OPTIMUS: Challenge 6

[ShinyHubCaps]

Sorry for my lack of posting. I had a killer dentist visit today, short amount of time at home, and will have to go to bed early and to work early. I've been perusing the boards, but I haven't had time to sit down and draw up a logo or anything.

Well, I did, but I'll get to that later.

First, I like Cola's design. However, that makes it seem more like currency and less like a medallion. As ironic as it sounds, an example of what I had in mind is actually currency: the U.S. quarter dollar, with the seal on the back, looks comparable to a seal that you might see on a medallion/challenge coin, as well as a great "reverse"/"tails" design.

So anyway, I did draw up a reverse side more like a seal or crest, but it didn't turn out great. Picture the capital building with trees on each side... yeah, that was about it.

However, I do have another idea, but I would like some feedback on it, and I also feel that a TM needs to be chosen. I'd take it, but I had a devil of a time doing file conversions the last time I was Task Manager, and part of the parameters is that it is submitted in AI 9.0 format, so I can't help anyone there.

Until something is delegated, I will be working on a reverse side ONLY, and it will be an original logo... I don't know if that is most appropriate for a challenge coin, but I imagine that a well-constructed logo (well, two well-constructed logos, one for each denomination) would help put us over the top.

[gingerbreadmann]

Well I'd love to see it... Cola, do you have any updates?

this lack of activity from both sides on the last 2 challenges is kind of startling.

[pcgd]

All,

There is a reason that secondary logos are made, especially in corporate logos. Its to be used when the primary won't work for a variety of reasons. One of those being, layout.

If a long horizontal logo won't work in a circular space, that's why there is a smaller secondary logo available, exactly for instances like this.

Also, changing colors of the whole logo is one thing, but I'd highly recommend against throwing different colors into a logo haphazardly.

I'm not saying these things just for the contest, I'm saying this as a learning lesson when it comes to logo guides. You should almost NEVER change a logo. Copy it from the guide, and paste it in your project. Its why companies hire identity designers in the first place. Its one thing to take the one color logo and change it from black to say blue, but its another thing entirely to take that logo and make it 4 different colors. Big no-no.

(All of this is of course unless the client requests it. If he wants the primary and only the primary in there, you should do that. If he wants the logo colors changed, you should do that. But if the client says nothing about this...leave it be.)

[gingerbreadmann]

Well I'm back home. What the hell are we gonna do?

[ShinyHubCaps]

Well I'm back home. What the hell are we gonna do?

Things have been hectic over here. It's my last week of work, leading into my first week of school. I'm basically in the factory 10 hours, then come home (shower/nap), then I have to work on the computer. I can post here between computer work and on breaks (while working at home, not at the factory), but I haven't had time to draw up a whole lot.

With pcdg's post, I wonder what we can even do for a reverse side. It sounds like it wouldn't be appropriate to make a new "logo," even if it's just for the back of the coin, like U.S. mint coins.

I have an idea of what I would like to see in the layout... then again, it's not overly ingenuitive or anything, but mostly in line with a lot of the other challenge coins I've seen.

Finally, I think ColaCock should be in charge of the final presentation, for no reason more than the fact that it needs to include an AI 9.0 file. He (and William, who has yet to check in) is the only person with Illustrator, and last time I had to convert a file to an AI-ready format, I needed to download a couple of trials, call in some favors, jump through some hoops... But yeah, I'll try to make something. That deadline is coming up.

[ShinyHubCaps]

Change in plans -- I finally have some time (today and tomorrow in the evenings), so I will designate myself Task Manager. I know, it's incredibly late, but we'll see what we can do.

gingerbreadmann: Clear out some of your Photobucket stuff. Your account is apparently over your allotted bandwidth, according to all of your photo links. Also, please give some ideas on what the pretty picture would be, which you indicated on the reverse side of your concept.

ColaCock: I'd like to see your original design with the primary logo (four figures), all in their respective colors. For the sake of logistics, please make all figures look pastel -- that is, try to make them look flat, without the light effect that is present in the original logo. This will be a more true representation of how they will look on the coin, which, as mentioned, will only use five colors (and the logo counts as four of them).

I would like these done in 24 hours, if possible.

Finally, questions for both of you: How large should the amount be if we have a picture on the reverse, and where should it be placed? What should the base colors of each coin be -- gold? silver? silver inscribed in a gold ring?

William, if you're out there, feel free to chime in.

[ShinyHubCaps]

Here are the colors; please note that I am willing to add one more, but no more than that:

If we include the primary (the four figures) but make them all the same color, we may lose points, but I think it could also work. Plan around that, perhaps.

