Learn from the mistakes
Graphic design schools can teach you the proper design principles needed to become a proficient graphic designer, but sometimes mistakes are the defining things that help you to learn what works and what doesn’t.

In the next few articles we will show you the mistakes of others. The comforting part is they are not your mistakes.

The “funny” side is these errors were made by the professionals, which gives us all comfort that even the best of us can make mistakes.

In the following graphics we’ll provide a short commentary on what went wrong and what we can learn from these missteps.

We want to give a big thanks to all the members of the website psdisasters.com for providing all of the leads.

Size really does matter
A good rule of thumb when assembling composite images is to be aware of the proper size perspectives of different objects as they relate to one another. In the case of this Onkyo sound system ad, something has gone awry.
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There are lots of interesting elements in the background of this ad: musicians, singers and a miniature elephant.

It is understood that the various people and animals represent the clarity of the sound system, but the tiny elephant and other disproportional elements makes the ad look cheap.
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Physiology 101
If you took biology, anatomy or physiology classes in high school or college, you’ll remember a great many graphics and illustrations of the human body and how it works.

When it comes to human anatomy, the structure and “rightness” of what a typical body looks like is second nature to most of us. In this ad, the model strikes an elegant pose. But something is wrong…
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The dress the model is wearing is draped a certain way so that her legs appear to be disjointed from her body. Is it a bad camera angle or a Photoshop mistake? Only the art director knows.
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One, two, three, four…
Although graphic design is primarily about images, graphics and layout, the need to be accurate in numbers is also very important. In this poster for a fighting exhibition, the contenders look ready and willing to fight.

But does one competitor have an unfair advantage in the scheduled bout?
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If you look closely at the opponent on the left, he is striking a pose with his fists. But the odd thing about the pose is the number of knuckles showing through his boxing glove. It appears this man has six fingers!

In reality, this is just an example where a little Photoshop magic could have helped. The extra “knuckle” showing is actually his palm appearing through an opening in the glove.

The other fighter also shows the opening, but it doesn’t appear like a finger as in the case of the fighter, Bonnar.
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Graphic design school and principles of design
Layout, perspective, color and design are some of the important elements you’ll learn at graphic design college. These graphic design principles will help you to create and produce images of professional quality.

The attention to detail, making sure all the graphics are presented properly, and ensuring that your piece is free of mistakes is up to you.

Next time…
In part two of “Photoshop mistakes and blunders” we’ll show you more examples of how little details can make the difference between a great design and an unintentionally funny one.

It’s really surreal
Surrealism, most notably represented by the works of Dali and Magritte, can warp your senses and delight you at the same time. Its main tool is to use juxtaposition with objects, people or perspectives.

The Hugo Create 20: Surreal Appeal contest wants to see new concepts in surreal art by including its widely recognized icon, the Hugo Man bottle, into your creation.

Hugo Boss states:

“…the brief for the newest Hugo Create challenge is to create a design inspired by the least limited of the artistic genres, surrealism. Interpret it in a progressive Hugo way.

“What should surrealists be doing today? Should you be twisting the minds of Dali and Miró? Or should you revolutionize surreal to make it really real? Show how surrealism should work today, and include the Hugo Man bottle in your design.”

General contest rules

* Anyone 18 years or older may enter this contest
* All submissions must be in digital form and uploaded
* Files should be no larger than 500kb
* Image files should be in JPG format
* Image designs should be at least A4 or larger and 300 dpi
* You may submit up to 5 pieces

Prizes
10 winners will be selected for this contest. An announcement of the winners will be released in the early part of April 2011.

* Each winner will receive a cash award of $500.
* One overall winner will be featured in the Hugo Create blog
* The overall winner will be featured in the prestigious magazine, i-D
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Contest links and information
There is no entry fee associated with this contest. The deadline for submissions is February 28, 2011.

Official contest site
Contest theme and guidelines
Contest gallery
Submission upload site
Design tool kit (zip file)
Online design generator

Independent living
People who have disabilities must face the daily challenges of how to live in a world which is not necessarily geared to their specific circumstances and needs.

