So here it is, after 2months of the OLP we’ve reached the who is the winner post. Its more than a little sad that the contest is coming to an end :(
But lets put on a brave face and reveal the happy news of our super great winners.
We’ll tell you lots more details over the coming days, but here is a little review of the last week and then the final rankings.
Firstly the results of the OLP vote (these are not the overall winners), here is your top eight
1. Labelheads & Pop Your Collar by Legofish and Netweight
A tie with 12% of the votes each
2. Spreadshirt TM by Japasa with 11%
3. The Signal by Laurent with 10%
4. Play with the forms by Lufograf with 8.8%
6. Molecular Goodness by thescientists 6.8%
7. Think Spreadshirt by Inadimova 6.7%
But there are a lot of different peoples opinions we had to take into account. In total we surveyed 6 groups of stakeholders in this project
1. You guys the OLP crowd
2. The panel
3. Our internal staff
4. Specific departments which have to work very directly with our brand - Brand & Comms (where I, Peter and Ami work) along with Graphics (where Carsten, Manuel and Greg) work and together we are the core team
5. Our end-customers (those that visit the site to create apparel for themselves and friends)
6. Our shop-partners (those that use our platform to run their own apparel business and make apparel to sell).
Our challenge was to take all your opinions into account and then make the best decision for our business. Its been a long and challenging process in which we’ve learnt a lot. Earlier in the week the core team myself, Ami, Peter, Carsten, Manuel, Jana (the CEO), Lukasz (Spreadshirts founder and now president) met to discuss the final shortlist and review all the votes that had come in from the different stakeholder groups. At the end of a long, tense meeting we were left with four logos, two groups of two that we felt happy in presenting to the Executive Management team who would make the final decision the next day.
Those four were:
Spreadshirt TM by Japasa
The Signal by Laurent
Play with the forms by Lufograf
Lovetab by Kimlarsen
So I immediately got on mail and the phone and invited them all to Leipzig for the unveiling. I could write a book about the saga that has turned out to be, but lets save it for another time. Anyway they are all here.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait back up a minute where were the popular community and panel picks Labelheads and Pop Your Collar? Well those two we debated on the longest.
Pop Your Collar
Great idea! As Frank said one of those why didn’t I think of it first ideas. But not everybody got it, take the words “Pop your collar” away and leave just the logo, in our tests not recognition for the collar wasn’t that high. It also felt maybe too generic. A few people raised concerns about the symbolism of putting a collar on somebody and we also felt that might not be taken positively.
Labelheads
Overall this was the most popular external and internal pick across the six stakeholder groups. We all love it we’ve made no secret about it. But we discussed whether it was really a logo, whether the people would be distinctive enough to be memorable if they were ever changing, whether this logo can work in all the setting it will need to (when we do advertising campaigns/co-operations with premium and more serious brands and partners).
We’re also a company that people use to make money, when they come to the site they have to get the feeling that we will pay their commission on time, or deliver a quality product which will last. Unfortunately we felt Labelheads moved us too far in one non-serious direction, a graphical corner that might not be relevant for future scenarios/directions we might take. We know you joke about OLP3, but it really isn’t planned. We want to adopt a logo for the long-term this time.
So with a heavy sigh we had to pass on Labelheads, but we’re delighted that it won Frank Pillers Innovativeness award which it thoroughly deserved.
So we were down to four, in two groups firstly: Spreadshirt TM & The Signal
Both strong stand-alone icons, full functioning and implementable logos.
As well as these two we had Play with the forms & Lovetab.
Neither felt like quite the finished article for us to use. Both highly customizable and personalizable something that could develop and evolve and be adapted by partners and for use in each area of our business. But perhaps the slightly riskier picks.
Jana presented both to the Executive Management Team the next day. Again she said it was a difficult decision but after a long discussion they opted for the second group Play with the forms and Lovetab. For the exact reasons listed above, it was felt that these could best evolve and grow with us and had the highest levels of customization, personalization and visualization of “your own label”.
Play with the forms getting across not just making apparel but all the ideas and design elements you can add to make it personal to you. Obviously still questions about its complexity, whether it could work in all the places it would need to and still be distinctive.
Lovetab similar qualities but with a simpler smaller area for customization nicely emphasizes the idea of handmade, but combined with the pixelated shapes like a heart emphasize the technological side of the process. Both similar, both great.
