I been working on a few different logos these past couple of weeks. One of them was for a new imprint of Bitterroot Mountain Publishing called living oracles. My sketches around the idea started with The oracle of delphi and the concept of a font of knowledge. I worked several thumbnails that included water but after some playing around I ended up with this book motif that also looks like a Grecian column. I included a tongue of fire over the column / book as a representation of the spiritual foundation of this imprint. The books will be inspirational in nature.

One might think that keeping everything in balance while I juggle my responsibilities of school, studio and family life is a trick. And you would be correct. Oddly enough, I am actual more productive when I am busy. I manage my time more efficiently, I am more creative, and it seems to breed more work. All of which are good things.

My eye candy for today is a mock up I did for class as an example of thumbnails and comprehensive layouts. I still find it amazing how many “new school” designers don’t take the time to freeform noodle. I almost always present thumbnails and comps to clients before traveling down the path of photography and physical computer layouts. It is not that I am against the computer. I do my thumbnailing and comps on the computer. I just find that the creative process is more enabled when concepts are discussed with a client before nitpicking about 6 point type in an ad.

I have officially started school which was a big deal, and I am working on a number of new studio project as as well. One of these projects was a late night story that I made up for my five year old concerning a giant venus “boy” trap that uses chocolate chip cookies as bait for for its evil and nefarious plan to conquer the world. He art directed the picture this morning as I put it together. The plant tongue had to be blue, his teeth had to be sharp, and there had to be little bones around the base. I added the scared bunny behind the tree.

Web design is a curious thing. As certified control freaks, most designers have an desire to be able to control every element of a project. But to be honest, unless a designer can write the code for themselves, we are at the mercy of the person(s) who did. This means working within a box of sorts. This box contains a thousand pieces of a puzzle, some pieces which can be moved about at will and some pieces that must be placed in the right spot, at the right time.

This week I have been working on two such projects. The first project was a move from one host to another. This entailed backing-up the existing database, custom site-styles and themes; moving the domain to another account, setting up that account, creating a new database, installing the blog engine, and then restoring the style and repopulating the database.

In the end it all came together perfectly. Which is saying a lot, when you realize how much can go wrong.

The second project was an evolution of an ecommerce site. This site has 50+ products of different styles, sizes and attribute based prices. It also has a FedEx shipping module that needed to be customized. Again. With so much that could go wrong it was amazing to me how much went right.

I love giving my clients a great price on functional design that does not break the bank.

Get ready for a whiny RANT!

GURU is an online resource for artists and work providers to make connections and bid on jobs. In the past I have used them with some success. They were never enough to provide a steady income, but they did provide a stream of new contacts and clients for a minimal fee. I viewed it as an advertising expense. For $300 a year I picked up some extra work and exposure. In the beginning the work that I did more than made up for the expense. However, as more and more (talented) artists from around the world caught the vision of what GURU was doing the more bids I lost to overseas competition. It is hard to compete when a man in Malaysia will do 40 hours of work for $25. I don’t blame him for feeding his family, but I do not look fondly upon the business that propagates the exploitation. As a matter of fact, I often will look at the employer history and see how many jobs they have contracted overseas. If they all read “India” for example, I avoid them like the plague. For this reason I have developed a talent for reading in-between the lines of ads placed on GURU. The following is an actual ad placed on GURU. My reading between the lines are in red.

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Title: Graphic Designers for T-shirt company Project ID: XXXXXX Category: Illustration / Cartooning / Painting / Sculpting

Description: Start up clothing company, is in search of a few graphic designer/illustrator to work through telecommuting. (Can you read English? )

Experience Requirements: Strong experience with Photoshop, and Illustrator. (We don’t want to know where you got them as long as your pirate version works and you know how to use it.) Online portfolio includes examples logos, branding, t-shirt designs, screenprinting preparations (We have no idea what we are talking about, but the artist should be fully trained and exploitable.)

Company Background: We are a T-shirt company with offices located in San Francisco, CA that is focused on identifying and collaborating with emerging/undiscovered artists globally. (We are looking for artists who will work for peanuts, literally, from 3rd world sweat shops.) Our main goal is to (… undercut regional artists by using digital, tariff-free imports of intellectual property and …) provide premium/rare/unique t-shirts that combine our ideas with those of artists that we collaborate (Take your $100 ideas and pay you a quarter.) with. In addition to producing our own t-shirts (from your work) as well as searching for talented artists (slaves), our site offers an on-going t-shirt competition that is open to all artists. (We encourage a large volume of spec work for which you will never see a dime.)

Project Details: Below is a brief description of current design needs. T-shirt Design ( 3 Series of T-shirt Designs): We have several t-shirt ideas that we’d like to bring to life. We have the picture, (Don’t ask about copyrights) color combination that we’d like to use, screen printing materials & techniques, t-shirt design location, etc all in place. (The only thing we are missing is a tangible creative product.) We’re looking for a designer that can help us through the process of having the design ready for production/screen printing. (Again … we have no clue how to do it on our own and need you to do it for us for next to FREE.)

Packaging, Hang Tags, Labels Design: Going forward, we will be looking to have designs for our packaging, hang tags, marketing materials etc. (We are willing to exploit you further for as long as your Government is stable enough to guarantee internet access.) Please let send a resume, art portfolio, relevant material, and initial thoughts and/or questions regarding the projects detailed above. (If you can read English great. If you can speak and write English; even better.)

We are completing a set of marketing materials for Intermax networks. The work will include a series of 15 second commercials, an integrated billboard, and a direct mail campaign. I love seeing my work in print. But seeing it in a large 15 feet by 48 feet display is always exciting.

I almost forgot to post a reminder about my latest Artiste Gullible Installment. Part Sketchbook and part writer’s journal, this diversion of mine has taken a back seat lately as I attempt to keep up with an absolutely nasty school schedule and tight studio hours. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you are tired of hearing about it.)

So here is a thumbnail, and you can see the whole thing at Artiste Gullible’s Adventures in the Here and Now.