Cuttothecore_header

We're gearing up to release a series of Laptop Skins, designed specifically for the extra wonderful Mac Laptops. These skins will have a trick cut away that lets the magical Apple logo shine through. But we don't want to release this series with just any art. We are looking for a handful of designs that creatively integrate the Apple. And that's where you come in.... join us in the Cut to the Core design challenge.

Some important rules for this one...
  • Please do not use the Apple logo itself in your art.
  • Designs need to be composited onto a laptop.
  • Winning designs will be made into 13", 15" and 17" Laptop Art. Your artwork needs to scale to all of these sizes. Please refer to the template below. We will work with winners to make sure their artwork is aligned perfectly before launch.
Download Template Please note:

Apple Inc. is in no way associated with Infectious and did not sponsor or endorse this contest.
The Apple logo is a registered trademark of Apple Inc.

Cuttothecore_first_prize

$1000 cash

$100 of Infectious Product and 5% of Net Sales.
Cuttothecore_winners $100 of Infectious Product and 5% of Net Sales.
DEADLINE: August 4, 2009

Judges

Winning Designs
Cutout_rusty_small
The_rebel_thumb
Ivanfloresmacskinentry_thumb
Recharged_thumb
Creative_workflow_thumb
Back_to_the_basics_thumb
Vote_designs_grey

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timroberts

Got any questions or comments about the design challenge? We are all ears.

 
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burbskate

very interesting … gotta get the wheels turning to integrate the logo somehow into a design.

 
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timroberts

nice one!

http://www.infectious.com/voting/burbskate/a-little-rusty/2468

 
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el_square

This may seem like a silly question, but I don’t have a Mac so I want to make sure. What color does the light gives off? Pure white, slight blue, changes color?

 
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timroberts

pure white opaque light

 
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el_square

Thank you!

 
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RhysMcDonald

This contest looks great – will be keeping a close eye on it

 
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timroberts

some of these designs are just awesome and very clever

 
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burbskate

thanks for the plug Tim !

 

zerov25

the 17" means 17 inches?

 
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midimoik

just need to clarify the dimensions? if it’s 13", 15", and 17" the height for each would be… ?

 
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Jemma

Hey, I was just wondering, with these Iphone skins, do they stick to the actual phone? And are they able to be removed and replaced with others?

Thanks, and beautiful artworks!

 

sarahgay

Hey Jemma,
The iPhone skins do stick to the actual phone, and they are easily removable. They are super easy to put on and come off cleanly leaving no residue, so you can change them up whenever you get the urge! I’m really bad with the whole hand/eye coordination thing, and I was able to get my iPhone and laptop skin on perfectly with no problem. There’s more technical info here: http://www.infectious.com/learn/iphone_faq

 
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joey

Hey midimoik, Let me just double check the dimensions with one of our designers and I’ll get right back to you. Cheers, Joey

 
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mikeyion

midimoik

Ideally, you should design for the dimensions of a 17" laptop so we can scale your artwork down to the smaller sizes. The dimensions of a 17" Laptop skin are 15" wide x 10" tall. Hope that helps!

 
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midimoik

thanks joey and mikeyion :D i know it’s a silly question:p just had to confirm :D i got confused with the template:p thanks!:D

 
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el_square

I noticed that sometime when I’m going through the entries with the Previous and Next button, it would sometime switch over to the Skate Deck contest or Open Submission entries. Is that suppose to happen?

 
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joey

Hmmm… that doesn’t sound right. Thanks for the heads up Loc. I’ll get our engineer to look into it. Cheers, Joey

 

Dan_Marino

Can we submit more than one entry? Might be obvious, but was just making sure, I’ve got a few ideas rolling around in my head

 
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joey

Hey Dan, You are absolutely welcome to submit more than one entry. It will unfortunately just depend on the volume of other submissions (and of course quality) whether absolutely all of them are accepted. But yes – we love artists who participate lots :) One recommendation – I’d space them out rather than submit them all in one go. That way the community doesn’t get overwhelmed with too much art from the same artists and each individual design tends to do better overall. Make sense? Really looking forward to seeing your art! Cheers, Joey

 
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Charion_Design

You mention that we should not put the apple logo on the artwork itself. Does that apply to the mock up composite also ? Thanks!

 
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timroberts

the apple that is the glowing logo shining through is ok. we just don’t want people taking the apple logo and using it in the actual design.

 
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Charion_Design

Gotcha! Thanks :-)

 
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burbskate

shouldn’t all the designs be able to be voted on for the duration of the contest? It seems mine is already done taking votes.

 
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el_square

@burbskate: Each entry has 2 weeks to be voted on and every 2 weeks you get to see the results on earlier entries. I think it’s a pretty good system. This way you can see how your design did right away and you can design another one if time permits.

 
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burbskate

But what if someone hears about the contest near the end, and signs up? They can’t vote for any submissions unless they are within the last 2 weeks. I think it puts the early submissions at a disadvantage since most people wait until the end to submit.

