A design competition for Haitian assistance

Attention Coroflot job seekers:

Our friends at The Big Ad Gig alerted us that they have extended the deadline to their creative ad agency competition until midnight tonight. It’s a career opportunity of a lifetime with five winners getting their shot at a thirty day paid freelance gig at the following notable agencies:
Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, Ogilvy, TBWA, and New Co. (Ty Montague’s new shop.)

You’ve got a few more hours to assemble your 60 second YouTube video submission, portfolio, and resume submission for a chance to win.

Visit The Big Ad Gig for complete details, and pencil us in for lunch when you land that sweet new job.

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I hate to admit it, but every time I have a DIY job that requires paint or stain, I buy a crapload of these disposable foam brushes above rather than use the few bristle brushes I own. Cleaning bristle brushes properly requires loads of mineral spirits and running the tap for what feels like 10 minutes per brush. I’m not sure which is worse for the environment.

A category of brush that I’m totally unfamiliar with is cosmetic brushes: I have no idea how long they last, how you clean them, or what exactly you use them to apply, though I’m guessing it’s a variety of powders and creams. Anyways for you makeup-wearing ID’ers, cosmetic brush manufacturer Anisa International is holding a Sustainable Cosmetic Brush Design Contest.

The contest is open to anyone with a new and original design or idea to create and design an innovative cosmetic brush utilizing more sustainable materials. The winner will be awarded $2,500, international recognition and a trip to New York City for the unveiling during the HBA tradeshow in New York City in September, as well as the opportunity to see their product manufactured.

…Applicants are required to submit drawings and/or a product prototype to be judged on several key points, including: use of sustainable materials, innovation/originality, design aesthetics, marketability, cost to produce, and the overall product life cycle.

The contest closes on August 30th, and be sure not to miss the deadline because there won’t be any…makeup. (Sorry.)

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Six finalists have been chosen in Levi Strauss’ Care to Air Design Challenge, which seeks clever and eco-friendly ways to dry clothes. The competition was formed after “a lifecycle assessment of a pair of Levi’s 501 jeans revealed that, on average, almost 60% of the climate impact comes during the consumer phase. Nearly 80% of that is due to the energy-intensive method chosen for drying.”

Three of the finalists were chosen by Myoo Create, the crowdsourcing company collaborating on the contest, and three were chosen by Levi’s. Our two faves both feature space-saving wall-mounted designs for clothing racks:

The simple Evaporation Station, by designer Jeff M., looks pleasant enough folded flat, and fans out to hang what we’re guessing would be a single person’s small-batch laundry load.

The Nothing is What It Seems rack, by screenname Chill, does the Evaporation Station one better by acting as a wall-mounted painting frame until it deploys. It also seems to offer a good deal more hanging area, and if we had to pick one–heck, if I could buy one–it’d be this.

Check out the rest of the finalists here.

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“It is just as desirable to build a chicken house as it is to build a cathedral.” —Frank Lloyd Wright

So opens the Poultry Project’s 2010 Chicken Coop Design Competition, a call to farmers, designers, architects, artists, and locavores to design a chicken coop for use in urban and suburban backyards. The ideal coop should integrate “aesthetics with utility,” helping chickens thrive so they can lay some eggs.

The winners will receive two cash prizes of $500 and $250, and the winning designs will be modified for use in Uganda, where the Poultry Project and TASO, a Ugandan organization) help AIDS orphans start small poultry businesses where they can earn money selling eggs.

The requirements of the coop are well detailed on the Poultry Project’s competition site, including nesting zones, perches, and a light source. For more detailed guidelines and an entry form, click here.

You shouldn’t need to look much farther for inspiration than the venerable Silkie Bantam chicken, pictured below (he’s like a Muppet, my dream hen).

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The International Interior Design Association has teamed up with Metropolis Magazine to bring us the Smart Environments Awards, with the tagline, “Good design is more than pretty. It’s Smart.”

If you’ve designed a smart environment that was completed after April 2009 and has not yet been published, you’re eligible to submit it. Winning projects will be presented at the USGBC Greenbuild Expo and considered for publication in Metropolis Magazine.

Details here.

Deadline: September 23, 2010

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A few months ago, Umbra sponsored a competition to celebrate it’s 30th anniversary, entitled You Design. All were invited to submit photos on how they’ve use Umbra gear creatively in their space. Three finalists have just been announced; they’ll receive airfare and accomodations to attend the Umbra 30th anniversary party, where the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will be announced.

The finalists are the Bear Can, Cupcake Tier and Mon Faux Foyer, pictured above. Find out more about them here.

Browsing all the submissions is also pretty fun, though voting has long ended, you can take a peek <a href="http://www.youdesignumbra.com/
“>here.

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Braunprize 2009.

One of our favorite (and one of the oldest) design awards, the Braunprize has announced plans to expand and revamp before it’s next triennial appearance in 2012. In addition to putting the prize back on its former rotation of once every three years, the changes will increase its accessibility and engage design consumers and kindle a renewed interest in emerging markets.

The revamp is is being led by Professor Oliver Grabes, Head of Braun Corporate Design, and Phil Dunan, P&G’s Global Design Officer. Grabes says:

In making some significant changes to the awards process, we are further establishing our commitment to the accessibility of this competition and want to ensure that it not only provides a showcase to those who want to pursue a career in design, but that it also encourages engagement with design for those enthusiasts and professionals outside of an academic context.” He continues “As ever, we want to support great ideas, clarity of vision and practical, beautiful and intuitive solutions to everyday concerns, the trademarks of Braun’s influential design process.

The details are still under wraps and the competition still long in coming, but it’s never too early to start planning! For inspiration see the 2009 winners and awards ceremony,

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The Earth Awards is a global search for “design innovations that will change the way we live and pave the way to imminent sustainable revolution.” They are seeking entries in six broad categories: Built Environment, Fashion, Products, Systems, Future and Social Justice. Entries may be realized or in prototype stage and will be judged on six criteria: “Achievable, Scalable, Measurable, Useful, Original and Ecological.” One grand prizewinner will receive $50,000, and each category winner will receive $10,000.

They’ve rounded up quite a team of judges for this, from curators to designers to scientists. The list includes Paola Antonelli, MoMA; David DeRothschiled, Adventure Ecology; His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa; Rick Fedrizzi, USGBC; Dr. Jane Goodall, The Jane Goodall Institute; Peter Head, ARUP; Graham Hill, Treehugger; Ira Magaziner, The Clinton Foundation; Phillipe Starck, Designer; and many, many more. See them all here.

Submissions are being accepted now through May 10th, 2010. Check out last year’s grand prize winner: FAB.REcology by Neri Oxman, then find all the information you need to enter here.

Thanks, Alissa!

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