colors that we can use? I assume the limitations are for printing the shirts and you can only use three colors, but I don't know how black and white work into the situation.

They do, as does Royal Blue. Due to budget limitations, we're essentially restricted to having our shirts done in two screen print colors. Royal Blue will be the shirt color, thus it being required as one of the three colors in the scheme - when it comes time to do the screen printing itself, the printer will simply use the shirt color instead of the royal blue, giving the impression of a 3-color design when in fact it'll (at least for the screen printer) be only two.

Yeah, I know, we're cheap bastards.

[maz]

If it needs to be stated here, I am the task manager for Prodigy this round.

[Mac the Knife]

Guys,

First of all I wanted to comment that I'm really enjoying watching each team put together its projects. In fact I'm enjoying it to such an extent that I've PM'ed GFB to see if a second competition round is in need of a project from our organization.

That being said however, there is something I think I should alert both teams to... it has to deal with screen printing, and I apologize for not mentioning it sooner - frankly up until a short while ago it didn't seem as if it'd be necessary.

However, with respect to many screen printers (ours included), they have trouble with color-blending when dealing with overlapping colors. For example, a screen printer who tries to screen a yellow digit onto a red outline first lays down the outline, then the digit - in the case of some that works fine, but in many cases the end result is an orange digit on a red outline rather than yellow.

Consequently, if you're dealing with a design that would employ a lighter color overlapping a darker one, I would strongly encourage you to separate the colors in some fashion (perhaps via a small gap between the colors, etc.), so that a screen printer won't have inadvertent "blending" between whatever colors you might choose to employ.

[-(dp)-]

I have done a little bit of screen-printing, but I am far from an expert. Plus it was in a class, so maybe professionals use different techniques, but I am not quite sure if I understand you. In that case, I would think the outline color would not be screened where the fill color was going to be. The outline color wouldn't actually be under the fill color. That might not be what you are saying, I don't know.

[Mac the Knife]

I have done a little bit of screen-printing, but I am far from an expert. Plus it was in a class, so maybe professionals use different techniques, but I am not quite sure if I understand you. In that case, I would think the outline color would not be screened where the fill color was going to be. The outline color wouldn't actually be under the fill color. That might not be what you are saying, I don't know.

Not always - different screen printers do things differently. Our 'guy' runs a fairly high-volume shop, and consequently the way he does things, the outline color is under the fill color - it saves his staff time, or so I'm told. That's what I was trying to get across.

[-(dp)-]

Well, the small outline of royal blue would just force them to not use the outline color under the fill color, which they could do if the colors touched. I know you aren't the screen printer, so you may not know their reasoning, but it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. Maybe it is aligning them that would take more time, but it isn't easy to align it with just a thin outline either. There are certain cases in an identity where the colors need to touch, or they won't look too great, so I want to make sure what we can and can't do.

[-(dp)-]

And a question for GFB. For the custom number set, can we edit a font to make it different, kind of like what we have done with our wordmark, or does it have to be from scratch?

[GFB]

And a question for GFB. For the custom number set, can we edit a font to make it different, kind of like what we have done with our wordmark, or does it have to be from scratch?

Yes, you can start with a pre-existing font... You just have to make sure that there are noticeable differences between yours and the original.

[Mac the Knife]

GFB: Who are serving as the judges for this one? Is it me alone, or do you have folks empaneled? While I'm sure I'd be able to make a selection between the teams designs and state my rationale behind whatever choice I made, I think I'd have a hard time identifying people for elimination based on their level of participation, creative input, etc.

Also, did you get my PM about the other potential challenge?

[ShinyHubCaps]

CCSLC Apprentice: Challenge 2

Optimus

bruschimania

ColaCock

gingerbreadmann

jake_22

lets_go_red

ShinyHubCaps

Challenge 2: Task Manager

ShinyHubCaps

Wordmark: The first component of our identity package is the wordmark. Those who voted at the beginning of the challenge unanimously decided to include some sort of architecture in the wordmark to add some style and flavor to it. The wordmark takes the shape of the North Carolina State Capitol Building in Raleigh; our research showed that it was the first house of State Senators and home to the General Assembly until 1963. Furthermore, we discovered that this building is thought by residents to be one of the most recognizable, especially moreso than the current General Assembly. The mark is designed to be visually intriguing and be bold and strong: useful on the T-shirt uniforms for its size and visibility, as well as being a strong symbol for government.

Sleeve Patch: The sleeve patch is designed to incorporate some of the same elements as the wordmark. The star acts as a shape inside which the building is inscribed; it could also be viewed as an element of patriotism and, in the same manner, a representation of a unified state (in the manner that the U.S. flag has a star for each state). Having had all necessary elements of text in the wordmark, we figured that a purely graphic sleeve patch would be in order; I am particularly fond of this logo, as nearly every member of the team had some input in its creation.

Colors: Here, along with additional looks at the logos, we have our color palette and number sheet. The colors selected were essentially red and white; the red is used as a primary color, and the white is used as a neutral color for all outlines and some fills. The red complements the blue well, and the set appears strong and logical together. The colors are the same colors of the North Carolina state flag, and according to our research, the official colors of the state.

Numbers: The numbers are fully customized and original. The straight lines in the numbers work well with the edges in our wordmark and patch logo. They round out the uniform with a sleek style that complements our logos, particularly the wordmark, in a positive way.

Representation: For the representation of the uniform, we created a softball template that gives the impression of how the uniforms will look in action. From these front, back, and side views, you can see that the uniform is anchored by our custom logos, which together accentuate the strength of our design.

[maz]

As representitive of Prodigy Design Collective, I present, the North State Senators.

Firstly, our logos and colors. We aimed for something stately and with class. Something that represents the position of senator, Raliegh, and the game of softball. We do so by going with a classic styled cursive wordmark.

For the logo, we have the initials "NS" to represent North State. The shape is that of a softball diamond, while at the same time, the top represents the North Carolina Legislative Building, where the General Assembly has met since 1963.

The numbers are all white because we were not sure if multicolored numbers would cause problems for mac as far as cost of printing. If, in fact, this isnt a problem and he wishes there to be color, im sure Devin would be happy to add color. As far as thier actual shape, we wanted to stray away from using a cursive number font, and used a similar one with bold vertical lines and thin horozontals, mcuh like the font, while still being strong and readable, even from a distance.

The colors were a hard choice. At first, we wanted to stray away from what has become a cliche' combination of red white and blue. After going through many combinations, we decided to go with gold and white. Though blue and gold is a common combination, many teams that at one time had these colors have either gone to navy blue, vegas gold, or both. Therefore, these colors are somewhat retro and unique, and match the rest of the set in that way, while giving off a prestigous senator feel.

Here, obviously, are the colors, their CMYK values, and how the pieces would be laid out on the shirt.