The Papworth Trust Photography Competition: Independence is a contest where photographers can address the overall theme of being independent.

The contest sponsor states:

“Papworth Trust is passionate about supporting disabled people to have more equality, greater choice and increased independence…Independence means different things to everyone, but interpretations could include:

* Not relying on someone or something
* Running your own life without interference”

General Contest Rules
You may submit either photographic prints or images in digital format. Send photographs to:

Papworth Trust Photography Competition,
Bernard Sunley Centre
Papworth Everard
Cambridge CB23 3RG

* Minimum size for prints is 5-by-5 inches
* Maximum size is 10-by-10 inches

Please note that prints will not be returned to contest participants. Make sure you send in a copy or have the original negative of your photograph with your entry form.

For those who wish to submit their images digitally:

* Digital photos may be in black and white or color
* All digital images must be in JPEG file format
* The maximum file size for entries is 3MB
* Resolution for digital images should be 300dpi
* Winners will be asked to submit hi-res versions of their images

Prizes
The top winner of this contest will receive a Sony Handycam DCR-DVD 115E and be featured on the cover of the Papworth Trust’s 2011 Annual Review.

Other winners will receive various items that have been donated by local businesses and firms.

Contest Links and other information
Anyone may enter who is 16 years or older. If you are 16 years of age you will need the consent of a parent or guardian in order to participate in this competition.

You may enter up to 3 photographs and may implement minor changes to your images to enhance them (i.e. contrast, clarity, color). However, excessive manipulation of your images will be grounds for disqualification.

This competition ends on February 25, 2011 and has no entry fees associated with it.

The following links provide more contest information:

Official contest site
Contest rules (Word document)
Contest entry form (Word document)

Persistence pays off
There is an old adage that proclaims, “If at once you don’t succeed, try, try again.” The process of applying for scholarships and grants is similar to these words of advice. It takes persistence and patience.

In “5 things you should know about scholarships, Part I” we covered the topics of scholarship assistance services and applying to local institutions for education funds.

In the conclusion of this series we’ll go over strategies that may help individuals who are already employed and why it is so important to be extremely conscientious when filling out forms.

3. Ask your employer for assistance
If you are already a part of the workforce but would like to take continuing education courses, your company may have a program that can help offset graphic design college expenses.

The company sees this as an investment in your future while you gain further knowledge and expertise in your field of design. This becomes a win-win situation for the employer and employee.

There are hundreds of Fortune 500 companies that have education assistance programs for their employees. Check with your supervisor or human resources representative to find out if your firm supports such a program.

4. Something is better than nothing
A parent related this story about their son. He wanted to attend a certain university but knew he nor his parents had the sufficient funds to make his dream come true.

He decided his solution was to apply for scholarships and grants for his education. He sent out over 100 applications to schools, companies and organizations. The result of this was a fully paid college education.

Not everyone is as industrious as this student, but the moral of the story is any amount of financial assistance is better than nothing. And if you apply yourself you may have a significant amount of your educational costs defrayed.

5. Be very thorough
What if a prestigious law firm was looking to hire a front desk receptionist to greet clients and someone appeared at the interview with torn jeans, a dirty jacket, and worn out shoes?

Would the law firm hire this individual? Although the individual may be highly talented with strong people skills our guess is he probably would not get the job.

First impressions set the course for job interviews. This can also be said of scholarship applications. If your scholarship form is messy, incomplete or fails to include necessary documents, this can put your application in the discard pile.

Graphic design school and scholarships
If you are contemplating a career in graphic design or are already working in the industry, scholarship money for your graphic design school education can be of great benefit.

Scholarship funds range from $100 to $10,000 or more, so be sure to apply to as many as you are able for better chances of landing a few of them.

Design a great t-shirt for Firefox
If you can read this you may be one of the many who use Firefox as the preferred browser for surfing the Internet. You now have a chance to help celebrate the coming release of Firefox 4.0 by creating a cool t-shirt.

