99designs and Sharkwater Productions Launch Logo Design Contest for (R)Evolution, New Film by Award-Winning Sharkwate4 Filmmaker Rob Stewart

San Francisco/Melbourne/Vancouver
25 Mar 2012

99designs the largest online marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design services, together with Sharkwater Productions, today launched a logo design contest as part of a global branding campaign for award-winning filmmaker and eco-activist Rob Stewart’s new film, (R)Evolution.

Graphic designers worldwide are invited to review the contest details here and to submit logo designs through Friday, March 30th. The winning designer will win a $1,000 USD award and the logo will be seen around the world, including at (R)Evolution screenings at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2012 and the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2012. The public is encouraged to visit the contest at 99designs throughout the week to see the design entries as they are submitted, and to vote in a poll that will feature the finalists.

(R)Evolution is Stewart’s eagerly anticipated second film. His 2007 documentary Sharkwater won 35 international awards, was viewed by 124 million people, and spawned a global movement to end shark finning that led to a change in government policies around the globe. In (R)Evolution, Stewart journeys through 15 countries to explore the dangers threatening not just sharks, but all life in the oceans, the climate, and, ultimately, the survival of humanity.

The film is a call to action, and just the first step in Stewart’s global mission to empower young people between the ages of 15 to 30 to come together for a common cause. The (R)Evolution campaign, which will feature the winning logo throughout, is a new kind of environmental campaign for a new generation. Led by the environmental organization United Conservationists, it will educate, engage and empower youth to lead the movement through viral media across platforms and open-source resources including an online community, multimedia educational materials, a mobile application, an “Eco-Heroes” program and more.

“99designs is committed to helping social causes and not-for-profit organizations worldwide, and we’re excited to be assisting with this logo design contest,” said 99designs CEO Patrick Llewellyn. “It’s a natural fit with our global community of designers, who represent nearly 200 countries and encompass every political, socioeconomic and cultural background imaginable.”

“Today’s revolution is crowdsourced, for it provides people the power to come together to collaborate, share their talents and mobilize around ideas. This is what ignites social change,” Stewart remarked. “For the coming (R)Evolution film and campaign, we aim to do just that – collaborate to build a movement. Whether it is crowdsourcing a logo design with 99designs or open-sourcing educational materials to youth, we want to invite people all over the world to be a part of this environmental revolution. This is a revolution for everyone.”

About 99designs
99designs, the largest online marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design services, enables businesses to source custom logo design, web design, t-shirt design, print design and other graphic design work quickly and affordably by launching design projects to a global community of more than 150,000 designers in 192 countries. In addition to its design contests, 99designs provides a 1-to-1 invoicing system that enables designers and customers to work together efficiently, and offers a ready-made logo store stocked with more than 13,000 high-quality logos available for customization and sale right off the shelf. The company was co-founded by serial entrepreneurs Mark Harbottle and Matt Mickiewicz (SitePoint, Flippa), and is backed by Accel Partners and angel investors Michael Dearing (eBay, Harrison Metal), Dave Goldberg (Survey Monkey), Stewart Butterfield (Flickr, Tiny Speck) and Anthony Casalena (Squarespace). To learn more about 99designs, including where the company is hiring, visit www.99designs.com.

About Sharkwater Productions
Sharkwater Productions is dedicated to creating media that educates and empowers the public to take action in protecting the ecosystems that we depend on for survival. The award-winning 2007 film Sharkwater inspired a global movement; (R)Evolution, a feature film and campaign to premiere in 2012, aims to kick-start an environmental revolution.

About United Conservationists
United Conservationists (UC) is a revolution for the next generation. UC believes that by educating and empowering youth through media to protect the ecosystems we all depend upon, we have the power to start a planetary revolution. UC is dedicated to creating the infrastructure for this movement, with a focus on educating the public through viral media across platforms, creating open-source campaigns that harness mass engagement and uniting a global conservation movement like no other organization has done before.

Media contact (Worldwide):
Lauren Gard
510-246-1366
lauren.gard@99designs.com

Media contact (United Conservationists):
Julie Andersen
917-689-5927
Julie@unitedconservationists.org