Michael Bretherton – Australia

Michael Bretherton

I’ve been a designer for just over 20 years. That time includes advertising, art direction, graphic design and web design.

I have always loved art. Since childhood, I’ve always been a day-dreamer and graphic design was the logical career path. I have to say that a speech by Ken Cato, an iconic Australian designer while I was studying, cemented my already fierce interest in design. Studying in Auckland, New Zealand, and having a well-known Aussie come to talk to our small class was exciting and stimulating.

Design is not only my passion, it’s my life; my career. Without design, I think I’d be like a fish out of water. Design shapes, brands, products, trends, lives. To be part of that is exciting – especially to have been around when the fax machine was used to receive proofs from the typesetters.

It’s mind-blowing to witness the growth and development of the internet. I see the eyes of young designers roll back if I mention “before computers…”. Well, believe it or not, there was a world before we all had a Mac on our desk, and my way of doing things hasn’t changed. Sketching ideas is the way I can break free of any software and hopefully discover unique design solutions.

My other interest is photography, which is another creative outlet that allows you to escape into the frame.

I have a young family and that is all-consuming and is the center of my world. I especially enjoy seeing their creativity blossoming and to nurture that.

Australia is an international market and has an international flavor, although there is a uniquely Australian style. This is a good thing considering local styles are being melted down into the big melting pot of global design. A lot of small businesses in Australia are discovering the commercial power of great design, to create and grow their brands and communicate with their audience more clearly.

In a nutshell, the internet has helped me with my graphic design by putting tools on my desk which enable me to communicate with anyone around the world. I’m able to design an identity for someone in Florida, brand for a startup business in BC, Canada, or even brand for a new online business just outside Milan.

If I could change one thing about the graphic design world, it would be that clients wouldn’t be so scared of white space! Also, that graphic design not be considered an afterthought. It should be part of the conception of a product or business idea, not tagged on like a sticking plaster later. I’d also like to have the graphic designer or brand strategist be allowed to attend the boardroom meeting. So, we live to educate people of the benefits of great design.

I feel that ThePerfectDesign.com can help me to accomplish my goals by allowing me to reach new clients around the globe. I will be able to solve design challenges for businesses willing to put their projects out there, and learn a completely different way of doing business. This type of service is only going to grow and I’d like to be part of that.

Michael – www.charcoaldesign.com.au

Hats off to:

1. S. Mohamed Shihabdeen (Shihab)
2. Daniel Marina (TheNutz)
3. Michael Bretherton (River)

Also, thank you to those who were in the top 10! You guys made it tough to make our final decision!

• Zan Lete (letez)
• Imran Khan (imran_828)
• Tim Brewster (tim_601)
• Irvan Haryanto (whipsnade_434)
• Sarang Powar (sarang_328)
• Zaid Ahmed (zaid_967)
  

We also want to congratulate Gerhard Schlee (gerhard_185) for winning the tag line contest!

We mean it when we say that choosing the winner of the $5,000 Logo Design Contest was a hard decision for us! There were so many amazing designs out there…so many that didn’t even make the top ten that still would have been great in the #1 spot!

Because of the amount of great entries and the gratitude we have to each of you for making this a successful contest, we’d like to spotlight some of our favorite designs and designers from the contest. These aren’t in any particular order, just a few designs that we were particularly excited about during the contest…of course, there were way more than just what we’re displaying here.

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This entry by Haetro is awesome! It is unique and it looks great in 3D as well as a flattened 2D version. Haetro had a lot of compliments from fellow designers because of his designs.

Akima_914 said to Haetro, “I think you’ll be inthe top 3…….. based on “Creativity”.”

Many thought that he would win and we thought he might too at one point (he has several entries that could have been in the top designs). Thank you for your work, Haetro!

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Gerhard’s work has to be mentioned here. We could tell instantly that Gerhard is a branding genius. His descriptions and attention to detail were spectacular. He knows how to make something memorable and creative, yet simple and timeless.

Gerhard’s slogan is one that we fell in love with right from the start and it stayed with us and will now be used for our site. We may add a word to the slogan, but the simple idea of “You Choose” says exactly what should be portrayed to the customer. We love your work Gerhard!

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DzineDen’s work is amazing! He had a lot of entries that remained active to the end of the logo contest because we were so impressed at how crisp and clean his designs are. This particular design is one that could stand out and say “The Perfect Design” without the words next to it.

We’ve read several comments on this particular entry and agree that it is awesome! It’s fun, simple, memorable, and relevant! Thank you DzineDen for the wonderful representation of your talent!

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Aso has been a wonderful part of our contest! The designs coming from this man have been fresh, inspiring and professional. We had fun looking at all the different ideas that Aso had for us. We can tell he has a strong desire to be one of the top designers out there and know he will make it because of his enthusiasm and passion for designing.

This particular design has stayed with us from the beginning. It was in all the top lists except for the top 10. It was really hard for us to move away from this entry, but what an accomplishment for Aso to have provided us with so many wonderful designs. It was a pleasure working with you in this contest Aso! Thank you for all your support!