Mozilla, the developers of this free browser states:

“Create a unique t-shirt design that captures the essence of the upcoming release of Firefox 4. You’ll be designing for the front only, as the back will already have the Firefox word-mark printed.”

Things to consider before designing the t-shirt
Mozilla strongly recommends designers to familiarize themselves with several aspects of the Firefox brand and what should be considered when creating their images:

“* Mozilla has given the browser a completely fresh new look, and loaded it with cutting edge new features….

* At its core, Firefox is about people and is powered by an amazing global community of individuals working together to make the web a better place for everyone.

* You’re highly encouraged to interpret the above themes in creative, abstract and interesting ways. Please don’t be literal. For example, note how the Firefox 3 t-shirt design embodies the concept of community in a creative way.

* It’s not a requirement to use the Firefox logo in your design.”

General contest rules

* The best placement for the design is a 10-by-10 inch square on the front of the t-shirt
* Be sure to describe what colored t-shirt your design will be on
* Do not submit t-shirts with designs on them. Send in only images
* Your images should be in hi-res (300 dpi)
* Graphic files should be saved in either PNG or JPG (keep your original)
* Your originals should be created in a SVG format (Illustrator, Inkscape, etc.)

The winning design will be used for the printing of the official Firefox 4 Launch t-shirt. The t-shirt design will be listed in the Mozilla store and will be distributed to Firefox fans and contributors.

The winner will have bragging rights as the sole winner of this contest.

Other information and contest links
The deadline for this contest is March 13, 2011. This contest is free to enter. The following links provide more contest information.

Official contest site
Previous contest design examples
Registration site

Sackboy or Sackgirl to the rescue!
The LittleBigPlanet games are a wonder to behold as gamers solve mind-bending puzzles and perform death defying leaps, jumps, and aerobatics. Sackboy and Sackgirl are the heroes of the game.

One of the most popular features of this game franchise is the ability to make and design your own game levels and share them with others.

The LittleBigPlanet 2  Game Level Creation Contest wants to see the best original level design ideas from gamers, artists, and anyone who loves the LittleBigPlanet series.

What the contest is about
DeviantART.com provides the needed graphic assets you’ll need to create your best game level concepts. You can incorporate these assets or use them as a springboard for inspiration.

Entries may originate in digital form, clay sculpture, a collage of various graphics and any medium you feel best represents your new game level concept. However, all submissions must be a digital file.

Contest submissions will be judged according to the following criteria:

* Creative Use of Assets Provided
* Sense of Fun
* Technical Skill

Contest prizes
Because this contest is for game level design, it only makes sense to gear the awards and prizes to gamers. According to the contest sponsors the following will be issued to the winners of this contest:

First Place:

* A Sony PlayStation 3 (320GB)
* A copy of LittleBigPlanet 2 Collector’s Edition
* $600 USD
* 12,000 deviantART Points
* A deviantART shirt of winner’s choice (depending on ….availability)
* A one year Premium Membership to deviantART

Second Place:

* A Sony PlayStation 3 (120GB)
* A copy of LittleBigPlanet 2
* $400 USD
* 8,000 deviantART Points
* A deviantART shirt of winner’s choice (depending on ….availability)
* A one year Premium Membership to deviantART

Third Place:

* A Sony PlayStation 3 (120GB)
* A copy of LittleBigPlanet 2
* $200 USD
* 4,000 deviantART Points
* A deviantART shirt of winner’s choice (depending on ….availability)
* A one year Premium Membership to deviantART

General contest guidelines
For complete rules, see the links below. The general contest guidelines are:

* You must be 13 years old or older to participate in this contest
* Submit digital entries as a PNG or JPG file
* Do not include any signatures or identifying marks on your artwork
* You may submit more than one entry
* Only digital images will be accepted for this contest, not hard copies
* You must have a registered (free) account with deviantART.com to enter

Contest links and other information
This contest is free to enter and ends on February 18, 2011. Winners will be announced on March 1, 2011. Follow these links for more contest details:

Official contest site
Complete contest rules
Contest asset packs for contest
Contest art gallery
Registration site for contest