So we’re down from 2800 to just two…..And the winner is………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. … drum roll please ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Lovetab and Play with the forms!!!!!!!!!!
We just didn’t feel ready to seperate these two, their just so great and at this point equal. Rather than pick the wrong one and possibly regret the decision later we decided to declare them both the winner and upgrade second prize to match 1st.
Now our Graphics dept and Kimlarsen and Lufograf (if they wish) can work together with us to develop the two logos and then we’ll make a final, final decision which to pick in the coming month or more. This process will also be open and you can follow it here on the blog.
Congratulations to Kim and Nicolas!! You’ve both won
Or the second prize Wacom + €3000 its your pick. The CA interview will now be split between you both.
Also congratulations to Japasa and Laurent. We decided to reward Laurent 3rd and Spreadshirt TM was too great to not be rewarded so it receives an honorable mention/merit/credit/unofficial 4th place whatever you want to call it. We’re discussing the prize with Japasa at the moment so that he gets to pick something he really wants. We’ll reveal it here over the coming days.
We’re estatic with our two winners and the whole contest in general (Jana said she was overwhelmed by the response to the project and had a ball here talking with you all, shes been following closely as you’ve probably seen).
You’ve really astounded us with your creativity and we’re more than a little humbled. Thank-you for taking part, they’ll be plenty more happening on the blog in the coming weeks such as:
- Revealing the la Fraise community, ISO50 and Computerlove awards
- Photos and videos from the unveiling ceremony
- Watch us work on evolving the two winning logos
- Interviews with the winners
- The usual fun and games and reviews of the contest from the core team.
- A super secret project I’m still working on and hoping to reveal soon, maybe, perhaps, possibly which would involve you all if you wanted to take part.
Congratulations to Japasa, Laurent, Lufograf and Kimlarsen and all the other Grand Finalists that got so far. Thanks to everyone who took part over the past two months, you’ve been great. We’ll be on online to talk and reply to your comments/questions tomorrow, now we’re hitting the OLP aftershow bash with the winners in which all the 2800 entries will be beamed behind the bar the whole night through. Great.
Thanks again!!
@ adam
it was difficult to make choices but i am happy to see the finalist and the choice you made
congrat to every winner and also participant that made that contest really great :)
thanks
At the end they said…..(about LABELHEADS) “But we discussed whether it was REALLY a logo, whether the people would be distinctive enough to be memorable”.
Tsk tsk… the style rendition of LOVETAB & PLAY WITH FORMS are exactly the same as LABELHEAD.
What makes THEM think that these two winners are logo’s.? As I as look at the winning logo’s they are ILLUSTRATIONS.
Congratulations to the winners!
Obviously “Play with the forms” will evolve in a think bubble with different icons in it:)
I didn’t know that unfinished logos can win prizes…This is not a logo…because the logo is missing.
Anyway, good luck to Spreadshirt with finalizing the logos:)
Dear Adam,
I love you man!…I know your just doing your job.
The contest was really a hoot from biginning to end.
After two years of searching for the real identity of spreadshirt this is what it boils down too?
I felt that if the briefing was really that clear and to the point, spreadshirt would have SEEN more absolutely clear concise logo’s that really represent spreadshirt in what they do.
Second, the comments, remarks by the INTERNAL/EXTERNAL people of spreadshirt added confusion to the process. therefore,
sidetracking the thoughs of many others… and so.
The people that entered their ideas were influenced by these remarks and jumped on the words and cues.
It should have restricted influencial comments/remarks about the contest.
Heck, what i’m saying is….. TO MANY COOKS IN THE KITCHEN……… and you know what happend to the broth.! (soup) :-p
As I said before: NO ONE WINS IN BAD TASTE
Congrats to the winners. I was told a couple of days ago that I’m not in the top 4, but I didn’t know who was, and I must say I am somewhat surprised now with the choices. I would have bet a couple of days ago that “Think Spreadshirt” and “Pop Your Collar” would be in the top 4, and I genuinely feel disappointed that Ina Dimova and Netweight didnt make it.
In any case, it doesn’t take anything away from the winners. Well done and congratulations.
This is the beauty of design competitions, anybody can win and you never know who it’s going to be.
Wow! thats great for lugograf and kimlarsen.
I always felt play with forms will be a strong contender in the end, even with the size issue. To be honest, I didn’t expect lovetab to even be in the top 3 (though i was a fan of the first version) but I somewhat understand the choice.
