Hi - here's a concept I had. I apologize for the late submission - this contest slipped by me so I didn't see it until this morning. ANYWAY - my concept is based off of first/second century Christians and how they would meet in secret. To mark a place they would meet at, they would scratch symbols into clay/wood/mud. I tried to replicate that with the hand-drawn font (which I created to match the style/feel of the graphic) The image represents the hiding of Christianity/support in the coffee bean . I've limited the color palette so that it could easily be adapted to "quick applications": stamps, stickers, screen printing, etc.
I thought a more cost-effective design (single, flat color) would be better for you, as it would allow you to produce low-cost merchandise so you can maintain higher profits to benefit the organization. It also seemed to fit well with the message/concept.
Thanks for the design. We do like the simplicity of it and are intrigued with some of the possibilities you could do with the design if you had a little more time to be creative and work on it.
can you elaborate a little on what else you'd like to see? Or what you think might be lacking? Should I work more on text or would you like more added to the graphic?
ALSO - I noticed I made a typo (horrible...I can't believe I missed it!), so I've re-uploaded a version with UNDERGROUND spelled correctly.
Thanks for the info. We like the graphic and text. As far as text goes, maybe adding some color (possibly a red star with black text), but overall we like it a lot. As far as begin creative, feel free to change up the graphic some. We've looked through your portfolio, and you have a lot of creative designs. We aren't sure what you could do with it, but we like things with what you've done for the Einstin's 251 and the drawn type images (like the Welsh Rabbit, Tipy's Taco House, and Bicycle Gallery).
Hi :) Here's another idea I had...sort of a Chinese propaganda poster. The steam is a dove...symbolic of how, without the coffee (funding), there wouldn't be steam (the dove = mission work) The style of the cup in the high-contrast/harsh propaganda-style contrasts with the flowing lines of the steam in the same way that the rigid culture contrasts with the caring culture of discipleship.
I'll keep thinking, but I ad this idea during dinner and decided to knock it out while it was fresh in mind. Thanks again! josh
Thanks for the design. I like it a lot, and I'll run it by some of the guys on the board tomorrow. It fits a lot with our vision. I like the blending of the bright colors and the subtleness of some of the aspects of it. The subtle elements are nice because we have to be subtle when we're over there doing mission work. I also think it would look good on a coffee label (which will definitely be one of our print media pieces).
Feel free to shoot any more designs you come up with, they are definitely appreciated.
Hey Brian - it was brought to my attention by the community that a cup with a star on it was already entered into the contest, so I'm not able to do the same. I've uploaded another design - #112 - in the meantime, and will continue to work on ideas for the cup (I'm not happy with the circle...it's more of a placeholder until I have the time to do something more meaningful...I should have something this afternoon) I don't think the star being on the cup is an integral part of the design, so it should be easy to replace. Sorry for any inconvenience.
No problem about the star. I was talking to one of the older guys on our board last night and the star was the one thing he critiqued on the design anyway; he's older and said it looked too communist for him. Overall, we love the design though.
As far as something completely different, have you thought about any designs that portray the underground concept. I like the ichthus concept with the coffee bean, but maybe there is some other ways to show it as well.
We're definitely pleased with the designs though. All the comments are just ways to hopefully spark you and give you some extra input.
I can see the star as being a potential "sticking point". Designing for churches can be difficult - you have to bridge the gap between younger, more progressive members and the older, possibly more conservative members. Having done a number of campaign t-shirts for my church over the years, I've learned that lesson QUITE well :D
I actually had another idea for treatment of the cup just now (I'm about a third of the way through it...) that I'll submit this morning.
I'll continue to think about the other design direction and try to have something for that soon, too. I was also thinking about something with the XP symbol (conjoining of the greek letters CHI & RHO) That was another (more prevalent, if I remember) symbol of the first/second-century church - though maybe not as well-known. (I studied in Greece during school and remember those being pointed out carved into stone on houses in Corinth & Ephesus)
Thanks a TON for the comments/feedback. It's great to have - all very helpful & most welcome! josh
#113 Hey Brian - here's that alternate cup treatment. If you decided that you DID want the star, I could apply it to the flag. (as you mentioned - and I agree - the star may be carrying the theme TOO far for comfortability)
Looking at the two, I think the red cup is still cleaner/more succinct. (and it draws a better contrast between the mission efforts and the countries where they occur)
Hey Josh, thanks for the extra ideas. I'm with you in that I like the red cup more. Personally I like the star on the cup, but at the same time we don't want to isolate any of our market because of the design. So yeah, I can totally see where that is a tough challenge for being a designer.
