Speak Up Archive: High Priority Contest: The Entries

Without much further ado: The 188 entries submitted to the High Priority contest. We received close to 215 entries but we disqualified the difference for not being the correct size (so if your entry is missing, check the size, if it’s not 820 x 524 or 525, that’s why it’s not there). It was a pleasure receiving all these entries and going over them. We appreciate everybody’s effort on this extracurricular activity and on behalf of Speak Up and New York we extend our gratitude. The winner will be announced next Monday, December 4.

I am glad I participated in this contest. The entries are great! I don't know how the judges are going to pick just one, but I'll tell you my favorite is Valerie Desrochers. I have no idea if the orientation will matter but this is my absolute favorite.

Other entries that I love:
Leo Jung
Mark Andresen
Julia Townsend
Abby Clawson
Kari Fournier
Mark Seggie
Shikha Savdas
Tommy O'Connor
and of course my very own!

Good luck to all of the participants and great job!

is it deja vù (or is that just a bad movie), or do some of these look a lot like the nice little gallery they have of all the past High Priorty's...

I agree, I thought I saw a few quite duplicates, and duplicates of duplicates...

I agree, I thought I saw a few quite duplicates, and duplicates of duplicates... ah well.

Good luck to all!

One entry, from Vivian Ghazarian, that I mistakenly overlooked has been added on page 7.

My first impression favourites.

1. Cyndy Patrick
2. Mark Andresen
3. Valerie Desrochers

It's funny that Ted/Theodore Mauseth got to enter twice by using different first names.

I really wish I had had the time to enter once. Such fun!

My vote is in for Valerie Desrochers. Hand-made without looking like high school or Sagmeister. Who doesn't like a sideways bird?

Not to nitpick, but I am truly interested: where did Seth Labenz (page 6) got his copy from?

I hope I dont sound like an asshole, but I'm surprised by a lot of these entries. While I didn't enter, I did read the brief.

Please note: the listings must be the dominant part of the typography. The words "High Priority," the date, and the categories (movies, theater, etc.) are the least important information.

While I'm sure that visual hierarchies are always up for debate (as well as what dominant/least important mean), I personally read a lot of these with "High Priority" as the dominant and first message.

I don't think mine is all that but it was left out for some reason. I double checked the size and it's 820px x 524px did I miss something? File size is only 124kb...

Hyun... Sorry, I don't seem to have an e-mail from you. Would you mind resending it just for the heck of it?

**

Nick... Good catch, and my guess is that it was from this week's High Priority.

**

Jeff, thanks also for pointing out the double entry. T(h)e(o)d(ore) and I e-mailed and I removed the second entry he sent.

so many fabulous entries. thanks for the opportunity.

Agreed, this was fun. A lot of really great entries.

I think it's funny how many sides of beef/pork there are in there. We could have a nice BBQ. ;-)

It's always exhilerating to see other people's solutions to some design. I'm impressed by the variety. (I hope New York Mag is pleased with the creativity.)

Three that caught my eye for interesting execution were:

1.) Masakazu Okura
2.) Eileen Baumgartner
3.) Abby Clawson Low

Hey, Armin, when do we get to do COVERS?

Pesky... Next month. Followed by a "Redesign New York magazine from the Inside Out" in early 2007... Winner will also get 500ドル plus a lollipop.

This is a great exercise because the contest has nothing to do with content. Since the text will change in the final version, the words are irrelevant.

And the contest has nothing to do with design. Technique, schmechnique -- all that's important is the idea.

The solutions that are the most successful are those that show selectivity of subject, such as:

Abby Clausen Low
Max Kaplun
Plamen Yordanov
Sarah Doody
Sean Kelly
Shikha Savdas
...among others

High Priority is high concept. It doesn't matter HOW you did it, all that matters is WHAT you chose to do.

I gotta give props to my favs...

Leo Jung
Josh Berta
Seth Labenz (Despite missing a key part of the breif)
Monica Fraile

Good luck to all.

Any chance of getting all the entries on one single page?

The alphaguessical order are making it annoying to track down the recommended entries.

hmm. Perhaps it was filtered out as junk mail since I sent it through my yahoo mail. I'll try sending it through my work mail.

Some agreemet:
1. Eileen Baumgarten - technically beautiful and well-crafted
2. Sean Kelly - parody brought to the next level

Some disagreement:
1. No disrespect for a great illustrator, but
Mark Anderson - doesn't feel NY to me...
2.Abby Clawson Low - just not feeling any great attachment to this one.

All very well done and a great example of how this "design exercise" could continue on and on (and on) for a long time, and how New York will never run out of ideas (or contributors) as long as they have this feature.

My vote is in for Valerie Desrochers. Hand-made without looking like high school or Sagmeister. Who doesn't like a sideways bird?

