Best example of Typography Use and Best Creative Concept

I really enjoyed doing the Chili Cook-off Poster. I had a lot of ideas at the thumbnail stage, and even though my favorite idea wasn't chosen to go onto the next stage, I was able to make this idea my favorite. I like the final product a lot more than I thought I was going to. I feel like my concept was very unique and different than what everyone else was doing and that's why i chose this as my best example of a creative concept. It is definitely a little weird (how often do you see a tree growing out of a bowl of chili?) but I thought because it was so weird, people would be more likely to stop and see what was going on and be interested enough to read what the poster was about so that they could make since of this picture. I wanted to use the tree to communicate the location (on the quad) as well as the purpose of the event (to promote National Ag Week 09). 

I also liked this project because I had to draw the graphic by hand so I was able to learn a new process (not that I prefer this over vector art or photos!) 

I chose this project as my best example of typography use as well. To begin with, everything is legible and I feel like the title not only reads as "Chili", but it looks and says "Chili"... does that make sense? The title, and "Nat. Ag Week" are the largest to help explain the graphic quickly and then the other information is in between the two wrapping around the bowl of chili. I know I still have a lot to learn about typesetting and typography but I have really enjoyed working with text this semester even though there are a lot of nit-picky things to keep in mind. I feel like for the most part, I have handled most of these issues well.