Discussion How do you vote for designs in competitions?

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In the recent non-AFL competition threads one of the most common questions is "How come people aren't voting for my design" closely followed by "I can't believe XXX is winning"

As there is a difference in talent and ideas on this board I'm curious as to why people vote for a certain design? Do people vote purely on how professional and how clean a design looks? Do people vote on the design concept even if the execution is lacking? Do people vote for their favourite designers? Something else maybe?

As a way of helping people learn and develop their skills I was wondering if people could offer their opinions on certain designs that have either underperformed or have raised questions in some of the recent non-AFL competitions (presently the ACFFL and FFL).
I will be putting forward individual designs at points in this thread and hope to get some constructive advice and reasons for and against.

 

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Design 1
Competition : The ACFFL Design brief :

You are to create a new football team based on ANY club from ANY other sport in the world....ANYTHING apart from an Aussie rules team.
They have to be in AFL Guernsey format. Entries must include: Home, Away, Heritage, Logo
Guernsey must have: Sponsors (if team does not have any give them some).

Submission : West Indies Cricket Team
Designer : Omegaville

This design meets the design brief and the home and clash jerseys are historically accurate in that they represent different eras of the West Indies cricket team. With the away being an inverse of the home.

The colours, as they were in real life, may not appeal to everyone and the execution may not be as polished as other designs in the ACFFL however.

 

[Craegus]

As there is a difference in talent and ideas on this board I'm curious as to why people vote for a certain design?

I will answer each question based on my voting reasons:

Do people vote purely on how professional and how clean a design looks?

I cannot say that this isn't a factor, sometimes those designs that are cleaner will just draw my eye more than those that are a bit rough.

Do people vote on the design concept even if the execution is lacking?

Absolutely I will, in some head to head competitions this is forced upon the voter, but if the design is deserving my vote in any competition it will get it.

Do people vote for their favourite designers?

100% no, I NEVER deliberately look at the designer before I vote, and even if I do happen to see it it does not affect my vote. My vote is purely design and execution based.

Something else maybe?

Basically my vote always goes to designs that catch my eye (positively), it won't matter if the design is basic or complex, nor who designed it, I will vote on it if I like it.

With all that being said, if people want specific critiques of their designs I am happy to review them in here (please post your design with any questions you want answered).

 

[Macca_]

Design, execution, wow factor.

 

[LadyPants]

Design > Execution for me

 

[Sam_23]

I vote for designs that are original and creative, yet simple and can become a design that instantly makes you think of that team. And of course, the jumper must look great. And when I vote I try to imagine the design on a jumper in real life.

 

[Sam_23]

With all that being said, if people want specific critiques of their designs I am happy to review them in here.

What about my ACFFL entry, I thought Id do better then I have because to me it is a simple, clean, easily indenrifiable and good looking design. I thought my execution was pretty good too, what do you reckon.

 

[Craegus]

What about my ACFFL entry, I thought Id do better then I have because to me it is a simple, clean, easily indenrifiable and good looking design. I thought my execution was pretty good too, what do you reckon.

Which one is yours? (See more proof I don't check to see whose design is whose).

 

[lmach]

Which one is yours? (See more proof I don't check to see whose design is whose).

Detroit Lions.

 

[Sam_23]

detroit lions

 

[Craegus]

What about my ACFFL entry, I thought Id do better then I have because to me it is a simple, clean, easily indenrifiable and good looking design. I thought my execution was pretty good too, what do you reckon.

Ok, well firstly the gold one really does nothing for me, it has no real heritage factor to it and for me it just feels thrown in because it had to be. I would have created something that related to this logo:

The home and away are good, I cant find many flaws, but they are probably hurting from the logo design guernsey. A simpler stripe pattern based on the clubs traditional designs probably would get more votes in this case.

 

[Sam_23]

Ok, well firstly the gold one really does nothing for me, it has no real heritage factor to it and for me it just feels thrown in because it had to be. I would have created something that related to this logo:

The home and away are good, I cant find many flaws, but they are probably hurting from the logo design guernsey. A simpler stripe pattern based on the clubs traditional designs probably would get more votes in this case.

I used gold for the heritage because that was their colours in there very first season.

 

[Craegus]

I used gold for the heritage because that was their colours in there very first season.

The Lions have never worn gold as a primary colour (it has only been blue), even when they were the Portsmouth Spartans they wore purple.

 

[Sam_23]

Off of sportslogos.net

 

[Craegus]

Off of sportslogos.net

Worn for one year in 1953 with the traditional blue jerseys and silver pants. The club was founded in 1930 as the Spartans (who wore purple), became the Lions in 1934 and have worn blue in all but 1 of those seasons (1948 wore maroon and black, also wore maroon away in 1950 but blue was worn at home).

Without getting into a major argument over this, basically what I was saying was that gold is not a colour that people identify with the team (even if they have worn it in the past).

 

[Greater Gattsby]

I like to think that I vote fairly. I look at four main things:
Classiness, colours, originality and execution.
By looking at these four things, I can often comfortably judge who I am going to vote for quite easily.

 

[Feraligatr]

The things I vote on are pretty much originality, how much the design appeals to me, the colours and presentation of the design.

 

[lmach]

I don't think really think about it, as soon as I look at the designs I instantly know which one I like better.

 

[Marlowe]

I just vote on what I think would pretty in real life.

 

[Mero]

I would say I vote based on what would be likely to be adopted as an actual jumper.
That's based on history, material, and template.
Execution comes into a bit, but mostly that's when people don't bother to get the colours right I mark them down.
EG Hawthorn is not Paint Yellow & Brown, it's Gold and Brown.
That usually translates into more experienced designers getting my votes, though this is not intentional.

 

[El_Scorcho]

Yep, good call mero

The first port of call for me is that it satisfies the design brief. Does it reflect the spirit of what the competition is asking for? Would it be a good choice if this competition was real life?

If it does, design and execution are next. I don't think you can put one ahead of the other, as execution is incredibly important in making a design work. A simple design can really shine executed well, and similarly a clever design can look dodgy if the execution is off.

It sucks that we don't all have photoshop, as it's harder to make a really polished design in paint, but it's definitely been done plenty of times in the past.

Thirdly, while we all agree simplicity is best in a footy guernsey, simple doesn't mean boring. You want to be able to say a lot while not overcrowding the guernsey. These are design competitions after all.

 

[Omegaville]

I would say I vote based on what would be likely to be adopted as an actual jumper.

This is what I consider when I vote in the "Fauxback" competitions - I use it to guide my designs too.
The voting doesn't reflect it though.