Cover Design Contest
 

............Two Plus Two Cover Design..............
........Contest Rules, Terms, and Conditions.......


This is the current cover design contest sponsored by Two Plus Two Publishing, LLC (“Two Plus Two”). It is planned for the next two books that we plan to publish, however we may pick up additional covers for future books as well. The two best cover designs submitted in this contest will be featured on the cover of Two Plus Two’s next two upcoming books, Professional No-Limit Hold ’em: Volume I by Matt Flynn, Sunny Mehta, and Ed Miller and Sit ’n Go Strategy; Expert Advice for Beating One-Table Poker Tournaments by Collin Moshman.
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All cover designs should be posted below in this thread for forum posters to see and comment on. Along with the design being published on the cover of one of the two books mentioned above, the winner will be awarded a cash prize of $500.00, instant star status, and ultimate bragging rights throughout the Two Plus Two Community. In addition, we will be awarding some other prizes, mostly Two Plus Two Publishing shirts and the like to winner up’s as we see fit.
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To help with the design, here is some additional information:

* For Professional No-Limit Hold ’em: Volume I the book is divided into five sections. They are: The Basics, The Fundamentals, The REM Process, Planning Hands Around Commitment, and Planning in Practice.

* For Sit ’n Go Strategy the book is divided into four sections. They are Low Blind Play, Mid Blind Play, High Blind Play, and Sit ’n Go Career Play.

CONTEST RULES:

1. The contest is open to any artist, graphic designer or photographer (amateur or professional) with a current user account on the Two Plus Two website, excluding employees of Two Plus Two and their families. Vendors and suppliers or their employees are not excluded.

2. Deadline for submission is 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time June 15, 2007. Any submissions posted in this thread after this time and date will not be considered for the competition. The design must be complete and capable of reproduction as submitted. Defective or incomplete files will be disqualified.

3. Each contestant may enter as many cover designs as they wish. The final design may include drawings, paintings, photographs, graphic designs, mixed media, slides, prints, or digital based images.

4. If your submission is selected for use as a cover or for one of our other prizes, we will then ask you to provide us your name, address, phone number, e-mail address and other pertinent information. We may also ask you to list details on how and where the design was conceived and created, and where any photographs were taken (if a photgraph(s) was used). In the event any identified person or location is included in the submission, it will not be considered unless the required Releases, we approve, were obtained in advance of the submissions creation. Feel free to elaborate on any story surrounding the design entry.

5. If your design is selected, we may require you to send it to Creel Printing in the appropriate form and format that they need and at their required resolution of at least 300 dpi resolution.

6. Low-end photographic color prints normally do not produce well enough for reproduction as a book cover. Computer generated photographs that are grainy or show pixilation will not be accepted for judging. Do not submit a cover design which may have been digitally manipulated by adding objects. Manipulation of exposure, cropping and some color correction is acceptable. It is not acceptable to remove or add features to an existing image.

7. All design entries must be related to the poker and/or gaming industry, and should be consistent with the title theme of the book. Themes or subjects in the design may include any location or landscape — as long as the design is obviously related to poker or gaming in some way. Other than this requirement, Two Plus Two encourages all contestants to be creative in their entries. Two Plus Two reserves the right at its sole discretion to reject and disqualify any designs that are considered inappropriate, offensive or which may require other clearances.

8. All submissions must be the original creative work of the submitter. The submitting creator also certifies that the materials submitted are their creation have never been registered as copyrights, or, if copyrighted that the creator is the original and current copyright owner. The submission of any public domain or clip art images is prohibited.

9. All submissions that are accepted to be used on any of our book covers or which receive other prizes become the property of Two Plus Two Publishing, LLC, which shall have the exclusive right to publish and reprint the image commercially in its publications and on the Internet.

10. Upon selection of any submission the contestant shall assign Two Plus Two Publishing, LLC all copyright moral rights and other intellectual property rights in each submitted design that is selected. Two Plus Two will remain in possession of all copyrights or other intellectual property rights of all submitted designs that are selected for usage, and such rights will not revert to the contestants at the close of the competition if their work is selected.

11. Any contestant that fails to follow the contest rules shall be automatically disqualified and barred from future participation.

12. It is the sole responsibility of the submitting creator to obtain a written release from any clearly identifiable person or privately-owned business location in a design which includes a photograph.

13. Post your contest entries in this thread below.

14. Judging will be by conducted by Mason Malmuth and Mat Sklansky of Two Plus Two Publishing. All decisions of the judges are final.

