Engadget's Kindle design contest: we have winners!
By Chris Ziegler 
posted August 25th 2009 3:30PM
posted August 25th 2009 3:30PM
So what happens next? We'll be working with winners and coordinating with the good folks at Adafruit Industries to turn these designs into reality thanks to some insanely high-powered precision lasers -- picture that scene in Goldfinger where the film's namesake tries to cut 007 in half to get an idea of just how high-powered we're talking about here -- and rest assured, we'll be posting plenty of pictures as they come out of the workshop! Follow the break for the lucky five (presented in order with the most votes first).
A huge word of thanks to Amazon, Adafruit Industries, everyone who submitted entries, and the voters who figured out where these Kindles belong!
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Assembly Diagramby Dan R. |
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Steampunk Kindleby Josh M. |
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The Amazing Book of Everythingby Pak-Kei M. |
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Ubikby Matthew S. |
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Library Cardby Ryan M. |
Congratulations, fantastic designs!
Very nice!
Excellent work.
Ok. Everyone else in the internet, say nothing after this now ;)
Congratulations! Beautiful designs!
BTW, would Amazon zap out the artwork from the back if Bezos thinks it isn't compatible with Newspeak?
Even more important: Can we buy these? Or are they strictly limited to being provided to the designers (I think I saw that mentioned in the original post)?
Eddie: For what it's worth, I put my design in the public domain. If you can find a laser and a Kindle, you can have it. Anyone can use it for any purpose.
Several people have contacted me privately looking for the original design and permission to use it. You do not need permission, it is in the public domain. The file is here:
http://danreetz.com/for_engadget/Kindle_Vector_Final_Public_Domain_Daniel_Reetz_danreetzgmailcom.eps
If you have it lasered on your Kindle or other device, please send me a picture! www.danreetz.com has my contact info.
Nice job guys. Even for those that didn't win, really nice designs.
The 1984 reference... because the books keeps changing perhaps?
Assembly diagram is brilliant!
WAR IS PEACE
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
KINDLE IS AVAILABLE IN THE UK
The kindle has always been available in the UK. Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.
The Library card and Assembly diagram are pretty cool. Others are worth mentioning due to the hours put in but the library card is very simple but straight to the point. I have checked out those 23 and not all really deserve final 23 unless there are worse ones of course.
I get the '1984' reference, but from a design standpoint, that library card design is pretty blah. I imagine it doesn't look much better when etched on the back of a Kindle. I'm not trying to be overly critical, just my opinion from an art standpoint.
Besides, I'm pretty sure Oceanic doesn't have public libraries! Kinda goes against the Ministry of Truth.
Now that I think about it, there could have been libraries. They did publish books, after all. I don't remember if the novel ever referenced libraries though.
And I've officially over analyzed a clever joke. Kudos to me!
That'll be pretty amazing to see the results.
Amazing Book just looks too darn cool to me... Unless there's some kind of design trick I'm not privy to, that just seems like a phenomenal piece of work -- truly talented artist
Unless I miss my guess, that's Pak-Kei Mak(sp?), the lead designer for Trillian back in the day. He/she (that was something always shrouded in mystery at Cerulean) always did excellent design work.
@varun
Hmm, that's interesting to know. Thanks!
Hello there everybody, thanks a lot for the compliments! And yes, @varun, that's me. I still work on the Trillian project, and branching out to other arts. The Internet has never been this nice to me. :) (Compared to the blizzards I had to endure when Trillian Astra was released! Check it out too, it's a great app. :)
Since I knew I won a Kindle, I had turned my design up to volume 11. I wonder if the Engadget folks would let me do that... but anyway, following other generous winners, you all can have the design on your Kindle, iPod, Everything.
http://pakkei.tumblr.com/post/176958733/the-amazing-forbidden-book-of-f-king-everything
Cheers Pak-Kei! And thanks for making your design available...
seriously agreed, that design+idea is just so perfect. i suppose it wasn't cold and clinical and detached enough for hipster editors to allow themselves to adore properly ;)
I'm pleased to see the designs that I liked were the ones that made it. My personal top was Library card. Good designs! I like this contest, more like this would be great!
God I want that steampunk...
Really? No one though to put "Don't Panic" on the back?
They must have ran out of large, friendly letters.
It was done by the laser already as a sample. It probably wasn't a good idea to copy what Adafruit had already done.
I still don't get the 4th one.
I was thinking the same thing. A Don't Panic button would have been a natural.
Freaking awesome! Thanks Engadget!
Jesus! Thats literally the third time TODAY I've come across Adafruit. That girl kicks ass!
Am I the only one who had no idea what "Ubik" was?
No offense, "A Press Can Dream" shoulda been there.
Thanks, man! That was mine, and I feel like I got somewhat penalized for following the rules. I didn't include the graphic of the Kindle logo, which would have made it clear that the logo was in the thought bubble. Anyway, thanks, I would have loved to have won one.
Congrats to all winners !
shouldn't some of those books be burning?
I'm glad to see my top 4 picks were on the final list. I was a good boy and only voted once. I think the Ray Bradbury "Fahrenheit 451" reference was better than the Phillip K. Dick "Ubik" reference, though. Ubik is interesting, but with an ebook name like "Kindle" it's just begging for a book burning reference.
Didn't understand the library due date thing at first, but the contest is for art that goes on the back of the Kindle. That actually would be a cool idea then.
Huge thanks to everyone for the votes and compliments, and congrats to all the winners. I am personally really glad to see Library Card and Amazing book up there, though I would have loved to see the Fahrenheit one or perhaps A Press Can Dream, too... I also loved Never Stop Reading.
Any of the other winners hear from Engadget yet?
I haven't.
I heard from them moments after posting my comment.
I also heard from Engadget earlier today...
My design is the Library Card. Thanks to everyone for the votes, comments and compliments.
Congrats to the other winners, but a special shout out to the Fahrenheit 451 design that didn't make it, I loved your design and personally think you should have won one.