Drew Wheeler Open-Invitational X-Division Graphic Battle Royal

[Drew Wheeler]

I only started watching TNA at the end of 2008 as they didn't have it in NZ and It took me several months to decide to get Foxtel...

Sorry.

Nah man, I'M SORRY. I feel truly bad you'd never seen that video haha.

Also, anyone who still wants to enter the first round of competition, entries are being accepted til 11:59 PM Tonight!

[livid]

11:59 PM what? (Eastern, Central, etc, etc.) I might enter if I have the time.

[DJ Ice]

11:59 PM what? (Eastern, Central, etc, etc.) I might enter if I have the time.

Whatever the time zone in Tennessee is I think

[Lord Nibbler]

I don't know the first thing about basketball, but I thought I'd throw an entry in.

[livid]

11:59 PM what? (Eastern, Central, etc, etc.) I might enter if I have the time.

Whatever the time zone in Tennessee is I think

It's a moot point though since I didn't actually have the time to do anything.

[EddieG]

I think you still have time now, it's not midnight for like another hour and a half in some places.

[Rocky]

It's just 8pm, Saturday evening here, so I have no idea what's going on

If I may, I'd like to give my POV on the entries...

Rocky Feller - Yours is insane!!! Yeah, Nah it ain't

nufan - no idea who they are but I like the way you blended them all in with each other and kept the theme going (Y)

TheModernWay - I'm a big fan of simple and it works. One question. Is that a golf ball in the background?

Lord Nibbler - This ones my favourite, don't really know why, but the for some reason it just screams Basketball

Overall, would I use them as a wallpaper? No, but only because it's not my style.

But all of them have been good viewing. ^_^

Edited August 28, 2010 by Rocky Feller

[Drew Wheeler]

Livid, DJ Ice--

I'm totally willing to extend the deadline another day to compliment you guys' wishes to enter, if you do.

Just let me know.

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 11:59 PM CST, SATURDAY, AUGUST 28th, 2010

[nufan]

It's just 8pm, Saturday evening here, so I have no idea what's going on

If I may, I'd like to give my POV on the entries...

Rocky Feller - Yours is insane!!! Yeah, Nah it ain't

nufan - no idea who they are but I like the way you blended them all in with each other and kept the theme going (Y)

TheModernWay - I'm a big fan of simple and it works. One question. Is that a golf ball in the background?

Lord Nibbler - This ones my favourite, don't really know why, but the for some reason it just screams Basketball

Overall, would I use them as a wallpaper? No, but only because it's not my style.

But all of them have been good viewing. ^_^

mine are three rookies from this season.. top right corner it says rookie class 2010-2011 :-p

[Drew Wheeler]

One hour from RIGHT NOW to enter submissions in the first round, ladies and gentlemen.

I'd like to see some more great entries in addition to the ones we have here.

EDIT: Okay! Time is up!

Thank you four for your entries, and the judging committee will have you some results shortly!

Once again, thank you all for participating in the D.W.O.I.X.D.G.B.R.f.B.F.G.!

Edited August 29, 2010 by Drew Wheeler

[Rocky]

I'm guessing it was a tie...

[The Mask of Norro]

I'll look into getting my scores for this up tonight. Got some quality entries for this, I have to say.

[Drew Wheeler]

Assuming that FnG messages me his as well, I'll have the two of ours up as well later on and therefore we'll have our finalist.

Thanks guys for all of your entries. As Norro said, very quality throughout! (Y)

[EddieG]

Yeah, I'll get mine up in a bit.

[Drew Wheeler]

nufan--I was extremely glad you included players. The one I envisioned as I conceptualized the topic had players and I was glad to see them. Moreover, the inclusion of Rookie players made me realize their role in the new season is a very big one. Great decision there, man. Speaking from the aesthetic side of things, I'm not huge on any of your text other than the players' names. The tagline was a good inclusion but I think with your layout, the NBA logo might have been sufficient. I go to either extreme on the faded zooming effect on the renders' underlayer. As of right now, I like it, though. Thanks for your hard work, man.

