Design a Book for Guy
From iStockPhoto:
Technical Specs:
— Cover trim size: 6 1/8 inches x 9 1/4 inches
— High-resolution images only (if you are using a photograph)
— Acceptable files: Adobe PageMaker, QuarkXPress, or Adobe InDesign, and, if applicable, supporting fonts, high resolution RGB raster images, and EPS vector files.
— Include a 300 x 450 pixel JPG of your design
Requirements:
The design must include the words:
— “The Art of the Start”
— “The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything”
— “Guy Kawasaki”
— “Author of Rules for Revolutionaries”
Images:
— If used, stock imagery must be obtained from iStockPhoto.com or be original works, copyrighted, and model released.
Comments:
I’m so on it. Usually I disdain contests, but that’s because the prizes are usually not worth the effort spent. But for a pretty-high-end camera, 250 credits, and a chance to do a high-profile cover? Sure, I’ll give that a shot or two.
You too, huh? I was thinking of, as well.…
Only downside is that iStock states the winning design “might” be used for the final cover. Hmph.
I know for a fact that winning the contest and having your entry be the final cover are not the same thing.
Sounds like spec work to me…
As J. commented, spec work is unethical. I must admit that the contest sounds fun though.
Worse than spec… you have to pay $1 per entry!
Think about it… Guy Kawasaki is a MARKETING guru. What’s a good way to generate buzz before his book even comes out? Have a contest! How is this different from a business approaching a college design department for free concepts?
Not to mention that the standard fee for a hardcover jacket (cover only) is around $1500. I doubt the winner will get that!
To add insult to injury, any commercial photos you use have to be from istockphoto.com - which means if the winner’s cover is published (highly unlikely, by the way), the publisher has to purchase the photo from istockphoto. The only positive is that someone get to win a camera!
As a professional book jacket designer, I feel “stunts” like this denigrate our profession.
Sorry to rant, but it’s a pet peeve of mine…
Not to beat a dead horse, but I found this little gem from someone on an istockphoto.com forum:
“Entering the contest is contigent on signing up for BitPass, and one must pay through BitPass to submit a design. I may be wrong, but it appears that Mr. Kawasaki is the founder and owner of BitPass. “
The stench keeps getting worse!
Give me a break. If you don’t like the contest, don’t enter. It’s a $1 fee used to introduce BitPass to people. If you have confidence issues, and think your cover won’t be chosen, then don’t bother, I agree. Myself, I’m entering as I want that camera.
As I’ve designed 20+ book covers for Penguin/Viking and HarperCollins (I’ve only been doing book design for about a year), a “confidence issue” isn’t the problem. My problem is it’s still spec work…
I think it would qualify as spec work more if it were definitely going to be the published cover. Since it’s just a contest without actual promise that it’s going to be the published cover, then the prizes are the thing. The book cover has no value as a book cover unless it shows up on the new-releases shelf at your local bookseller.
The only thing that really bothers me is that there’s no indication as to whether there would be additional compensation were it to be chosen as the actual cover. However, given J’s note that a standard fee for a hardcover book jacket is $1500, and the value of the prizes is worth about $1250 — and you don’t have to design the back — then I think it’s at least decent compensation. Far better than most other contests of this nature, to be sure.
As for the $1 entry fee, the time I spend on my entry will be worth far more than that, so it’s just kind of an annoyance, more because it’s self-serving than because of the amount.
Well, my entry is in, along with roughly 250 others. Apparently Guy will pick his ten or so favorites, and the iStockPhoto community will vote for the winner.
Would you consider posting it?
Sure — after all the things I’ve had to say about various covers, I guess it’s about time I showed what I might do with a jacket. I hope you like it.
Hi, is the contest still on? does anybody know? and where can I see more about the contest? in what site?
thanks in advance
Xjeria
No, the contest is over. As for freelance job opportunities in book jacket design, the “Artist’s & Graphic Designers Market” book is a good place to start.
And prayer.
Whatever works - I’m an atheist!
So is Giles!
Makes for an interesting marriage, doesn’t it? My wife is a fairweather Catholic - never goes to church - but can’t stand it when I say there’s no God… she thinks we’ll be struck by lightning!
And my parents are Southern Baptists - if my mother ever knew I was a freethinker, she’d freak!
Yes, it does make for a very interesting marriage! I converted to the Catholic church in 2001.
Wait, wait — you haven’t told your mother!?
No way! She knows that I don’t go to church (we live in the same city as my parents), but she just thinks I don’t like church itself, not that I think the whole Christian belief system is a myth.
It would break her heart, and make my life much more difficult, it she knew. The only problem is my wife and I are thinking about having a child and my mother would be very upset if she thought her “grandbaby” wasn’t receiving a religious upbringing.
But until I have to, what she doesn’t know won’t hurt me!
Interesting thoughts. What defines a myth? Does it imply something is a standard that is not a myth? If truth is not a standard, then no myths exist. If a Mack truck is coming down the road, it doesn’t really matter whether you believe it is there when it hits you.
Anyway, I came here looking for Book Cover designers. I tried it for my book, but I am no pro. If I gave a contest for college students to design my soft cover, what would be a prize that would motivate them to compete?
Kirk
KJG, When I was a design student many years ago, one of our assignments was to design a letterhead, logo, and business papers (i.e. forms) for an actual realty company. (this was B.C.—before computers.) The fact that it was for a real job gave some of the students more motivation to develope it further than they might of otherwise. I liked what I did and used it as a portfolio piece but was disappointed in the one that was chosen by the client because it looked too similar to ones I had seen before and not all that original.
Some design professors believe contests are unethical and if a student is just copying a look they have seen before than it has little educational value. But it can be a great way to learn about working with an actual client and the process of design—as long as originality is emphasized in the assignment.
Have you called a design school to see if any of the teachers might be interested in sponsoring a contest? If you want something truly original this is a great way to go.