What I’m skeptical about is picking two grand prize winners. You’re basically saying that you’re gonna take these two logos that, by themselves, are already somewhat complicated and merge them. HOW? WHY?
The first thing that popped into my head was like a frankenstein effect where different elements are stitched together.
This isn’t a critique, you’ve actually peaked my curiosity in this whole process. I’m curious about if and how you guys are actually gonna pull this off. So I’ll be tuning in to see the progress. I really wish you and the winning designers good luck in pulling this off.
Oh wait I gave it a second read and I guess I misunderstood what will happen to the two logos.
oh, is that a joke? two logos are the winners??? now spreadshirt doesn’t have a clear identity, sorry!
but still congrats to the both winners, it’s not their blame about this strange decision.
ahahaha…special end for the logo contest….the winners are unilever and something like a meltin pot of 3/4 different style( yoo good to see the pixel and the handmade)
…
yes, i’m surprise
In this case i’ll just offer my suggestion to the two winners:
@ Kimlarsem: Please get rid of the heart. I know a lot of people are into it and it does look good with that cross-stitch style but still, it’s such a common symbol with such specific sentiment that I don’t think represent a broad demographic. Like i said I was a big fan of the first version. When I first entered OLP and saw it, I immediately said to myself “that’s the logo to beat”, so I’d love for it to return to that kind of simplicity.
@Lugograf: Take out some of the smaller icons. Make a judgement on which one are bold enough to fill the space between the bigger ones and still be recognizable when scaled down. Also I’d like to see a different typeface. One that’s more integrated to the icon. ****Possibly make it fit inside the shirt along with the other icons and use a darker shade to make it stand out and readable****
Wow! And I only voted two times for my own logo, I swear! ^^
Congratulations to the winners! Especially to Japasa (dem ich in Leipzig gern die Hand geschüttelt hätte, aber irgendwie standen da so viele Leute um ihn rum ;).
Maybe it wasn’t all perfect but in the end I would say it was fun to “watch” the OLP and a great experience to be a part of it. So thanks Adam and the OLP-team!
yes it’s a surprising result ;-)
congrats to the winners;
special congratulations to Lufograf, who must be the happiest man of the universe tonight ^^
and of course to Laurent (i’m pretty happy for you dude, you know that!) ;-)
congrats!!!
I am disappointed shirtnerd, i was waiting for a new theory or an algorithm about why a winner win and loosers loose. :) in spite of, CONGRATULATION to the winners!
I’m surprise that you request more times to make a choice, lovetabs is a generic concept (maybe because its only generic in france? ), anyway its not my problem:)
Im sorry for “universal language”, my favorite grandfinalist , it was maybe a too much ambitious work and sorry Muamer you were not cited for a collaboration prize with Spreadshirt TM ;)
Congratulations to all the winners :)
congrats everybody! but seeing the winners I’m wondering if It was a LOGO (I mean, if a simple icon was requested throughout the contest by SS staff comments) or finally if it’s a new BRAND identity? Who never knows :-)
Wow, I was quite sure Inadimova would’ve won in the end… Well, I like the finalist logos anyway, particularly Lovetab. The variations from the last version are great. Congratulations!
And the top commentator izzzzzzzzz..
Mr Azzaoui!
Bravo à t♥us!
:)
…:::!!! Congratulations to the winners !!!:::…
((((: I think you are surprised too…? :))))
@ Spreadshirt:
Yes you tell me before that I am not in first 4… But now…Yes I am surprised too !?!?!?!?!?!?
:)))
@ Adam:
Who will win in: aaaarrrrrgh Category ???????????????? That will be something! :))) ?
@ Japasa:
Before I think how “Spreadshirt TM” must be a winner of this OLP….really…..but now ?!?!
Hmmm…
At least you win something ….that is cool too…good idea from the SS team to reward your logo (somehow that is a must!) :) But when I look at this 4 I still think how your logo design deserve much more…..but that is only my opinion…:))) Anyway, congratulations man !
@ Ikou:
Ohh, yes I know what you thinking… It is interesting that you remember that far :)))))))
Yes maybe that may be some kind of collaboration :) maybe :) lol ? Thank you man, and get ready for CPLUV prize :)))
@ Inadimova:
Hope that ISO50 award goes to you…good luck!
(I was thinking that your logo must be in first 4…)
@ other Finalist:
Nice competition people, nice to meet you :)
( Sorry…I do my best with this English grammar )
@ All of you:
I have one really nice logo for sale…Anyone interested ??? lol :)))
@ My self:
Go sleep maaan :)))
Peace & Love !
