Andrew Kelsall | Graphic Designer

I was amazed last week to hear that I had a won a years free subscription to Design Week. I took part in a competition over at Graphic Design Forums, with the top prize been Adobe CS5 premium (all the winners are listed here). Since I only own the CS5 standard version, it would have made a great prize. However, I’m content with the prize I won. All I had to do to enter the competition was to tweet my entry.

“Magazines are weird”

Winning this subscription reminded me that I haven’t read an actual printed magazine for years. I used to buy Design Week to read on the train when I worked for a design studio in Leeds, back-in-the-day. I’m so used to consuming content online, that reading from a paper magazine seems just weird! I even read the Bible online, and the first book I bought in years was Logo Design Love (which I need to complete).

Do I like Design Week?

It used to be a favourite of mine, along with Creative Review, however, things have changed in this online world. There’s nothing contained in the magazine that I cant already read online, but I reckon the design directory in the back pages is top-notch, and well worth keeping hold of.

Sidenote: to my amazement, there’s a large advert in the magazine for a design company…which uses Comic Sans throughout the entire add. Nice…

Do You still read magazines, or do you consume all your information online?

On the 28th February, I ran a competition for you to win one of two prizes courtesy of the great folks at Uprinting.com. There were some great comments, some very weird ones…and some rather bad ones―however, the whole point of the competition was to leave a comment that was creative:

How to Enter to competition:

1. Leave a comment at the end of this article, describing what you would use the free business cards and/or canvas print for.

2. IMPORTANT: To make things more interesting, you must include THIS WORD below in your comment to be eligible to win: Dinosaur

After much deliberation, here are the winners:

Gold > Josh: 1000 Business Cards Winner

Well, obviously I would use them to construct a hat and earmuffs for my dinosaur.. It’s winter you know.

Silver > Elizabeth Cooper: 18×24 canvas print winner

Have you ever wondered why there are old dinosaur bones in museums?

I have, and I decided it’s for the same reason I haven’t had new business cards in a while — because new ones are too expensive!

Shonika, I thought your comment was thoughtful, so although you’re not a winner, here’s a link to your site: Teen Entrepreneur Blog to say thank-you!

I appreciate the longer comments that some of you left, but it was the two comments above that captured the creative concept in a more memorable way. Josh’s comment, in particular, made me smile when I read it.

So, well done Josh and Elizabeth, I will email you both with the details on claiming your prizes.

I’ll probably be running more competitions in the future, so why not Subscribe to my RSS Feed so you don’t miss them?

Here’s a great competition to brighten your day―a chance to win two prizes from Uprinting.com, an online printing company committed to providing a high quality printing experience at affordable prices.

Apart from business cards and canvas prints, Uprinting can print a wide range of material, from calendars to wall stickers.

How to Enter to competition:

1. Leave a comment at the end of this article, describing what you would use the free business cards and/or canvas print for.

2. IMPORTANT: To make things more interesting, you must include THIS WORD below in your comment to be eligible to win:

Dinosaur

3. The Most Creative Answer including the word “dinosaur” will win. I will choose the winner based on creativity―not a random selection. I chose this word, as I had just taken my kids out to a Dinosaur exhibition, so it seemed fitting.

Prizes

1000 free standard size business cards for one reader and 1 free 18×24 canvas print for one reader

You can choose from any of Uprinting.com stocks for these items.

The Rules

Winners in the United States and Canada qualify for free shipping. Shipping fees will apply to winners outside these areas.

Closing date is the 10th March 09, 24:00 GMT.

Note: YOU DO NOT need a lengthy comment to be eligible to win, just a quality one

Now, why not be creative to win a fantastic prize?…