[gingerbreadmann]

gingerbreadmann: Clear out some of your Photobucket stuff. Your account is apparently over your allotted bandwidth, according to all of your photo links. Also, please give some ideas on what the pretty picture would be, which you indicated on the reverse side of your concept.

Just so you know, that has nothing to do with clearing out images. Bandwidth is a measure of basically how many times people view your images on websites and how large the images are, and especially since it's already been exceeded there's nothing I can do about that until it resets on September 2nd. Let me say this to anyone reading though: Please do not hotlink any of my images. If you do or know someone that has, please have it removed. Thank you.

As for the picture, I have no idea. I was kind of hoping we could get some other ideas thrown out there while I was gone but that hasn't exactly worked out. I suppose just a large numerical version of the dollar value could work, or the leaf (if we aren't already using it). Maybe we could have a softball, a football, and any other sporting object used in a CATS league as the image on the back. I do think that the 2 denominations should be different base colors though.

[ShinyHubCaps]

Well, I figured the bandwidth problem might be the number of images you've linked to this site... I could be wrong, but couldn't you move the images, therefore breaking the existing links, and free up the bandwidth again? Well I guess you'd have to wait until it resets anyway.

OK, back to things. The reason I am against a large numeral on the reverse side is because of the fact that these are challenge coins, not currency. In fact, currency looks a lot better -- monuments on the penny and nickel, designs on the quarter and half-dollar... but the large numeral says "we didn't know how to fill this space, so here's a big numeral," despite the fact that the "value" is not the primary purpose of having the coin.

I mentioned the picture I made and then decided not to post... having changed my mind, I will post it. It looks a heck of a lot like our Challenge 2 designs: capital building, and rays from the center. I added in the oak trees, as it is the City of Oaks.

So I'd say that a picture is better than a numeral, but I have no clue what picture to use. I had an idea with the outline of North Carolina, but it doesn't look exceptionally unique. Is there something of a crest that we can make? I like the idea of the sports equipment, but are those sports accurate? If so, we can maybe try that inside of a crest or some other applicable design.

[ShinyHubCaps]

I'm going to ask that we think about the colors a bit. The normal logo has four colored characters, and while pcdg discouraged us from changing the colors, the pastel colors don't look very good on the gold and silver...

So think about the colors. Should we do all of the characters in the same color? How will it look against the background? (Should we use our fifth color on the outline?)

EDIT: I know about all of the mistakes in the above pic. It's just meant to show the pastel colors against the prospective colors of the coin.

[gingerbreadmann]

Count me as still supporting having one running character on the front, not all four. If we must do four though, I think they should all be different like you have them. I think the outline should either be a darker version of the main color or the 5th color (or all four like I had). I agree with you now, I don't think we should use a large numeral. I like that picture, especially with the rising sun etc. I guess if you or someone else could get it computer/vectorized that would give a better idea but if not I think we should use the sports. I PMed Mac asking what sports CATS provides but since I may not be able to read it until tomorrow, I would ask that he post it here as well.

Thanks, Shiny, for taking over this mess. I think it can't be just us two talking and Cola and William, we would love to hear from you (or see an update Cola).

Here is what I had before, just so it is here and we need to see it for any reason(s).

[ShinyHubCaps]

GBM, I will try to render that drawing later. Currently I'm using an outline of North Carolina with the Raleigh region unshaded... it's a triangle, representing the research triangle of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, although it's mostly over where Raleigh would be.

Here it is:

Also, I don't have the foggiest idea of how to arch text, so I hope that you can come through with that.

[ShinyHubCaps]

Here's the beginning of the process of turning the reverse design into a logo... it's beginning to look like Challenge 2, so I don't think we should go this route. I think it may be seen as lazy.

[gingerbreadmann]

Here's the beginning of the process of turning the reverse design into a logo... it's beginning to look like Challenge 2, so I don't think we should go this route. I think it may be seen as lazy.

If you feel that way, sure. I do think we should go a little farther with it at least for now in case of emergency and because it still looks very nice, but definitely also look into the sports thing as our best bet, or if you have a different idea (I don't think we should use the state outline because it would probably be seen as even more lazy). Nice job. I can help out more tomorrow and I should be able to arch the needed text, though I don't know how easy it will be to get my stuff into AI 9-format as I have never tried and I am on Inkscape.

[ShinyHubCaps]

Well .eps is acceptable as well, and from my limited time with Inkscape (I downloaded it for the Colts' stupid horse contest), I believe it can export .eps.

