Dusk Till Dawn hosts a lot of high profile poker tournaments, and these two were no exception! The trophy designs below are for the UK Poker Championships, sponsored by Sky, and the Grand Prix Million, the first major event to be hosted as a partnership between Dusk Till Dawn and partypoker.
As I found out, designing a trophy takes more than just two-dimensional thinking - it's a matter of taking an initial design and creating a piece that can be crafted into a physical object at the least cost possible.
This trophy design was the final development for the UK Poker Championships. As you can see from the dimensions, it was a big trophy, and a heavy one at that due to the metal used in the design. The transparent core of the trophy was made of acrylic, but was as clear as glass. Once designed, it was sent off to the trophy company that produced a 3D render, and once approved, made the finished product.
The finished trophy, alongside a couple of smaller individual trophies for the side events. The trophy was incredibly well-received, by both players and staff.
(Particularly Sky, who said themselves that they were more than a bit jealous that we had a better trophy design than they did!)
The initial final trophy design for the Grand Prix Million. Standing at a smaller size than the UKPC trophy, the design was meant to have a more racing-type feel to it. The design itself was inspired by a Formula 1 racing trophy.
The 3D render, a design a little different to the initial finished design - the trophy company was concerned that we were going to have to use a mould, which would be time-consuming and expensive. After liasing with them and coming up with a more refined design, we came up with this final piece.
The finished trophy. Again, the trophy was really well-received, by players and staff. It was also admired by some of the bosses from partypoker, the co-hosts of the tournament.
