Judgement Day 2: Meet Alan Leong
As mentioned, we will be posting up the scores for the top 20 blog entries from our judges on a daily basis. Today, established local graphic designer, Alan Leong's scorings will be revealed. Some of you may know that Alan designed famous local blogger, Xiaxue's masthead (the flash banner at the top of her blog page).
Here's his comments on judging for the top 20:
"A tough choice to select my favourites!
I'm looking out for not just a visual treat, but also in terms of content flow and how conceptual visual insets are used to spice up the entry.
The thought process should be cleverly built up and it should not appear 'trying too hard' as a result of this process.
Blogs are channels of self expressions, personal standings, and exercising that responsibility and empathy towards subjects.
Last but not least, the one blog that puts a smile on my face and captures my heart positively certainly deserves to win! "
Archive for Grand Final
2 April 07 - Details of Grand Final Round
24 April 07 - Have you sent in your Grand Final blog entry?
26 April 07 - Latest Update for I am @ Youth.SG
7 May 07 - Top 20 Bloggers for Grand Final Round announced
8 May 07 - Judgement Day 1: Meet Charles Ng
Popularity: 20%
May 9th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
It should be noted that Alan Leong’s marking criteria was not publicized prior to the competition. Angelique was judging for “aesthetic literary structures”, Alvin for “adherence to theme” and Roz for “creativity and humour”. Charles’ marking criteria was somewhat murky as well, but broadly it was about being “candid and unpretentious”.
In light of that, there seems to be no inconsistency. Granted, his after-the-fact rationalization of his own judging is “suspect”, as you say, but I do not think there has been any injustice visited upon the contestants.
May 9th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
Maxy Oliveros: Just like you are criticising Alan’s judging, others can also be critical with what you said and not agree with you. Just like you may prefer Braix23 and Guttercat’s blogs over Juni and Thegreatsze, others may think otherwise.
Judging is always subjective to individuals. That’s why we have 5 judges instead of just one.
May 9th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
i think as a designer myself,you have to learn to accept other’s critical comments and learn from mistakes. Like what Alvin said,judging is always subjective to individuals. I think is a fair game and its just a game.Don’t spoil the fun by making things ugly.
I think its a rather rude comment,”Go back to the drawing board, Alan Leong!”.It only proves how narrow-minded you are to not be able to accept such scores (which,like hello,its not exactly that important to us top 20 bloggers.) Of course winning is always sweet but that’s not the main objective of this project isnt it ?
just my 2cents worth.
and no,i’m not saying this because i got a higher score than some of the others.I just thought its unfair to judge Alan like this as i don’t think he has done anything wrong.
May 9th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
hello all!
i think each of us are entitled to our own opinion. (:
we have five days, you never know what will happen in the next three days.
so lighten up everyone (:
we started this blogging competition to make friends! and i sure have made many (:
win or lose, it’s the experience.
and Alan! great job. (:
May 9th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
correction,”just a game” as in its no matter of life and death.sportsmanship is important.
as for suffering from the judging,i suppose we can’t all be the best.all of us lose out in certain areas,maybe your friend just happens to lose out on the design category and hey,its not the end yet isnt it ? then vote for him to support him,who knows.maybe he might be the final winner.
May 9th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
Alot of people have “suffered”, most of them mentally.
it’s hard to be judged - no one likes to be judged. whether we get high marks or low ones, or perhaps the fact that we were expecting higher or lower.
i believe that comparing the sites might not give u a good comparision. each blog entry is unique on it’s own, and i believe the marks were judged based on it’s own uniqueness, weakness and strong points.
In my opinion(forgive me, this is only my viewpoints) -
Braix did very well visually, it connected with the audience through it’s pictures. Just… only one slight problem - there were too many pictures(although they were REALLY good), that it failed to bring out the message he was trying to portray.
Alan leong did say
“The thought process should be cleverly built up and it should not appear ‘trying too hard’ as a result of this process.”
It might(and I emphasize the word “might”, meaning possibility) seem to Alan Leong(This is only my deduction) that Braix was trying too hard. Perhaps he was very enthusiastic about this entry, but after all the effort, the result was a little overbearing for the eyes. So although he did VERY WELL visually, he could not connect his words with his audience, a minus factor.
As for Thegreatsze, although he had zilch pictures at all, he had magnificient substance in bringing out the topic he chose. The research, plot and well thought out procedure was what made up for the lack of pictures. Although I do not really agree with his view of “mediocre females”, I must say that his debate on his part, plus the substance combined, is rather convincing, hence the better grade.
I understand how you feel, Maxy. On a personal level, Braix connected to me in a better way that Thegreatsze. However, this is a judging component. I believe that if Alan Leong could take sides, he would have given Braix a better grade. However, he is being rather proffessional to the extent that he is not comparing the blogs with each other, but for their strengths and what is lacking.
Each blog has it’s own uniqueness. We just have got to accept that little bit of critisism(no matter how against we are against it) and just strive to be a better person, and a better blogger.
As an aspiring designer and blogger, I learnt all these… the hard way, through endless criticisms, and then, thankfully some compliments. This is why I hope I can share these views to the people here, so that you could learn this without all the hard experience.
I hope you do not take any offence to any words I say, as I don’t mean to offend any of you.
Thanks you.