While safe, the state outline would look nice as the centerpiece, and I was thinking of surrounding it with the sports equipment. The equipment by itself doesn't seem sufficient, unless it can fill up that whole space. I was thinking that the equipment would resemble icons, like this challenge coin here. (Incidentally, I nabbed that image off of a pretty cool site, so you can go here to check out some other coins to possibly drum up some inspiration.)

As we are also in crunch time, I need to know what your schedule is. I have dinner at 6:00 your time, but save that hour, I should be online. I will need you to do the text, but once we get the design down, I will basically tell you what/where I had imagined. You can obviously take the artistic liberty, if you wish, to modify it in any way. (Keep in mind that the one part of the text has to be readable and is also quite long.)

[ShinyHubCaps]

GBM (or anyone else who may be lurking), please do the following things as soon as possible. I'll be at dinner and will be back in an hour, and I'd certainly like to clean up some stuff before then.

First, here is how the coins look so far:

Here is the font I selected, as well as the necessary components (in parentheses are where each component needs to be placed as per the rules -- the year is also optional).

Finally, here is the coin layout with the parts where I wanted them. The light blue dashes represent the icons for the sports equipment.

So please do the following:

-Insert the text in the places mandated (in pics 2 and 3), or anywhere else that seems more appropriate.

-Come up with the necessary icons -- I can place those myself, but I would like to see the actual icons individually first.

[ShinyHubCaps]

OK, I corrected some of the discontinuities... GBM, if you see these, please give me a progress report. I'll check in at 10:00 your time (9:00 here) to see if you've done the arched text; otherwise, I'll need to continue myself.

Also, what have you found in regards to the sports? I can construct the icons, I suppose, but I would need to know which sports should be represented.

Furthermore, I have decided to use the state outline. Don't get me wrong, another picture would work. However, the capital building would not because it takes up too much space and, therefore, limits the area available for text (such as the disclaimer). Plus, the icons will make it look nice and well-framed, hopefully without looking too cluttered.

EDIT: In regards to the text, feel free to use a different font and/or placement for any of the content. In fact, I'd like to see something on the top half of the front. (Please also prepare it for both coins, not just one as I had illustrated.)

[gingerbreadmann]

So they have Golf, Bowling, Softball, and Football. (from their website capitalareateamsports.com)

Do you want me to arch the text on that raster image? Because I don't have a vector copy of that or the CATS logo. And on the diagram, what are those 3 splotches of light blue representing? In the North Carolina diagram, I think the triangle should be solid. Finally, do you want that inner circle on the front of both coins, cause they overlap the logo? I'll do my best to get it done but I am a bit confused. Thanks again for your work.

[ShinyHubCaps]

So they have Golf, Bowling, Softball, and Football. (from their website capitalareateamsports.com)

Do you want me to arch the text on that raster image? Because I don't have a vector copy of that or the CATS logo. And on the diagram, what are those 3 splotches of light blue representing? In the North Carolina diagram, I think the triangle should be solid. Finally, do you want that inner circle on the front of both coins, cause they overlap the logo? I'll do my best to get it done but I am a bit confused. Thanks again for your work.

You can arch the text over the raster for now. I suppose that if we win, I could either vector-trace the text, or we can combine efforts over the vector. I have it in Flash right now, and that's all.

I thought I mentioned, but the light blue splotches are for the sport icons. I guessed that there would be three... now that there are four, I may rework the layout. (By the way, if you want to make the icons, our updated palette is shown here. I'd like to use those colors as much as possible, but if you wish to extend beyond five per coin, and if it would look better to do so, then go ahead.)

Triangle, then, will be "empty," as the outline was meant to set it off. Good call, and I will make the change.

Is it bad that they overlap the logo? I suppose I can rework it, but I want the primary (four figures), and that seems to be the best fit. Alternately, I could stagger them instead of making them in a straight line, but that might put off your text a bit... In doing the text, work around that area as much as possible, and I will try to fix it. I didn't mind the overlap, but I will go ahead and make that change.

Will you be able to do the text (and possibly icons for the four sports) within one hour? I will check back then, and probably periodically. Try to do the text within an hour, for sure. (And thanks for sticking this one out with me. )

[ShinyHubCaps]

Here is the newest look for the coins. I consolidated the figures to fit inside the circle. Now that ring is basically to fit all front-side text (except for "Capital Area Sports Teams, Inc."), so since I changed the dimensions a bit, it might be a little different for your text. Make sure that it fits fine.

Also, do you want to make the icons or should I? They'll just be small, like a bowling ball, a golf ball, a softball, and a football, and about the size of the triangle inside the silhouette.