Actually this was Maxim's choice, not ours

I don't think there was much of a concept to that contest to begin with. In fact, I don't think any of the contests are very concept-restrictive. More of a jumping-off point. Not totally sure what you have a problem with. It's not my favorite design either, but the Maxim people probably played a big part in picking the actual winner - and Maxim is a softcore celebrity wank-fest, not a paragon of cutting-edge design.

i know this designer through myspace, and his stuff is really good. it's a shame that this clip-arty piece should represent him and make people angry. click on his profile.

Yes, he does have some nice stuff on there... I like Southbound pachyderm alot

Oh my goodness, everybody's so angry about these contests! I don't get it. I mean, I'm not going to buy any of the Maxim choices, but I'm not going to buy a lot of things. That's my perogative. Everybody else's too.
Are you all angry because you didn't win? I don't see the point.

Seems to me Maxim wanted a shirt to give to the ladies in the top 100. It fits the bill perfectly. A nice simple design, not over thought and represents the year of the contest. Think of Maxim as the client...this designer gave them what they wanted and plain and simple.

Yea, it's about the glamour

any girl involved with maxim is prolly a skank anyway.

I'm totally cool with this shirt, but the 3rd place one? I mean come on. A kindergardner could have come up with a better concept.

While I also disagree with the third place selection, I think it is rude to the artist to continually degrade this shirt. They chose what they chose. It seems no one agrees with it, but come on, they are Maxim after all. Anyone who gives half a crap about the hottest 100 women in the media isn't going to really choose a shirt that people with taste would like ...

Well you have you opinion, and I have mine. And I am of the opinion that it is perfectly fine to say something that looks like shit is shit. So, in that case So Lovely is shit. And if the artist can't take the criticism, than they shouldn't submit designs to a site like this. I have submitted over 20 designs, and have gotten my fair share of extremely harsh & very positive feedback. If you only want positive feedback, than this is the wrong website, and wrong career/hobby to be involved in.

Did someone beat the fact that they didn't like your submission into the ground by posting half a dozen blog entries about it? No, I seriously doubt it, but that is what the creator of this shirt is seeing every day. It's just obnoxious to me. Yeah, I liked some other shirts a whole hell of a lot better than this one too, but they didn't win. Not because Threadless sucks or the Threadless community sucks, but because the Maxim judges chose as they chose, and apparently, they suck. So quit all your damn whining and just don't buy the friggin' shirt. I can't imagine the Threadless guys are all that impressed withthe Maxim choices either, but rules are rules and that's how the ballots fell ... If you want to leave Threadless because of it, then see ya!

No plans to leave. But I do plan to continue voicing my opinion, if you don't like it, don't read it. I'm sure that if one of my shirts get printed there will be at least one blog (if not more) explaining how the person hates my shirt, and that it shouldn't have been printed. And you know what, they have every right to do that.

I totally agree with number4. You should voice your opinion, but you better be able to back everything you say.

I agree that you should be able to voice your own opinion on a shirt, but come on.
It got picked.
It got printed.
Complaining loudly and obnoxiously isn't going to get that changed for you, so why bitch?

haha. actually i was wondering myself who incited maxim to the party. oh well for those who don't like don't buy i guess.

I agree with Mdepot, the guy filled the brief to the clients satisfaction, and kudos to him. I wouldn't buy it, like alot people here, but like LITTLE_HOBBIT_FEET, I aint gonna whine my ass off about it. I think Threadless has enough designs to cover most peoples tastes, so get over it, and vote for the design you like. Well done to the winners too.

And GraficaMente, don't leave dude. You have giving a 4 average to submissions you've voted for man. You're the kind of positive voeter everyone submitting here needs.

LITTLE_HOBBIT_FEET. I was agreeing with you BTW. I hope it reads that way to you...

Considering this and the CompArts contests were the first ones, everyone is still trying ti figure out what they are looking for...a threadless-style shirt or a shirt for the "lover" company. In this case, Maxim obviously had more to do with the choice. I'd guess the same was true with the CompArt contest, too, but the judges in that were bringing a product to designers, not the public.

The choices for these contests have really made me re-evaluate whether or not I want to continue spending time and effort on submissions, too, but more from the realization that my stuff just doesn't make good shirts than because of any voting wierdness. The threadless guys do a great job choosing images to print, the Maxim people didn't. Que sera sera.

i think at least in the case of maxim, they went for clean and simple. something to not detract from the half nekkid wimmens. all three choices are fine with me. i didn't enter, and therefore can't complain much.

Hey, how about all of you shut up and just leave the shirt and the artist alone?

