*** From the Archives ***

This article is from April 25, 2012, and is no longer current.

Don Quixote, Wilco, Illustrator, Veer — and You

You don’t have to be a fan of the band Wilco to enter Veer’s new design contest, although it helps. But if you like the novel Don Quixote, and if you like to support creative writing programs for kids, then this contest is for you. (It helps some, too, if you use Illustrator.)
Veer is partnering with Wilco to host a design contest based on band leader Jeff Tweedy’s favorite novel, Don Quixote. The winning design will be featured on the back of a t-shirt that will be sold to benefit the non-profit organization — 826 Chicago and 826 Brooklyn — dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. 826 Chicago and 826 Brooklyn are chapters of a national organization that started with 826 Valencia, which was co-founded by the novelist Dave Eggers. (You can watch Eggers describe the organization and its mission in a TED Talk at which he accepts the TED Prize.)
The t-shirt will be printed by Out of Print, a clothing company that sells goods inspired by books, many of them out of print. Its mission includes donating one book to a child in Africa for every product sold.
That’s the backstory. Veer’s participation in what’s being called “The Don Quixote Project” is to provide selected fonts and visuals to entrants. A condition of entry is that you must use two Veer products: one font and one image. The design must be submitted as either a .JPG or .AI file — Illustrator is preferred.


Some of the Veer fonts and graphics available for your design.
The graphic you come up with has to be inspired in some way by this line from Don Quixote: “…I can no more remember one syllable of it than the shapes of last year’s clouds.” That’s rich material.
Additionally, the design must also include the name of the band Wilco (that’s why being familiar with the band will probably help).
Three finalists will picked by voting on the Out of Print Don Quixote page. Jeff Tweedy and Out of Print will decide the winner.
The contest is open now and submissions must be received by May 14.
For more info, including how to submit a design, and to download the Veer files of graphics and fonts, visit “The Don Quixote Project” page on Veer.
Of course, if entering the contest is not your thing, you can always buy a t-shirt. They will be sold at the Out of Print website starting May 21.
 

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