News

Jamiroquai Design Comp Winner Speaks Out

• 17th Jun 2011

Zbigniew Klej, or Clay as he prefers to be known, from Gold Coast Australia recently captured Jay Kay's attention. Kay is the front man for Grammy Award winning British Jazz Funk band Jamiroquai, with more than 25 million albums sold worldwide.

Clay's winning graphic design is being used on Jamiroquai's new single “Smile”. Internet users can download the track from Jamiroquai.com.

Out of over 500 entries from around the world Clay’s design was chosen as the winner Friday June 10th. “I chose the winner simply because it's the one that really resonates with me,” noted Jamiroquai front man Jay Kay in regards to Clay’s design.

“I only found out about the competition 3 days before the closing date, and had to act fast since they wanted to release the single while they are doing the European tour,” explains Clay.

He goes on to note, “the only instructions given were that the song was called Smile. No one had heard the song or read any of the lyrics. Being the huge fan I am of Jamiroquai I got started on the challenge, three days and 35 designs later the job was finished.”

When the news arrived that he had won, Clay was ecstatic, “I got the news a few days after my submission that I won, an hour later after signing the contract the Smile single was live online with my artwork. The Internet has really revolutionized the way we conduct business on a day to day basis.”

Since winning Clay’s design has been viewed by millions of people around the world, with the view count increasing daily.

Life wasn’t always about winning international design contests for Clay. He started his career as a designer jeweller, and decided to make the transition into the world of graphic design and IT during the late 1990’s, and hasn’t looked back since.