PHOTOGRAPHED LOCATION RELEASE FORM
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Location Release Form for “Two Plus Two Cover Design Contest”

Name of Contest Participant (herein called “Participant”):_________________________
Name of Property Owner/Agent (herein called "Licensor"):________________________
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Licensor hereby grants to Participant, and its employees and agents permission to enter upon and use the premises located at ______________ __________________ and all signs, fixtures, and other personal and real property on and around said premises (all of which, together with said premises, shall be referred to herein as the "Property") for the purpose of still photography and design in connection with the production, exhibition, advertising and exploitation of the Two Plus Two Cover Design Contest (herein called the “Contest”).
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Two Plus Two Publishing, LLC, ("Two Plus Two”) as the sponsor of the Contest, will have the right to use the results of all still pictures and designs made hereunder in all media in perpetuity, and neither Participant, Licensor nor any tenant, or other party now or hereafter having an interest in said Property, shall have any right of action against Two Plus Two or any other party arising out of any use of said still pictures and designs, in accordance with this Agreement.
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Two Plus Two may at any time elect not to use the Property, in which case none of the parties shall have any obligation hereunder. Licensor warrants that Licensor is the owner or authorized agent for the owner of the Property and that Licensor has full authority to enter into this agreement and grant the rights herein granted. In no event shall Licensor or its successors and assigns, or any other party now or hereafter having an interest in said Property seek or be entitled to injunctive or other equitable relief against Two Plus Two or Participant.
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This is the entire agreement. This agreement cancels and supersedes all prior negotiations and undertakings relating to the Property and contains all of the terms, covenants, conditions, representations and warranties, written or oral, of the parties hereto in the premises. No other authorization is necessary to enable Two Plus Two to use the Property for the purposes herein contemplated.
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Licensor (type or write name): _____________________
(Signature): ______________________________

Property Address: _______________________________________

Date:_______________________

Participant (type or write name): ______________________
(Signature):_______________________________

Date:_______________________


Photographed Individual Release Form

For the valuable consideration received, I hereby grant to _______ ___________ (“Photographer/Creator”) the absolute and irrevocable right and unrestricted permission in respect of photographic portraits or pictures that he/she had taken of me or the privately-owned location I represent, in which I or the privately-owned location may be included with others to copyright the same, in his/her own name or otherwise; to use, re-use, publish, and republish the same in whole or in part, individually or in any and all media now or hereafter known, and for any purpose whatsoever without restriction as to alteration or assignment; and to use my name, or the privately-owned location's name, in connection therewith if he/she so chooses.
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I hereby release and discharge Photographer from any and all claims and demands arising out of or in connection with the use of the photographs, including without limitation any and all claims for libel or invasion of privacy.
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This authorization and release shall also inure to the benefit of the heirs, legal representatives, licensees, and assigns of Photographer, as well as, the person(s) for whom he/she took the photographs.
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I am of full age and have the right to contract in my own name or in the name of the privately-owned location I represent. I have read the foregoing and fully understand the contents thereof. This release shall be binding upon me and my heirs, legal representatives and assigns.

Name (Print):____________________________
Address:__________________________________________ _____
Privately-owned location (if applicable):____________________________
Phone: ______________________
Email: ______________________
Signature: ________________________________________
Date: ____________________________________________

Cover Specs

Recommended specs for cover design for 2 plus 2 books. Book size is 5.5 x 8.5. Allow for a minimum spine size of 1 inch. Will be adjusted by the printer after final page count. Here are the file format we accept:
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In Design CS and CS2 Native and PDF files are accepted.
Quark 4.0,5.0 and 6.0 for the Mac and PC. Quark 7.0 for the Mac only.

Illustrator 10,CS 1 and CS2 for the Macintosh as well as the PC

All Photoshop applications for both Mac and PC

All Corel Draw files must be saved as CMYK and Illustrtor eps or ai file

All Freehand files must be saved as illustrator ai or eps file with type converted to outines

* ALL fonts used in the file(s) must be supplied, including embedded fonts used in creating Illustrator and Freehand EPS files. Unless the text has been outlined.

* EPS and TIFF format image files.

* Image resolution of 300 or higher on all CT images

* Layered Photoshop files if revisions might be necessary.

* All necessary links for your layout documents (TIFF, EPS, BITMAP, PICT etc.)

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

How many volumes are planned for the Miller et al book? I assume you'll want a consistent design for the future volumes.

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

Please post descriptions if you don't plan to enter or don't do design. Like "put a giraffe with a cigar sitting on a stack of chips" etc. New concepts would be great.

PNL is contracted for two volumes. We'll still have plenty to write after that.

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
"put a giraffe with a cigar sitting on a stack of chips"

[/ QUOTE ]

Winner. End of contest.

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
The Basics, The Fundamentals, The REM Process, Planning Hands Around Commitment, and Planning in Practice.

[/ QUOTE ]

The Basics AND The Fundamentals?

Wow, pretty sweet deal to get all that in one volume.

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
The Basics AND The Fundamentals?

Wow, pretty sweet deal to get all that in one volume.

[/ QUOTE ]

we're all about value.

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The Basics AND The Fundamentals?

