14.003 and 16.001 (with a different shirt color) are my top two so far.

My favourite T-Shirt's are 16.001, 13.001, 11.002.

15006
14007

in chronological order (with one extra vote):

07.001 (reduced about 20%)
09.002 (something other than white)
14.002
16.003

08.005
09.001
14.003

Isn't it a bit early for a Top 3? According to the
Shoutbox there's 27 extra Tees down the line who
haven't appeared here yet, and there's a whole week
left for turning in submissons.

BTW 09.001. Concept, execution, visual impact, colour
scheme are all flawless. And just like last year's
California Job Case it looks incredibly cool. Which is
what any self-respecting Tee needs to do. Furthermore
it discouraged me from sending in a submission of my
own. I feel like I simply can't beat that.
No numbers 2 nor 3 yet.

Yves, yes of course it's premature (and since you're
counting, there are now 34 yet to post). But it's all about
the hype machine... We could do a totally blind contest and
surprise everybody at the end with the winning shirt, but
that's not very Typophile.

The shirts that arrive late in the game have the advantage
of coming in as a surprise - or maybe they have had more
time put in on them. But perhaps the disadvantage of not
getting 'shopped around' here.

I cannot pick only three. But, perhaps I can give my choices in groups of three or not.

Concept (but the design needs polishing):
06.002
21.007
26.002
12.001
26.002

Design (with some changes, perhaps)
08.001
17.002
24.008
14.003

Overall
24.012
19.010 Because, Typophile IS on fire! :^)
01.001 (the blue toothpaste, right?)
26.006 (props to our forebears)
08.011

01.004 "nipple" - it's so stupid so i like it!
11.002 "A is for ox" - very nice, thought-provoking.
19.010 "white fire" - clean design, looks good
24.004 "letraset" - conceptual and retro, makes me smile.

These 4 shirts I would happily wear myself. =)

Okay...

Here goes:

9.001 is the ONLY shirt I think I might actually wear, and I don't even like it that much.

There are very few others (so far) are conceptually strong, well crafted, or relevant to typophile. Fewer still which embody all three of these necessary characteristics.

I like 25.006, for example, I just don't think I would wear it.

I think 11.002 is very clever and thought provoking, but I also thought that the first time I saw it (in The Art of Looking Sideways?) so I'm not sure it's right for Typophile.

06.003 deserves to be a shirt, just not a typophile shirt. I guess Jared et al get first dips on submitted designs, but if they don't do something with it I'll put up the money to get it produced, just to have one myself. That's an offer.

My girlfriend likes 03.001. She also refers to you all as "type nerds." I won't tell you what she calls me.

There are a couple of others that have something going on, but again, nothing I would wear.

Of course, my closet is categorized by color, which is to say it is a study in various shades of black. Followed by various shades of grey, just to spice it up.

ok...i checked out every tee has been sent
untill now and here is my vote:

23.001, 23.003, 24.012

Also i think are remarkable:
25.006, 26.013, 26.016, 21.006, 21.006, 22.007, 16.003, 16.007.
(i found it difficult to judge the designs i sent, so i leave this to the rest of you...)

christos

Hmmm...better stuff is turning up now, I'll revise my top three after all the shirts have been posted.

> better stuff is turning up now

Can anybody say "weasels"?
They're not even that good.
Polished, but uninspired.

Very "professional".

hhp

some in this new batch are from last year

Yeah, god forbid we endorse professionalism. That would be a shame.

At the risk of igniting an Hrant, what's weasely about them?

> god forbid we endorse professionalism.

Not [a] god, but common decency.

The designs aren't weasely, the act of submitting them at the last minute to avoid giving inspirations to others (and possibly avoid losing the great glory of winning, I suppose) is highly selfish. Professional.

http://www.typophile.com/forums/messages/29/15095.html
(Monday, September 15, 2003 - 5:05 pm)

Of course some of them aren't guilty of that.

hhp

Common decency? So I guess it's Jared's fault? He should have made it a three-day contest. But I guess then we'd be jumping all over the people who submitted designs on day three, wouldn't we?

I don't think it's right to presume that those who submitted at "the last minute" (but within the timeframe prescribed from the outset) did so with the intention of playing their cards close to their chests.

You make a lot of assumptions, Hrant, and from them a lot of judgements. That's pretty sloppy.

