so i entered this design competition for a local shoe company. they are basically modeling themselves after the
threadless.com folks.. cept with shoes - a great idea. so i submitted a couple designs - basically took some drawings i had done recently and adopted them in to the shoe templates. i mean, i didn't just drop them in. i actually considered the shoe and added elements that would make a better composition...
anyway, here are the shoes i did:
Mr. Giraffe
Naughty by Nature
unfortunately, when they made their template they had the names for the lateral and medial side reversed - which they later informed us about and offered the chance to revise the artwork. which i did. but they didn't switch it on their end. so my shoes ended up coming out backwards - not a huge deal, but as a designer who thinks about where things should be placed to get the read i'm looking for, i was a little disappointed to see that. in their defense, they had a lot going on so i can see how that might slip through.
what's interesting is that they kept talking about the shoe with the girl on it when we were communicating about the template problems. but when they finally told me that i was one of the top 5 and were requesting a statement on the design, they actually picked the giraffe. huh?
the big nightso the big night finally came - last night. there was a video interview and some shots of me with the shoe doing stupid random things like biting it and licking it - the kind of stuff i see in sneaker mags.. that was all a lot of fun and kind of surreal. here's a shot of me in them - one of the benefits to being sample size!

while we were waiting, i got to meet some of the founders/judges and chat a little with them. what's funny is that both owners and this other guy, Will (i think), were very complimentary about my designs - showing a lot of enthusiasm towards the
naughty by nature shoe. in fact, one of them told me that they used that image for all their testing work... seemed kind of odd to me that there was so much attention to that design and yet it was the other one that got the nomination. regardless, i was happy to have been selected for either of the shoes.
so the night went on and they introduced us all individually and had us make a statement about our designs to the crowd who then voted on the shoe of their choice. here's a pic that Cassie took of me speaking off the cuff and trying not to sound too stupid. check out my awesome Helvetica Nue shirt that Cassie got me for my birthday a couple days ago - i'm such a nerd!

after a bit of socializing and subtle influencing of anyone i could chat up, they pulled all the votes - counted and announced the winners. i got second place and a beautifully hand crafted man purse from a local company called
entermodal this thing is gorgeous ... i mean i really wanted the 1k in cash, but this is really quite a wonderful consolation prize..
some after thoughts.. so this morning, a friend of mine alerted me that the top 5 shoes were on the front page of the business section of the Oregonian - how cool is that i thought! so i went out and bought a couple copies - of course! the image in the paper had the winning design as the dominate image and then the others below. makes sense, but what puzzled me was the fact that both the laces and the tooling on the winning shoe had been colored - areas that we were told could not be changed in our designs. the shoe itself was simply black and white and adding the yellow laces and black tooling with the yellow outsole really changed the design for the better. in fact i remembered that i thought it was strange that he was the only one allowed this consideration and even at the event, his shoes were displayed this way.

additionally, the image that was in the paper and on the slide show being looped at the event was a rendering done from the original artwork in the submission. after they got the submission, they emailed us back with the renderings for us to see - and to tell us that the template was wrong. so basically, in order for that image to have appeared with the color changes in the laces and tooling, the artist would have had to alter it and then send it back... or someone on their end did it.. regardless of how it happened, if that was against the rules why would they have displayed it that way?

pictured above:
this is how we submitted our designswhen they introduced us to the audience, the main founder guy Rob introduced the man who eventually won. what was interesting was that he mentioned having seen this guy's name in the paper - recounting that they had actually sought this artist out to have him submit his work. he was in the paper because he had just got released from jail where he served a two year sentence for graffiti. (as a side thought, i don't actually know what he did, but if he was just hitting a train car or something silly like that - then the charge was lame).
anyway, so after they talk about how amazing he was and how cool his story was, they passed the mic to him and he told us all about how he done this art while he was in prison... they guy who was standing next to me who would later introduce me whispered - how are you gonna compete with a story about being in prison for 2 years?!! this is one of the judges telling me this!
so after looking at all the facts, i started thinking about them as a company on the rise (he he) and what sort of image they want to portray with this event leading in to the future. when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. here's a guy who was busted for doing his art and then along comes this company like an angel from heaven scooping him up and placing him on a pedestal. i mean it doesn't get much better than that - after all they want to promote that everyone and anyone can design shoes - not just designers like me. if i won, what good would it serve? people would be like - of course he won he does this for a living. but when a guy off the streets struggling to prove his worth in the art community becomes a star - well that's exactly what this company is all about.
so at the end of the day, i think they made the right choice - even tho the "public" may or may not have actually chosen the winner. i mean, i know a little bit about being in business and if i were in the same shoes (he he), i probably would have made the same choice. and to be clear cause i know i've just ranted here, i actually did like his shoe and i think that what they are doing with their company is pretty awesome. i feel honored to have been a part of it and thankful that i got second place - which aint bad...
Labels: Conspiracy theory, Design competition, Giraffe, Shoes, Sneakers