Wow, pretty sweet deal to get all that in one volume.

[/ QUOTE ]

we're all about value.

[/ QUOTE ]

whats a REM process?

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

I would like to see a pic of a players hands holding his hole cards preferably pocket aces, and a little gun next to it showing that he is under the gun.

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The Basics AND The Fundamentals?

Wow, pretty sweet deal to get all that in one volume.

[/ QUOTE ]

we're all about value.

[/ QUOTE ]

whats a REM process?

[/ QUOTE ]

it's a stage of sleep with rapid eye movement

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]


PNL is contracted for two volumes. We'll still have plenty to write after that.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is this to say you are considering a next project?

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

Ignore the card design, I'll probably trash that, just curious how this type of color scheme sits with other people. I started out with somewhat brighter colors but have been toying with this look a little bit.


https://home.comcast.net/~electrobc/c1.jpg

https://home.comcast.net/~electrobc/c2.jpg

https://home.comcast.net/~electrobc/c4.jpg

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

Contrast to these types of colors:

https://home.comcast.net/~electrobc/c3.jpg

https://home.comcast.net/~electrobc/c7.jpg

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

I actually like the card design. Color wise I'm torn between the 2 most recent submissions.

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

Black is definitive. You need a plain black book. Then you can stop.

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

Hi Gonso:

Thanks to your pictures I realized that my contest post contained an error that I have now corrected.

So to be clear, the title of the book is:

Professional No-Limit Hold ’em: Volume I

and the subtitle is:

Learn to Think and Play Like a Professional

Best wishes,
Mason

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

Hi Mason:

Easy to fix, but since you brought it up, don't you think the "professional" bit is a little redundant?

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

Hi Gonso:

Perhaps you're right, but I think that should be left up to the authors. We can still make a slight change in the title if they choose to do so.

On the other hand, given that the second "professional" is in the subtitle rather than the title, it's probably okay.

Best wishes,
Mason

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

Gotta admit, I kinda like the king. It's original.

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

Color-wise I kinda like the first one (green).

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

Bright colors ftw !! ... the latter two books are both cool, and stragely enough, there is something nice about the carddesign too ... makes it look like a serious book.


Edit: Do four volumes, one red, one blue, one green and one black (grey) .. for and with each of the suits represented.

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
Gotta admit, I kinda like the king. It's original.



[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks, but I was just thinking about doing each volume with a different face card in addition to the color.

So I guess there's a pretty strong preference for the brighter colors... thanks for all of the helpful comments

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
Edit: Do four volumes, one red, one blue, one green and one black .. for and with each of the suits represented.

[/ QUOTE ]

If they don't write exactly four volumes though...

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]

If they don't write exactly four volumes though...

[/ QUOTE ]
Then the black one can be the cover of Sklanskys forthcoming "Expert Play: You have to be a great player to appreciate this book".

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

I thought of something kinda different.

What about a front cover where several of the paint cards are doing battle with swords, etc.?

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
Ignore the card design, I'll probably trash that, just curious how this type of color scheme sits with other people. I started out with somewhat brighter colors but have been toying with this look a little bit.


https://home.comcast.net/~electrobc/c1.jpg

https://home.comcast.net/~electrobc/c2.jpg

https://home.comcast.net/~electrobc/c4.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]


lol excellent third title.

I like these colors and really like the king background.

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
Hi Mason:

Easy to fix, but since you brought it up, don't you think the "professional" bit is a little redundant?

[/ QUOTE ]

Gonso,

We're not attached to the it at all.

Should we just remove the subtitle? No subtitle would go well with the design.

Mason, is the subtitle optional?

Matt

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

It seems that Mason prefers a subtitle and having the TOC on the cover.

It looks horrid (Stox book being a prime example), but I can imagine that it sells (and the reason I am making this post is also out of curiosity, is it a sales booster Mason ? )

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

Matt - I will pay you a million-zillion-quadrillion dollars to write an Omaha book and use the suggested subtitle.


Also, I think the full title for the first book should read:

Professional No-Limit Hold ’em for Professionals: Volume I
Professionally Learn to Think like a Professional and Play Like a Professional

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
It seems that Mason prefers a subtitle and having the TOC on the cover.

It looks horrid (Stox book being a prime example), but I can imagine that it sells (and the reason I am making this post is also out of curiosity, is it a sales booster Mason ? )

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm from the less-is-more school and would prefer very little writing on the cover and back cover. Back covers in particular tend to have too much writing imo (not just poker books). But that's Mason's decision. Maybe we could use "Volume I" as the subtitle?

Can you make the main title slightly smaller so it doesn't come so close to the edges? Or is that important to the design?

Nice look Gonso!

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
Matt - I will pay you a million-zillion-quadrillion dollars to write an Omaha book and use the suggested subtitle.