I like the Chi Rho idea. It was definitely more prevalent after Constantine (gotta love seminary classes). Some of the symbolism might be lost on people who don't know their church history, but I'm fine with that too.
Thanks for the ideas and if I think of anything or hear of any symbols that might work I'll let you know.
I'm not all that concerned with the 4th century instead of the 1st at all. And if I had a dollar for everything I've forgotten in those classes I'd be a rich man (and I work at a church and SHOULD be using it every day).
we had a mandatory Bible department class each semester...so every bit I've forgotten is still COSTING me money. haha (and will be for a few more years)
#114 This isn't exactly what I had in mind with the XP idea, but I tried it and liked the subtlety & organic feel of it. I still have a couple ideas on using the XP more closely tied to coffee and entry #112 that I'm working on. They need to be thought out a little more though.
#114 in case it's TOO subtle...the tree/sunlight/roots form the overlapping X & P symbol. (I'm pretty sure you saw...but - I figured I might as well say it in case)
Yes, I have had several of those classes as well. They were the weed-out classes at my university, which always meant they weren't much fun.
I like the XP symbol with the ground. It is definitely subtle, and has that gritty organic feel to it. I'll try and bounce it off some of the guys on the board tonight and get their thoughts.
Personally I still like the look of #112 the most, however the others are great entries as well.
Thanks for the work on this. I've been getting the input of some of the other guys on staff with me and they are very impressed with your work as well.
Sorry it took a little while to get back to you; Valentine's Day and all. I went to Hardin-Simmons University, which is a small Baptist school out in West Texas. It was a great place to spend 8 1/2 years... What about your university?
I've heard back from a couple of the guys on our board, and they agree with me that their favorite designs are #112 and #97. Definitely if you have an inspirational spark, and come up with something new, shoot us your design, but we thought we'd try and narrow down the designs we like so you can focus on those.
As far as the center of the cup goes, something simple like a cross might look good; if nothing else as a place holder and something I can bounce off the guys on the board and see if it is too Jesus-y for them.
Thanks for all the hard work. We definitely appreciate it.
no problem at all! My family did our v-day stuff sunday afternoon or else I'd have been in the same boat.
Oh yeah - I know Hardin-Simmons...I went to Harding in Arkansas. I think we played you guys in a few things (I did on of my internships with the PR/design department and remember clipping H-S guys out of a few images for direct mail - haha)
thanks for the feedback! I'll focus on those designs today then and should have some variations to look at this afternoon :) thanks again josh
The only difference is color, but I wanted to show how easily (and cheaply) you could customize various blends and other marketing by just changing color. The scratch-y art style complements the ink stamp background; it gives it sort of a checkpoint-clearance feel.
#119 / #120
On these two I tried a cross and a coffee bean. I also tried a some different fonts than the ranked version.
Let me know if that spurs any new thoughts/ideas that you'd like me to try. Thanks josh
nope - sorry - I was thinking of Ouchita Baptist. I knew about H-S because my youngest sister went to Abilene Christian (before transferring in to Harding)
Hey Josh, thanks for the new designs. I think I still like the font from #112. I'll bounce it off the other guys and see what they think.
I also like both the cross and the coffee bean on the mug, so I'll talk to the guys about that too. I think I like the cross a little more for our situation because of our market with churches. It just makes everything a little more obvious. I'll try and post again once I talk to the other guys and get their input.
And I know of Harding, but we never played them. I do know a lot about ACU though. I spent a lot of time over there because, supposedly, the girls were cuter than the ones at Hardin-Simmons.
And I like the ink stamp from a marketing perspective, but I like the simplicity of the plain black from #97. I think as far as printing on business cards and labels, #97 would fit better than the ones with the stamps. As of right now, I'm leaning towards one of the cup/dove designs, and I think most of the guys on the board are too; however they've also said they would be just fine with #97.
Sorry it has taken a little while to get back to you on designs. Wednesday nights working at a church are a little busy. We're having a tough time deciding between the fish/coffee bean design (#97) and the dove/coffee cup. Would it be possible to put the font from #112 (the original) on to the designs with the cross and the coffee bean? I think right now we are leaning toward the cross, but we would like to have time to figure it this weekend.
Thanks again for the designs. I'm going to give the guys on the board a couple more days to look at them and then we'll make our decisions. Thanks for all the work on this. You're input on the contest definitely made it worthwhile for us to do this.