A Journey to Zero is a campaign aimed at discovering a way to Zero Emission through collaboration with numerous architects, designers, and artists.

In our past blog post, we introduced “TYPE ZERO”, a free font created by the designer, Marcus Eriksson. But this time, its ’sound’. Matt Pyke, leader of the artist group Universal Everything thinks ’sound’ will be the center of many discussions in the search of Zero Emission. So he created a beautiful soundtrack for such purpose.

A video by Universal Everything based on this soundtrack can be viewed on the campaign website. They are asking you to also create videos using their soundtrack and upload it online. Matt Pyke himself will give feedback to the uploaded videos. Use this chance to imagine your Zero Emission future.

As it is mentioned in the “How To Enter” section, the INSPIRED BY ZERO Contest will create a shortlist based on the number of “Like” and “Comments” (10 works each, total of 20 works). We are will be updating weekly on the most popular works on this information blog.

　
In this post, we will be showing top works as of February 22, 2010 (Ten days since the contest started). Since we haven’t received many entries yet, so we are only showing the Top5 works this time.

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■ Top5 Most Liked

Like　58

Like　48

Like　43

Like　17

Like　15

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■ Top5 Most Comments

Comments　25

Comments　25

Comments　22

Comments　10

Comments　14

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The same five works topped both the “Most Liked” and “Most Commented” categories, but in different order. Works with an idea behind the combination of words and the image are praised more by the audience.

The deadline of this Contest is March 18, 2010 (Japan Time). You still have some time, but you will get more Likes and Comments if you enter early. We are looking forward to your entry!
　

　
The INSPIRED BY ZERO Contest is part of “A Journey to Zero” Campaign.

This campaign’s goal is to draw rich creativity through collaboration with currently active architects, designers, and artists as a way to actualize Zero Emission. In order to make Zero Emission happen, number of challenges are being held at the main campaign website.

Marcus Eriksson is a Swedish born designer. His approach to actualize Zero Emission is through creating a unique font called “TYPE ZERO” and widely distributing it. He wants everyone to think about Zero Emission whenever they see his “TYPE ZERO” font.

You can download the “TYPE ZERO” font here. You are welcome to use this font in the INSPIRED BY ZERO Contest.
　

　
In this post, we will explain how to enter your work in our contest.

The link to the contest website can be seen in the picture above. You may have already noticed where it says “ACCESS THE CONTEST SITE”.

By clicking that, your screen should look like below.
　

　
So, this is the actual contest website. As you can see, there are already some entries.

Important note: You are required to have a Facebook account in order to enter the INSPIRED BY ZERO Contest. This website only works properly when it is linked to your Facabook account.

Click on the “f connect” button, and a pop-up will show up. In the pop-up, log in if you already have a Facebook account, or sign up if you don’t. Once that is all done, the website should look like what is shown below.

　

　
In between the “Most Comments” and “Info” links, an “Upload Now” option should appear. In addition, the column to your right should change to display your Facebook status.

Now you can click on the “Upload Now” link, enter all necessary information, and upload your work.

By the way, the Facebook status column will not only display your latest news on Facebook, but you can also access “Your Entries” and “Your favorites” from there as well.

As we mentioned in “How to Enter“, the INSPIRED BY ZERO contest is a contest in which you place your “Zero Emission Message” into a Creative Commons licensed photograph selected by us.

In order to create your piece, you need image editing software. In case you don’t already have that kind of software on your computer, we recommend some of these free web services and free software. In this blog post, we will explain little more about each of these software.

First, we will explain about online image editing services. By accessing these websites, you can edit images straight from your web browser. And of course they are free of charge. These services are easy to use, but they usually only offer limited functions.

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■PhotoshopExpress

　
PhotoshopExpress is the online version of Photoshop. But the functions are more limited. The “Edit” function lets you do some simple photo editing, and the “Decorate” function allows you to put texts in your image.

They offer 9 different fonts, and basic options like “Bold”, “Italic”, text color, and transparency can be applied to your message. Simple, but you should be able to use it without getting lost.

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■picnik

　
Picnik is the online photo editing service that Flicker is pushing. It is as simple as the previously mentioned PhotoshopExpress, so it shouldn’t be a problem for easy editing.

The best part of this service is the number of fonts they offer. Many of the fonts are decorative, so you can create visually entertaining messages. This service is also offered in 12 languages other than English such as Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, French, and Italian.

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■NAVER Photo Editor

　
Korea’s internet search engine, NAVER offers a photo editing service called the NAVER Photo Editor.

Not only does it offer a large variety of fonts, it also allows the use of layers, thus having a higher level of functionality. It is recommended for those who are thinking of doing more technical editing, but are also looking for ease of use.

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Next we are showing some free image editing software. You need to download and install it onto your computer. Its a little more labor intensive, but you can do a lot more with these software. We recommend these if you plan on doing complex editing for your piece.

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■Paint.NET

　
The user interface of Paint.NET is similar to what Photoshop use to be. So anyone who have used an Adobe product in the past should be able to use this no problem.

This software is offered in English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. It offers many different fonts, and it allows for very complex editing. Its mostly problem free, but you might experience slight image degradation when converting and saving your image in JPEG format. So please be careful.

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■gimp

　
Gimp is an open source image editing freeware. It has an unique user interface different from those of Adobe products.

This program is also offered in multiple languages. As with Paint.NET, it offers many fonts and is capable of complex image editing; however, it does not support Windows 7.

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That was our recommended image editing services and software, but you are NOT required to use what we showed above. Feel free to use whatever suits you. We are waiting for your messages that will accelerate the realization of “Zero Emission”.