UNFPA’s creative crowdsourcing project on crowdSPRING draws more than 1,250 entries

Chicago, IL -- (SBWire) -- 08/09/2011 --crowdSPRING (http://www.crowdspring.com), the award-winning marketplace for crowd-sourced creative services, in partnership with UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, announced that Maria Mandagaran of Argentina is the winner of UNFPA’s logo design competition for the campaign 7 Billion Actions.

7 Billion Actions is a global movement to engage millions of people around what it means to live in a world of 7 billion, a population milestone that will be reached at the end of October. It started with a soft launch in July and will continue with a world-wide a viral campaign in September.

The campaign will combine online, mobile and offline activities to collect stories and count actions by governments, NGOs, the private sector, media, academia and ordinary people that showcase the opportunities and challenges people face as they improve their lives and the lives of those around them.

The contest organizers asked designers to submit a visionary logo containing the words “7 Billion Actions” for a chance to receive $1,000 and a certificate signed by UNFPA’s Executive Director, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin. Creative designers from around the world submitted more than 1,250 entries. Millions of people will see the winning logo because it will be on all global campaign communication materials, ranging from websites to marketing brochures.

"It's been really valuable for us to work with the crowdSPRING creative community. The logos were innovative, high-quality and exceeded our expectations,” said Alvaro Serrano, director of 7 Billion Actions. “There were so many amazing, intriguing and professional quality logos that it was incredibly challenging to choose just one.”

Ms. Mandagaran, a designer and a teacher in industrial design at Mar del Plata National University (Argentina), designed the winning logo using colors, fonts and design elements that effectively depicted the key elements of the 7 Billion Actions movement. The campaign, which builds bridges and promotes understanding between cultures, includes a speech bubble and a globe. These elements can be modified by campaign partners to show their region of the world or their slogan, while the parent logo includes the entire globe.

“The quantity and quality of the entries were remarkable, with large numbers of designers from hundreds of countries submitting entries,” said Ross Kimbarovsky and Mike Samson, co-founders of crowdSPRING. “It was obvious that the designers put a lot of work into their creative submissions and we couldn’t be more pleased to see the wide range on innovation, which is both inspiring and commendable.”

About crowdSPRING
crowdSPRING is the world’s #1 marketplace for custom logo design, web design, and industrial design as well as writing services. Entrepreneurs and small businesses simply post what they need, when they need it and how much they want to pay. Once posted, nearly 100,000 creatives from 200 countries around the world submit an average of 110 options for the buyer to choose from until they find “the one.” crowdSPRING is a privately held company based in Chicago. For more information, visit http://www.crowdspring.com. To learn more about the world of small business, startups, design, marketing and business strategy, follow crowdSPRING’s blog, their Twitter stream or their Facebook page.

About UNFPA
UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV and every girl and woman is treated with dignity