Hi All,

As many of you following this competition (and there have been 'a lot' of interested people which is quite flattering) would be aware, the brief was quite complex and as a result the competition was extended... twice.

I did this as while the quality of designs submitted was and 'is' quite professional... no one nailed the brief (at least not as I saw it) during the regular competition and the subsequent 2 extensions.

Again I should re-iterate, this is not in any way to suggest that the quality of work was anything less than exemplary... however as I said constantly throughout the competition... and as recently as this message... no one was on brief... or at least no one was 100% on brief.

So for the past 7 days I have been reviewing... and reviewing again the large number of submissions entered to this competition and given the above, have looked for something that while not 'now' on brief... is something that I can hopefully continue to work on (preferably with the winning designer) to bring it closer to what I was after.

The winning design would also need to be something that would 'fit' within the broader brand/design landscape that I am planning for Whodeani (ie printed materials, merchandising, website etc...)

In light of the above I have chosen #160 as the winning design. I feel that this particular design will both work for me 'now' and be something I can further develop (hopefully with the designer Mechamaus) through the various forms I see this design working in for Whodeani.

It, and its various elements, will also look great on a business card which is my most 'immediate' need.

Lastly... I would like to than all those who entered the competition, especially those that entered several times and provided several revisions of their designs. Much appreciated.

Will be launching another design competition soon for a logo for a '2.0' version of an online dating site. Will hopefully be live here in the next 1 - 2 weeks.

In the mean time there is around 3 days to go for my design competition here for Jokes.com.au (2nd comp). http://99designs.com/contests/21576

All the best...

DJ.

Have extended the competition a further 24 hours.

This time I am waiting on revisions from 2 of the leading designs from the group of 5 mentioned earlier... as well as a revision from one of the newer entrants.

Was hopeful that these 'may' have come through prior to now... but am guessing that many of the designers entering this competition 'are not' from Australia... and therefore the competition could have closed before they had a chance to review my feedback and come back with said revisions.

Fingers crossed these come through in the next 24 hours.

All the best...

DJ aka Whodeani.

#154 #155

@adamesdesign

If I have provided no stars to a particular design then it either means I haven't had a chance to review the design as yet... or as you suggest, the design isn't in the running to win the prize.

As to your designs, I have subsequently rated them a '2' as while they are quite pleasing to the eye they are not close enough to what I have requested in my brief.

Thanks for your efforts.

DJ.

Hi All,

A few moments ago, I added a further 48 hours to this competition.

I decided to do this for the following reasons...

1. Several of the leading designs (the top 5) that I announced the other day are still yet to either submit further revisions to their designs... or submit revisions that I would be happy awarding the 1st prize to.

2. There have been a few late entrants that while (again) not on brief, show promise and I would like to see what they can come back with in the additional time provided.

3. I require more time to deliberate on the direction the competition is heading 'while' the competition is still live.

On this last point I have posted several times on the fact that much of the work presented here is either not on brief... or not 'fully' on brief.

Thats not to be critical of what has been produced... but simply to point out that in the main I have asked for something very specific to be developed and while some designs have come close to delivering this, in the main they have either fallen short... or been completely off brief.

What has become apparent (the reason for my confusion as outlined in point 3 above) is that some of the so called 'off brief' designs (or even some of the 'partially' on brief designs) have been impressive... so much so that I am seriously considering choosing one of these as the winner of the competition.

So I am torn between choosing from a pool of designs that at one end are closer to being on brief, yet for a variety of reasons (most of which have been provided to the designers directly) the finished product isn't up to the standard required to be awarded the 1st prize... while at the other end there are a pool of designs that are further from brief but are very creative, professional and polished and 'could work' as the Whodeani logo. The 'wow' factor.

In light of this, and the other reasons outlined above... I extended the competition a further 48 hours.

All the best...

DJ.

OK, with a little over 24 hours to go (around 25 or so to be precise), its time to narrow down the submitted designs to the top 5.

I should point out that while these are in my opinion the top 5 designs submitted so far, there are several designs just out of the top 5 (those with 3 stars) that with modifications to bring them closer to brief, could easily enter the top 5 for this competition.

Also, some of the better entries have been submitted in the last 24 - 48 hours (from scratch and modified designs from earlier entries) so a completely new design could be submitted in the closing stages to take the prize.

OK... my top 5 'so far' (in no particular order).