OVERALL-- 75/100

Rocky--Your entry brought something new to the table as well--the AUDIENCE! A. I loved the inclusion of the fans into the NBA letters, and the silhouette was a great touch as well! B. I also like the logos for the Conferences and all the teams being represented. C. I think together though, it looks very crowded. Almost too crowded for my personal preference. I think that your NBA logo with the audience really pulls your overall score back to life, though, it is extremely eye catching yet exceedingly simple. Thank you for your entry, Rocky.

OVERALL-- 70/100

TheModernWay--The one thing I most wanted to see was a wallpaper that looked like it was NBA-produced, and yours delivered completely. In my opinion, a wallpaper should have eye catching simplicity and it very certainly does. The (I think Rocky was pretty close but I'll say either a Basketball's texture or bubble wrap, lol.) textured background with the color splashing is very nice. I think that my biggest thing with yours is the words- "The new season." I dunno, could be nit-picky but I'd have preferred 2010-2011 or something similar. Thanks for your entry there, man.

OVERALL-- 82/100

Lord Nibbler--To not know a thing about basketball, you totally grasped the "Just Do It" attitude of basketball that Nike capitalized on. I'm into the visual imagery and the text on your piece--simply beautiful work, man. I think though, that my biggest compliment to you is also the biggest detriment. The NBA's worked and is working to move from the "street-ball" mentality and make the game more professional. I will still say though that your piece's PURELY SPORT OF BASKETBALL feel, particularly when you were in the dark about the concept and game, supposedly, were a breath of fresh air in the contest. Thank you, bud.

OVERALL--77/100

Thank you guys so much, and I guess we will just average the three scores together to find our winner before the "trophy" is awarded and the Topic for Round 2 is selected.

EDIT:

How about this--the three participants who don't move on to Round Three will be the committee who selects the Topic for Round 2. Sound good?

Edited August 31, 2010 by Drew Wheeler

[The Mask of Norro]

I'll get my scores in in a couple of hours. Sorry about that delay though Drew, unfortunately I ran into a bit of a snag, what with having to give back the laptop I'd been borrowing in lieu of having no computer and all. Just trying to get as much done as I can on what little I have to work with here.

[The Mask of Norro]

Apologies if I come off too harsh in this... for my perspective, I'll be going in at a purely professional standpoint to give some variety to the scores. So please don't take it personally guys, but I'm going to critique these pretty hard

nufan

The Good: Your color choices were solid and reflected the style of the NBA wonderfully. Surprisingly, this was one of the rare instances where I thought that a harsher, bolder gradient such as the one you used was a good choice for the piece as a whole. Unfortunately, though, the color scheme is about as good as it gets here.

The Bad: I hate to say it, but I've a lot to cover here. First of all, the cuts are terribly misproportionate. While I do like the way you've interacted the cuts together, the size differences are almost cartoonish, and don't reflect the actual size of the players beside each other. When using cuts, it's important to ensure that you don't have one cut that stands out from the rest in terms of size or lighting-- in this graphic, you have both. George is set in a different light from Turner and White, while White has turned into a freakish giant compared to the other two, even by basketball standards. It doesn't end here, though... the faded effects of the cuts behind the cuts, while a good idea on paper, did not come off well in execution due to the manner in which you've laid these faded cuts out. They don't really represent the motion I feel you were trying to convey there somuch as they just look thrown on as a cheap effect.

Yet even with all of that, had you *only* had those cuts with the way you set it up and not had any type, this piece would have benefited from it. The worst part about this piece is its typography. The font choice clashes with the style of the graphic, the placement of the type on the graphic isn't structured in any particular way, nor is it unstructured in a manner that benefits the design. The color of the "where amazing happens" tagline isn't a good choice on the background color you've chosen-- would have made a much bolder statement had it been in all white-- and furthermore, I feel that the tagline would have leant to having better grammatical substance to it, i.e. using capitlization in it. As it stands, the fact that the "where" in the tagline isn't capitalized doesn't look like it's done on purpose, it honestly looks like a mistake. Finally, the faded font by the players and in the upper right-hand corner just fall back too far, and in the case of the player names, actually clash with the faded shots of the players themselves. Finally, the NBA logo really just looks slapped on in the bottom right corner, with no real rhyme or reason as to why except as an attempt at branding that honestly doesn't give enough power in its emphasis of the brand.

