Design Challenge #9 - February 2013

frogfish · 02-01-2013, 11:12 AM

Color Swatch for Design Challenge #9 - February 2013

Hex Codes: #324c63, #3988a7, #6aab4d, #90af9f, #bf9f3c, #d69382, #dcf0b3

This swatch was inspired by this image although you can choose any theme you want; you don't have to use the image as the inspiration for your mini:

Someone submit it a while ago and I have been waiting for the perfect time to use it. That time is now! I see it as a little bit of spring peeking through the cold winter.

Deadline - Friday, February 22 (by 11:59pm CST)
Reveal and Blog Hop on Friday, March 1.

There will be some changes to the Design Challenges, please watch for updates. The biggest change is this: This kit will not be sold in the MouseScrappers store. The only way to get it is to participate in the Design Challenge.

As you are planning your contribution, please look through the things others are making so the kit doesn't have a lot of duplicate items. We want this kit to have tons of variety! Try something new, learn a new technique, and stretch your boundaries a little! Check out this thread for resources, tutorials, tips, and tricks for designers.

We would like to include two templates in this kit. A PhotoShop template with at least 25 layers will fulfill the minimum submission requirement. You should submit both a layered PhotoShop document and untrimmed PNG files named 1,2,3,4,5,etc. The first two people to send me a PM indicating a desire to create a template for this month’s challenge will be listed below. A backup person will also be listed in the event that one of the people creating the two templates indicates that they will be unable to complete it. If not used, the backup person will be offered a template slot for the following month.

Template 1: murmer
Template 2: windstorm
Backup: colorcountryscraps

We will also need someone to create a charm for the DC PP charm bracelet. The charm should use the colors from or follow the current month's theme. Send me a PM if you are interested.

Charm: afirmbeliever

Submission Guidelines:

Submissions can be any combination of papers, individual elements (such as ribbons, scatters, frames, etc), word art, alphas, and clusters. The minimum number of unique items is 5; the maximum number of unique items is 25. The same paper/element in different colors counts as one. A full alpha fulfills the minimum requirement. Although you may submit any combination of items you want, we would prefer to see themed mini kits (which include a combination of papers, elements, and possibly a coordinating alpha).
All papers and elements MUST use the provided color swatch—you can use any shade (darker or lighter) of the chosen colors. You may also use these neutral colors: black, white, shades of gray, brown, silver and gold.
You may not submit items for which you do not hold the copyright. If you use overlays, elements, etc. to create your items they must be labeled for commercial use (CU) and if their terms require, include with your submission a statement that gives proper credit.
You must include a TOU/copyright notice in your submission. A basic fill-in-the-blank TOU can be found here if you don’t have one of your own.
There is no mb maximum for submissions, but please make sure you are sizing a saving your items according to the following guidelines.
- Papers should be:
  - 12”x12” 300dpi (which is 3600pixels x 3600pixels),
  - Saved as a JPG file that is about 3mb.
    - In Photoshop, after clicking on the “Save As” button, enter the desired file name and select “JPG” from the dropdown menu; click on “OK”. A popup screen should appear entitled “JPG Options”; change the quality value to “8” and click on “OK”. Saving the file with a value of “8 or 10” for quality will ensure it is the correct size (approx. 3mb).
- Elements/Alphas should be:
  - Sized appropriately for a 12”x12” 300dpi layout; make your items the same size you would want them to be when creating a layout. For example: 12"x12" is not a reasonable size for flower elements; 2"x2" is more appropriate,
  - Trimmed so there is a minimal amount of blank canvas around the item,
  - Saved as a PNG file—the file size (mb) will vary based on the size (inches) of the element.
- A preview of your submission is required. It should be:
  - 600pixels x 600pixels 72dpi,
  - It must minimally include your name (the one you used to save the files) and pictures of the items that you created for the challenge,
  - Previews may be as basic or elaborate as you want them to be.
    - A basic preview would tile the papers and/or line up the elements,
    - A more elaborate preview would arrange papers and/or elements in a more creative manner—as designers do to advertise their kits.

Some quality issues to pay attention to are listed below. If you have questions about what these things are or how to prevent/fix them, please ask! Everyone can benefit from adhering to these bullet points.

Do not pre-shadow elements or elements on papers.
Make sure paper textures aren’t blurry at 100%.
Check that elements are not cut off or missing parts.
When extracting or creating elements, be sure the edges are not jagged. Do NOT use the paint bucket tool to recolor elements--you will get jagged edges every time!
After creating a paper or element, check to be sure it is in gamut.

You can find more information on QC issues here.

