SCION is a modern-thinking brand on the forefront of youth culture and innovation, known for engaging its consumers in an interactive quest for creative ideas. One of SCION’s trademarks is its support of organizations that also seek to connect with children and young adults in expressive, artistic ways.

In its mission to advocate community outreach and foster creativity in the younger generation, SCION now joins forces with Cut&Paste in the FRESHLY SQUEEZED WEB DESIGN CHALLENGE (”Contest”). The website design competition will benefit J.U.i.C.E., a non-profit weekly after-school program that allows the underprivileged youth of Los Angeles to express themselves artistically through dance, music, visual arts, and MC skills workshops.

As J.U.i.C.E. focuses its resources on programming and operations, they need your help: SCION’s new online competition, the FRESHLY SQUEEZED WEB DESIGN CHALLENGE summons all web designers, illustrators, graffiti connoisseurs, coding geniuses, hip-hop enthusiasts, and creatives all around to help J.U.i.C.E. refine their online presence with a brand new homepage design. Web designs submitted for the competition should embody J.U.i.C.E.’s urban aesthetic and youthful spirit, while adding to the site’s functionality as a user-friendly vehicle for communication.

So, help city kids, put $5K in your pocket, and get your work seen. Submit your designs for a new and improved Web site for J.U.i.C.E., a nonprofit hip-hop arts program for LA’s urban youth, and you’ll be entered to win five grand, courtesy of SCION. All entries must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on April 10, 2009. Visit the site to learn more.

Oh my gosh. Summer is over and Frank and I missed the Fall Equinox celebration in Santa Cruz. *sigh* Yet Frank persists in wearing his flower face in hopes that he will pass for a snowflake. He has more creativity in his little nose than I do at times in my whole body. I swear.

Which brings me to Microformats. I’m not sure what this is all about yet, but if anyone wants to sum it up for me I would be extremely grateful. All I know is that it’s not a new language and that it’s supposedly extremely accessible. Fill me in!

Frank is visiting from Webshots. Have a great weekend!

Enter I.D.’s 2008 Annual Design Review today, and your entry might appear in the August 2008 issue! Since 1954, the Annual Design Review has recognized the best in product, furniture, graphic and environmental design, from the iconic to the obscure. Throughout the years, this annual showcase has chronicled the evolution of design, and highlighted its impact on our materials and visual culture.

Each year, the featured work is chosen by a jury of leading practitioners, who, along with I.D.’s editorial team, focus the abundance of submissions into a clear survey of the state of design.

Deadline is 1 December. Download the PDF for entry form, full category descriptions, and guidelines.

Creativity + Commerce, PRINT’s business graphics review, is the newest and fastest-growing of PRINT’s design competitions. It brings together the full range of work done for corporate clients around the world, from print ads, corporate identities, and flyers to animated short films, websites, and interactive games - and much more.

You’re invited to participate in this important showcase. The work selected in PRINT’s Creativity + Commerce competition will be featured in the September/Octover 2008 issue of PRINT. It’s all valuable exposure that can only serve to benefit your business. Deadline: 1 November 2007. Visit the site and download the PDF to learn more.

pitsch tenders a contest for the Society for Threatened Peoples. Participants are asked to design a motive poster for a fundraising campaign for the benefit of the GfbV. GRAVIS and FontShop could be won as sponsors for this contest.

The international human rights organization, the Society for Threatened People (GfbV), engages itself for persecuted and endangered ethnic and religious minorities, nations and native inhabitants since 1968. It lobbies for victims of humanitarian crimes against humanity and clearly names perpetrators as well as accomplices. Even if victims become offenders themselves, they nevertheless continue to report. Their guideline reads: ‘blind on no eye’.

Deadline for the poster is 15 December. Visit the site to learn more.

Via: DesignSpotter

Nominations are currently being accepted for the 35th Annual Annie Awards. Honoring excellence in the field of animation, the Annie Awards are presented annually by the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood. You can enter in either the Production or Individual achievement categories, or make a recommendation for any of the Juried awards.

Deadline to receive entry forms is 5 October 2007. Deadline to receive materials for nomination judging is 26 October. Clips are due on 11 January, after nomination announcements. Visit the site to learn more.