Was there ever any doubt?

As I've said before, in between the naps, the blogs, the daydreaming and the eating... in my spare time I can be downright productive! Take this green logo contest I was fretting over back in September. Just when I thought it was a big joke, I come up with a design that beats out everyone else. Now I hear the natives are grumbling because they feel the designers have an unfair advantage.

Yeah, what can I say? I'm a trained professional and they're not. Sure it's unfair, but that's life. Do you think the world was happy in 1992 at Barcelona when the Dream Team entered the Olympics? Nope. But by 2004 at Athens, the once-undefeated USA team finished 5-3 with a bronze metal. So although now I'm doing some decent work, come 12 years later when I'm stressed out from raising teenagers and paying college tuition, no doubt I'll be relegated to designing bus signs and installing decals on trains.

In basketball you can train yourself to be a great shooter. But if you lack mental toughness and can't get into the paint, you will never shine. Same way with design, you can excel in all the software but if you don't have an eye for design, you'll struggle to say the least.

But even with a good eye, there's a lot more. Just like any other profession, you can only do great work if: 1) You're motivated. 2) You enjoy the process, and 3) You feel rewarded. This is what amazes me about the logo. I really had none of the three! Maybe I took it as a personal challenge to prove my bosses wrong – that I really do care (even though I really don't). Well whatever. It's done.

Here is a project that I applied all of the three factors. A couple weeks ago a friend emailed me a photo of their recent Hawaiian vacation. It was a beautiful family picture with the exception of a few "non-photogenic" people floating in the background. They wanted me to make the picture perfect. Knowing the husband, I originally searched for a picture of Bo Derek running... but alas, I settled for something more family-friendly. Click on photo for larger view.

Then last week another friend asked me to paste her kid's teacher on the body of Captain Kirk (um, okay. I don't need to know why). Oh yeah, and she wanted same-day turnaround. So although I'm a professional designer, in reality I'm just an online Photo-Mat for friends.

This is a heads-up before anyone else sends me a picture for alteration. Depending on my mood, I will edit as I see fit. It may also show up on my blog or maybe somewhere else. Who knows? You've been warned.

So back to the logo. If you're wondering about my prize for winning the contest, well I'm not expecting anything. Really I'm not. Remember this is a public agency where the directors make 6 figures and charge the staffers $20 for the Christmas party. Actually I'm lucky, I have a very kind and generous boss, unlike my buddy upstairs who works for Dr. Cheapomoto. So maybe I'll get a comp meal or maybe I'll get to go home half-hour early on Christmas eve. We'll see.