Graphic Design and Logo

Graphic Design and Logo has been combined in to one category highlighting the competition as the design focus with the winning entry being used on all the next year’s marketing materials.
 
Specific Category Rules and Rubric

Graphic Design Elements

  • Must include the logo as designed
  • Should be presented as a campaign
  • Must have a poster designed for the following year’s event promotion
    • Must be designed as 11” x 17” but can be displayed larger.
    • Can be full color
    • Should have room for regional IU information & dates
  • Must have at least one additional print item (brochure, rack card, banner) and one 1 color promo item design (tumbler, shirt, hat)
  • Must include one use of digital media format (Examples: Facebook profile pic, Facebook banner or post, Twitter post)

Logo Elements

  • Design a PA Media and Design Competition Logo
  • Design is limited to two colors and suitable for silk screening
  • Must include PA Media and Design Competition High School/Middle School Not(HS/MS)
  • Must include next year’s date
  • Must use Pantone solid colors
  • In addition to the two-color requirement, Logo must be shown as a one color black & white design

Example Software: Photoshop, Illustrators, InDesign, GIMP, Inkscape
Example Pantone guide: https://www.pantone.com/color-finder

  • Space will be assigned and limited to 3 feet per project.

A project will be disqualified if any of the following occur:

  • The narrative description is missing
  • Copyright information and credits are not included on the narrative or displayed with the project. (see below)
  • A planning document is not displayed/available that clarifies the process used to create the project
  • See Graphic Design and Logo Scoring Guideline to ensure all requirements are met

If a project meets the above rules it will be judged using the following: Graphic Design and Logo Scoring Guidelines

Explanation of Two-Color rule:
The project may use many different shades of a single ink, but only two ink colors may be used. Assume that the background color is white. If parts of your design show through to the background, then you are not using an ink for that part of the design. To clarify, you may use a single yellow ink color. You may also use percentages of that single yellow ink color throughout your design. You can not, however, use more than two different inks. For example, purple, red green on a white background would not be allowed. Black is considered an ink color.

NOTE: Logos are generally created in vector format which enables artwork to be resized without losing clarity. Some vector graphic editors include Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape and Vector Paint. Creating a vector logo is highly recommended. Remember, your logo needs to look good at 3″ x 3″ as well as on the large Media and Design Competition posters.

Disclaimer: To ensure that projects reflect students’ own creativity and effort, participants in the Pennsylvania Media and Design Competition must adhere to an 80% human, 20% AI rule. Students should document and clearly report how AI tools were utilized in their work to maintain transparency and align with competition guidelines.

Narrative Description

Narrative descriptions are required for all projects; the narrative description/project summary is now included in the PA Media and Design Competition Participation Packet. If the narrative is not provided, the project will be disqualified. Narratives must be detailed enough to provide the judges with any information to fairly judge the project. Attach additional pages if necessary.

Copyright Requirements

The PA Media and Design Competition Participation Packet includes a participation agreement that must be signed by all participating students on a project and their teacher sponsor. Part of the agreement outlines copyright expectations, as well as other project requirements.

Suggested sites to search for media:

The PA Media and Design Competition, although educational, removes the student work from the classroom and therefore requires the student to get permission from the owner to use any copyrighted music, video, graphics, etc. Fair use does NOT apply. Remember to credit music or items that were created by yourself or friends as well.

 

Planning Document

All projects need to display the process used to create the project. This should be specific and as detailed as possible to give the judges the necessary background regarding how it was developed. You may choose to put it on your tri-fold display or bring a loose-leaf notebook with your notes.

Helpful Hints
  • The document will not be judged for grammar or appearance.
  • Tri-fold displays are not judged, they are for clarification purposes only.
  • Get photo releases signed from everyone in your project in any media format.
High School Logo with headphones and "design" in the shape of school supplies

Logo winner
Sopheavatey Nouth and Everardo Sanchez
South Philadelphia High School

Middle School logo showing school supplies in the shape of the PA Keystone

Logo winner
Faith Jones-Mcintyre and Taraji Robinson
Marian Anderson Neighborhood Academy

Use the hashtag #pamediadesigncomp on all your social media posts