You also have a tendancy, I have noticed, to draw passive associations (implying an equation of selfishness and professionalism, for example). I understand this as a debating technique (i.e. peppering one's argument with subjective definitions which, if left unchallenged, become misconstrued as factual or accurate), but I'd sooner label that tactic as "weasely" than assign such a moniker to those whose motivations you presume to - but could not possibly - know.

You really ought to clean it up a bit.

>> and possibly avoid losing the great glory of winning,
I suppose

I would guess that a majority of entrants in any kind of competition
set out to win the thing (focus on destination) while others are content
to chew on scenery (focus on the journey). Some entrants are able
to pull off A + B, especially if they enjoy what they are doing.

Personally, I fall in with the majority (wanting to win) but I'm happy with
the journey, too...the creative exercise, an excuse to play in Illustrator,
and a chance to express appreciation for Typophile, which for
two years has been a steady fan on the typefire.


Hrant, did you enter to "win the thing"?

bj

Why would it be Jared's fault?

> I don't think it's right to presume that those
> who submitted at "the last minute" ... did so
> with the intention of playing their cards
> close to their chests.

Come on, dude, look at the numbers: the highest number of entries on a single day was 16, and most days were single-digit. On the 29th: 56 entries. On the 30th: 87.

But -like I said- I don't think that everybody who submitted at the last minute was a weasel. Some decided late. Some are perfectionists. Probably around half are weasels.

> draw passive associations

I didn't realize I was being passive, sorry:
People who submit an entry to a contest like this at the last minute in order to avoid others drawing inspiration from their submissions (which can hurt them, but does benefit the organization they're supposedly trying to help) are following the ideals of a society where so-called "professionalism" is deemed more valuable than common decency. And "professionalism" entails not giving the competition any advantage. Is that clear/n enough?

If a weasel wins, he should at least admit to his tactics afterwards.

> Hrant, did you enter to "win the thing"?

No, my chances are so low that that wouldn't be a good use of my time*. I submitted within a day after having the Idea, and I participated because I: need the practice; wanted to see people's feedback (which is better when it's an anonymous piece) to refine myself; wanted to do my part for Typophile - kinda like my paid membership.

* This does not mean however that if one's chances are better it's more justifiable being a weasel.

hhp

28.021 KICKS

> I don't think it's right to presume that those
> who submitted at "the last minute" ... did so
> with the intention of playing their cards
> close to their chests.

It's just human nature to wait until the last minute. Ask any design organization (or the TDC if you feel more comfortable) on what day they receive most of the entries

As long as we're clear that it's bad for Typophile.

hhp

> As long as we're clear that it's bad for Typophile.

I agree. It takes away from the collaborative and sharing nature of the site.

I don't think there was any surprise on my part that the majority of the entries came in during the final 2-3 days. That's typical for a design competition of this nature, and certainly was true last year. I'm not one to presume that anyone is doing so simply to gain a competitve edge. Most designers are busy spending the majority of their time on client work, so putting together a design for Typophile requires some extra time somewhere. In the end, the judges will consider all entries at the same time for their artistic and creative merit, not for whether they jumped the gun and got in early or barely skimmed in before the deadline.

And while I'm here. I gotta say Thanks. It's always very exciting to do this contest and to see the wealth of talent that rallies together to create something great for the Typophile community. You cats inspire me.

No way, the biggest thanks goes to you two for all the effort!

hhp

Hrant,

By passive I was referring to your argument structure: "...the act of submitting them at the last minute to avoid giving inspirations to others (and possibly avoid losing the great glory of winning, I suppose) is highly selfish. Professional."

There is a passive implication that "selfish" = "professional" and I think such an equation is simply untrue and unfair.* I am a professional, I also teach design, mentor, lecture, write and volunteer. All of these (including professional practice) are acts of collaboration (i.e. the sharing of knowledge and ideas). Does the fact that I am financially compensated for these efforts make me selfish? Any reasonable person would agree that it does not. Hopefully you will too.

Further, you can't possibly presume to know people's motivations for submitting later rather than sooner. As Jared and Armin have both pointed out, it's more a function of procrastination than anything. To say that 50% of us are weasels is arbitrary and ill-considered.

And rude.

