I once read somewhere that organizing a design competition is easy, just put out a Call for Entries, judge the submissions and announce the winners. Admittedly, reading that gave me the courage to launch The Say Something Poster Project. My goal however was much more complex as I wanted to create a platform for designers to have a positive impact on the community.
After planning the first Poster Project I can now tell you there is nothing easy about it, especially if you want to do it right. Using lessons learned from the first go-around, below are some changes we have made. My hope is that these updates make it easier for designers to get involved while expanding our reach to having a greater impact.
1. Creating a theme for Season 2
During our first season we received great feedback about how open the Design Brief was and how much it allowed for creative freedom. We also received feedback from people asking for a more defined subject to design around. This year we’ve tried to strike a balance between the two by introducing a theme. We encourage you to use this theme as your compass- it will point you in a particular direction but still allow you to decide where you end up.
To learn more about the theme: This Way Forward, download the Call for Entries PDF here.
2. Season 2 non-profit beneficiary: The Boys and Girls Club
Connecting with The Boys and Girls Club happened to be one of those “friend of a friend” circumstances made possible by Facebook. The decision to work with such an amazing organization was solidified after visiting their Dorchester, MA location and meeting with their youth education direction.
That “friend of a friend” is Shari Maeste, a passionate, warm hearted individual. Shari gave us a tour of their facilities and expressed their deep commitment to the arts. They boast a dance, music and art program that complement their after school education and sports activities.
Shari has agreed to be a judge on our season 2 panel. To learn more about the wonderful work being done at the Blue Hills Boys and Girls Club, check out our feature on them in the Partners section.
3. Website Re-design
There is so much I loved about our first website but thinking back, I now believe they were mostly for self gratifying reasons. I loved the immersive feeling of the site and the fluidity built into its design. What I failed to take into account was how much the site would slow down once hundreds of posters were in the gallery. For this reason we’ve switched from a flash based design to HTML.
Please poke around and let us know what you think. We’re constantly tweaking so please don’t hesitate to send us your feedback.
4. Featured Designer: DKNG Studios
DKNG Studios is one of our top 10 finalists from season 1. Their poster “Love What You Do & It Will Love You Back” received a tremendous amount of exposure and immediately caught our attention. When Dan Kulkhen, partner at DKNG and illustrator behind the poster traveled from Santa Monica to attend the Boston Poster Show, we made an instant connection.
DKNG Studios has generated the creative for Season 2 as well as redesigned the website.
5. Poster Show Los Angeles and Poster Show Boston
Hosting a poster show in multiple cities has been a dream of mine from the very start. I love the idea of sharing the event experience and giving people the opportunity to get up close and personal with each poster to cast the final vote. A central part of the event experience involves event attendees picking their 10 favorite posters from the 25 semi-finalists on display. Everyone says it’s not easy; however the experience of critiquing and lobbying for posters with their family and friends is one they’ll never forget.
This season we are taking our premiere event to the west coast with the first ever Santa Los Angeles Show hosted by DKNG Studios.
6. Individual, Team and Organization Entry Categories
We are encouraging designers to form teams or to work with an organization. The Individual category has been the default carried over from season 1 but these new categories will give people the opportunity to take an entirely different approach to the Design Brief.
Team members should thoroughly debate their ideas as well as invite people from different disciplines to add content and expertise.
Organizations should take the opportunity to express their mission or purpose as it relates to the theme. We hope this contest will help organizations be more expressive about who they are and what role they can play within their community. Whether you’re a for-profit or a non-profit organization, communicating your views on “This Way Forward” will be a valuable exercise.
Please share your collaborative stories with us by sending pictures to info@saysomethingposters.com.
7. Online Voting Re-jiggered
Greater transparency and more power to the people- this could easily be the slogan for the upcoming US elections but it actually describes the reasoning behind our new online voting system.
Once online voting begins (Nov. 30th), you’ll find that the five star rating system now contributes to an overall score that is always visible for every poster. This score accumulates by rating the poster or by using the share tools provided. Each star equals 1 point (giving a poster 5 stars will add 5 points to the score) and each Facebook “like” and each Tweet will add 1 point to the score. The top 100 posters with the most points move on to the second round.
8. Twitter
That’s right! We’re now on Twitter. Follow us and we’ll follow you back.
9. Engagement Tracks
For those of you interested in sponsoring The Say Something Poster Protect we’ve taken a new approach to partnerships by created a platform called Engagement Tracks. Each Track is based on a “mini-project”, as we call them, which align your business goals with our mission.
For example, a typeface company is interested in collaborating on a “Wall of Quotes” within our event that shows off their new fonts and makes the event more interesting with quotes from the winning designers.
This approach has led us to endless opportunities that are far more meaningful than logo placements and event banners. This kind of collaboration starts with a one on one conversation so please feel free to get in touch with us anytime.