The Joy of Designing: Round Five - Voting
Extended to 9/9



This a closed contest to those who made it through the application process. A big congratulations to all the applicants that made it into the competition! I can't wait to see what exciting things you come up with. (:

Voting:

This is the very last round of voting for our contestants to determine where they fall among the top 5! All of the contestants still competing will receive prizes. (: Please take your time when going through the entries and deciding on votes. You will be allowed to select 3 of your favorite designs to vote for. There is not editing your vote allowed. So anyone who edits their vote, please know it will not be counted in our tally! It has been a long road to get here and I can't wait to see the results of all your hard work!

Final Round



The final round is much more abstract than the others we had. It gives you loads of creative freedom in the fact you are responsible for determining the theme for your design set. This round is geared much more towards demonstrating what you have learned throughout the competition - take this opportunity to show your ability to tell a story, create beautiful palettes, seamless transitions and loads of texture, to transform an image into a sylesti, transforming a sylesti that was previously considered worthless into a work of art, you name it.... It is your choice. The requirements for this round require you create a submission composed of 5 designs set instead of the usual three. You need to tie these designs together in someway and whether the pair is identical or different for a single set is up to you. Please do not disclose your submissions prior to the end of voting. I wish all of you the best of luck!

Entry #1 - My Sylestia Journey

Design 1: The Start
This is a mix of my starter and the Sylestia logo. I didn't really know much about what I was doing so I didn't get terribly far story wise.



Design 2: Hiatus
After being stuck on the Forgotten Tomb for so long, I basically quit and only did a few checkups so heres my hiatus with the bit of yellow as my time on the game



Design 3: A Big Thank You
After the big Generator update, I got back into Sylestia - all the shiny new features. Id like to thank one user in particular for starting me up again with one of their site events! This is a special thank you to them. Please note this user cannot be disclosed until after voting ends.



Design 4: New Start
Phoenixs generally represent new starts/ rebirth so I thought it would be fitting as my next design to show my start into contest binging as a phoenix/ dragon for a roaring intro yes its a pun



Design 5: No Limit
Ive gotten so far in Designs, Ive learned how the gradients and traits go together and whats good for each species. So thank you everyone who's hosted Design Competitions for making me push my limits, this is why this design is space which so far has no limit














Entry #2 - Water

Due to the variety of places water appears on Earth, and the connection that it has to life, I chose the following sets, arranged by altitude, showing one type of location and one species of life that makes its home in each place.

Design 1: Below Freezing - Icy Mountain Ryori and Penguin Aurleon



Design 2: Fresh Water - Elbe River Griffi and Alligator Lighira



Design 3: Estuary - Swamp Vulnyx and Shrimp Kelpari



Design 4: Saltwater - Kelp Bed Qitari and Flame Angelfish Nephini



Design 5: Abyss - Hydrothermal Vent Ny'vene and Black Sea Nettle Puffadore














Entry #3 - The Passage of Time

Design 1: Dawn




Design 2: Morning



Design 3: Noon



Design 4: Late Afternoon



Design 5: Night














Entry #4 - Time

Design 1: Perception of Time
Sometimes a minute can feel like forever. Other times, it passes in the blink of an eye. Extreme perceptions of time seemed like an interesting theme to do, so I chose to design puffs based on eternity and ephemerality.



Design 2: Era in Time
We're forever trapped in the present, imprisoned between the ancient past and the distant future.



Desing 3: Timless
Love and music: two aspects of life that have been around for millenia, they truly fit the definition of timeless.



Design 4: Time of Day
Dusk and dawn- so alike in appearance, yet different in nature.



Design 5: Lost Time
"Lost time is never found again." -Benjamin Franklin

Entry #5 - Skies Around the World

hese design sets are based on photos of the sky from around the world! The set is ordered so that your start at Sunset, go to early night, late night, dawn, and then finally early daytime. The sets are ordered this way so that they represent all times of the day!

Design 1: Ipanma Beach Brazil



Desing 2: Arctic Sky In Lofoten, Norway



Design 3: El Tiede Mountain Milky Way Stars



Design 4: Rio Grande River Taos New Mexico



Design 5: Melbourne Europe

I vote:
1, 3, and 4!


Goodluck everyone! I love the designs for this rounds, it was hard to pick who to vote for!

