Today is the first official day that we are officially accepting YourHoliday submissions, officially.
Please read everything on the YourHoliday landing page (hallmark.com/you), get inspired and think (RED) as you submit your one official and wonderful entry.
We can hardly wait to see what you all come up with. Feels a bit like the holidays in July. Which is nice. In this heat. :)
Happy Entering!
Judgy
Monday, July 28, 2008
Be BO(RED) no more. ENTER the YourHoliday Card Competition.
Posts
31 comments:
Good Morning, Judgy,
I came to the website with much excitement, this morning, as I am putting the finishing touches on my design.
There are two points of contention from reading the instructions, however, that I'd like to clarify, if I may, and I thank you in advance for clarifying this for me as well as for anyone else who may be a little confused.
I formatted my design to the previously mentioned 5.5" by 7.5" specifics which saved my design at 2200 x 3000 pixels. Is this okay, since the ultimate goal, for the finalists, is to crop the design to 5" by 7" or the 2100 x 1500 pixels requirement, stated in the rules? If not, I'll gladly tweak my design to 2,100 x 1500 pixels, while hoping that will leave my design at the 5.5" x 7.5" specifics.
Also, when I first looked, after 8 a.m., this morning, I read that we were permitted 50 characters for the back on the card and I read that limitation in several places. Now, on the 'Your Holiday' specifics page, there is a notion stating we're allowed 60 characters of text, though 50 is still widely displayed in other places on the 'Holidays' website and rules. Could you please clarify this for me?
Thanks a lot. I'll be looking forward to submitting my design, as soon as I receive your clarification. I can't wait to share my creativity!
Have a great day and Happy Holidays in July! We're supposed to hit 100 degrees here, today with heat index levels of 115 or above. Thinking about the holidays has been a pleasant escape from being unable to breathe, thanks to the humidity!
Soooo excited!
(I've been one of those whose been asking for years to be able to send in some ideas.)
One more color print test, and it's on it's way!
...then...the dreaded WAIT TO FIND OUT! AAhhhggg... lol :)
What a great contest!
Thanks so much,
Daisyduster (Becky)
Dear poeticfisherman,
So glad you're so close to finishing up your piece! We obviously still have some tweaking to do on our site to make sure everything is as clear as it can be, so thank you for helping us out on that front. :)
As for your questions: Yes, your design is fine at 5.5" x 7.5". We will be cropping all of the finalists' designs to 5" x 7". Also, your pixel count is fine as is -- the requirement you mention is a minimum -- no need to tweak.
Lastly, on the character count discrepancy -- it should officially be 60 characters (including spaces). We are working to switch all 50 character references (which did not factor in spaces) to 60.
In sum, your design sounds like it meets the requirements and the character count is 60 maximum, including spaces.
Thanks for all your enthusiasm! Good luck in the competition. :)
Judgy
Thanks, Judgy. I'll be submitting my entry by the end of business, today. I've looked at my design for so long I'm afraid if I spend much more time tweaking it, I'll ruin it! :-)
Hands down, my inspiration and enthusiasm for this Holiday-themed contest has been my Dad and his memory. The initial hint about the holiday contest came about a week before he died and he was so excited about the fact I was planning to enter.
Christmas was his holiday and his birthday was 5 days before Christmas. Needless to say, he had many reasons to celebrate.
I'm also happy to have deciphered all of the formatting, this time. A sigh of reflief, indeed. Funny*ness (and my improperly formatted entry) still haunts me! Oh well, live and learn.
Hi Becky,
I haven't seen you posting on the blog before, so I thought I'd say "Hi" and "Welcome."
Good luck to you and your design.
Judgy,
The weight of the world is now off my shoulders; my design is now submitted. I went to an early dinner to celebrate.
At the time I submitted, the text submission page only allowed me to submit 50 characters of verse, despite the notations of allowing upwards to 60 characters, but that actually worked well for me.
I trimmed my words to a verse that satisfied me even more than my original, which had clocked in at 58 characters, and if, at some point, others are permitted 60 characters, I wouldn't want to change mine. (I'm a writer; we trim words and re-phrase to get our points across... all the time; I'm sure you've all been there, too!)