IMPORTANT:
You may NOT include:

Any items trademarked or copyrighted by Disney. This includes but is not limited to names, words, song lyrics, and phrases (for example, you cannot create word art that says “Cinderella”, “Splash Mountain”, “Pop Century”, etc.).
Photos, clipart, silhouettes, etc. of Disney characters—no Mickey heads either!
Park, attraction, resort, restaurant, or movie signage/symbols/logos.
Photos of buildings/structures on Disney property.
Elements that are too similar to images copyrighted by Disney (for example: you may create a turtle that has similar coloration as Crush, but you may not create one with the same markings, eyes, expression, etc).

Your papers/elements should be useful for Disney layouts without infringing on the copyrights that Disney has on its characters, movies, parks, rides, attractions, etc.
The following website has a searchable database where you can look to see if a name/phrase is trademarked: http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/index.jsp

*** If there are any questions about minimum requirements or copyright infringement, please ask. ***

Files and Zipped Folder(s):

Naming your files:
Your MS username_DC#_element type_description
Paper Example: MMouse_DC50_paper_green.jpg
Element Example: MMouse_DC50_button_red.png
Alpha Example: MMouse_DC50_alpha_uppercase_A.png

Naming your folder(s):
Your MS username_DC#
Example: MMouse_DC50

If your username is longer than 8 characters, please use an abbreviation. Avoid using spaces anywhere in the file/folder name. If you design under a different name, you may use that name instead of your MouseScrappers name.
Please limit the size of each zipped folder to 50mb. If your submission is larger than 50 mb, please split it into separate zipped folders to help control download times. If you have more than one zipped folder, name them in this manner:

Your MS username_DC#_folderletter
Example: MMouse_DC50_A & MMouse_DC50_B

To zip files place all your elements and a TOU inside a folder, then zip that folder. This is automatically creates a folder containing your files in whatever folder the user unzips to.
There are many ways to compress (zip) a folder. You can use a program such as WINZIP/WINRAR or, if you are on a Windows operating system, there is a utility built into Windows that you can use.

Right click on the folder containing your items and select “Send To”. Click on “Compressed (zipped) folder”. A new folder will be created in the same directory with the same name but it will be compressed (zipped).

Uploading Submissions:
We will be utilizing DropITtoME to collect submissions this month. When you are ready to submit you items, send frogfish (Christina) a PM for the link and password. Don't worry, it's super easy and I will receive your submission immediately (no waiting to download).

Disclaimer:
This kit will not be sold in the MouseScrappers store. The only way to get it is to participate! Every month you participate in this challenge, you will receive the resulting design challenge collaboration kit (for that month) free of charge, but will receive no compensation (monetary or otherwise) for your submission to the challenge. Copyright of your submission remains with you.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. You DON'T have to be a designer; anyone can do this! The more people who participate, the bigger the monthly kit will be!

Romajo · 02-01-2013, 11:32 AM

Yay, an other Designer Challenge! Can't wait to get started!

Wasn't sure if there would be a new challenge, so glad I just checked!

marinapj · 02-01-2013, 12:12 PM

Yeah! So glad the Design challenge is back!!!!

afirmbeliever · 02-01-2013, 12:48 PM

?-if we won't be selling this, and it's only going to other designers, can't we include things that ARE "Disney" just like in PP we make? There isnt really a difference now.

Will we still do a freebie Blog Hop?

Or different idea altogether....what if we just make this a designer Blog/Facebook hop. We all work so hard on this, to only have it go to the other designers? Just some ideas.

frogfish · 02-01-2013, 01:16 PM

There are several reasons that we aren't going to put this DC kit into the MS store; the biggest being concerns about copyright/trademark infringement (fueled by other happenings in the digi community, not necessarily infringement by our DC participants). We are going to try the challenge this way this month and see how it works out.

That said, since this is still a MS sponsored/hosted challenge and the kit will be distributed under the MS name, we need to keep strict copyright/trademark adherence policy in place to protect this community that we all love. I personally don't want to get caught up in a lawsuit for distributing copyrighted material for MS. Please make sure that your DC submission does not infringe on Disney copyright/trademark or the copyright/trademark of any other person/company. Also, please make sure that all items that you use to create your kit are labeled for commercial use (including fonts). Even though the final kit will not be sold, it doesn't exactly qualify as personal use either. Since copyright/trademark is such a slippery slope, it is better to be safe than sorry.

We will still be doing the monthly blog hops after the kit is finished. Since those items will be hosted on your own individual blogs and will be distributed by you directly, you may use your own judgement as to what items you include in your blog freebie (you and not MS are responsible for the content you distribute on your personal blogs). The blog hops will run just as they have in the past, but if you would like to send the participants of the DC a special gift just for them, that is up to you.

I hope that answers any questions you have about the changes. If you have any more questions, please let me know!