Design a Better Future The skills and career training you receive at agraphic design school not only help you to be a better graphic designer, they can also be used to express your ideas for a better future for people.
“…an opportunity for graphic artists to express, manifest, symbolize and imagine solutions for a better city capable of improving the lifestyle of its inhabitants.
“The primary objective of this project is to promote a debate around the basic theme of life in the community and how improvements can be made.
“Felicity aims at providing a contribution to reflection beginning from an anthropological vision and arriving at modern times, in the expectation of a future where the city can be a better place for self-improvement.”
What Your Designs Can Show The contest seeks themes related to:
* Integration of different cultures and religions * Citizen needs: Youth, Disabled, Children, the Aged, ….and Outcasts * Technological innovations * The Community as protagonist * Interaction between urban areas and nature * Safety
General Guidelines and Information The official contest rules state:
* Art can be created with any technique, but the final image sent must be in digital form. * The best works of technical and conceptual importance will be selected. * Use graphics to interpret and narrate the concept of a city to the size of man. * Show how your concept improves the quality of the city and its quality of life. * Only one submission per entrant is allowed. * The dimensions of your entry must be 70×100cm or 100×70cm. * Art must be sent in JPG (72 DPI) or PDF format. * An image in high resolution (used for printing purposes) will be needed from contest winners.
While city concepts are usually the domain of urban planners and architects, this competition is especially geared towards graphic designers to see their alternative views in city planning
Students enrolled in graphic design colleges may be especially interested in entering this contest to gain experience in developing ideas for a project that is normally outside the normal scope of graphic design.
For full details and guidelines download the PDF document.
Awards Winners will be sent a catalog of the public exhibition to be held in Venice, Italy in October 2010. This venue will offer international exposure to those who are selected for the event.
The decisions of the jury are final.
Certain works will be chosen by the judging panel for publication on the Felicity website (www.felicityproject.it) and the program exhibition catalog.
Other Contest Details Send any questions about this contest to info [at] felicityproject.it. The deadline for entries is July 31, 2010.
The Dyson Story Does the name James Dyson sound familiar to you? If not, you have probably heard of the invention he developed—the Dyson Cyclonic vacuum cleaner.
An industrial designer by trade, Dyson was dissatisfied with the performance of a store-bought vacuum cleaner he was using.
He noticed that the vacuum power of the unit decreased dramatically after using it several times and decided this was unacceptable. His solution—begin a quest to design a vacuum cleaner that would be superior to the ones he was using.
After fifteen years and over 5,000 prototypes, Dyson achieved his goal and utilized a vacuum cleaner technology based upon the principle of centrifugal force to filter out dirt. He had done what others could not—he solved the problem of reduced suction power in vacuum cleaners.
The Dyson Design Contest The Dyson Awardis an international contest that is held for designers and engineers.
The theme and project requirements of this competition are to design something that solves a problem. The official contest site states that entrants should:
“…describe the problem solved and how it does this. Two versions should be submitted, firstly in the entrant’s mother tongue, and secondly in English. This description should be no longer than 200 words.”
Submissions should contain low resolution images of your sketches and plans, one hires (300dpi) image on white background, a video of the prototype in action (uploaded to YouTube) plus an optional 3D CAD rendering of the device.
For a complete description of eligibility requirements and detailed submission guidelines, follow this link to the official contest website.
Judging and Awards According to the official contest rules:
“…Projects will be judged purely on their merits and quality…[a] shortlist of up to 180 projects will go through to a second round. Each panel of local judges will also select one ‘national winner’ from each country chosen to participate in the JDA (James Dyson Award).”
“…the 15 with the highest ratings will be submitted to James Dyson who will select the international JDA winner as well as two international JDA runners-up.”
The international James Dyson Award winner (student, individual or school team) will receive £10,000 (12,206.33 USD) plus a £10,000 award in the form of equipment to the university or college where the winner attends or previously attended (within the past four years as a design or engineering student).