Tl;Dr - My votes are for 1, 2, and 4

Entry 1 - I love how simple the first design is, because let's face it, when we all get to a new site like Sylestia, we have no clue what we're doing or how the design aspect really works so our starters are pretty but plain XD Your hiatus design is lovely, and not just because I'm a sucker for Aurleon. The drab colours suggest your loss of interest, but you still havent fully given up, held on by that rope of yellow curiosity about what's happening occasionally. The return nixi is awesome. It's kinda a fresh take on your original start, but more complex. It's a new beginning and all thanks to your one inspiration. The pair of Venes are wonderfully designed, even if they are a bit cliche. They fit in with your full collection's theme while standing out and being a unique colour set. Last, but not least, your kelps. I won't lie, I'm not a huge fan of the brown-red colour on these, but I also can't figure out what colour I'd rather them be. It's a fun new take on space, which we usually see as blue and purples, but it's a gentle and maybe unintentional reminder that new depths can be found right on our own planet in the sea ;)

Entry 2 - This is my favourite overall set of designs. The idea is super fun. Your icy mountain ryo looks positively frigid and the penguin aurleon is simple yet stunning! The Elbe river Griffi looks more like a river spirit than an embodiment of the river itself, but she fits right by the very fierce alligator Lighira. The colours and traits work so well for an alligator I'm surprised it hasn't been made into a theme XD The swamp Vul and Shrimp kelp are quite pretty and definitely get their concepts across, though I'd have enjoyed a pair of water species for the swamp, I know the vul has better traits to express the swampy concept. The Qit and Neph pair are vibrantly gorgeous and simple. The Vene is very similar to designs past, but still lovely, especially paired with the Puff. Overall I really enjoyed the variety in both species and colours presented by this design set!

Entry 3 - The Dawn Vul is very lovely, though I would have liked some more dawn colours. Lighter blues, pinks, oranges, and yellows since I don't typically consider dawn that dark. That said, the design is very solid and would have been a lovely palette for the druid traits! The morning Kelp is very lovely! We get some brighter blues and lovely gold for the sun! The noon Luff is where I started getting thrown off a bit. Noon is a very bright and sunny usually, and the very harsh red with the unusually neon cyan was a bit off putting. I think it'd have been better to have the Late Afternoon Vene for Noon and replace that one with a Dusk design since you started us off with a Dawn. The Night Aeri is very pretty, though a darker purple body to contrast a bit more would have been nice.

Entry 4 - This design set has my favourite overall pair of designs, and it's actually two of them because I can't decide which pair of puffs from this set I like more. The first pair is absolutely amazing, and though I'm not entirely certain how they convey their themes, I can see how much thought was put into each one. The ancient past Aeri and distant future Lig are a cool pair because the aeri's colours are muted, like they're fading from time, whilst the Lig has these lovely deep colours contrasted by the futuristic blue runes. They definitely portray their inspirations, especially when presented together. My other favourite design pair, the music and love puffs, are wonderful! The Love puff is very blatant and obvious, which makes it the timeless cliche it's portraying, while the Music puff is a little less obvious. The black seemed a strange choice until I remembered music notes are depicted as black. And then I saw this lovely black music drenched opera Puff and was so sold XD The DuskDawn Nixi are very lovely and simple. The colours are perfect for both times of day, though they arent the only colours for them. The lost time ryo is haunting. Its a bit reminiscent of Atlantis and it's very pretty.

Entry 5 - I love the first two pairs of this entry set! The Brazillian Beach is a gorgeous array of reds and yellows which is well translated to the Mork and Neph while the Arctic Sky Vul and Lup are lovely icy blues. Unfortunately, I got lost in the last three pairs. While they're all pretty in their own right, they are also all extremely similar. The Lig and Nyte are slightly different, with more of a blue than purple, but still. The colour palettes of these final three pairs are very similar and I wish the designer had either looked for different images or decided on a different theme for their 5 design pairs. I'm guessing this person just started running out of time and didn't have time to revise and polish. Sadly, these final three design pairs set this entry solidly in my last place.

1, 2, and 5 please!

i'm voting for 1,3,4

5, 2, and 3

I'd like to vote for 2, 3, and 4. But wow, guys, you all really outdid yourselves this time! Gorgeous designs all around.

I vote for 1,2, and 3