Well, I’ve decided to join the Proudly Pinoy logo contest where people submit up to three logos depicting the concept of being proudly Pinoy. The winning logo can then be used by Filipino websites to display their Pinoy pride and the winning logo-maker gets a cool cash prize of 10,000 pesos. Shown to the right are the entries I submitted.

Anyway, I know that logo making contests are a generally bad idea. The organizing body of such a contest is essentially getting free speculative work leaving the majority of the contestants spending time and effort for something that is likely to go unrewarded. The right way to go about getting a logo, or any design for that matter, is to contract with a design agency in order to foster a client-designer relationship that benefits both parties.

Professional designers are therefore encouraged to shun such contests and effort should be taken to educate clients on the disadvantages of using design/logo-making contests to obtain illustrative work.

But since I’m not a professional designer, I don’t have too much objections to the Proudly Pinoy logo contest. In fact, the organizers did the right thing in not forcing the participants to hand over the copyrights to the submissions; only the winning logo will have its copyright given to the organizers. On the other hand, since joining the contest is still speculative work, I really did not spend too much time in making my own logos—it’s not worth the effort. Moreover, with no clear guidelines or contest criteria, and with hundreds of submissions, you can’t hope to win on skill alone. Luck plays a huge part.

Now that my rant is out, let’s look at the submissions. Here are the ones that I like (load up the Proudly Pinoy page on another browser tab or window to follow along):

• #2 is a nice, simple, and clean design. But it still lacks the oomph factor.

• #4 is cute and interesting. The colors could’ve been improved to match the Philippine flag though (e.g., the blue should be darker).

• #15 and 16. These logos are beautiful! #15’s pearl is an excellent idea and they’re both really elegant-looking.

• #35 features a stylized tarsier, which is a great concept for the Philippines. But foreigners might say, “huh?”

• #37 is another simple, nice, and clean logo.

• #44. The best jeepney logo among the bunch.

• #47 is simple and could really fit nicely on a lot of websites.

• #71 wouldn’t look out of place on a Web 2.0 site.

• #91’s mouse cursor is clever and tastefully done! But the concept limits its use only on the Internet and other computer-related fields.

• #107 is a professional-looking design. The use of the peso sign is a bit iffy though.

• #113 is very elegant. But I would’ve preferred that the initial ‘P’ was the one highlighted instead of the ‘R.’ While RP means “Republic of the Philippines,” this is not immediately obvious.

• #115 provides a cool informal look. The strokes could use some more width though.

• #125’s art mural concept is refreshing, if only the words were more clearer.

• #140 and 141. Simple, minimalist, and elegant! But it would’ve been better if the yellow were more golden.

• #154’s informal and modern look would make for a good sticker.

• #173, like #107, looks professionally-done. But like #91, the mouse concept limits its use too much.

• #182 and 183 made good use of the common initial and final letters.

• #207 is the first nice-looking logo I’ve seen that doesn’t use the colors of the Philippine flag. Too bad the word “proudly” is not placed right.

• #209. Now why didn’t I think of that? A parol-inspired concept! I really, really like this one! I would like it even more if he had used a five-pointed star.

• #211. Possibly the best straw hat logo.

• #247. I’ve wanted to do a brush-stroke logo. This one does it nicely. The font could’ve been better though.

• #267. Just because. *wink*

• #288, 289, 290. You should have an idea by now that I like minimalist designs.