FUTO Artist-in-Residence Challenge - $5,000 Grand Prize

FUTO needs artists! After years of painstaking effort, we have assembled some of the most talented software engineers in the world but that’s not enough for us. We want our stuff to kick the tech monopolies’ butts and look cool doing it, and all the engineering talent in the world can’t do that. For that, we need artists.

We’re pleased to announce the FUTO Artist-in-Residence Challenge. This is a rare opportunity for an artist to lead the way on setting the entire aesthetic agenda for a company on the march. FUTO’s revolutionary apps, our online presence, and our brick and mortar facilities should be instantly recognizable as FUTO through a distinctive and exciting unified design language. We want you to show us what our new look should be, however you think demonstrates it best. That can be a simple slide show, a video presentation, or anything else you want.

First prize is $5,000 and as the contest’s name suggests, if we want to move forward with the winner’s design, we’ll be looking to hire that artist full-time to help bring it into reality.

The Challenge

Create a compelling design language for FUTO. Your design should incorporate elements that highlight FUTO's unique position in the fight for tech freedom. We're looking for a look that resonates with our core message: People need to be in control of their computers, not be controlled by them. To learn more about our mission see: https://futo.org

See the “inspiration” section below for some thoughts we have so far.

Contest Open: 2024 Oct 1

Submission Deadline: 2024 Dec 31

Winners Announced: 2025 Jan 15

Prizes

First Prize: $5,000

Second Prize: $1,000

PLUS: 1 to 3 additional $500 prizes and swag at FUTO’s sole discretion.

Contest is open only to US residents over 18 years old.

Submissions will be evaluated on

Distinctiveness: People should know they’re not using a Big Tech app just by looking it. Ideally they should be able to tell someone is helping smash the tech oligopoly just by seeing them open a FUTO app over their shoulder.

Legibility: The design can’t be garish or make the apps and content difficult to use or read.

Aesthetic merit: Given the two above criteria, we’re going to pick the coolest, best-looking entrants.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions can be in any form within reason – the more creative, the better! Accepted file formats: JPG, PNG, MP4, WEBM, PPT, DOCX, PDF and Libre Office Equivalents Individual file size limit: 128MB

How to enter

Upload your submission directly through our contest platform. We will not accept submissions via Dropbox, Google Drive, or other external links unless specified. Include a brief description (max. 800 words) explaining your design concept and how it aligns with FUTO's mission. We are looking to hire. Include a resume! And a cover letter if you want.

Contest Terms

Non-legalese version: If you win, you’re giving us the rights to what you submitted. If you don’t win, we can use your submissions in promotional material about the contest. You can use all FUTO’s existing assets, designs, and trademarks for the purposes of the contest, but that doesn’t mean you can use them elsewhere.

Inspiration

Ideally, FUTO’s design language should reflect our roots in the old school computing world before the rise of the tech giants. Scrapy and avant-garde over polished and corporate. Think ‘80s-‘90s sci-fi chic, Andy Warhol on an Amiga, Matthew Broderick hacking into NORAD, Dune/Stranger in a Strange Land mysticism, Tina Turner in Mad Max.

Make sense? No? Well if we knew what we wanted, we wouldn’t be running this contest now would we?

Here’s some pictures to get the juices flowing:

Oh and last but not least, the FUTO colors are BLUE and GOLD.