The Official 2013 RTT Design Contest

Talking Points is still rolling out of bed, and it will be along shortly. Until then . . .

. . . you may have noticed that we've been planning to crowdsource a new official t-shirt design for the 2013 football season and even give the shirts away as part of the reward for pledging $50 or more to this year's preseason magazine project. The design will also probably be included somewhere in the magazine, and if it's good and it makes sense to do so, we may even put it on the cover.

So today is the day that we throw it open to all of you in the form of a contest to create the official design. This community has some serious talent in the graphic and creative arts department. It was evident during the contest to develop last year's official campaign logo. I won't post that graphic here right now because the contest was run while we were still dreaming dreams of Derek Dooley's success, and so the design now causes folks to flinch. But I will note that we were all quite smitten with the winning design at the time. Running chest bump to _trey_, who won last year.

Showcase your design in our UT Football magazine

Get exclusive perks (T-shirts! Easter Eggs!) just for helping to get our preseason magazine back on newsstands this July. Click here to find out how.

So yeah, there were a lot of great ideas last May, and we're calling on all of you for design ideas and actual implementations of those designs for this year's official RTT logo/graphic. It doesn't have to be complex or the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. It just needs to make you say, "Yes. That's the one." It can even be just a simple killer phrase that resonates well.

Because we're actually going to print this thing, there are a few rules: No trademark infringement, no infringement of publicity rights (meaning, no player or coaches' names), no copyright infringement (no use of someone else's pictures unless they can be licensed), and nothing that's going to set off the Fulmerizer. Also, as we said, we will be using the best design in the magazine and on t-shirts, so by submitting them to us you're giving us permission to do so.

It would be best if you posted your ideas and submissions in the comment section below so we can all see them, weigh in on them, and extend them. But you can also just email your ideas/designs to me at rockytoptalk@gmail.com if you like.

So brainstorm away. We hope to have several ideas to post and vote on later this week and to have made a final decision by next Monday.

Good luck.