Back in 2007, I participated in a poster contest to celebrate the 50th birthday of Helvetica. I’m trying to reflect on what worked and why I came up just a little bit short.
The Linotype Poster Contest link
Helvetica was born in the Haas type foundry in 1957. The goal was to create a clean and to some degree, a personality-free face that could communicate quickly and cleanly. But enough of that – this is about the contest.
I began my campaign against (if memory serves) something like 1,100 entries. So, of course I thought that this would simply be a fun experience. For voting – I emailed about 50 friends and family and asked them to do the same. After a few weeks, a reminder email went out, but that was about it. I was a late-adapter to the world of Facebook, so my network was a little weak to say the least. However, those that were on the original email list gave me a pretty big surprise.
I can’t remember if it was through a Linotype email or from simply logging onto the contest’s site, but I was floored to see that I placed 11th. Well, I stayed on that floor until I read the contest winnings. Again, this is now through almost six years of memories and probably a little tall-tale-telling, but if I remember correctly, the money awarded was pretty impressive. The only problem is that the money stopped at 10th, and was maybe around $3,000 (but in Euros). Coming in 11th, meant that I received two or three books that are still to my right in a tidy stack…
It’s not that I’m complaining, I am just learning. I think the danger is getting something “done” and then not pushing it to as much success as you can muster. I will know more soon, but my fear is that the number 11 may be visiting again. Here’s to coming in 10th next time.