Thanks for all the love (and hate), it has been a fun journey… and surprising. Believe me, you’re not the only ones shocked.
Peace
Fantastic! Well done to the winners, Kim & Lufo - I’ll be interested to see, since you both won, whether it’s posible to come up with one idea incorporating both of your ideas/designs. It is definitely worth talking about, at the very least, and since this we have a community now and our opinions count why not change the rules which “are more like guidelines, really” and come up with a design which reflects our beautifully rich and diverse community? Please do it, you know you want to!!! :D
and the winners are really lucky winners :)
@muamer @japasa @ikou @ina @kimlarsen
i thought they wanted these kind of logos for winner but finally that is a big surprise
yes it’s a surprising result ;-)
congrats to the winners;
special congratulations to Lufograf,laurent, japasa and kimlarsen see you next year for the next contest :)
i hope so.
@all: thank you very much! :) I also congratulated them in leipzig. kim, nicolas and laurent deserved their prizes!:) the weekend was really fantastic! it was really cool to talk with spreadshirt and finalists!
you surely know that there is always big surprise in life. For example: I expected that ina dimova wins but I saw other result of spreadshirt.
@netweight: damn, I did not meet you^^
@azzaoui: I do not believe that olp 1.6 will come back because spreadshirt’s slogan “your own label” is plain for the customers now and spreadshirt has strong identity by support of this slogan…
congratulations to the winners !!
i am sure the love-tab will fit nicely with the red-tab promoted by the new levis community ;)
( http://red-tab.com/ ) … depending on spreadshirt’s strategic plans for the future, this might actually be a very clever choice ;)
i think it is extremly cool that “play with forms” as a liquid logo made it to the finalists, though i do believe that a crossover of a liquid and a rigid logo (call it riquid, or ligid - whatever you like) would have been way more powerful …
just take Laurent’s universal donut (the orange signal) and dissolve it into some kind of “play with forms” - and you have both - a universal signal that can flow and spread on all kinds of surface media, dissolving into a sparkling individuality of symbols when depicted at larger sizes, presenting just ‘the orange ring’ when shown en miniature…
i also think, that it is really important to stress the Imagination-aspect, rather than just the customization- or the lovable-aspect of spreadshirt.
a rigid/liquid logo could show the way to a future of mass-customization driven by user inspiration and imagination. it could mark the “phase transition” to a completely new and extremly flexible way of doing design and marketing. the future of mass-customization is not about the users’ freedom of selecting from predefined modules, it is about the freedom to define and create those modules themselves !!
take a look at this fantastic illustration from the legendary Codex Seraphinianus, and you will immediately grasp what I mean:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cottoncandyhammer/231212703/
it has everything in it: universality, transcendence, and the phase transition from rigid symbolism to vivid individualism. this is the true molecular godess. she is a shockwaverider on the wave of creativity, riding on the crest that seperates order from chaos…
I’m just back from Leipzig (I love this town now !) :-)
What a nice week-end !
Firts, I want to thank sincerely Adam, Ami, Eike and Jana for their friendly welcome, and particulary Adam who organizes the trip ! It wasn’t easy, but we do it !
All the Spreadshirt is very cool ! I will never forget you and this so unique day ;-)
Second : to meet Lufograf, Japasa and Kim was a very nice surprise ! I hope to have some news from you soon. Really ! Ok you are very talented, every know. But I am very happy to have discover human beings behind your logos and comments !
For me, it’s more important than the contest :-)
Thanks again :-)))))
Really agree with you, Laurent. Nice to meet you too :)
Nice to meet you all too, and glad you had fun :)
I like your ideas shirtnerd, I’ll pass them along to Manuel and if Laurents happy to we can also publish the Signals Vector? Then if you want to put your ideas into action your welcome to and we’ll show them here.
yes yes! :D It was very important to exchange our experiences to refine our design skills by our competition… spreadshirt is really really great and I respect his team and organization! mostly ami, adam and pete mostly spent time for upload of 2800 logos… sound crazy number.. thanks again! :)
maybe we should meet us in future in france to eat fondue vaudoise with baguette and red wine… I am crazy about that. And then go with snowboard or ski in val thorens or in les deux alpes… ;) Mostly I like french ski slopes… ;)
Yep - I would agree with that.. Thanks for the line.