Other Details The deadline for submissions is July 1, 2010. Contest winners will be announced in October 2010. There are many important details as far as entry guidelines so be sure to read the contest rules by going to the Dyson Award website.
See Your Design on Every Citroën 2011 DS3 Car? Now you can use your graphic design skills and talent to help automobile manufacturer Citroën in designing graphic elements for the dashboard and roof of its sporty DS3 supermini car.
The winners of this graphic design contest will be awarded cash prizes and have their designs evaluated for use in a possible production run of DS3 models in 2011. . . The Contest Details This competition is international and anyone may enter who is 18 years of age or older. Citroën provides two templates for graphic designers.
To download the PDF document for the specific dimensions of the roof graphic, follow this link. Download the PDF template for the dashboard graphic by going here.
You will need Adobe’s PDF Reader to view these files. If you do not have this program, Adobe provides a free download of the application at its website.
Submissions to this contest must have two completed designs including perspectives of the exterior, interior and highlighted areas that focus on the important details of the graphic.
Only entries accompanied by a written description and thoughts (in English or French) of the project theme will be accepted.
Judging According to Citroën, designs will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
* Relevance of the solution to the competition challenge ….provided by the project * Ease of use / integration of innovations * Creativity, playfulness and originality * Application for mass production and internationalization of ….project
The winning designs will also be displayed at the Citroën Creative Awards ceremony on October 5, 2010.
Other Contest Information For complete details about the contest, go to Citroën’s contest website. A PDF document of the guidelines and rules for this contest can be downloaded at this link. All entries must be received by July 4, 2010 (France time zone) to be eligible.
Are You Into Sci-Fi? If the names Asimov, Bradbury, Bova, Bear or Hubbard are familiar to you it’s probably a good indication that you are a science fiction fan.
These authors, in their unique visions of the future, entertained, inspired and in some instances, dazzled “sci-fi” enthusiasts.
Future Talent Contests Science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard wanted a way for new writers to be recognized in the science fiction community. He created the Writers of the Future Contest in 1983 to accomplish his goal.
Five years later he started a new contest that was especially geared towards new talent in science fiction and fantasy illustration.
L. Ron Hubbard’s Illustrators of the Future Contest provides a venue for new and emerging illustrators to go head-to-head with the brightest emerging talent in this specialized art form.
According to the official contest website:
“The L. Ron Hubbard Illustrators of the Future Contest was launched in 1988 as an expression of L. Ron Hubbard’s wish that the relationship between the written word and the illustrator’s art would not die.
“Since its inception, it has spanned the globe in its appeal to the new and amateur artist for which it was designed, bridging cultural, economic and language barriers.”
Contest Details This is an international contest and anyone from any country can participate. Entrants should be able to communicate in written English in order to facilitate contest logistics with the sponsors.
All themes regarding science fiction and fantasy are acceptable for this contest. Submitted illustrations must be in black and white. The contest requires three illustrations to qualify for this contest. Each illustration must be different in theme from the other two.
Do not send in the original artwork but provide photo copies of your work that can be sent in an envelope no larger than 9 inches by 12 inches. All entries must be sent with a self-addressed return envelope with the correct postage attached. The empty return envelope will be used to send the contest results back to the artist.
Each photocopy entry should have a removable cover sheet that has the name, address and telephone number of the submitter. The cover sheets will be removed prior to the judging of the artwork in order to guard against any bias during judging. These cover sheets will be cross-referenced and filed away in order to identify the owners of the illustrations at the conclusion of the contest.
Please follow this link in order to see the full details and guidelines for this contest.
Prizes There will be three co-winners for this quarterly contest (see guidelines for further explanation). Each winner will receive a cash grant of $500.
Winners will also be eligible for the Grand Prize contest at the end of the year.
The Grand Prize winner will be selected from all eligible quarter finalists and will be awarded a $4,000 grant plus the Grand Prize trophy.
Final Details There is no entry fee for this contest but entrants are restricted to one entry per quarter. The deadline for this quarter’s contest is July 1, 2010.
Design a Better Future 
What Your Designs Can Show
