At the request of one of my distributors, my company – flight of harmony, LLC., A.K.A. f(h) – is getting a makeover. We need a more consistent design across the website and ad material, so it was suggested that I bring on an artist to design a new visual theme for everything. I of course immediately thought “Pony time!” but, alas, I am aware that “WTF?” is not the customer reaction I should be aiming for (I still plan to do some limited-edition pony-themed releases anyway, I just can’t use ponies for the main theme.). However, this community has some incredible artists, and I want to support y’all if I can before I resort to looking outside the Equestrian realm. We might as well have fun with it as well, so let’s have a contest!

A summary of the details for the contest are listed below, but the general idea is for you to come up with a visual theme for the flight of harmony website, and to extend this theme in some way to represent each of the products themselves. My original idea when I first started was to design a creature or symbol for each new product, one which somehow represented or embodied the function or the theme of the product. Examples of this can be seen on the website at http://flightofharmony.com. I quickly became too busy to draw new characters, however, and my designs are apparently “too disturbing or dark” somehow anyway, but we all agree that having a unique character or symbol for each product is a good approach.

Fortunately, f(h) has been around long enough to have brand identity, which means I get to keep the general and now-expected semi-grimdark look and feel. When I say “grimdark”, I mean bleak, desolate, dark, creepy, ominous, and other such adjectives. Death, blood, and some gore is fine, but no R34 or even sexy (yet, I need to come up with an appropriate product line for that first). The designs also need to be original and largely non-derivative, because the goal is for the imagery to evoke a feeling or impression – one that is somehow related to both the product and the overall company theme – without triggering any association to other existing products or themes. For example, one suggestion was to use a Gorillaz-style theme and characters, but that would associate our products with Gorillaz and ventures that use similar comic styles. Comic or cartoon styles are okay, they just need to be different enough not to make the average customer think of some other product.

Examples:
I sent a ton of DA links of possible thematic art styles (all pony, of course) to my US distributor so he could point to which ones he thought would work. These are the pieces he liked (these artists are also being invited to join the contest):

Non-comic-style:
http://kyuubi-fox-demon.deviantart.com/art/Silent-Ponyville-276904052
http://crappyunicorn.deviantart.com/art/eclipsed-252351884
http://xatiav.deviantart.com/art/MLP-Last-Mare-Standing-264371044

Comic-style:
http://a17spartan768.deviantart.com/art/Dash-Wants-Revenge-269171287
http://invaderpoe.deviantart.com/art/Pinkamena-VS-PsySparkle-263961491

Keep in mind that the focus is on the atmosphere and mood, and we need non-pony art for most of the material.

Wait a minute, what the hell does f(h) sell? In short: I make analog synthesizers and other music gear. The main product lines are modules for modular synthesizers, with other lines of stand-alone desktop devices. Guitar pedals, PA and monitor systems, and other lines are currently in development.

For the website, we are looking for a background theme, largely landscapes or other scenery, that sets the general feel of the mindset behind f(h) but does not distract from the actual products and their specific imagery. So the focus should be on tones, shading, and other abstract concepts. You don’t need to design any HTML or CSS. Our webmaster will take care of actually applying the art to the website. We also need a new 404 design before I get in trouble with Hasbro for having the Pinkie Pie 404 image.

This is also just the start. Ideally, we would like to have the winning artist do more designs as new products are released. We are also looking into SWAG possibilities such as stickers, cards, buttons, magnets, tote bags, patches, and even figurines of the characters (much like the MLP blind bag figurines). Flight of harmony is owned by two bronies, and we really want to help the others in this community to grow and thrive. A contract such as this would be a great addition to any professional artist’s portfolio, so go wild! Be creative! We are extremely interested to see what y’all can come up with.

Summary:
To create a unified and professional theme for the company website and product lines. Themes must maintain the original grimdark spirit and feel of the existing theme.

Ideally, this would consist of the components listed under “Major theme” below, but the “Minor theme” options will also be taken into consideration. Also ideally, the artist of the winning submission would agree to further work as new products are released or new marketing materials are required.

If a winner is picked, compensation for winning submission will be discussed before any commercial usage of submission.

As this is for an existing company, determination of a winning submission depends upon usability, and it is possible that we may be unable to use any of the submissions. Please do not take this as a statement about your work, but simply that we are forced to balance our desired look and feel with suitability for a wide customer base that is both domestic and international.

As with most contract art projects, submitted designs will likely require changes and fine-tuning before being used.

Go to http://flightofharmony.com, browse around and get an idea for the desired grimdark feel as well as for what the products are and what they do.

Please send submissions and inquiries to themecontest@flightofharmony.com.

Submissions need to be received by the end of Saturday, January 28, 2012.

Major theme:

  • Unified, professional theme (atmosphere, palette, symbolism) for the website, letterhead, and product lines.
    • Grimdark/apocalyptic/somber in tone and style
    • Imagery for products adhering to theme
      • (non-pony)  Creature/Character/Symbol for each product which embody or personify identifying elements of said product
      • Alternate pony character for limited edition versions of product
    • Imagery for website adhering to theme
      • Landscape or Environment
        • not detracting from page information or elements
  • Grimdark/apocalyptic “storyline” to tie image elements together

Minor theme 1:

  • Imagery for products adhering to existing f(h) theme
    • Creature/Character for each product which embody or personify identifying elements of said product
    • Alternate pony character for limited edition versions of product
  • Optional: Grimdark/apocalyptic “storyline” to tie image elements together

Minor theme 2:

  • Imagery for products adhering to existing f(h) theme
    • Alternate pony character for limited edition versions of product
  • Optional: Grimdark/apocalyptic “storyline” to tie image elements together

Terms and conditions:

  • All creatures/characters must be new original designs, no pre-existing characters or concepts.
  • Submissions must be submitted within one week of original contest announcement.
  • All concepts and characters become property of Flight of Harmony, LLC. upon submission.
    • Ownership of all submissions not selected shall revert to original artist upon either: selection of winning submission or one week (seven days) after end of contest (Contest ends on Saturday, January 28, 2012).