I for one, do not like sideways birds...but I appreciate the artistic quality of this one

Also interesting to note in the repetitive market... 4 featuring something resembling post-it notes, which happens to be what is in this week's actual issue, which came out before the deadline.

What an inspiring outpouring of creativity. You people rock my world.

Abby Clawson Low and Sean Kelly rock my world especially. Bravo.

Love Leo Jung's delicate execution, too. Somewhat reminiscent of Tom Brown's threadlike entry in the archive.

The simplicity of Tim Rebich's minimalist take on "high" really appeals to me.

Am I missing something with the ostrich, other than its zany irreverance and lovely linework??

2 fresh looks:
1. I agree with Jeff Gill on Cyndy Patrick. I really enjoyed the simplicity of this one, and upon review, it really has a great overall feel to it.

2. Although I appreciate Leo Jung's piece, it seems like there's way too much emphasis on the "High Priority" and not enough attention is given to what is supposed to be the important info.

I really like Brett Yasko's entry. I like the subtle sense of humor by telling the person that they look fine when they are looking at the ad in a mirror. It is interactive and the type is great too.

Thought I'd do my own shout-outs:

- Brian Kroeker
- Chris Ritchie
- Jan Sabach (I can't say why, but i like this one... it's fun)
- Joe Shouldice
- Kris Sowersby
- Monica Fraile
- Tommy O'Connor

Honorable mentions (i.e. close but no cigar):

- Alex Meyer (Romare Bearden's last name is glaringly absent)
- Cyndy Patrick (that gray hump at the bottom throws it off for me)
- Nicolas Thiebault (the arbitrary arrangement of white bars spoils the trippy candy cane inspired type)
- Katie Estes (that panda thing cracks me up, but then i just find myself asking "why?")
- Plamen Yordanov (that handwriting should be handwriting and not a font)
- Valerie Desrochers (love the bird, hate the sideways)

And not to be a hater, but am I missing something about Abby Clawson Low's piece? I find it exceptionally easy to dismiss.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents.
Good luck to everyone.
Thanks to agrayspace for the props on my own entry.

i agree that some folks really didn't understand the hierarchy instructions. that aside, i think the wildest one is the lipstick on the mirror. that's a public restroom! other shout outs for the apple and the toilet paper, but their handwritten type doesn't seem as sophisticated or carefree as the lipstick.

I assume the hierarchy instructions were also given to past contributors as part of their brief. Not many of them followed instructions either......so I figured if the superstars did it....then what the heck....I'll do it too! :)

I don't know if this counts since I didn't enter. Han Xu and Janey Boyd are tied for first in my imaginary world.

Flip a coin. Both excellent entries. Great stuff Xu and Boyd!

VR.

There's something very visceral about this process for those on both sides. Predictably, there were grumblings about the spec work issue, but they seem overwrought. This has been stimulating for everyone: a sharpening exercise for the participants and a visual/typographic feast for those of us who for whatever reason didn't contribute.

A few of the designs are somewhat embarrassing/derivative, or as someone else so aptly put it

high school or Sagmeister

PS Matthew Bouloutian and Eric Kass get my vote(s).

To Kieth McCord: Not New York enough? Not New York ENOUGH? My grandfather had a grocery store in Hell's Kitchen in the 1920's. My mother was born on 125th Street. My misspent youth was on Saint Mark's Place in the Village. And I went to art school at Pratt Institute in Bed Sty. The artwork is pure SPANISH HARLEM, skipper.

Point taken...but I still don't think yours is in my top ten, but if it makes you feel any better, I think my own entry is in my own worst 10.

in response to john b's comment...

- Alex Meyer (Romare Bearden's last name is glaringly absent)

i can only respond in one way....whoops. i guess his last name fell off of the laundry line. my face is currently nymag red. however, thanks for the honorable mention.

I'm very impressed. I honestly didn't see one entry that I thought wasn't good. Unfortunately this didn't include mine as it didn't get posted. It must have been eaten by the e-mail monster. Bummer.

I pick Eileen Baumgartner's. It does a lot with the small amount of content provided and does not rely on imagery or trickery. It looks fresh and it's sharp. Each item feels firmly grounded as part of the design and there's a great attention to detail there that I think had been largely skipped by others in favor of concept. I'm not saying skipped by all of the others, but many good ideas fall short because the typography looks like an afterthought. When type is all that's provided as content typography should get the most attention.

Though some of these may seem embarrassing or contrived, I think it's great that they're up here. Green designers don't often get an opportunity to tackle the same project as those with more experience and then get to see the end product displayed in a public forum side-by-side with those more-experienced designs. It's a great learning opportunity. Thanks, Speak Up.

I enjoyed:

Josh Berta
Leila Taylor
Julia Townsend
Matt Dorfman (Hilarious by the way)