I wish everyone the best of luck. May everyone have as much fun with this as I've had.
If the early bird catches the work, PoeticFisherman, then I guess you'll be a finalist without a doubt. I'm still formulating an idea...I'm a late bloomer always.
Anyway, good luck to you.
I have a query/suggestion/request for Hallmark - it sure would be nice to be able to buy a good quantity of my contest cards at a discount. Any chance they'll offer a good quantity discount to the finalists before the show is over? I'd like to have a supply to last me for years to come. I've been buying a few here and there at the shops, but it adds up.
Just wondering...
Oh boy, that was meant to say "early bird catches the worm" - egads! Typo!
I began thinking of my ideas and brainstorming when the first mention of the forthcoming contest came.
Then, as the clues were unveiled, I began putting my idea together. Once I learned of Product(RED)'s affiliation to the contest, I bulldozed my original idea, via the paper shredder, and spent about 5 days re-designing, re-formatting. etc., putting off many things to work on this, exclusively. I've been highly motivated for this contest, since my Dad passed away 36 days ago.
It has been my experience, in some things, that the "early bird" catches the work, too, if we're discussing office humor. Oh the stories I could share.
Good luck!
I am new to designing, but the support for the cause seems worth a shot at this contest. After all, everyone envisions helping someone in need, right?
I know about copyright issues, pertaining to images, etc and I'll admit, I have difficulty drawing a straight line with a ruler, on paper.
If I were to use graphic/draw software, using my mouse to draw lines and create my design, graphically, hence drawing my own unique design on the computer and a design that is nothing in any way similar to any of the designs or artwork, copywritten on the disc (such as the graphics or clip-art), would this be permitted or do I need to physically try to draw something on paper with a ruler and scan it to the computer?
I guess my question is are original digital designs permitted, even if drawn using software on which some parts (the disc's graphics, which will in NO WAY be considered for my design) are copywritten, even if the design, itself, is an original creation?
I don't want to cheat, if I do design something. I usually draw, for my own personal use, using several different Nova products, if this helps.
Thanks.
Dee
Hello, Judgy! Is the 60 character message for the front or the back of the flat card (do we have a choice)? Also, I wanted to use a (RED) word, however, how do I make/add the font for the entire word so it appears on my scanned artwork? Is there a way to state what "red" word we'd like to appear on our flat card and have Hallmark do the job, if the design is chosen? Looking forward to your reply.
Two more questions...is that 60 characters per side or combined? What if I had an illustration of a gift tag and had the words "open soon" written on it. Would that be considered part of the 60 character limit or would it be excluded because it is part of the illustration? Thanks, in advance, for clarifying.
Sharon,
I got the impression from my interpretation of reading the character count information, yesterday, that the 60 characters of text rule only applies to the back of the card and not the front. If not, I'm in big trouble and will have to ask if I may re-submit my design once I trim some more text!
When I submitted my card, the website was not totally uniform, yet, and I was only permitted to submit 50 characters of text, despite being told that 60 was acceptable. That text was for the back verse of the card, only, per the submission page. I hope this explanation helps you.
I created my (RED) text and transferred it directly to my design, since I had my design saved on the computer. I can't answer that question for you, but speaking from my own experience, I hope I helped to clear up your other question. Nowhere did I read (and I read everything 4 times yesterday) that the 60 characters constitute both the front and back of the card.
I have a question about the (RED). I don't have the zinc font. If I used a word on the front of my design that also had the word "red" within it, then can just any parenthesis work? Just like you did in the word BO(RED) in the subject line for this blog?
I didn't download the parenthesis for red offered because I didn't know how to incorporate it into my design. So in using my own text, and my own parenthesis, I am hoping this will not be an issue.
Thanks
Sharon,
1. 60 characters is the count for the back of the flat card or inside of the folded card. Yyou can have whatever you want on the front of your card.
2. As far as Hallmark helping out if you are chosen, sorry Charlie. You'll have to rely on your own design skills or snag a techie friend for some advice on how to get that (RED) word worked in.
To the questions on (RED) and using the embrace/parenthesis in your design...