May 9th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Ooops! That was VERY LONG! I’m sorry!! T_T'’
May 9th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
my comments are not too long like my dearest rainyuki. HAHA
i just think each individual has their own opinions.
and i believe that each blogger placed in their best already.
so since peeps have such doubts or anything.
let the voting do the thing!
that’s why there is still 50% of the results from the voting
May 9th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
Maxy Oliveros: My entry was never meant to shoot anyone down. My entry was meant to be a light-hearted and humourous take on my job in this field and the types of people i encounter.
In fact, if you read my blog, i generally take a comedic approach to everything!
I feel that what you’re accusing me of doing is kinda harsh. I’ve exercised “responsibility and empathy towards subjects” by taking a general view that apparently not everyone in Singapore is educated enough to know what GST entails, and not pin-pointing at specific individuals and blasting them.
As to what you say about penalising contestants who don’t include visuals, as a judge, Alan has already stated that he wasn’t merely looking for “visual treat(s)” but other criteria as well. Some entries might have zero colours, but what they present are well-thought out and written articles which are provoking and insightful to read. That in itself is a huge plus point.
I mean, i feel that my entry pales in comparison to that of Thegreatsze and many others in terms of insights, but i am who i am, the person who sends in (kinda) funny shit in hopes of entertaining the masses.
If i do well along the way, great! If not, i hope to have made some people smile! =)
At the end of the day, it all boils down to the individual taste.
May 9th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
Rainyuki: you said what I want to say! Thanks.
Maxy Oliveros: is Braix ok by the way? I hope he’s fine and don’t take this too personally. This blogging festival is not just about winning lah. It’s also about making friends. Quite a few of the regulars here on Youth.SG like rainyuki, marilyn, otaku, juni, crazy hamster, etc came to our humble website via the blog contest and made good friends here.
Oh and to all the top 20: as mentioned, getting into the top 20 is already an achievement itself. The important thing is that you guys had fun and enjoyed the process.
May 9th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
Haha! This is what you get when you get bloggers to comment - essay-like paragraphs!
May 10th, 2007 at 12:05 am
Margaret Thatcher naked on ANY day is visually unappealing.
Argh … can open … mental images … everywhere …
May 10th, 2007 at 12:06 am
No need to say le.
My comment looks worse then essay writing… omg.
Someone give me a bucket to stuff my head into!
May 10th, 2007 at 12:15 am
Not entirely unappealing in an artist’s mind, Sze, but I get your drift.
Too many words in your entry, was good substance, but I blanked out way before I could focus into it again. I DID make an effort to finish it though.
Then again, a picture of quote, unquote Margaret Thatcher’s nude portrait on your entry would have… perhaps, diverted all attention from your blogged substance away. I guess, in a way, that would have it’s pro’s and cons.
May 10th, 2007 at 12:35 am
Hey… got people voted Margaret Thatcher as sexiest women on the planet before… I remember reading the papers.
May 10th, 2007 at 2:38 am
umm… it is fundamentally curious to note that i follow maxy’s logic better than the others, but i am in no way compelled to sputter a rousing ovation due to insufficing Indignance.
logic is bolded in case you mistake my comment to express bias. thegreatsze (entry) is a personal favourite.
May 10th, 2007 at 7:51 am
aiseh!! controversy! now this contest is complete! btw, i still love beef.
May 10th, 2007 at 8:39 am
It’s actually amazing how the crazy bunch of us could actually turn one tiny comment into a huge controversy, lols.
I find sze’s entry brilliant in the sense that he can first put his point across, then bring it back with a bang.
Gives you the kind of,”Hey! That’s not true! But then again…”
I shun girls who are excessive in their obsession with makeup and fashion as much as I shun guys who are extremely emotionally reliant.
I don’t share his view as I can’t relate(I might just have a share of weaker guys and stronger females then him), but I enjoy the fact that he can put his viewpoints across with substantial evidence, not just his views alone.
May 10th, 2007 at 9:53 am
ehh at which point of the controversy did beef come into the picture? gosh haha…
but i have to solemnly address the purpose of posting that comment. it seemed the odds weren’t very much in maxy’s favour (majority issue) here and that put him in a rather condemning position - like how, by plain virtue of comparison (oh yes truly the root of jealousy) everyone else looks the oh-so righteous/justified.
so i stepped in to break the status quo! haha reminds me of iconoclasm…
May 10th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
i am officially lost.
lol
May 10th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
Actually, I am quite curious… for the top 20 bloggers, which are your favourite blog entries among the other top 19?
May 10th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Js: I wasn’t accusing him of anything O_O
This whole issue is not about who is right or who is wrong, really. :X
Yeah, and the beef thing seems so totally random. How is it related?
May 10th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
“No, no, no
Stick to the stuff you know
If you wanna be cool
Follow one simple rule
Don’t mess with the flow, no no
Stick to the status quo!”
>.
May 10th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
rainyuki: lol no i wasnt accusing you of accusing maxy of anything, i merely felt that maxy seemed… ah i dont know how to say. and i never suggested what was right and wrong… perhaps the word righteous was misleading, but rather more of the different um, subjects of empathy?
stick to the status quo? nah, iconoclasts are the hallmarks of progress xD
May 10th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
empathy is the word.
May 11th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Hey where’s maxy’s honest post? I’d love to read his point of view.
May 11th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
http://youth.sg/blog/2007/05/10/judgement-day-3-meet-angelique/
Maxy’s comment
May 11th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
I think Maxy deleted all his previous comments on Alan….
May 12th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
huh can delete one meh?
May 13th, 2007 at 12:37 am
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