Like many, it now seems, I submitted my entries in the waning days of the entry period not to keep them secret, but because that's when I had time to do so. That's the whole idea behind a 30-day submission window. If anything, the only disrespect is not to the other contestants, but to poor Jared and Co. who must format and post the onlsaught of submissions while being bombarded with salvos of "where's my entry?" from all sides.

So let's get some perspective, agree that this is a fun contest and that we are all thankful for the efforts of the organizers and the contributions of the entrants.








*I do agree with you (as I seldom do) that there is crisis of professional ethics in this country, but that does not mean that the two terms are mutually exclusive, nor do I think this contest and the way in which entries were submitted are in any way a reflection of the issue.

>Most designers are busy spending the majority of their time on client work, so putting together a design for Typophile requires some extra time somewhere.

Well said, Jared. And throw in a bit of procrastination here or a bit of perfectionism there, and you get lots of "just-before-the-deadline" entries...

all this is why I had that suggestion whereby submissions go in on deadline but then there's a 2 week "revision" period. you'd avoid any "weasling" or "professionalism" what-ever you want to call it.

1. Simply it takes away from any ego-mania and gives chance to those last minute submissions to be absorbed into the collective for inspiration and thought on their own designs. people can tailor, revise, re-organize concepts - (*and only those concept #'s submitted*)

2. Proper collaboration (not pure competition) and everyone gets an overall look at the scope of work and can judge best themselves, and/or all together, where excatly the cream rises - and work on a few specifically through comment - while watching a slew of "revisions" go up based on feedback where all entries are up.

I suspect as it is now, that those last minute designs are probably completed by those who are most confident in their metier. perhaps in order to push the envelop, those who are less familiar with the elements of design/application/language/what-have-you, they can learn from those entries which are submitted last minute a.k.a those with too much work,clients,ect. on their hands to not share their vision earlier.

hmm I didn't explain that well - but I'm sure you guys get it. like round 2 of the process...y'no when the client picks from the comps, narrows it down but says change these 3 all up and givem back I'll pick 1.

Is the goal collaboration?

The goal is the optimal shirt for Typophile.

hhp

Agreed, Hrant. Quite professional of you.

:-)

Just looked at every entry, and after half a bottle of wine, my results are:

28.005 I love road signs!
24.012 represents this place well
3.001 it's a cute little t

There were several other very good designs, I'm glad I don't have to make the final decision.

I like 28020 and 28021 overally.

who did the illustrations?
is there more maybe online?

well I certainly got told the goal was collaboration after I mentioned that I knew some people who were holding out...everyone got angry over that post.

double post

Tanya, my two cents' worth:

i think that one can speak of collaboration when someone is posting their font for a crit and gets tips or comments from others, or when someone posts a tech question and someone else answers... but I'm not sure that a contest can be collaborative... of course this contest is an exception to other contests in that everyone gets to see the entries as they are posted, which is rather nice... so maybe I'm wrong and there *is* a certain collaborative process going on here, too.

i love 28020 and 28021, it must be the winner, very great shirt!!! i want buy this shirt for me!
Tell me if its possible...

Thanx

Legui

09001 BLURSQUARES - i think is most reasonable - good concept good translation.

03001 LOLLIPOP - good shirt - i think just that less people would actually wear it than 09001 because of it being more illustrative.

29003 HORIZONTAL SPLIT - simple and clean - to me its a bit to californian but i think its just so straight (in a positive way)

28020 and 28021 ILLUSTRATIVE - are nice but to little typophile...maybe

29030 SWING - the back is a bit pathetic like these "no fear" tshirts - sorry. but front i like a lot, simple modification but very nice.
29042 LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD - i just love the idea of having it in the belly, though it has not so much to do with typophile.

30026 STRANGE GREEN SHAPES ON YELLOW - i just cant get ridd of it i love the shapes and the color and the arrangement though i would never wear this hardcore-yellow.

05001 TYPOPHILE DEVIL - i would like it if the back would have nothing on it. too illustrative...devil and then there is a devil on it thats too little inbetween happening to me.

19010 WHITE FIRE - i like it. i just think it would have been better if typophile would be on the back it seems to me it is a bit unluckily placed.

13005 LOOK ITS A TYPOPHILE - i like it and could imagine i wear it - especially the back is nice. makes me smile.

30033 PINK PRICETAG ON GREEN - i like it technically but would never wear it - its clean thats it but that really isit.

14.003
29.003
16.007

If I should own or even wear T-shirt, it would certainly be 14.003...
I find it simple and sophisticated!

