As you can see above, we have chosen a winner for our logo contest. We had many excellent submissions on 99designs, and would absolutely recommend that anyone in need of a design give it a try. It was addictive checking everyday to see what new designs had been posted. Even though we had over 100 designs submitted we kept going back to the green and blue knot. This design’s simplicity succeeded in capturing the two aspects of our trip, traveling and research, and was a front-runner from the start of the competition. It’s also a reader favorite. Many thanks to all of you who helped us narrow down the options – we really appreciate all of your thoughtful feedback.
Different lists kept along the way seem to be a pretty popular thing for travel bloggers to do, especially as a final post at the end of a trip. So I thought Amy and I should think through what we want to keep track of along the way so we can start from the beginning. Some of the lists are pretty standard, counties traveled to, books read and summaries of the different types of transportation used. Some of the lists can be a bit obscure, but I find those the most interesting. I marvel that the authors had the foresight to keep track of that information from the beginning. Either that or they made it up after the fact. Some of my favorites include Globe Decker’s two universal souvenirs that were spotted in 37 of 40 countries and the 27 kinds of fish eaten by Aaron and Deanna.
Below is my proposed list for Amy and me. Let me know what you think in the comments below, especially if you think I missed anything important we should be tracking from the beginning.
- Continents, countries & cities visited
- Number of trips in/on: airplanes, boats, trains, animal caravans
- Total miles traveled
- Different types of animals eaten
- Books read or listened to (I love audio books)
- Countries where we saw renewable energy being utilized (windmills, solar panels, geothermal, etc)
- Days snowboarding (Keith) lodging (Amy) – this is likely to be the same number
- Sporting events attended
While I am sure that everyone is enamored with the demonstration of my amazing graphic design and skillful Inkscape software abilities that are showcased in the logo on this site I was never quite happy with it. I played with Inkscape for hours, but at some point you really just need to throw in the towel and admit when you need to call in the pros. But the problem is I don’t have the budget for a big (or any) agency.
So that is when I turned to 99 Designs. For about $250 ($200 goes directly to the designer) you can have thousands of designers submit their ideas. It is very simple and I recommend you check out the site if you have any upcoming design needs. After drafting a simple brief with only five sections; project title, brand, about you, target and requirements, you sit back and wait for the designs to come rolling in. I also want to point out to my marketing friends out there, that three of the sections; about yourself, target and requirements are limited to 1,400 characters or 200 words each – forcing you to keep it single minded, no one likes a 5 page brief.
Also for my agency and design friends, this should be a little scary. 99designs estimates for a project like the one I am running we will get 20-30 unique designs. This equates to an average of $6-$10 average cost for each design submitted. Not sure how long these designs are taking to create but even if it is 30 minutes, that is less than $20/hr if you win an average number of contests. And even with that the designers are very responsive to feedback and really take great pride in their work. I have been really happy so far. The best part is the entire thing is completed in 7 days, talk about fast turnaround!
But now I need your help, we have had 34 submissions, which represent ~10 unique designs so far. Click here to see them all and leave your comments and favorites here. I look forward to your feedback.
Below is one of the front runners right now; but there still are 4 days remaining in the contest and more designs are being submitted all the time.
Image copyright of kj359; designer on 99designs.com
