A Brave New Era

Today marks a big departure for Tilteed. The contest site is launching the first of an ongoing set of curated pieces. The move is being made concurrently with their contest; the site will still be taking entries, allowing votes, and awarding prizes. With curations, however, the site will return to its original 72-hour cycle, and is hoping to bring more eyes, more excitement, and more diversity to the mix. Frequent readers will know I've long praised Tilteed for any number of reasons, but their diversity and willingness to take a risk for amazing work is probably the part I've been most impressed with. Changes can always be worrisome, but given the site's strengths, it is also a change which excites me.

It is also a departure for me, though, because I can no longer be fully impartial to the site: I've been selected as part of their curator team. It's kinda a huge honor, since these guys are a company I've totally been impressed with and feel 100% comfortable standing behind. I will continue my blogging, of course, across the board of sites offering high-quality wares to the world, but you'll likely be seeing a decided bent toward awesome Tilteed curations. Speaking of which, if you're a designer who wants to be brought in, feel free to contact me at Adder (at) tilteed (dot) com. I'll be happy to discuss getting curated with us, so long as you realize it's all about having solid, printable work. You've read the blog, I don't promote just -anything-.

We're easing into the switchover naturally instead of going for a grand reopening, though certainly things will be different. The first tee, available now until Friday (noon pacific), is Leigh Farrior (studioelle)'s "The Gift." The style is simple yet charming, almost with a degree of Keith Haring in the characters. It's also something that could be quite powerful or inspirational to the right person: it's a message of love lifting us up, whether intimate love or the love of a friend, but it's not heavy-handed in that message. Leigh suggests that the piece "could be a rockin' Valentine's Day gift for your sweetie." It certainly could (tis the season). But to me, the way the executional choices diffuse the message of hope into something whimsical and wearable as well as potentially powerful is what really sets the piece apart. We, of course, hope you like it, and hope you keep tuning in to see what's next.