Every year AIGA Nebraska holds a design competition. In 2009 it was the AIGA Nebraska Button Design Contest. Designers and artists were invited to submit button designs in any theme and any quantity at no cost. More than 100 designers entered over 400 button designs which were compiled and sent to three outstanding judges: Stanely Hainsworth, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, Tether; Stefan G. Bucher of 344 Design and Robynne Raye, Co-Founder and Principal of Modern Dog Design Co.

Judges picked their favorite 30-35 buttons, as well as their top three "Judges' Picks". Buttons with one judge's nod were awarded a Silver, and those with two or more mentions were Gold. A Silver earned one point, Gold earned two points and a Judges' Pick earned three. Scores were tallied for each entrant and the one with the most points won the grand prize: a coveted 1" button maker and supplies, provided by Buttonbiz.com.

On August 28, 2009, the AIGA Nebraska Button Design Contest Opening Reception was held at the Bancroft Gallery in Omaha, with a display of the winning and non-winning buttons. The grand prize button maker went to Eric Nyffeler, who scored a total of 16 points.

See the winning buttons below.

Judges Picks

Adam Nielsen "A brave step into a pro-cyborg future. I want one." -Stefan G. Bucher	Bennett Holzworth "I admit, the double space is a pet peeve, but I like the world domination look and feel of this button that treats a minuscule (but annoying) issue. The universe unites around ‘unispace’ in a button with lots of info and graphics in an easy-to-decipher hierarchy." -Stanley Hainsworth	Bob Hankin "Timeless and nostalgic, two slices of bread and cheese fueling the comfort life. All that you need, nothing more. A simple graphic with the colors all playing nicely on the color wheel. Simple, eye-catching, no explanation needed." -Stanley Hainsworth
Bruce Hartford "This one made me laugh. Their were a lot of nipple buttons entered, but this one was a photograph without any adornments. This one didn't try too hard which is why I picked it. I would wear it and I'm sure it would be a conversation starter." -Robynne Raye	Carrie Ratcliff "This one made me laugh and I would totally wear it. I thought it was a funny,  and that "showering" or being "clean" would equate to being patriotic. I love this button." -Robynne Raye	Eric Nyffeler "It's funny, 'cause it's true! (Also, great use of the button format.)" -Stefan G. Bucher
Jennifer Woockman "Sometimes you don’t know why, you just like something. A paper airplane reaching the end of its trajectory at the border of the button. The stop lights below add to the nowhere/everywhere feel of this miniature world." -Stanley Hainsworth	Jerry Underwood Jr. "I always appreciate a well-executed Hall & Oates button." -Stefan G. Bucher	Jessi Long "I love the abstract quality of this one. It's just cool. I would wear this button." -Robynne Raye

Gold Winning Buttons

Bennett Holzworth	Eric Nyffeler	Greg Paprocki	James Buhrma Jr.
Jennifer Woockman	John Henry Muller	John Holtgrew	Leanne Prewitt
Rachel Boshart	Suzanne Holzworth

Silver Winning Buttons

Contest Judges

Stanley Hainsworth
Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, Tether

Bio
After pursuing an acting career for some years, Stanley decided he would apply all he’d learned to a new trade in the creative world. He spent several years at Nike as a Creative Director working on everything from hang tags to annual reports to the Olympics before moving to Denmark to join the Lego Company as their Global Creative Director. There he directed a total visual overhaul of the Lego brand from top to bottom, including packaging, the web, retail and brand stores. Stanley returned to the U.S. to work for Starbucks where he thought it would be fun to work for a company named after the first mate in Moby Dick.

Stanley led and oversaw all creative aspects of Starbucks Coffee Company and associated brands including Hear Music, Tazo Tea, and Ethos Water. Stanley’s creative influence and responsibility with his team of designers, illustrators, web designers, writers and art directors extended to the look of new products, packaging systems, seasonal promotions (in-store and out-of-store materials), brand campaigns, advertising and collateral materials.

Now, Stanley is the Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of the creative company called Tether. Tether works with consumer product, entertainment and experience brands to create memorable solutions – branding, advertising, retail, digital, products, entertainment, packaging - for consumers. As well, Tether designs and sells products that complete a creative link between creatives and consumers.

Stanley is a national board member of AIGA, a featured speaker on Creativity worldwide and the recipient of awards from ID Magazine, Communication Arts, The Library of Congress, Graphis, Type Directors Club, HOW International, HOW Regional, NW Design Awards, PRINT International, AIGA National, AIGA Regional, Rosie’s, POP Times, and Communication Arts Illustration, Retail Interiors (Best International Store and Best Retail Theater) and MAPIC (Best Retail Store).

Stefan G. Bucher
344 Design

Stefan G. Bucher is the man behind 344 Design and the online drawing and storytelling experiment dailymonster.com. His monsters have invaded computer screens all over the world and their savage adolescence is chronicled in the book 100 Days of Monsters. He is also the author of All Access: The Making of Thirty Extraordinary Graphic Designers and The Graphic Eye: Photographs by International Graphic Designers. He has created gratuitously ambitious designs for Sting, David Hockney and The New York Times. His time-lapse drawings currently appear on the rebooted TV classic The Electric Company on PBS, and he is, as always, working late into the night preparing the next phase of the 344 invasion.

 

Robynne Raye
Co-founder, Principal, Modern Dog Design Co.

Since co-founding Modern Dog Design Co. in 1987, Robynne Raye has continued to do work for entertainment and retail companies - both local and national - and counts posters, packaging and identity projects as some of her favorite work. Recent clients include Coca-Cola, Adobe Systems Inc., Blue Q, Olive Green Dog Products, Shout! Factory and Seattle Theatre Group.

Outside of work, Robynne's always been a serious "foodie" and her best friend has been calling her the "Cake Queen" for over 25 years. Once every 3 months she joins forces with other foodies cooking elaborate meals and trying to one up each other. An avid gardener, she has 22 Japanese Maples in her small city garden (11 different varieties - GARDEN NERD ALERT!). Her gardens - Modern Dog and home - have been featured in local newspapers as well as national publications. In 1998, she won a Golden Trowel award from Garden Design Magazine. Her spare time outside of work, cooking, and gardening is spent recovering from one trip while preparing for the next (she's travelled to over 28 countries and counting). She is mother to two Cairn Terriers, Winnifred and Conan.

Robynne has received recognition from every major design organization in the U.S and her work has been featured in numerous books and magazines. Her posters are represented in the permanent archives of the Louvre (Rohan Marsan wing), the Library of Congress, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Museum Fur Kunst und Gewerbe, the Warsaw National Museum, and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum among others. For more than 16 years she has lectured and taught workshops, both nationally and internationally. Currently, she is an adjunct instructor at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle.
 

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