[/ QUOTE ]

for you, half a mil. but I'd rather write "F*ck this stupid game, let's go play badugi"

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
Matt - I will pay you a million-zillion-quadrillion dollars to write an Omaha book and use the suggested subtitle.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's funny and my thoughts 'xactly.

How about when I write my PLO book, in homage, I'll call it:

The PLO Bible:
Or How I Learned to Stop Playing that F**king Bording Holdem and Love a Good Cash Game

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
Ignore the card design, I'll probably trash that, just curious how this type of color scheme sits with other people. I started out with somewhat brighter colors but have been toying with this look a little bit.


https://home.comcast.net/~electrobc/c1.jpg

https://home.comcast.net/~electrobc/c2.jpg

https://home.comcast.net/~electrobc/c4.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

wow, as a joke, i was going to suggest getting some of the guys from bbv4life to do an mspaint cover design contest, but these are really good. you may have some talent there, gons.

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm from the less-is-more school and would prefer very little writing on the cover and back cover. Back covers in particular tend to have too much writing imo (not just poker books). But that's Mason's decision. Maybe we could use "Volume I" as the subtitle?

[/ QUOTE ]

It somehow seems more correct to do this, ala the HoH books. I also hate the idea of any kind of TOC on the cover, even if it's good marketing. It's not good design IMO

TITLE BIG, SIMPLE
volume 2: informative subtitle
authors' names

price of book maybe

Other than that, I'm trying for something that would look good sitting on someone's coffee table. Nothing against the standard 2+2 covers like 7CSFAP or SSHE, but those covers are much more function than form.

The back cover to me is where you put everything - I'm thinking in terms of what a DVD cover layout look like, I think it does well for books as well. This can look good even if it's a little busy.

[ QUOTE ]
Can you make the main title slightly smaller so it doesn't come so close to the edges? Or is that important to the design?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, but there's kind of a design challenge I'm trying to figure out. First, I can't find a way to make the title look good breaking it into several lines, case in point:

Professional No Limit
Hold 'em: Volume 1
Learn to Think and Play
Like a Professional

It's half a paragraph and looks like a poem. Now it's an even longer first line now that 'Volume 1' is part of the main title and not the subtitle. To make this more narrow requires that I skinny up the text or just use smaller text... it will be kinda small as a one line.

I have some ideas though of other things I can do... I never really get there on day 1 of design anyway. In this case I was shooting for a kind of rustic look for the artwork but very clean, sharp text. It's loses the effect with too much text, of if the text is too small.

Thanks for the compliments and I guess the king stays then.

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

Also WTF is with the revolver on all of these 2+2 books lol

Yeah I'm pretty much going with a fresh new approach, even if it clashes with everything Mason is used to.

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
Also WTF is with the revolver on all of these 2+2 books lol

[/ QUOTE ]

It would be totally cool if you could put that revolver in the kings hand!

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Also WTF is with the revolver on all of these 2+2 books lol

[/ QUOTE ]

It would be totally cool if you could put that revolver in the kings hand!

[/ QUOTE ]


Or a miniature one in one of the hearts.

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the compliments and I guess the king stays then.

[/ QUOTE ]

In this day and age, where everything has to be more PC, shouldn't we include a queen too? After all, isn't much of the wording changed from "him" to "her" to satisfy a more diverse group of readers?

Re: Cover Design Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the compliments and I guess the king stays then.

[/ QUOTE ]

In this day and age, where everything has to be more PC, shouldn't we include a queen too? After all, isn't much of the wording changed from "him" to "her" to satisfy a more diverse group of readers?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll try it out

No Subtitle for Professional No-Limit Hold \'em
 

Hi Everyone:

Based on comments here, we have decided to drop the subtitle for Professional No-Limit Hold 'em by Matt Flynn, Sunny Mehta, and Ed Miller.

This is now corrected in the original contest post.

We will keep the subtitle for Sit ’n Go Strategy; Expert Advice for Beating One-Table Poker Tournaments by Collin Moshman.

Thanks for the input and Best wishes,

Mason

Re: No Subtitle for Professional No-Limit Hold \'em
 

[ QUOTE ]
Based on comments here, we have decided to drop the subtitle for Professional No-Limit Hold 'em

[/ QUOTE ]

This will improve the cover IMO.

Anyway, here are the revised rough drafts (still with subtitles). The colors are similar to the brighter ones I tried above but I toned them down just a slight bit.

I tried using a Queen on the second cover, seems to work for me, but I could just as easily use the king for all of the covers. Or, a different king. I could also reverse the colors or change wahtever.

If the authors think there's a good chance there will be more than three volumes, there are a few limitations in terms on design continuity - I could make cover 1 a king, 2 a Q, 3 a J, but then do I do another K for Volume 4? Minor issue.

https://home.comcast.net/~electrobc/v1 rk.jpg

https://home.comcast.net/~electrobc/V2 bq.jpg