What

I don't know about everyone else, but for me this whole thing has been great fun - submitting a T, seeing what others have come up with, reading the comments on everybody's T including my own, comparing and commenting myself. Thanks to Jared and Joseph!

One of the interesting things to me has been the differences not just in taste, but also in what qualities the winner should have. I wonder how divided the judges will be!

My taste is more to the classic than the hip. Leaving out my own design, here are some honorable mentions:

26.02, with the cocktail glass, is the best of the humorous ones.

30.70, with the quotes that upon a distance read 'typophile' is the cleverest visual play.

7.001 is great as pure typography, but somehow doesn't work as a T.

28.030 is the best as far as saying in a phrase and a picture what Typophile is about. But somehow the lower case 't' that stars is not cute enough.

2nd runner up: 24.008. 'Unique letter chic'

1st runner up: 30.006 the white on black hands making a 'T'

And the grand prize winner according to one typophile:

14.003. The White fleuron on red, the minimal 'typophile' on back.

As I said when it first appeared, it is simple, beautiful, and simply beautiful.

What I find fascinating about this one is that the designer didn't do much; he or she just had a sense of the right thing, and supreme confidence to do it.

(The designer may have drawn the fleuron so that it works on a T, in which case more was done that is evident; but it looks effortless.)

I may wrong on this, but I am guessing that only a designer with very long experience would think of and have the confidence to submit something so simple and elegant.

Inspired by Jared's birthdays graph, my observations of Typo Tee Two:

Just got back from a holiday en Mexico. All I can say is
I'm loving a lot of the new entries from the last few days.

___
Christopher, you're an ambassador for design.

Revised top three, oh okay, top five:

30.072
28.002
29.008
26.002
19.010

But I do really like 26.002

My personal faves. (Sorry, this has turned into my top 10.)

30.075 - Original type. Love how the yp makes a heart.

29.001 - 72pts Helvetica and Times comparison. (I agree
with others that the back needs to be cleaned up.)

22.007 - Anatomy of a foundry type A

24.004 - Letraset. This needs to be about 60% of it's
current size.

24.012 - The Type ID shirt.

28.005 - Gas. Food. Type. Enough said.

29.043 - Neurosis kerning shirt.

30.014 - KERN. The hand quality of this is great. (This one
looked great last year too.)

30.059 - Blackletter "Helvetica." Love this for its simplicity.
It's also a play off the old "Helvetica" shirt set in Times. (The
back needs to be simplified.)

29.030 - Typophile swash. Nicely done, without being overdesigned.

How could I leave out 24.008? Hand-drawn goodness.

My personal, favourites, so far.:

# 001 > 24.008 ( As Joseph mentioned right above.. )
# 002 > 30.022 ( I would prefer just the front image.. )
# 003 > 28.014

( There are a few others, i really like, but right now,
these are the beloved ones.. I am in the mood for a
handdrawn / custom shirt.. )

> I am in the mood for a handdrawn / custom shirt.

Then please check out Chirophile.com...

hhp

I thought that this would happen..
I've woken the Monster, hmm, no, the Master..

Just right after posting my reply, i thought about you
and your wise words, Mr. Papazian..

( And, as you can guess, i even checked for chirophile.com..
So this makes me a Typophool, then.. )

Each designer

interesting and I agree...when speaking from a business point of view (i.e. contests for NGO's, core, DesignExchange, and experiments). however previous threads encouraged me to think differently about the process when designing to promote the industry and especially when the host recipient promotes collaboration through its own structure.

it would be nice to try once at least...surely design by committee when the committee is well practiced can't be all that bad. We do it everyday on typophile with our colleagues professional projects in any case. I've not see a single case here where suggestions from the forums damaged the final piece.

man, it takes a long time to go through all those threads.
I noticed lots of designs that I hadn't noticed before.

there are about 10 desgins that I wrote down as "I like it, I'd wear it."

in no particular order, omitting my own entries, here are meeee

TOP 3


30.15 - I'd be very happy with this as the winner;
reminds me of something from Letterror.

30.059 - Helvetica Blackletter (see below)

23.001 - dripping fleuron. The back text needs to be
smaller and different tee color, imo. I can see how some
people might be a bit squeamish about this one.

PEOPLE