Overall: A weak piece that could have really excelled further from where it was upon presentation had it either A) not had any typography on it at all or B) had better cuts selected, better typography, and better page structure-- essentially, an entirely reworked piece. Final score is 4/10.

Rocky Feller

The Good: I appreciate the idea behind this piece. The representation of the fans in the logo is honestly an excellent idea and with some work, it's an idea that could get you places with this graphic. To be honest, the idea behind this piece is what appeals to me more than anything; however...

The Bad: The execution is honestly awful. I'm sorry if that offended you, too, I definitely want you to know that this is all constructive criticism and I'm not in any way trying to bring you down. I see great potential in this idea, but it's just far too poorly executed. The background gradient in this instance is woefully used, colors that I don't see truly representing the NBA in that you've used the wrong shades and allowed the gradient to create a third color in the transition between the blue and red-- purple-- which clashes with the NBA's color theme to begin with. The logo for the NBA is far too large given the size of the graphic, you've literally given the graphic zero breathing room at the top, stretching the logo out within pixels of the edge. The player on the NBA logo is far too bold with his white silhoutte and black drop shadow, primarily because of the obnoxious colors used for the background and the brighter, bold colors behind him from the crowd. Bold colors tend to clash with other bold colors, you need softer tones and shades to lasso control over the bolder shades and make them less harsh on the eyes.

The font choice is terrible and feels far too crunched and crowded. The logos are squeezed in at the bottom and just look thrown in for no real reason. A better idea would have been to keep the logos in a straight line across and let them be small if need be, so long as aesthetically they're appeasing. The white glow, and the yellowish glow, and the black drop shadow on the logos and fonts absolutely need to go, though. You've made them far too harsh and rather than giving the pieces of the graphic that bit of emphasis to make them pop, you've made them far too obnoxious and bold for a graphic that's already filled with obnoxious and bold styles. There is nothing in this graphic that complements the style you were going for in the slightest-- everything is fighting for the viewer's attention instead of giving the eyes natural transition points to work with.

Overall: Excellent idea on paper-- I love the NBA logo made up of fans and I like the idea of running the logos for the teams along under it, almost like in the style of the Mac docks and whatnot. This, however, is visually unappealing in far too many ways to really say that the execution was even a slight success. Final score is 2/10.

The Modern Way

The Good: This is fantastic. The colors used entirely reflect the style of NBA, especially in your use of lighting with them. The whole piece feels as though it's been placed under the spotlight, the silhoutte of the basketball in the background adding that little bit of texture I feel the graphic would be lacking without. I like the idea of the red shine off the ball interacting with the graphic as well, giving it that glitzy appearance whilst sticking to NBA style and color. A very strong piece which lends much of that strength to the impact the background gives at first glance.

The Bad: Typography, typography, typography. You made a good attempt, but it falls flat in comparison to the strength of your background. "COMING SOON" has a watermarked appearance, which-- while at times can lend a clean, artistic touch to a piece-- unfortunately looks poorly executed instead of done with a purpose. The font choice itself is poor because the font is too tall for the small size you've set it at in comparison to the header, and it's simply too narrow to constitute being used as a subtitle font. The center balance of the graphic is thrown off by it, actually, as well as the NBA logo itself. Piling them on there with your title getting sandwiched in just creates a structural imbalance. "NBA: The New Season" just feels unnecessary, you really could have subbed out "NBA:" with the logo, actually, and had the logo interact with your title to create a stronger piece. In fact, honestly, had you done that it would have caused less structural imbalance in the graphic and would have allowed your subtitle to be a bit bigger than it is, as it wouldn't be competing with two different pieces on the graphic in that area.

