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Not too long ago we ran down the final submissions for the 2009-2010 city sticker contest. Finally, a winner has been announced and it's Denise Ferguson, a senior at Corliss High School. There were entries from more than 350 high school students at 43 different schools around the city, but Denise's design (seen above) was paws and tails above the rest. More than 25,000 votes were cast at the City's website and Denise will receive a $1,000 bond. Oh, and having something she drew placed on over a million cars in the area. Congrats, Denise!
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One more reason not to buy the thing.
It should depict the dog pooing on the city and it's owner not picking up after it. That would be more accurate.
well, that's not the one i picked. oh well.
I really wish we had a nice simple city flag/skyline shot. Boring, but not weird and goofy looking.
Of course, I'm a cat person and can't stand dogs.
but, Albany...the project was about 'dog friendly' Chicago, not 'cat friendly' Chicago...and...and..... you can't stand dogs????
I picked that one!
@Ingrid:
Yeah, I have no use for dogs. Filthy beasts, enemy of man at heart. Dogs loyalty is earned by fear and food.
Cats, now if a cat chooses to be around you that's an accomplishment.
I wouldn't have chose those colors for the font, but good for her and Corliss High School. :D
Well, Albany...and I say this without rancor, you might change your mind if you were suffocating under an avalanche and a highly trained search and rescue dog sniffed you out and saved your life.
Or, if you were blind and needed a seeing eye dog.
Those are just two instances where you would have good use for a dog.
And they're so not filthy beasts and enemies of man at heart. Dogs throughout the ages have used their instinct and smarts to save many a man's life (at their own peril).
And you are so wrong about a dog's loyalty. You don't train a dog with fear (unless your trade is dog fighting). You train a dog with positive reinforcement. And at least you GET loyalty with a dog.
You ever hear of a cat dragging it's owner to safety from a burning house?
I have two cats. They're ok....I kind of liken a cat to having a living sculpture in the house. But my dog...my dog has my heart and soul.
And I've got to say, that just because a cat comes around you means nothing...I have a friend whose sister in law is NOT an animal person at all. Whenever she comes to my friend's house, her cats do nothing but try to get her attention. It's because they know she hates animals - especially cats - and they do this to annoy her. Some cats love nothing more than to pick out the one person in the room who hates cats and slink around them just to fuck with them. Cats can be evil :)
I don't know what's more frightening - a dog taller than the Sears Tower or the giant American flag about to cover our fair city, blocking out the sun.
"Hey, we'll have a Chicago flag against a background of an American flag"
Did anyone at City Hall really think this was the best one? I am as patriotic as the next guy, but this design is distractingly busy.
The American flag should either be small, i.e., not acting as the background, or it shouldn't be there at all.
That dog's just looking for someplace to dump that flag so it can slobber all over AT&T Corporate Center. That dog's getting ready to whiz all over Wacker Drive.
wow, that looks like the crap in my front yard that those things leave behind. great...
It looks like a photo of a dog with some Photoshop trickery in front of a photo of a flag with some Photoshop trickery. Maybe even a Photoshopped city skyline.
I guess this DID require some "design" skills and this is just a high school student... but I'm still a little disappointed. There were others that were clearly created strictly by hand. Anyway, congrats i guess...
I can't believe we're sitting here having a passionate debate about the suitability of various cute species as pets with everything else going on in this city. Wow, just wow.
I wish the city would stop allowing high schoolers to design these things. They always look so bad. It's like being forced to display ugly art on your car year-round. Get the design professionally done for a change.
When did my car become a refrigerator door for crappy art?
Hurrah for south-side teenage high school artists who will have their art displayed all over Chicago!
I can't believe we're sitting here having a passionate debate about the suitability of various cute species as pets with everything else going on in this city. Wow, just wow.
It's a stupid message board. I'd rather the "passionate debates" about city stickers take place here that places where REAL work is supposed to be done. And if you do a little bit of searching, you can find "passionate debates" about "everything else going on in the city". Try looking at the recent parking meter and city budgets-related stories. Not that hard to find.
But thanks for contributing here and get off the moral high horse.
I can't believe people still can't believe that people are able to discuss more than one subject at a time...
Jeff should have said, "Bow, just wow."
I wish the city would stop allowing high schoolers to design these things. They always look so bad. It's like being forced to display ugly art on your car year-round. Get the design professionally done for a change.
Seriously? With all the budget crap flying around, you're going to suggest they pay someone to design something as ridiculous as a city sticker?
It's perfectly OK to have debates about lighter topics (no sarcasm).
There's plenty of time for heavy stuff elsewhere on this site and on other sites.
Oh, and the American flag is still wrong for the background.
I'm thinking it needs a bit more red, white and blue.
Yeah, I was a bit off with that comment. I think I just has a bit too much steam coming out of the ears after discovering the CTA fare hike thing, the parking meter thing, the fifteen cop fraud thing, and the SUV thing within a span of 10 minutes. Today, the cool weather has cooled my head and I can see the merits of this debate.
