The Bluehouse tContest

What's the scoop?

The BH tContest is a weekly design contest that puts the future of Bluehouse apparel in your hands. Bluehouse presents a new theme every week and the BH community goes crazy with design submissions. Designs are submitted by anybody, reviewed by everybody, and voted on by anyone that cares. Votes determine a winner every week and Bluehouse begins producing and selling the shirt immediately at our fresh-design price of $5.95 for a limited time.

With the BH tContest, everbody wins. Get involved and have fun, after all, this is for you.

How do I get around the contest?

Under the T-Shirts menu item, you'll find four links that manage the BH tContest:

T-Shirt Contest Page

The T-Shirt Contest Page allows you to do the following:

* Learn about the latest news and announcements for the contests.

* Discover the weekly theme.

* Find links to all other aspects of the contest (forums, voting page, etc).

* Buy the winning T-Shirt.

T-Shirt Forum Page

This page allows you do to the following:

* Share your ideas for the contest

* Show off your designs and get feedback for revisions

* Polish your artwork before submitting to the contest

This page allows you to do the following:

Instructions Page

You're here, my friend.

Submit/Vote Page

* View all entries. Click the thumbnails to see more about each submission.

* Monitor your favorite design, which may be yours.

* Vote for and comment on your favorite submissions.

How do I create/submit my work?

1. Review the week’s theme so you know what direction to take your design.

2. Know the deadline. Nobody wants to miss out on your work!

3. Follow artwork requirements. All submission must be in vector format (Vector Whah?). Design software such as Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and/or Corel Draw is recommended. Please follow the Artwork Requirements to avoid problems.

Artwork Requirements

* NOTICE: When using the name "Bluehouse" you HAVE TO use our logo, no other fonts can be accepted.  You might be tempted to ask: "WHY?!?" ... One simple answer: Our Lawyers! ... there were lots of big words as to why... just use our logo! (link to download Bluehouse logos)

* Use 17" x 20" dimensions as your maximum design size.

* Use the following templates:

o Full Size Design Template (link to download file)

o Design Details Template (link to download file)

o Design Layout Template (link to download file)

* Use Pantone solid-coated color swatches for your design.

* Use a maximum of 6 spot colors.

* Create original artwork.

* Design will be for one side of the shirt only.

* Be tasteful (vulgar and/or immodest artwork will be removed).

* We don't require the designs to be Bluehouse specific but here's our logo if you need it (link to download file)

Save files using the following guidelines:

* Full Size Design 17"X20"(PSD, AI, PDF, SVG or ZIP; 20 MB max)

* Design Detail 500X400 (GIF, JPG or PNG; 500k max)

* Design Layout 500X400 (GIF, JPG or PNG; 500k max)

If your Full Size Design is larger than 20 MB, please send an email to adam@bluehouseskis.com and include the following information:

• Your bluehouseskis.com username

• The name of your design

• Your design description

• Any other details you would like mentioned on your submission page

Weekly Themes

Every week, Bluehouse will provide a new theme on the main contest page to kick off the next seven-day contest. A theme is simply a key word or phrase to guide the contest and keep submissions fresh. Naturally, themes will be ski-related for the most part. But don’t feel like you have to design a ski shirt; perhaps when we say “Fat Sticks,” you see “Fat’s Ticks.” We say ride that train. Bluehouse logos are not required. In fact, most of the contest will not be Bluehouse specific.

Submission Deadlines

Submissions will be accepted for each contest as soon as the theme is announced on Friday at 12:00 AM (Mountain Standard Time). Submissions will be accepted until the following Wednesday at midnight, MST. Any exceptions to this schedule will be clearly specified in the contest description.

Some Tips for Success

Read the contest theme and come up with a few designs that you think might work well with that theme. Use the forum to share ideas and see what the best idea for your design might be. Talking with other people before you start will save you time and usually results in a better design. The forum is a great place to do this.

Recommended process for best results:

1. Know the theme.

2. Create the artwork.

3. Share ideas and artwork on the forums.

4. Submit final artwork to submissions page.

5. Upload file(s)s by following steps and requirements.

6. Tell your posse to log on and vote for your design.

How do I vote? And does my vote really count?

Bluehouse keeps it simple. Browse designs on the submissions page and ask yourself, “Would I rock that?” If the answer is yes, click "vote." If the answer is, “I’d rather go shirtless,” don't click "vote" (guideline may not accurately apply to exhibitionists). If you don't like choosing anybody's side, you don't have to. You may also choose to comment. Click on the thumbnail for this and more options. Give the artist props or pointers, whatever you do, remember the words: "stay classy, Bluehouse.”

Voting and commenting is only available for Bluehouse customers who are logged in to the site. Voting is open during the entire contest.

The design that gets the most votes will be printed and will go on sale one hour after the contest ends. In other words, every Friday at 12:00 AM a new customer-designed Bluehouse tee goes on sale and somewhere, a designer celebrates.

What happens if I win?

If your shirt design collects the most votes in a week, we will print your shirt and sell it like mad. You’ll have the pleasure to occasionally see your creations on the backs (or fronts) of people you don’t even know. Bluehouse will also send you a free t-shirt with your design on it. Nice, right? Well, it gets nicer.

The winner of each contest is also compensated with pure greens. Winning designers get $0.50 for every shirt that sells throughout the first month. Compensation will be paid soon after that month is up.

Other compensation is provided at times including, but not limited to Bluehouse store credit, other soft goods, and even skis!

The winner of the contest is the one with the most votes, unless one or more of the following occurs:

* The design has elements created and/or owned by someone else, or that would otherwise infringe on the intellectual property rights of third parties

* There is offensive or obscene content

* We can't produce the design because of technical issues

* We think the artist somehow cheated the system

* The design is not unique - i.e., the designer (or a designate) has previously produced and distributed the same design, or something very similar

* Even after A LOT of thought, we can't see how it relates to the theme

* We don't like it

* If multiple locations are required for the design

* If we think of any other reasons that we can’t think of now

So basically, we’ll do what we want with the design to make sure it fits Bluehouse standards. We really trust that this will rarely—if ever—happen. But we also refuse to produce anything that we just don’t think is right. Also, if we have to, we may modify designs for production purposes, like reducing the design from seven to six colors, or changing the shirt color either for aesthetic or inventory purposes. Don’t worry though, if you follow the guidelines, we don’t foresee this being common.

Voter Fraud

During the first three weeks of the contest, there were numerous contestants who attempted voter fraud. Each attempt was unique. But each attempt was easily detected. People, we can see what you do on the site. Don't think you can pull shenanigans here. We will simply not allow a cheater to succeed at Bluehouse. When we discover a contestant who's participating in any form of voter fraud (even one vote), we immediately remove the design and the contestant is disqualified from the contest. He/she is welcome to submit again in the future, and having learned a great lesson on honesty and forgiveness, will not cheat again.