A) you don't HAVE to use the embrace if it's too challenging and isn't a natural fit for you design, it's just there as a downloadable option for those who know how and would like to incorporate it (I'm one of those that wouldn't have a clue how to use it as I'm not tech-y at all!) Do remember that it can incorporate (RED) or it can simply incorporate the color red - we'll be looking for a little of both!
and B) If you do want to incorporate the embrace and you have mad design skills like myself (sarcasm), feel free to draw/paint/scan on your own!
Hope that helps! Happy creating!
Dear KC, Thanks for the clarification! I was trying to figure out whether or not we needed to use the typical block font and embrace that is seen so often on the Hallmark (RED) cards. Your explanation, along with sighting samples of other fonts used (Hallmark's (RED) photo card "Ado(red)" for example) helped me realize that my non-techy self could submit using any font of the (RED) word. Whew! Glad you could read between the lines and figure out what I was trying to ask. So now that you cleared that up, time to create and submit. THANKS!
"Hello" to you too, Poeticfisherman!
So happy to be here! Can't believe that I missed the other contests....didn't even know they existed, darn-it!
I too, just need to stop looking at my entry and just send it in. My biggest concern has been liking it on my computer, but then printing it out and it not having the same feel in the colors...
Good luck to everyone!
What fun!
Hi Becky,
These contests have been fun, even with the occasional snafus in the contest voting.
I've said it so much that I'm nearly a broken record, but it is quite an honor to be able to submit our work to Hallmark, regardless of what happens. I hope you find this to be true, also.
I missed the first two contests and felt the same way you do now, wishing I'd known sooner and I'm also very guilty of having spent too much time looking at my design. The fun, however, is well worth the "ripping our hair" moments of tweaking and re-visiting our design plans, too many times.
Good luck to you.
Does anyone know what is happening with the website?
Any word on when the voting site will be up and running again? I have anxious voting friends. :-)
HELP! Tomorrow is our big event - and will have a laptop set up so folks can right online and vote! Will the site be fixed by then?
Unfortunately the sign-in is down temporarily - they are working fast and furious to get things up and running again and have been working 'round the clock. So keep checking back, sorry for the inconvenience, and here's hoping for a fast fix!!
I am so excited that I was able to submit a card design!! I love the Hallmark website and I am one of those people that you see in the grocery store laughing at all of the cards in the isle. So with all of my excitement and this being my first time submitting a design, I noticed that I made a BIG typo mistake!! Eeekk! I'm sure there is nothing that can be done once the card has been submitted...right?
Hi Everyone,
I, for one, am glad that I submitted my design early. We have Tropical Storm (and quite possibly) Hurricane Edouard bearing down on us and if we lose power, who knows how long it'll be before power is restored.
If my power goes down or if we have any damage, I may be offline for awhile, so continued good luck to all of you who are yet to submit your designs! I'll catch back up with the fun on the blog after Edouard has moved away from us!
Hey there! I was very excited to learn about this contest... then very bummed when I read the rules.
Canadians can't enter?????
Dianne
To Dianne and the rest of our friends outside the U.S.,
We're sorry to say that currently, our contest is only open to U.S. residents because of shipping and billing issues.
The good news is that we're working on those issues for future contests so everyone can enter from wherever they are on the globe. For now, you're welcome to vote on all the contests and, if you're interested, go to the homepage and enter your contact info on the "international friends" portion. Then, we'll let you know when the competitions are open for everyone.
Well,
Got mine submitted, regardless...Who ever wins, this is for a very good cause!
Good luck to all !
Emmi Gossard
Hey Judgy! I'm confused as to where to find the international friends thing to get the notice when the contests are open to Canadians. I've been a member of the site for a long time so I don't need to enter my contact info.
Can you post a link or something?
Thanks in advance!
Dianne in NB, Canada
Dianne - Sorry for the confusion on where to enter your international info -- just click on the YourHoliday part of our homepage (hallmark.com/you) and on the next page you get to, you'll see a note (with a picture of a globe by it) to our international friends. Click there and a pop-up window will give you a place to enter your contact info. We'd love to let you know when we can finally open this all up to international participants, so please sign up there. Thanks and take care, Judgy
I'm so excited for this contest! Looking forward to seeing everyones designs!
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