Ready … Set … FontStruct!
Competitions, News | afrojet | March 1st, 2010
Welcome to the first-ever FontStruct competition
The 2010 Winter Olympics have come to a close but the memories of daring triple axles, stratosphere-surfing Double McTwists, and barnstorming bobsled runs are still fresh in our minds. In the spirit of Olympic world-wide fellowship we are thrilled to kick off our first-ever FontStruct competition.
Competition brief:
This is a friendly competition amongst FontStructors to see who can create the best sports themed FontStruction. To enter, you must create and publish a new FontStruction that plays into the world of sports, athletics and competition. You can draw inspiration from your favorite sport, your favorite team, your favorite athlete, your favorite jersey, — whatever! Whether you want to create a slab serif or a script, a dingbat or a pictogram, we’d love to see it. If you think your submission has any kind of sports application then GO FOR IT!
If sports isn’t your thing, don’t worry. We want to keep the competition broad and encourage all FontStructors to join in on the fun. Keep in mind there are numerous examples of typefaces in the world that are not specifically designed for sport but work well in that context. Look no further then the recent Winter Olympics, where the Vancouver Organizing Committee chose the stylish Neo® Sans and the modular BD Brick as their primary and secondary typefaces.
For more sport type inspiration, check out: the Sports tag on FontStruct and my recent blog post on FontStructors and their love of sport. You’d also do well to browse through a few of FontShop’s hand-picked lists. See: Sports, Collegiate Athletics, and Sports Scrips.
Competition time period:
March 1st – March 12th
Eligibility:
You must be a registered FontStruct user.
Competition rules:
1. Your submission(s) must be posted and made “public” between March 1st – March 12th. Although you are encouraged to share your submission(s) at any time between the 1st and the 12th, your FontStruction submission(s) must be public (marked “share with everyone”) no later then March 12th at 11pm PST. Additionally, your submission(s) must remain public until March 19th in order to give the judges enough time to review all qualifying entries.
2. Your submission(s) must be tagged with a “SportsComp” tag. (For fairness, during the competition time period (March 1st – March 12th) no FontStruction with the “SportsComp” tag will be awarded a Top Pick or be available for a Featured FontStruction pick)
3. Your submission(s) must be downloadable. If your FontStruction breaks the FontMortar, the submission will be disqualified.
4. Your submission must be a newly posted FontStruction. Simply adding the “SportsComp” tag to an already existing font is strictly prohibited.
5. For each submission, you must post at least one sample image in the comments of the FontStruction.
6. FontStruct cloning is permitted but the judges will be looking for original work.
7. You may enter as many FontStructions to the competition as you like.
8. This is a friendly competition. Cheering, favoriting and fun banter is encouraged but cruel and uncivil behavior will not be tolerated.
Licensing:
No rules regarding licensing. You may choose any Creative Commons license you like for your FontStruction.
Judging:
All qualifying FontStructions will by judged by the FontStruct staff.
Formal judging period:
March 13th – March 19th.
Winner announcement:
Winners will be announced in a FontStruct Blog post on Monday, March 22nd, 2010.
Awards:
Gold, silver, and bronze medals. Judges will determine winners and medal order.
Prizes:
Gold medal wins a copy of the coveted FontBook by FontShop International. An amazing prize this. FontBook is the most complete digital type reference in the world. Since 1991, “the big yellow book” has been the trusted friend of designers, typographers, advertisers, manufacturers, publishers, historians, and anyone else who uses type.
Silver & bronze medal win t-shirts from the FontStruct Shop. Winning this t-shirt will greatly simplify your wardrobe as you’ll never want to leave the house without wearing FontStruct close to your heart.
In addition, all medal winners will have their winning FontStructions posted as Featured FontStructions for two weeks starting March 22nd.
Have a question? Leave me a note in the comments and I’ll get it answered.
Ready…Set…FontStruct!
gee whiz. you mean i have to think up another sports themed font? oh, man :)
– funk_king — March 1, 2010 #
I’ve got a fontstruction in the works that has a sports theme to it. Would it be possible to enter it when it’s done, or do I need to create a new one?
– Lex Kominek — March 1, 2010 #
@funk_king: Heh. I expect no less then half a dozen submissions from you. :P Seriously though, I can’t wait to see what you come up with.
@Lex_Kominek: Enter it. If it’s a FontStruction you haven’t shared publicly before, then you’re good.
– afrojet — March 1, 2010 #
Great competition! Great prizes! I’m going to enter as soon as I find an inspiration. Hey, wait, I’ve come up with a couple of fonts already as I’m writing this. I’ll just hang a “do not disturb”-sign on my door and get going.
– CMunk — March 3, 2010 #
As the competition draws to a close, and despite taking part in it, I can’t help but wondering just exactly what is a sports-themed font(struction)? Apart from the obvious choices, such as incorporating symbols from the sport of choice into font, and although you may not want to use some fonts, couldn’t any font be used in sports application? What I’m trying to understand is, what makes a particular font a bad choice for sports application? Maybe I should be asking this (these) question over on typhophile?
– thalamic — March 11, 2010 #
I have also been a tad confused about exactly how some of the entries are ‘sport-themed’ … other than by association with a sport related sample. Many of the entries are beautiful designs – but could work just as well in any context.
– p2pnut — March 15, 2010 #
It is true, any font could be used on a sport associated design, but I think a Sport Font, is one that typically shouts “sports”. Whether that be motor racing, football, ice hockey or what ever.
There are some fonts that we will always associate with with motor racing (Led, italics, speed lines etc), and due to the history of the game the same applies to Football, as the players names and numbers need to be as specific style to be read by the crowd and other players.
Also Score Board fonts on computers or old school manual plates is another strong association with sport.
– djnippa — March 15, 2010 #
This is indeed a good question. I, for myself, tried to see the opposite way :)There are fonts who are hard to associate with sports. For example funk king’s “gear bits”…which is cute, but not very sporty.
– kix — March 15, 2010 #