Glitch is a wonderfully well crafted world that completely freaks the shit out of me. I shall be returning. Something dark lurks behind its colourful scenery and adorable avatars.

I'm not putting the amount of effort I should into my first real blog post in a while as I'm in the middle of a busy day simply reacting to something that was just shown to me. As many of you will know, I am a designer, I run an agency, and this is what I love to do. I also know that it's tough being a designer in Cyprus. It's an often undervalued, underpaid profession. I also hate design competitions. Let's ramble.

In an effort to prepare for its EU presidency, the government of Cyprus has announced a competition to design a logo which embodies the Republic of Cyprus, the Council of the EU and the European Union “in its entirety.” No small feat but then again — the stakes are high. This is the first time Cyprus will hold the presidency.

Anxious to make a good first impression for Cyprus, Moleskis pressed everyone to actively work towards a “successful and dignified presidency.”

Read more on the Cyprus Mail article

With that in mind, Cyprus has decided to develop the brand for the presidency via a competition. A competition which will pay the winner €6,000 and the runners-up €500. Fair, right?

Here's my problem with competitions like these: they're a great way to underpay designers and devalue the work. Developing a great brand is an effort that happens over some time, with conversation and research conducted with the client. It's a conversation. It also costs a lot more than €6,000 to do properly, especially at this scale.

If you've got a moment, read the rules to see the scope of this thing. Here's a highlight of what they require from the visual identity manual (that's beyond designing the logo):

Developing a presidency visual identity manual / design programme for the purpose of ensuring its application in the following minimum applications Fonts, Graphical Styles (Surfaces, Lines), Colours, Banners (Horizontal, Vertical and Square), Roll up for event, Information boards, Directional boards, Positional boards, Folder, Letterhead, Business card, Standard leaflet, Poster, Invitation, Negative versions, Wallpapers, Promotional gift

Is that it? Anyone who's ever worked on a brand / visual identity manual such as this knows that it costs a lot more than €6,000 especially when you have to factor in the intricacies of working with a governmental body.

The winning design doesn't seem to be the first stage of a vetting process. It's clearly stated that after the competition all rights are transfered and that the government holds the right to amend it. To make things worse, "the Judging Committee shall select at least 3 and up to 5 proposals which shall be submitted for final approval to the President of the Republic / Council of
Ministers".

This isn't your average 'design a t-shirt' competition, this is a full blown branding project which will happen without any client/designer relationship. The fact that the people who are making the decisions feel that running this through a competition is a right way to go shows some lack of knowledge as to how these things should be managed. Just that makes me feel anxious about the whole thing.

So, designers of Cyprus, skip this one. It's way too much work under the wrong circumstances, your work will either be poorly rewarded or not at all, and you're doing your whole industry a diservice by devaluing the work you do. The slim chance you may make €6,000 is definitely not worth this much underappreciated effort.

Further reading: The reality of logo design contests and Design Contests, Devaluing Design, and Is It Ever OK?.

Cruel, read more on the Indonesian Monkey Mask Shows here.

I'm officially rather excited by this even though I know that it's probably going to end up like Ocean's 13 with capes and no time to focus on character development. Then again, it's Joss Whedon. Then again, I hated Dollhouse. Then again, I loved Firefly more than I love most things. Maybe I should just wait till it's out before I get disappointed/thrilled.