#81 & #40. Have included both as '1' for the top 5 as they are both iterations of the one design. Of these I am favoring #81 although as per private comments made to Kate (the designer) I would like to see some detail on the face.

#60. I like the simplicity of this design and it certainly works well as a logo (albeit not in keeping with the 3 key elements of the brief as re-iterated earlier today.)

#92. This design is a modification of designs #74 and #74. #92 is a major improvement over the earlier submissions. I especially like the guy controlling the machine and the work done on his face. Very clever... and embodies the right mix of whodeani's various brand elements. More needs to be done though to bring it closer to the provided brief.

#100. Another one out of left field... that is a design that isn't exactly on brief... but which is very aesthetically pleasing and very professionally finished. As per my earlier comments to the public section of the competition, this is not exactly on brief (it certainly is old world but doesn't have the additional 'modern'... ie steampunk... element I am after) but despite that I like this a lot.

#95. Like many of the submissions, this is off brief... but is still an appealing concept. I like the inclusions of the 'world' in the 'o' (granted... it has been done before). Not so sure on me having a TV for a head. Would also need to better marry the old and new (ie Steampunk) to win this competition.

Honorable mention...

#54, #55 and #88 from Delavie. Is close to the brief in terms of marrying the 3 core elements however they aren't yet working as 'finished' (polished) designs for mine at this stage.

I should point out (once again) that none of the designs so far has been completely on brief (this my post from earlier today re-iterating the important elements I will be looking for.)

I point this out as either a) something completely 'new' that is on brief could win this competition or b) some of the leading entries so far could adjust their entries to better suit the brief and therefore possibly win this competition.

No one said this was going to be easy... and thats why I have offered a 'guaranteed' prize of $500 USD (which from what I can see, is above average for competitions on this site.)

All the best... and am genuinely excited to see what the final 25 hours or so brings.

A little over a day to go and I am pleased to note that the recent entries (new entries and modifications to older entries) are closer to being what is required, albeit still not as close to being on brief as I would have hoped.

To that end I thought it may prove useful to pull from the brief (and post it here) the key elements of this competition... and importantly... the elements that I feel have not been addressed... or at the very least, not addressed fully.

(Edit from the 'Description' and 'Wants' section of the full brief located at http://99designs.com/contests/20971/brief)

It is vital that the logo conveys both trustworthiness and ‘magic’ (without being tricky)… "... the magic of bringing ideas to life."

This is the essence of the Whodeani brand – particularly regarding entrepreneurship. It expresses the ability to see opportunity, identify pathways and bring ideas to life that are beyond the ordinary, beyond what most people would expect.

The Whodeani logo should convey a sense of wonder and progress.

* Stylistically, we require an illustrated logo graphic and associated symbols in addition to typeface. It must have an ‘old world’ feel but with ‘new world’ relations (ie Steam-punk). It should be highly detailed. This may take the form of an etching style or graphically realistic technical illustration. A sense of magic and showmanship is appropriate. 

* Draw inspiration from from Movies such as ‘Wild Wild West’ featuring Will Smith. And we’re particularly fond of elements from films such as ‘The Prestige’ and ‘The Illusionist’. The clothing and devices used in these eras are very ‘Whodeani’.

* Think Artisan. Someone who is highly skilled, creates objects of great beauty, employing only imagination, manual dexterity, tools and material. Relevant to an era of industrial revolution. A time of great wonder, driven by men of great ambition whose ideas and inventions changed the world.
* Importantly the work needs to look a) complete, b) grounded and c) that it could actually function (that is that it 'could' conceivably operate.)

The last point is 'critical'... it must be 'complete', 'grounded' and look like it could actually 'function'.

While many of the designs are touching on these themes... none so far embody all 3 of these themes.

Will shortly add my thoughts in this public comments section on the leading designs so far as I see them... and thoughts on how they could be further enhanced to potentially win the contest.

All the best... DJ.

#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #8, #9, #10, #12, #13, #17, #18, #19, #21, #22, #24, #25, #29, #30, #32, #33, #35, #36, #37, #38, #39, #40, #41, #42, #43, #44, #48, #50, #51, #54, #55, #56, #57, #58, #59, #60, #62, #63, #64, #65, #66, #67, #68, #69, #70, #72, #73, #74, #75, #76, #77, #78, #80, #81, #82, #83, #84, #85, #86, #87, #88, #89, #90, #91, #92, #93, #94, #95, #96, #97, #98