I absolutely love teh graphic elements, but the typography leaves much to be desired. I feel that the big bold cutout takes away form the delicacy of the texture and the beauty of the edges of the tree. It's also overpoweringly huge.....I would use a much smaller font and size it smaller....you don't need overpowering text on
this...something simple and clean will go so much better with the beautiful imagery! In fact, I would use the same text as the 'Missing the Point' at about the same size...it would probably go better.

Lovely piece overall...good luck!

Nice and clean design elements. Colors work well with this texture, but it is left out when it came to typography. Adding those colors to the typography could bring composition together not just in terms of layout, but also in color relationships. Agree about using a less bold font for the main text. Nicely done.

thanks for entering the contest
good luck
CONTEST Design a CD Cover

The typography: I like the Pulchritude font, but I feel like the missing point's one doesn't match with the overall modern mood of the piece. The tree is awesome!
+7

hi friend its a great design, only thing which looks odd is the shadow effect on text
you can improve it, it should be part of overall design
try to write it in simple grey colour with less opacity
all the best

I think if you lose the shadow on the title it will mesh better with the other elements. I really like the design. Good luck.

All righty...I've listened to everyones comments.

 silken I agree that the block type is just too hard-edged for the overall organic nature of the art. Therefore, I chose a different font and softened it a bit to help it relate to the basal attitude of the piece.

 loneorbit Yes...moving the color around. I tried....I failed. After moving the red and greens copendantly and independently into the copy the visual interest seemed to fall out of the composition. By leaving the reds and greens in the tree it gives my eyes a starting point which directs them to the copy below and on out of the composition in almost a Z pattern. I did try though....it just didn't appeal to me in this instance or I lack the aptitude to do it correctly.

 kittyKat thanks for hosting this contest!

 Crazyboy Thanks for the comments/critiques. I enjoyed the blocky nature of arial as well, but after  silken and  loneorbit pointed out that it interrupted the flow of the composition I found myself agreeing with them and changed it. I hope you still like the tree though!

 bluesilence Yes...you're onto something there...it's already bad enough that the font is so solid and dominating.....the simple gray was a good idea...but as you can now see I decided to push it a little further....

 jsgknight Lose the shadow! In a way that's what I did. Only now it shows as just soft shadow of its former self! Unfortunately with the few changes I made I think I only improved it a tiny bit....and I hope so! Oy....I hope I didn't make it worse... Thank you all for your comments

On another note. If others are just now checking out this art and are curious about what it initially looked like then you can go to my artworks page and look at the large thumbnail. Not the small one...but the large one. I'll leave it with the original layout....ok...i'm done now

i think the pulchritude font is too huge, and also i would've liked to see that same color effect you have on the tree on the word pulchritude. 'missing the point' looks great as it is
otherwise nothing to crit, composition, color use, the tree..everything works well together