Vote: OCAD's "My Toronto is..."

Wow, they all suck.

It's hard to imagine something worse than the Toronto Unlimited Tourism Campaign, but OCAD seems to have done it.

You know a city is in serious decline when campaigns like this is are initiated.

The sooner these awful posters come down, the better.

ever the pessimist about the merits of ocad, japhet.... astral media probably picked those ones out of many submitted... and picked the ones that weren't so good

I concur...looks like the worst of the bunch that would be expected of a 3rd rate city were picked for voting...hmmm

The first one is poorly done. The tattoo doesn't contour properly to the guy's back.

The second is barely legible. I like the idea, but it feels as if the placement and size of the different elements is only the way it is because the artist is trying to be different but didn't put any thought into it. There is a lack of proper flow. The TORONTO letters lead you off the side making the slogan invisible.

The third one reminds me of a typical threadless t-shirt.

And the fourth one looks like an Ad for OCAD itself. Perhaps copied from an old project they did, with the pencil sharpener imagery and OCAD itself proportionately larger than anything else.

Japhet is completely right. They all suck.

The tattoo one is technically really weak, the tagline on pencil sharpener one is weird (doesn't ring well for me), the handprint one is cliched.

The one with the flow of various symbols is best, IMO :)

i refuse to vote. all the works are bad.

So what's the point? vote for a design and do what to it or what? Or do they just want our email address (because you have to include it in order to vote)?
Any ideas?

I actually like them but here's an idea - have a poster with a whole bunch of people from Toronto complaining about shit, cause that's what they all do all the time.

Jeez people who pissed in your cheerios this morning. It's a beautiful day so STOP being such downers.

More importantly then the actually designs themselves is the idea behind this - the fact that students/private sector companies are trying to do something for the city.

What have you bastardos done for your city lately?

Astral is appealing to the public to vote on these posters - criticism and praise will no doubt be a part of the process. :)

The colourful handprints spelling "Toronto" are pretty nice, but as Ryan L. notes the tag-line is all but obscured (and it's a shame, because it's not a bad slogan). It's easily the most decoratively pleasing of the bunch, looking friendly without shouting like most bus shelter ads.

The "it's a part of me" one is pretty successful, more assertive and with more concrete and specific imagery backing that assertiveness up.

"Makes you sharp ... insert here" just makes me think "ouch," and yes, it does look like an OCAD ad.

The tattoo, I'm sorry to say, will probably read as sinister street gang imagery for out-of-towners (or anyone who watches too much TV, really). I can only assume that it's meant to be part of a series featuring various different people -- kids with balloons, grandmothers gardening. On its own, though, it looks like it's saying that Toronto's not for you if you wear a shirt.

What is it with people complaining about other people thinking critically? I know it's not fashionable, but they ARE mediocre designs, and I'd rather not see any of them on my walk. I'd say the work is pretty good for a high school senior art class. But showcasing the best of OCAD? Yikes.

Why not post random toronto photobloggers images or something... that would be more interesting.

well, i thought the comments might be typical blog-comment cynicism... then i saw the designs. they really are quite terrible. i expected something much more engaging from OCAD. i'm with adam, random toronto photobloggers images would be much more interesting.

These are all examples of what I've seen come out of OCAD lately: Half assed execution, no idea whatsoever.

If those ads are representative of the quality coming out of OCAD these days I'll just say i'm very disappointed. While I love the idea of getting students working on a campaign about the city, these ideas just lack any originality. The last one is a complete rip off of a sony ad and I'd hope if a teacher saw that one, the student would get a failing grade. Why not open up an art campaign to other schools in the city?

Actually, I was in a rather cheerful mood that night when I shat on these pieces.

My state of mind has nothing to do with what I think is good or vice versa. OCAD, while being a very troubled school, did help me develop a fairly objective, critical stance towards art. Sadly, this invalidated nearly three-quarters of what was being produced at the school but that's life.

I second the idea of photos being used.

But no one has answered my question. It's a real one. What's the point?

My Toronto is... CTV NEWS!

WTF
this is a GREAT competition
it brings out the most inspiring ideas,
yea some are cliche
but i'd honestly like to see a bunch of you complainers create something half as nice
i saw stop effing complaining about people who are more talented than you and get a life.
go outside
its a beautiful day
maybe that will make you all less bitchy

I wish my Los Angeles had creatives like Toronto's.
Well done... Astral and OCAD!

Remember guys, these are students. Yes, Astral Media is a big corp but these kids worked really hard to get this far. Clearly they all really love Toronto. They're not bashing the city like it would be oh-so-easy to do.

I'm glad they did this. OCAD kids get such a hard rap, but they're awesome nonetheless.

I wish the rest of you would tell us how much you love your city but then most of you probably don't. :|

Ok people, seriously stop complaining. It is much easier to do then actually create something useful. OCAD students are very creative and those posters are actually blend in very well with our city, especially the sharpener one. They really put some though into it, unlike you....useless complainers. Go to freaking Antarctica and live in Igloos, maybe that will shut you up!!! And those who appreciate our beautiful city , please vote and support OCAD students.

The winning design is definitely not the best choice, I'm really interested to see who the judges were. The idea is so old and really doesn't do any justice to the City of Toronto. I was walking from college to the subway when I passed one of those boxes that have those free magazines, and on the front page was exactly the same concept that the winning design has. It's not a unique idea, and definitely not a winner.

There are a million tutorials on how to Photoshop a tattoo on someone, and i wont be surprised if the image is taken from iStockPhoto. Is this what design has come to? Lack of creativity and the repetition of already used concepts?

just so moeed is aware
the judges were 7000 people of Toronto

say what you will
but i personally believe
that having a massive focus group
voluntarily vote for what they believe
is the best, is a great way of understand what TORONTO ( or active members of the community) believes to be a good representation of the city...

i'd love to see what you can create

i did have an idea for this, but i found out about it too late and i think it was restricted to ocad students (?)

my idea would've been to photograph the actual people living and breathing in toronto. be it on the subway, walking to grab a bite, or just hanging out with friends. black and white portraits of one person, going up to thousands, which later would be the faces inside bold writing saying "I AM TORONTO". toronto is made up of the people that live in it, not a photoshopped model grabbed from the internet.