There is going to be a new Gmail t-shirt, and in and of itself, this news probably wouldn’t be worth writing about. But what’s interesting is that Google is holding a contest to determine the shirt’s design, and the winner stands to gain $2,000 and a new iPhone.
Actually, those goodies are just for starters. The grand prize also includes a $400 JetBlue gift certificate, a Jawbone Bluetooth headset, and “some fun Google schwag,” according to Kevin Systrom of the Gmail Team. Systrom explained the contest on the Official Gmail Blog, saying the company wants people to “submit a design that you think embodies the Gmail personality most.”
“We’ve teamed up with Threadless.com which does this sort of thing all the time,” he continued. “Threadless.com is a site where anyone can submit designs that they’d like to see appear on a T-shirt, people vote, and a small number of winners are printed and sold online. Today, Gmail and Threadless launched a competition created specifically for Gmail with the theme ‘Connect!’”
The official contest page notes that submissions will not be accepted after August 16, and that “[w]inners will be chosen by the Judges within 45 days after the competition end date.”
I’d like to encourage all of you design-oriented people to get to work. I’d also like to direct a hat tip to Google Blogoscoped’s Philipp Lenssen for catching word of this contest.