That said, ferrets are obviously superior to both cats and dogs.
This is great, we've had Wrigleyville vs. Bucktown, North vs. South, Cubs vs. Sox, Bike vs. Car, and CTA vs. Homeless on this site. It's about time we had Dog vs. Cat!
Topically speaking, I like this design, but it wasn't my favorite. It's a little busy as someone else said, but it's not like we're dealing with professional graphic artists either.
Yikes! That's hideous! I didn't think the last couple were that bad, but this one's going to cause car accidents because drivers won't be able to take their eyes off it! I mean, damn!
That said, ferrets are obviously superior to both cats and dogs.
Ferrets??? You mean weasles? Now you've really shown who you are. Be gone...
kidding.... sort of.
jeff303,
Is this you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRfwNjw82GY
:)
While I'm all for letting high school kids work on these things, I'd imagine there are hundreds, if not thousands of aspiring graphic designers, illustrators, etc, who wouldn't mind getting some of their work displayed for free and something extra to put in their resume.
I dunno why we can't have a couple of choices in which city sticker to have on our windows.
This one is pretty bad.
It's gonna be pretty ironic when they are towing cars from another busted up dogfight and these are in some of the windows.
God, what an ugly sticker. Aside from all the other problems I see with it, why do the letters have to be multi-colored? So you can't read the words without concentrating?
Seriously? With all the budget crap flying around, you're going to suggest they pay someone to design something as ridiculous as a city sticker?
The city wouldn't necessarily have to pay a lot more to get better entries -- tell me "Won 2009 Chicago city sticker design contest" wouldn't look great on a resume if you're a graphic designer.
Thank God I don't have a car!
Design "contests" are a scam, ask any working artist with an online portfolio about how many invitations to contests they get in a month. The city isn't doing these kids any favors to teaching them good business skills here.
More on contests and how shoddy they are:
http://www.no-spec.com/
And to be blunt, it's a poorly designed sticker. I'm curious if the designer took the skyline and puppy photos, if not, they've appropriated the work of another artist. That could get messy.
Albany, there are plenty of designers who don't agree with your opinion of design contests. It's an argument that seems vaguely similar to the "union vs. scab" argument.
Oh, c'mon people....the sticker is not as bad as you're all making it out to be.
Yes, it's a skoshe on the busy side, but this is a HIGH SCHOOL student. And she will get to use this in her portfolio to apply to art school, so it's a huge boon for her in that area as well as any professional who would want to put this in his book. (Actually, it's better for a high school student because in the professional world this is pretty much a throw away. Unless you are 21 yrs. old and trying to get your first graphic design job, a city car sticker is not something you'd even put in your book).
I would bet that her art teacher nurtured her through this, and if she used stock photography for the skyline and dog then that's perfectly legal.
It's not a poster I'd want hanging in my house, but I think she did a perfectly nice job for what it is. I've seen much, much, much, much worse stuff coming out of professional design houses.
Have people really failed to notice the color in the Chicago flag is not the correct blue? Color me a(paw)lled.
@slaphappy: That's a fair analogy. I'm strong union though and so is every designer I know, and they're all better off for it. You don't gain anything from free work.
@Ingrid: It's not just busy, it's ugly. The red white and blue font? That's the sort of thing grandmas put on their 4th of july cakes.
The flag, the dog and skyline are all seperate photos. Did this artist take all of them, pay to use them or obtain them with the creator's permission? If that was my work I'd be talking to a lawyer.
you all crack me up! that's the sticker option i voted for... i think it's cute & it makes me want to pet that doggie because he/she looks the one that walks by the gym while i'm running on the treadmill... this dog walks to the lake jsut him & his owner, but always walks back from lake with a big stick in his mouth like a major prize. too cute for words!
Albany,
It's called "stock photography"...just go to any SP site and type in Chicago Skyline. Or big,cute, lumbering puppy dog...and you can use the images for free.
Ingrid,
Come now, I know what stock photography is dear.
I'm just wondering out loud here, there's been something of a ramp up in people simply going to google, browsing for an image, tossing a filter on it and calling it original work.
I don't think a year of being reminded to "Share the Road" has been enough, we ought to keep the current stickers.
Then again, that reminder is facing outward instead of in, maybe that's why drivers aren't getting the message.
As for this one, the font is horrible but other than that... well the rest of it is pretty bad too.
That dog looks like it's going to smash the whole city of Chicago like Godzilla or something. (Not unlike when I came home drunk on Friday and knocked over everything in the house) At least I dont have a car so i dont have to look at it all year.
One more thing... It's not the art itself that bugs me, its the people who did the voting and picked this one.
It looks like a photo of a dog with some Photoshop trickery in front of a photo of a flag with some Photoshop trickery. Maybe even a Photoshopped city skyline.
I know a high schooler did it, but that's exactly what I was thinking. Yay for the "posterize" filter in Photoshop?