55DSL knows life moves pretty fast. That’s why their motto is to “live at least 55 seconds per day” to shake things up on a regular basis and always get in on a piece of the action. It’s what they’ve been doing, as a company and as a streetwear brand, since 1984.

And they’re at it again this year, partnering with Cut&Paste to present the 55DSL Logo Remix. The Logo Remix challenges graphic designers, illustrators, and typographers, as well as all-around creative types, to take the iconic 55DSL Shield logo and spin it into a remix that reflects 55DSL’s culture and spirit, its origins and its future.

The Grand Prize–winning design, to be featured in a T-shirt design for the 2010 Spring/Summer collection, will successfully reinterpret the 55DSL Shield logo and represent 55DSL’s identity as an experimental, avant-garde streetwear brand (which first launched as a spin-off of Diesel), while considering the art, urban culture, extreme sports, and music influences that have always been at the heart of the label’s fun-loving, nonconformist attitude.

The Grand Prize winner of the 55DSL Logo Remix will receive 1,055 Euros in addition to seeing his/her logo design produced by 55DSL.* During the contest period, all designs submitted for the Logo Remix will be showcased in Cut&Paste’s online gallery for public viewing, commenting, and voting. The People’s Choice Prize, a specially created goodie bag of 55DSL limited editions, will be awarded to the design that receives the most votes online. Both winners will be featured in the online gallery, which will be permanently available as part of Cut&Paste’s online collection of work.

Contestants may submit their designs on http://logoremix.55DSL.com. All entries must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on December 5, 2008. Online voting on Cut&Paste’s 55DSL Logo Remix gallery will take place throughout the entry period and conclude on December 12, 2008, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.

The Grand Prize and People’s Choice Prize winners will be announced in January 2009.To learn more about the brand, visit the site.

*The winning logo design will be used at the discretion of 55DSL and will not replace the 55DSL Shield logo.

Community-centric tee shirt company Threadless.com is nixing the holiday calendar and brewing up spooky situations after Halloween. That’s right, as an excuse to keep those scary decorations up and continue asking your neighbors for candy, Threadless’ latest “Loves” challenge is asking designers everywhere to conjure up a design for a tee based on the concept of horror.

These ghastly designs could snag designers a cauldron full of tasty treats, courtesy of some awesome partners. So whether it’s spiders, ghosts, a bad dream, or a fear of submitting a tee shirt design, now’s the chance to earn a limited-edition skate deck and a 1970’s signed vintage Fender bass guitar from Alkaline Trio, a feature in an upcoming issue of Rue Morgue along with an instant collection of horror memorabilia, and an extensive comic collection from Devil’s Due Publishing. Wacom is also going to hook the chosen designer up with a new Intous tablet. And as always, designers will also receive a $500 Threadless gift certificate and $2,000 in cash!

What are you afraid of?

“Threadless Loves” challenges give designers an opportunity to flex their skills and design to a particular challenge. Challenges are sponsored and supported by companies relevant to the idea. Previous “Loves” partners include Hot Chip, Moby, MTV’s Human Giant, and the Lomographic Society International.

Deadline for entries is December 1, 2008. For more info on the design challenge and all its partners, go to http://threadless.com or http://www.threadless.com/loves/horror

The ScreenBurn at SXSW Game Design Competition provides a venue for emerging designers to pitch their concept to a jury of established professionals. Participants in this event are challenged to excite the imagination with a description of the game they want to build.

Getting involved in the Game Design Competition is incredibly easy! Using the form on the site, tell ScreenBurn about your amazing idea for a new game. This is an exercise in blue sky creative thinking - imagine what kind of cool all-new video game you would put together if you had an unlimited budget and unlimited resources. Please give as much detail as possible about your idea, but entries cannot exceed 200 words. Spelling, good grammar and complete sentences are important, so please proofread your submission before you hit the send button. There is no fee to enter the Game Design Competition. But, each person can only submit two ideas.

The entry process runs through Friday, December 5, 2008. 10 Semi-finalists for each category of the Game Design Competition will be announced on Friday, January 16. These semi-finalists will then construct a slideshow presentation that graphically illustrates their concept which includes art, slides, and notes. Slideshow presentation is due by Friday, February 27. All semi-finalists who submit a final presentation will be given a 2009 Interactive Festival registration (which includes admission to all ScreenBurn at SXSW activities). Visit the site to learn more.

Over 200 entrants from 15 countries submitted the most creative designs combining sustainability and architectural ingenuity in the inaugural FuturArc Prize for sustainable design in 2008. By popular demand BCI has decided to repeat FuturArc Prize. As in 2008, the FuturArc Prize 2009 aims to trigger continued change in the way building is approached. Innovative ideas and solutions for sustainable design will be showcased.

The FuturArc Prize 2009 Competition is open internationally to any individual or team meeting eligibility requirements. The competition is divided into two categories: ‘Professional’ and ‘Student’. In the Professional category the Jury will be looking for design merit and technical resolution in each submission. In the Student category the Jury will be looking for ideas that have design merit and technical soundness in each submission.

Closing date for online submission is 31st December 2008. For further information, briefs and further deadlines, visit the FuturArc site.

School of Visual Arts (SVA), New York City, in partnership with Giraldi Media, announces the first annual “Out of Hand International Festival,” a showcase for innovative digital content created by students and intended for playback on mobile phones and other wireless or handheld devices.

The festival invites aspiring artists, designers, filmmakers and creative thinkers worldwide to enter original work into competition using the online submission form by December 31, 2008. A public showing and awards presentation, awarding cash and other prizes to the top submissions, will take place in New York City in March 2009. Visit the site to learn more.

NOTE: The new deadline is 30 June 2009, and the event will take place in October. The calendar here has been changed to note the new deadline. Visit the site to confirm.

The Picture Challenge is a unique annual international poster design competition for designers and photographers, offering you the opportunity to publish your work on a large scale and make money out of it. You have the chance to win a poster deal with a major poster distributor, to become a worldwide selling artist, and to win an Apple MacBook, as well as other fantastic prizes.

Entries for the Picture Challenge 2008 (www.picturechallenge2008.com) will be judged by a jury of professionals from the business world. The competition is open to students and (semi-) professionals.

The Picture Challenge is an initiative of Reinders Posters, a leading publisher and distributor of images in various applications such as posters, postcards, prints and wall prints in Europe. Reinders Posters hope that the Picture Challenge will bring them into contact with talented new designers and photographers who will be able to provide them with pictures they can use in their collection.

Read the briefing and the rules carefully before entering. Deadline is 1 December 2008. Visit the site to learn more.