For a 2 week, or ongoing, contest, I think this would be ok … but for a special month long, it seems to me that all submissions should be able to be voted on for the duration of the contest.

just my 2 cents. which is probably worth 1 cent now with inflation.

 
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timroberts

it is done this way so that every design gets the same number of days of voting. otherwise a design that comes in with only 1 day left, only gets a day to be voted on. it would give early submissions a heavy advantage. the current approach is intended to make it as fair and level a playing field as possible.

 
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RhysMcDonald

@ Greg – I think that falls into a marketing issue for each artist, they have to drum up the votes/support/awareness. Hustle your design and pimp yourself like a madman

 
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burbskate

@ Rhys – true – I’ve never been very good at hustling.

I understand getting the same number of days to vote. But the downside is that early submissions do not get the same number of users voting.

10 yes votes – 10 no … 50% approval
20 yes votes – 20 no … 50% approval

same result, but which is better?

I guess it comes down to if someone is going to enter a contest … do they become active in voting from day one? Or do they only become active once they submit?

The early submitters (like myself) are probably more invested in the voting process from the beginning and will most likely vote on all submissions until the end. Whereas the late submissions hear about the contest, go away from the site, come back when ready to submit, then start voting.

 
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timroberts

not sure we see a steady of increase in total votes over the course of the challenge. number of votes per design tends to be more related to whether the artists promotes the design or not.

and while we do look at both volume of votes and average score, we pay more attention to average score. for this design challenge we had an amazing 662 submissions. we accepted about 370 of those into voting. the community input is incredibly helpful to bring the best designs to the top – because 370 entries are a ton to look through. but the voting system is certainly subject to popularity of artist and how much they hustle. so we don’t purely choose winners based on who gets the highest score or most votes.

so i guess my point is… i don’t think submitting early or later really has too much of an impact on chances to win.

 
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burbskate

WOW … that is a whole lot of submissions! Good to hear.

 
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timroberts

but i do want ot emphasize that everything we do here is basically a work in progress. and all of your feedback, questions and ideas are helpful for helping us evolve the system.

so keep thoughts and questions coming…. we’re open to trying new things and testing out new approaches. for instance… maybe for one of the next design challenges we have a submission deadline and then put all submissions into voting at the same time for the same exact time period. no one gets to see any submissions until they all enter voting. we’d have to randomize order of display so it was fair… but might be a fun way to do it.

 
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cesarrem

HELLO I AM CESAR FROM ARGENTINE, AM NEW IN IT OF INFECTIOUS AND AM VERY HAPPY THAT A DESIGN I ENTER THE VOTING, I WANTED TO KNOW IF YOU LIKES ADVICE TO CONTINUE SENDING WORKS.
I HAVE ANOTHER DESIGN CALLED BLACKMAC THAT THIS IN WAIT TO ENTER VOTING.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND FORGIVE FOR MY ENGLISH. LOL
CESARREM

 
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bumarya

Hello plz I’d like to know how many option can i submit !?

 
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burbskate

infectious is on www.tuaw.com

 
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joey

bumarya – we do accept multiple entries but if we are getting tons of submissions we may be less likely to accept multiple entries (hough the higher the quality the more likely we are to accept them). We also recommend submitting them spaced out over the course of the contest, so we don’t overwhelm the community with too much art from the same artist.

 
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ojsGraphix

hey everyone, i’m new to infectious! i was viewing the other submissions to get ideas… i was wondering if anyone can tell me where i can get a nice high resolution template of the iphone so i can implement my design onto it? or if someone can email it to me, that would be great. i saw the download link for the laptop design already. THANKS.

email: ojsgraphix@gmail.com

 
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joey

Hey ojsGraphix,

The iPhone template is on this page at the bottom: http://www.infectious.com/submissions/open/get_started. Just click on " Want to show us your art composited onto one of the surfaces we design for?" The iPhone is just above the laptop template. Just a gentle reminder – for the Cut to the Core contest we’re asking for art to be composited onto a laptop. So presumably you’re asking for Open Submission purposes?

Feel free to email if you’d like to chat more – joey@infectious.com

 
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LOSmattocks

 
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joey

I’m loving this top five favourite shout outs from the key members of the community. Or top 6 in your case Mr LOSmattocks ;)

 
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LOSmattocks

that was a quick catch!

 
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RhysMcDonald

Here’s my early top five (ps cheers Mike for the props) also in no order

http://www.infectious.com/voting/ellenich/classic/3001
http://www.infectious.com/voting/atentadodigital/zumbis/2962
http://www.infectious.com/voting/msalmon/apple-tree-bird/2942
http://www.infectious.com/voting/nillaith/ae/3157
http://www.infectious.com/voting/blackjonc/lil-bird-eat-it/2837

 
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burbskate

First off … let me say that I am REALLY enjoying being part of this community. It’s such a great change from where some of us came from…

I had to cut my five from about 10 or so LOVES…. tough job.

http://www.infectious.com/voting/lpg/adam/3200
http://www.infectious.com/voting/zackshackleton/light-up-mac/3050
http://www.infectious.com/voting/donkorn/life-is-a-hectic-yet-colorful/2836
http://www.infectious.com/voting/atilio/fantom/3151
http://www.infectious.com/voting/mikeklay/crimson-crunch/2504

 
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LOSmattocks

I concur on these 2 also
http://www.infectious.com/voting/nillaith/ae/3157
http://www.infectious.com/voting/msalmon/apple-tree-bird/2942

 
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marinara

I already have my design on a 8×11 copy paper. The only photo generated programs I have iPhoto and Aperture :/. Honestly I have barely any Mac photoshoping knowledge but I do have creativity. Ooh and to mikeyion, I bought your product :P. What is the age range if there is one (because you would be surprised by my age)?
Obviously, I need a more step-by-step instruction on how to upload my design.

