Last week AIGA Nebraska held the “One Inch Round” design contest awards show at the Bancroft Street Market . This was a contest where everyone was invited to create 1″ button designs – as many as they wanted – and upload for professional review. Over 400 buttons were submitted from Nebraska creatives, and the entire show was concepted, designed and organized by a Bozellian, Ryan Sorensen, who’s on the AIGA board.

The judging was based on a point system and whoever had the most points, would walk away with a 1″ button maker (valued at over $300). The judges were brilliant minds and the line-up made it daunting at the same time extremely inspiring! (Stanley Hainsworth: Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of Tether , Stefan G. Bucher of 344 Design and lastly, Robynne Raye Co-founder and Principal of Modern Dog Design Co.) wow!!

Because our team wanted the button machine in a baaaaad bad bad way (Did I mention we wanted a button machine? In a bad way?), we uploaded as many designs as possible over a span of a few days. Even the writers were pitching in some awesome ideas! It was indeed a group effort. In total we entered upwards of 40 buttons and came oh so very close. It was a great time and challenge to think “Small”. What words or visuals have the most impact in such a small scale? So much of what we thought would work, did not seem to translate in such a tiny format. And lingo like “I Showered Today” or “I Like Toast” were memorable and received big recognition.

All in all, it was a completely fun opportunity where we were able to fuse our whacked senses of humor with our love for design. And thanks to the contest, we are now hooked on making buttons. (our order for a 1″ button machine is being placed as we speak…)