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We loved this one by Chris_280! He also has a cube (most recent entry) that he made that is amazing!

His description for this particular logo is nice and easy:

“It’s a P, it’s a 1, and a D (#1 design), it’s a 10 (perfect)!”

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Now we want to give a shout out to designers we feel deserve recognition for things they accomplished throughout the contest, and here they are:

Most Entries – Aso and Chandra Kumar were both neck and neck throughout the competition, but Aso takes the cake on this one!

Most Communication – Again, we need to spotlight Aso. He is a leader and time and time again proved this in the contest because of his helpful nature, as well as his willingness to learn. Aso made a lot of comments to us as well as to his fellow designers. It was a pleasure to have him a part of the contest.

Most Improved – We feel Dennis_970 worked very hard to make sure he understood what we wanted. His entries from the beginning of the contest to the end improved dramatically. We can tell he is a very professional designer and is sincere in his desire to make the customer happy.

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Sexiest Entries -We have to show you these ones! We can’t decide. We like the girl, our wives like the guy, so we’re at a standstill… Help!

The image to the left was done by Vito_874

The image on the right was done by Muhammad_488

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Most Creative -This one is very difficult, because everyone of you is creative in your own right, however, there were many that stood out for us. We had to post the pictures and descriptions of a couple so you can see…

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This post by Osmany is genius! You can tell he loves being a designer!

“This option proposes a concept intimately related to the creative act itself. The cup of coffee (or tea) that accompanies during the labor process, and stimulate us through the path of creation.
How many times does the good idea came up, the solution to a problem, the good design, sipping coffee or tea from our inseparable ceramic cup?

The cup suggest the container of good ideas (the hot ones), intelligence, and why not: countless design solutions.

The simplification of the symbol, to become a two-dimensional object consists of two elements:

1. The body of the cup, which simulate the volume with a high contrast, and becomes a “P” of the word Perfect.
2. The handle cup, which closes the body shape of the cup and was created from the letter “D” of the word Design.

All of us who have the task of creating identify with this symbol that often accompanied us on the working hours, the meditation ones, at the beginning of a cold morning or evening workload and full of sketches, looking almost ideal solution, the perfect design.

The colors are blue and white, well integrated into the chromatic range of the site, and also represent the depth of ideas and light respectively.

The font family used is a digital version of the Frankfurt , medium-condensed version, in search of formal cleanliness, timelessness and good readability.”

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Another entry that was very creative is by Mark_790. We held onto this one because his imagination and description is awesome!

“The following ideas are based on the pot of gold found at the end of a rainbow with equal attention given to attracting clients and graphic designers.
The elements I incorporated are:

1.TPD- the t is based are the t-square (old school) and represents the design element. It is bending- symbolizing the give and take between the client and designer. The rainbow starts here.

2. Rainbow- symbolizing different ideas/designs, connecting graphic designers with potential clients, and/or The Perfect design community.

A rainbow spans a continuous spectrum of colours; the discrete bands are an artifact of human colour vision. The most commonly cited and remembered sequence, in English, is Newton’s sevenfold red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet (Some consider 7 as the perfect number). A rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the Sun shines onto droplets of moisture (water) in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Key word association: human, color, vision, optical, phenomenon, spectrum, sky, Sun, shines, Earth.

Water usually makes up 55% to 78% of the human body.

3. Gold, specifically a “gold medal”. The idea behind any contest is winning. Here at TPD the client wins and the designer wins, not only contests
but also from the benefits gained from participating in the community. Gold has long been considered the most desirable of precious metals and has been used as a symbol for purity, value, and royalty. Gold is the most malleable and ductile of all metals. The “gold medal” here can also represent the winning design the client chooses that has been “formed” to fit his/her wishes. Great human achievements are frequently rewarded with gold. Winners of races and contests are usually awarded the gold medal (such as the Olympic Games and the Nobel Prize), while many award statues are depicted in gold (such as the Academy Awards, the Golden Globe Awards the Emmy Awards, the Palme d’Or, and the British Academy Film Awards).

4. Pot of Gold- represents the community and all the ideas and solutions at The Perfect Design .com. The Rainbow ends here, a colorful journey with an incredible payoff.

5. sky- “the sky’s the limit”

6. star burst- represents the radiance of the site, completion, winning, and the client finding his/her “pot of gold”

I tried to think of something that would best represent the Perfect Design.com and spent a lot of time trying to graphically pull it off- what a challenge! If people see a rainbow they’ll think of TPD. I feel it’s original and the “Perfect” representation.

Slogans used: “Where the winner is…you!” “A Rainbow of Ideas Leading to a Solution” “where a Rainbow of Solutions Leads to…”.”

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We want to thank all of you again for such an amazing logo contest! We’re very excited and pleased with the results! We have some more contests coming soon, so stay tuned! We will be in touch.

ThePerfectDesign.com Team