Veerle's blog

Remember that I told you I would start the new year with a bang? Well the time has come to reveal what that was all about. Remember December’s post “What is graphic design?”. I know I have been listening in silence, but the response on that post really blew me away. So many people responded and I thought, ‘why not do something with that and make it a creative challenge as well?’. Hopefully you had some time to load up those creative batteries because you’ll need it.

What is Graphic Design?

Like I expected there are a lot of different visions out there. Some say it's art, others disagree. The main consensus seems to be that graphic design is all about visual communication and that's something that I have to agree on. For me Graphic Design is visual communication. It’s about creating, beauty and evoking emotion.

Let's translate it to a poster

Instead of doing nothing with all that information, the thought entered my brain of doing a creative exercise with it. What I mean is translating the question "What is graphic design?" into a poster. So for example you could look at all the comments and pick something out and translate it to a visual message. That could be fun and everybody can enter. It's completely up to you on how you do this, only with typography, humor or a real artistic approach. It doesn't matter. As long as you have fun creating it. This could also be an interesting experiment to see how people translate it visually. You could for example even use some of the things you've learned from the many tutorials on my site.

Great prizes!

It took some time to get things organized prize wise, but I think you will not be disappointed by the outcome. Thanks to some great sponsors I've managed to get some super prizes if I may say so myself. I still have to create packages but these prizes (in no particular order) will make it worthwhile:

Kelby Media Group and NAPP

You will be able to learn even more thanks to the people behind Photoshop World, just to name 1 aspect of what they are doing. They also recently launched a new online training program with some of the best teachers out there. You'll be able to win:

• 2 annual online training accounts for 1 year
• 1 training DVD Adobe Photoshop CS3 "Power Session"
• 1 training DVD Adobe Photoshop CS3 "Channels"

EllisLab

EllisLab are the fine folks behind the CMS ExpressionEngine that is powering this blog. If you want to learn more about ExpressionEngine and do a meet and greet at the same time, you'll get a chance in March at the SXSW Interactive festival. Ellislab is donating these prizes:

• iPod Nano Red
• ExpressionEngine Commercial License
• Tag Module license

EngineHosting

So you have your ExpressionEngine site set and you are looking for a hosting partner? Look no further as EngineHosting is the right choice. They are the perfect fit for people like me that doesn't need all those developer options in a control panel but a reliable hosting partner that focuses on keeping your site up and running and give you personal support. EngineHosting is donating:

• 3 packages x 6 month - Shared Hosting S-3 plans ($40/month plan)

Adobe

Adobe needs no introduction as most people have already heard from them. Most of us use their software on a daily basis. Didn't update yet to CS3? Here's your chance because Adobe is donating these fabulous prizes:

• Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Design Premium or CS3 Web Premium or CS3 Production Premium (user choice)
• One hour web conference with the Illustrator team + any Adobe "Classroom in a Book."
• Great CS3 or kuler t-shirts (new kuler colors), CS3 uses the "ornamental swash" from the CS3 imagery.

Apress

I'm sure you've heard about great books like DOM Scripting by Jeremy Keith or Microformats by John Allsopp. Those are only two of the wide variety of books you can choose from. Apress is donating these prizes:

• 3 Apress books or eBooks (winner's choice)

Go Media Inc.

Thanks to Go Media Arsenal you'll be able to expand your vector library with high quality and detailed vector pieces. Have these on hand can prove useful when you have a tight deadline.

• Complete Vector Set or Texture Set of the winners choice

When is this game on?

If everything goes according to plan I will launch this competition somewhere next week, probably on Monday or Tuesday and you'll get a full week to create your poster.