THANKSS
franquita.s_dimelo@hotmail.com

 

fcgravy

dang! the deadline’s tomorrow but what timezone is the deadline. i’m new to the site and was just wondering if i could get a quick design in for this before the time :S

btw, i’m from the uk. peace!

p.s. there is some really nice stuff here!

 
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joey

fcgravy – welcome! Deadline is midnight pst on August 4th. Hope you make it!

 

fcgravy

thanks, joey! :)

 
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Crimsonjassic

Sorry to be particular, but is the deadline 12:00:00 AM on August 4th or 11:59:59 PM on August 4th? In other words is it on the start of August 4th or at the end of August 4th?

 
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RhysMcDonald

I would like to know the winners. NOWNOWNOWNOW! Theres a lot of sugar in my veins right now. There’s been some freakin’ rad as heck designs in this contest. Little bummed mine tanked to badly, but I love this community

 
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burbskate

I agree Rhys. The degree of designs here has been VERY inspiring and humbling. Can’t wait to see the finalists.

Any idea when they will be announced? Since it ended on the 4th .. .I would assume that the last entries would still get 2 weeks of voting. So we’re probably looking at the end of the month.

on another note – I’m psyched to do something for the mimobot challenge too … totally different that what I’ve ever done.

 
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joey

Hey fellas, could change around a little bit but looks like winners will be announced around 27th August. I’m crossing my fingers for you! Start dreaming up some ninja mimobots for us!

 
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RhysMcDonald

mimobots? I must go google this

 
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el_square

I am always excited when it gets to this point. Definitely a lot of great designs in this contest. Will be eagerly awaiting the results!

 
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raju

wen r the results??

 
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timroberts

will announce winners for cut to the core in the end of august… our heads are all up in skateboards right now.

 
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kjana

i have submitted just one
http://pragueloop.blogspot.com/2009/08/french-joke.html
crocheted jokey cozy
voting is at http://www.infectious.com/voting/kjana/classic-croche/3404

 
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G_Designer26

After Cut to the Core, if we submit a laptop to open submissions, do we still put the apple logo cutout on it? Or do we just leave the logo out?

 
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VikkyV

So is voting based on number of votes?

 
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joey

G-Designer26 – you can submit your laptop skin ideas either with a cut out or as a solid rectangle – it’s entirely up to you. You can also submit your art without compositing it as a jpeg if you like.

VikkyV – we select winners based on both community voting and team Infectious voting. We use our past experience to help us select winners that are both great concepts and will be strong sellers as well. Community voting is still a very important factor that we take into consideration though.

 

synical

So when will the winners be announced and these awesome designs go up for sale?

 
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joey

We’re still deciding that synical. We’ll update everybody via the forums, hopefully at some point next week. (There were some pretty magical designs, weren’t there?)

 
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RhysMcDonald

I’m hanging out for the winners of this contest. Actually, I generally hang out for all the winners to be announced.

Also, lolz

 
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burbskate

Rhys … that photo is great!

 
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raju

how many winners,,
So eager for the results…

 
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joey

Winners will be announced on Thursday 10th September. Stay tuned!

 
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bumarya

Oooppsss!!!!! i thought you said on Aug 27!!!!!

 
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burbskate

oh the horror of waiting …..

 
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ZackShackleton

Yahoooo! Only two more days! Even though I know the winners aren’t going to be revealed until September 10th. I still find myself checking this site for the winners everyday Just in case lol can’t wait to see the great designs from everybody.

 
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burbskate

today!!!?

 
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timroberts

we should be announcing around 1PM PST today. stay tuned……

 
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burbskate

aren’t time zones weird … I’m in Michigan … and it’s almost 3pm … it’s like I’m in the FUTURE to you all in California!

 
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timroberts

Winners up! Congrats. And huge props for all who participated. It was another tough choice. So many good designs and really fun stuff.

 
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burbskate

congrats!

 
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ZackShackleton

Congrats! This was a great contest and there were some amazing works of art. I was just wondering too what is going to happen to the rest of the designs. Will the people be able to reenter them into other contests, are they lost for ever? Again great job everybody!

 
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timroberts

we’re definitely going to want to do some more Cut to the Core designs. We’ll keep you guys posted on plans a rd 2 or if we just expand the winners circle. or a little of both

 
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RhysMcDonald

Congrats to the winners, I reaaaally dig the winning designs here they’re freakin’ rad!

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