Competitions

We finally figured it out, guys. We had a tough time deciding and went through at least five rounds of getting people’s opinions, but we finally decided on one of Toon’s submissions. Thanks for all your effort and time, and congratulations, toon! -Ben

Sorry that it’s been a while since you guys have heard from us. Phillip and I have been running our favorite designs past virtually everyone we know and tallying the results, in a few different rounds. We expect to be done with the judging pretty soon. Thanks for your designs and your patience! -Ben

We’ve decided to extend the contest until the 1st of the New Year, as there are some really great designers in the middle of resubmitting concepts with some tweaks. Please check out the styles that are winning out—namely:

• Bold, simple font & layout
• Relatively straightforward graphic incorporating 1-2 colors that are reflected in the word “HobNob” (They don’t have to be red & orange, though-so show us some creative colors! We realized like geniuses just recently that TONS of other job search companies use orange & red color schemes, so…)
• Show us how we would showcase HobNobJobs.com, even if HobNob is the focus of the design.
• Things showing revelations or an “aha!” moment reached through collaboration are great— lightbulbs, puzzle pieces coming together, speech bubbles, etc.

Thanks for the question, Kumailht.

So far my favorites have included one or more of the ones by toon, Logomaniac, PR3, intrepidguppy, rederic, almezzano, moon, div, and elspeth. There are some other contributors’ designs we’ve liked as well that could be in the running with a few tweaks, but this was a fast skim and some of those I’ve just named have hit near the spot consistently (definitely check out the comments we’ve left on individual designs for direction as well).

The designs I liked the most haven’t necessarily been confined to any color set, but they’ve stuck with simple concepts, generally bold, easily readable fonts, and easy-to-grasp relevance to dream jobs or community & collaboration. That being said, please avoid elaborate designs and cartoony graphics & people—we definitely favor more easily readable ones that, while being creative, err towards a professional base. I’ve tried to leave detailed notes on each submission about what I liked & didn’t like but haven’t been as good on the later submissions. I know, I’m a slacker.. and speaking of slackers, I’ll try to get my partner on here soon so he can leave his thoughts as well. -Ben

If any designers have broad, themed questions, feel free to ask us here in the general forum so everyone can benefit in knowing a little more what we’re looking for— thanks for all your great submissions. I hope our feedback is helpful!

Thank you all for your submissions thus far-we’ve seen a lot of cool ones come in and I’m enjoying reviewing and commenting on them. To clarify a few things: if you can get the tagline in there in an easily readable, creative way, go for it. If not, don’t worry about it- it’s not the main focus that we’re concerned about. So far, we’ve liked the logos that are a little simpler, a little bolder (fonts & colors), easily viewable and printable, with a couple different colors, and some interesting tweak or graphic added that doesn’t obscure the reading of the word itself and isn’t too ornate or complicated. Imagine this as a tiny logo in the top left of a webpage or as something that looks clean enough to serve as a large printed letterhead.

@EmLiam: The vision statement won’t be appearing with the logo; we just gave that info to provide a feel for the company’s soul. The logo will generally appear in one of two ways: HobNobJobs.com or as a shortened version of just HobNob. The tagline doesn’t have to appear in any submitted logo designs (unless you just come up with something awesome that we have to see!). Regarding tagline, we primarily wanted designers to know that one will be sometimes paired with the logo (for instance, on letterhead or on the landing page of the website)—in case having text underneath could affect their design. Thanks for the question; let me know if this answered it. -Ben