Who cares if it won? It did and there's nothing you can do about it.

both winner s are cool~~

the thing i do when i get comments is first of all look at who wrote it, what they have designed and voted about and then determine the value of there opinion. i give that as an advice to designers who get very much complaints... just look at the names here.. it means so much that designers like graphicairlines and mr rocks sorta back you up

this is to grayehound...
do stop submitting stuff, i absolutely love your style... seeing how t-lees editted the winner of maxim to sell here, my thinking is is you had "maxim top 100 2005" or something in the red zone after "sinful" on "how hot are you" your design would have fit maxim's brief as well as keep a few happy campers happy in this community. T-less would have done the same to your t) I wish t-less would print that it anyway! it is truley one of the best designs i have seen on this site. don't fool your self into thinking your stuff doesn't look good on tees. your stuff truley does inspire me

Well. Good to see who the crybabies of Threadless are.

Why would you let something so extraneous judge what you do with your art? Clearly, you don't have the passion for art and if that is the case then DO leave.

I don't come here to win fame.
I don't come here to get paid.
I come here to do whatI love- create art that I -ME- MYSELF love. There's no client over my shoulder asking me to use Comic Sans or making me to recreate their logo from a faxed business card. No, this site gives me 100% artistic freedom to make something I actually like and have a blast while doing so.

I'm not saying you shouldn't voice opinions- again, this site gives us the freedom to do so. But, son of a bee sting, it seems like you are throwing a big temper tantrum by leaving because of a shirt. BECAUSE OF A SHIRT!

Painfully ridiculous. If that's the case -
Don't let the cotton hit you on the way out.

No fame? No money? Creative exercise? What are you, some sorta idealist?

I considered no longer putting stuff together for submission and realized I had to f*cking much fun going through the design process, and I've seen my own work expand trying to rise to the challenge of coming up with a decent idea. It's nice to get positive comments from people whose opinions I respect (thanks Strawbs, btw), it's fun to comment and share ideas, but not much matches complete freedom to do what you want on a t-shirt, and maybe see it get printed.

The Maxim winner was a good design and served its purpose well. The other maxim placers were good in their own ways. Now on to other challenges...

That's the difference between you, grayehound, and this GraficalMente person. You are staying here because you have fun designing. He is stomping upstairs & slamming doors because he doesn't like a shirt.

Furthermore...I'd weep on the inside if you, grayehound, stopped submitting. You're work is top notch.

MAJOR AWARD.

Yis, I second this. :stares wistfully at Miso Horny:

Damn, guys! You're gonna make it hard for me to submit anything now if I think there's some sorta expectations out there! :)

I guess it goes to show if you love what you do, it shows, and if you're in it for the ego or rewards, it's just work. Speaking of which...

I know what you mean grayehound. It was difficult to gauge where to go with the contests. I personally was also surprised with the So Lovely selection. I had a feeling the other two were going to win though.

Subconsciously though, I am confronted with the same problem as you. Do I continue to do things the way I desire, or do I fit the profile of what gets printed? I think I will experiment with the IFC contest and see what flies.

I personally really enjoy the whole creative process of the Loves Threadless competitions because you see how other people approach the same problem as you. I think we all would like to see our work printed, even you Mezo. I mean if you just wanted to do the design for the sake of design, why even submit it here? I see it as a milestone in that eternal personal challenge to better yourself as an artist.

Mr.Domino- I never implied that I wouldn't want to see my design printed. That's rule my genital region off! But that's not a priority. I submit here to receive critiques & advice from other designers. To become enveloped with (some) likeminded artists (that word is used loosely).

But, as far as your comment on your experiment...I have always found designs which "fit the profile" always win out over what you personally "desire". I cannot tell you how many times I've presented the same porject, in 2 variations: usually, it's one design I love & am stoked on...the other, I find sub-par. The client always, ALWAYS, chooses the one I'm not so keen on. The easy one, the one that had less thought put into it, the rushed one (re:generic).

This may also have a lot to do with the fact I am surrounded by rednecks. Hm...

For the Maxim contest, the winners certainly did fit the profile of what you'd expect. I think the CompArts contest winners were much more threadless-style shirts—the contest rules were broad enough that they could be interpreted in almost any way. Maxim lacked that. I guess we'll see how the Wired and IFC contests go, but the Wired contest resulted in a broad range of concepts, but the IFC so far has been seriously limited. I think it's safe to say My Pet Human at least placed, probably won, Wired. Who knows where IFC is going.

Oh I know exactly what you mean Mezo. I am all too familiar with the madness in client relations. Clearly here though, the client is not as concrete, and as you said we all feel a great deal of relative freedom in the design. I suppose it's sort of like I prefer to pretend that I have an option. Not unlike a crazy old desert magician in a galaxy far, far away I have a tendency to get caught up in damned fool idealistic crusades.