Overall: You were so close to getting this thing down well enough to be wallpaper worthy, but it still needs work. Take out "NBA:" and replace it with the logo, so that you can have that all on one line without needing to throw the logo over the text like you have. Change the font of "COMING SOON" to something a bit more spaced out, and not as tall so that it creates a bit more of a subtitle-like appearance that fits with your piece. Final score is 7.5/10.

Lord Nibbler

The Good: The simplicity of the piece is what gets to me the most. The colors, the lighting, the style... it's raw street basketball at its best and it gives such a great impression upon the grittier side of the NBA. Of the four graphics submitted, funnily this is the only one not to use the NBA's official logo, and I think it benefits from it. The bold typography of the date really gives visual stability to the piece as a whole, too, and gives a real sense of what's to come and its importance to the viewer.

The Bad: Yet even with that bit of strong typography, there's also a bit of weak typography-- and typography is a beast that can make or break a graphic's impact. The text for "WWW.NBA.COM" isn't aligned to anything, which in the case of this graphic would have benefited the visual appearance of the type. Right-align it to the 2010 and it'd look a bit better, but the next thing you need to do is bring that type up a bit. It feels far too cramped at the bottom there, and to be honest you'd almost be better off just taking out the website and placing it in one of the upper corners instead. The date alone looks strong, bold, and creates a great statement that the website in that particular spot just seems to be putting off for me. Now, one thing about the picture, too... it looks a liiiiittle bit squished. The basketball, you see, looks more like an oval in shape rather than a ball, as if the vertical size of the image had been shrunk down to fit the borders of the graphic. If that was the case, then I can't stress this enough: ALWAYS scale images proportionately! Your graphics will benefit from it! Hold down shift for a proportionate scale, and don't try to free-hand it-- unless you've got the steadiest hand in the world with mathematical precision, you will not be able to get a good proportionate scale on it with your hand alone.

Overall: The idea, the execution, everything here is good; however, it still needs work. Either moving the NBA.com text up some, or completely removing it from that corner and placing it in another aesthetically pleasing spot on the graphic will help you tremendously. Also, the background definitely needs more modification in that it does feel a bit vertically scrunched, and if you didn't alter the dimensions of the background any that would have caused it to happen, perhaps you should find a way to alter it so that the ball looks more like a ball and less like an oval. Final score is 7/10.

For me, Modern Way takes it, but it's definitely close. Had Nibbler's graphic not felt so vertically scrunched, to be honest, he would have taken it for me-- the typography issue on his was a bit easier to overlook than on Modern Way's; however, on a whole, Modern's graphic presented something better visually and professionally to me than Nibbler's because of the size issue on the background. Sometimes the little things make all the difference in the world.

[Rocky]

I got some feedback I don't get much, So I'll take it when I can. Especially when there was something under "The Good" ^_^

I'm not going to say I know what you mean by the colours, as I'm colourblind and it's mostly guess work. I have a lot of trouble making out clashes etc, especially when red is involved

With everything else, I thank you for the advice and will try to take it on board (Y)

[The Mask of Norro]

Didn't know that you were colorblind mate, definitely hard to work with that in design but not impossible in the slightest. While I don't know to what degree you're colorblind, I'd actually like to make mention for you that one of my best instructors, who actually was the lead editor and designer of my college's magazine, and who is probably one of the best designers I've seen, was colorblind too. I believe his was that he couldn't see shades of red and certain other colors so he had to adapt and know what the shades might look like to others and go from there. Either way, he didn't let him hold it back and excelled despite it, and I'm sure with practice you'll be able to too

Like I said, the idea behind it was great. Its composition is what needed work most of all. The bold colors can be worked on after the fact-- they'll have to be really, they're really loud colors clashing together there-- but right now what the graphic needs most of all is a re-structuring of the layout.

[Lord Nibbler]

I'm also colour blind, FWIW.

So if you're giving out bonus points...