And thus ends Designercize II. Thanks to all who entered. Not as many as Album Amalgamation, but actually placing type within an image is more difficult than simply slapping it on there and calling it an alum cover. Check out the slideshow above, or link on over to the Flickr page for a closer look. Thus, the secret goal behind Designercize II. New Designercize tomorrow.

Slideshow created with the awesome flickrSLiDR Admarket. Show it some <3

Designercize II — Location Layout

Hot on the heels of the end of Round 1 — Round 2 is a go. This time we’re creating…something…pertaining to a random location somewhere on the globe. Instructions after the jump.

1) Go here. http://www.ptocheia.net/globe/
See that spinning globe? Close your eyes and click on it. The closest city to your stopping point is your new topic. (If you land in water with nothing around, try again.) 

2) Head to http://flickr.com  
Search the name of your place. Select up to three pictures from the first two pages of results.

3) Head to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Search your place. Depending on the article, select either the entire thing, or an entire section. (minimum of 100 words – you can check here: http://www.wordcounttool.com/) 

4) Make a 1024×768 px document (either landscape or portrait).
Plop all the pieces in Photoshop/InDesign/etc. and make something awesome. Conceptualize it as you see fit. Travel poster? Magazine Article? You decide. Integrate (at the least) the place name into the image in some way. (Feel free to lay out the rest in any way you like.) 

If you want to use colors, you can only use ones sampled from your initial image. 

Email your entry with your name and a link to your site/twitter/etc. to
designercize [at] gmail.com with the subject “Location Layout” 

Deadline: Friday March 6th, 5 PM PST

Thanks to @pdxschroeder for finding the globe.
Photo credits. Tree | Central Hotel 

Hopefully this was a great experience for all. Some people got a nice creative workout. Some people emailed to say how much they learned to appreciate design. Stay tuned for a new Designercize to be posted tomorrow morning.

Slideshow created with the awesome flickrSLiDR Admarket. Show it some <3

Entries due by 5:00 PST on Friday, Feb. 27th. 

Welcome to the inaugural launch of Designercize. I’m hoping to turn this into a weekly/semi-weekly/once-in-a-blue-moon thing. The goal is to create something quick within a small set of restrictions.

Alright here’s the deal: many have seen this floating around Facebook, but I’m taking the reins of this wild pony and turning into a force of good instead of another scummy Facebook chain letter. 

Here’s the drill: follow the instructions below. There’s no time limit (because if there was, we’d all just go over it anyway). Seriously…if you tell yourself “this will take to long, I’ll work on it more later,” then you’re probably working on it too much. Then, when you’re done, email a copy of what you come up with, along with your name, and a link to your blog/website/twitter feed/etc. (if you so desire) to designercize [at] gmail.com. In about a week I’ll make a blog post on http://strawdogdesign.com featuring some of what I’ve been sent (with a link back to you). 

Feel free to include your outcome on your blog. I suggest also linking back to your original Wiki article/quote/image/etc. (because it’s interesting). Also, if you would, link back to this post in your post. 

P.S. You don’t have to be a designer, and this doesn’t have to be visual (I’ve already had a request for an aural creation…). Just have fun. Create. 

1 – Go to “wikipedia.” Hit “random… Read More… Read More” or > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 – Go to “Random quotations” > http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php
The last four or five words (or less) of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album. Seriously, 5 words or less. Make it work.

3 – Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” > http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

 4 – File > New > 537 px x 513 px (If you’re making an image..). Use photoshop or similar (heh…yeah right) to put it all together as an album cover.

5 – Send it to designercize [at] gmail.com. Include the image, your name, and a link to your site/blog/virb page/twitter feed/whatever. 

PS – Please believe I will censor these for content and/or quality.

P.S. As far as the image: I think it’s more than fair to incorporate other images/textures. Just make sure the original is pretty high on the heirarchy and visible.