The Glassman, Truck Graphics

There's a vinyl graphic product that 3M created, and licensed to vendors all over the country. It's a large, colorfast print, with an adhesive on the back that is wrinkle and bubble free in the hands of anyone with patience.

I love using it.

This fleet of vehicles all got either magnetic signs or graphics applied directly to the trucks or vans. I merely duplicated the design the client made for herself some years ago. While my real strength is in design, I acknowledge that some people need me for my project management and production skills. And that's fine, just not as exciting.

What IS exciting is what I'm writing about over at my other blog.

Illustration, cover art

I love this kind of project. This is a cover for an artist directory. Donna Layburn is a client and friend from a few years back now. She got onto the board of directors for the Frank Bette center, and then commissioned me to make this cover for them. They'd tried using artist volunteers, but with limited success. So under huge deadline pressure, she called me up and gave me the job. She told me, "It's got to be something that looks like it could sit on a coffee table. It's got to be about the art." The time was so compressed that no one was sure if my cover was going to make it to the press, so there was some confusion. But I pressed on! When she saw what I made, she left me this message for me.


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I like doing one or two pure-design type projects each week. More than that I think I might begin to feel chained to the computer.

Perhaps I AM very good

The client wants his favorite tattoo as his logo.
So, an hour later, I've recreated it as a print-capable bit of art.

Looking at old work

I've made a few sandwich signs. Only highway signs and traffic signals are more interactive. A sandwich sign sits in the middle of pedestrian flow, beckoning people to explore the adjacent establishment.

I designed the graphics and built this sign for C'era Una Volta. It's very heavy, to resist getting blown down. It's very tall, so you can see it. And I really like the graphic I came up with.

It's nearly two years old, has sat out in all kinds of weather, and it still looks good. The value of this sign is something I can't calculate; it's up to the proprietors. I do know that if I average the original expense over the expected lifetime of the sign, it's around 40c per day.

The hardest thing about sandwich signs is that they are not user-friendly. They can never really be heavy enough to withstand wind, nor can they be light enough to be easily moved. It's a system problem without a solution set. When a client asks for one, I work very hard to set their expectations so they will be pleased with the final result.

Negotiating after the fact

Dang it.

I've got a client who wants me to give away a design. This person got so frustrated during our conversation they hung up on me.

I think this might be a signal (because of how this client came to me, and how we began our work together) that it is time for me to focus in and specialize. I've been resisting this, because I know I appreciate working with people who are able to fulfill all my needs for a given project... but the world is certainly moving towards greater specialization. I can see where it could be more efficient. And I could control the beginning of my relationships better, and head off this sort of collision.

Dang it, I hate when agreement becomes argument.

One thing that is tough for many clients to understand is that I own my designs. I didn't set up the industry that way. But that's how it is, and that's how the IRS views it. Even if I give away me design, it's a piece of real property and I will owe taxes on it if it passes out of my control.

I listened to an architect today. He described how the process of designing a space results in ideas that are his, and he owns them. The drawings are used to communicate with a builder how to create those spaces, but the drawings are not the product: the ideas are. I was impressed to hear something graphic designers have to explain to their clients is something he has to explain, too, but it makes perfect sense.

Anyway, I'm all hepped on stress chemicals after that phone call, and I don't like it. I haven't done any yoga for a month it seems, so perhaps I'll take some time off right now and be good to myself.

Emojo business card

My friend Tom Emerson is discovering his right livelihood as a chiropractor. His adjustments combine energy, control, grace, and flow into a healing practice that is truly extraordinary. He needed a card that reflected these qualities, and this design fit pretty well. While I was trying to work within our discussed framework, this swooshy thing kept bumping into me, and so I decided to run with it a little ways.

I try very hard to honor a client's budget above all else. Sometimes this means the design is less than it could have been. In Tom's case, however, spending more time would likely not result in a better looking card. I got lucky, and the best design happened very quickly.

One thing: it's an odd-size card. Tom likes that it doesn't fit into people's card holders. When a designer is blessed with the chance to work on a non-standard substrate, he'd better make some use of the extra capacity! So that's one reason I quickly settled on this long, flowing water/fire shape extending the length of the card. I had the space, so I used it for something that wouldn't fit on a normal length card.

Baumbach Electric's new van

I love small, quick jobs and easy-going clients. Bruce Baumbach, electrician, called me yesterday and asked if I would letter his van. Would I! And here it is, ready to go, 24 hours later!

I charged $300 to letter two sides and the back. If I take the time to actually price this out per the letter, plus layout and file prep and all the other "industry standard" upcharges, it ends up being a $485 job. Many of my clients act as if spending $500 is going to send them to the poorhouse. Don't whine-- getting your name out there on your vehicle is the most cost-effective marketing dollar you can spend. How come Bruce saved $185? One main reason: during our first telephone call, I got a tickle that told me he was going to be an easy client. He didn't want lots of designs thrown at him, he just needed letters on his van, with maybe some "contrasting color" to help his name jump out.

He trusted my choice of letterstyle, and respected the fact that if he wanted some "logo design" I was going to charge him my logo design rates. He didn't nit-pick about the color of blue I had in-stock. He has email access and could look at a layout as soon as I finished it. He showed up with the van at the time we agreed upon.

He's clearly been in business long enough to know that any job worth doing is worth doing "good enough." I really respect that. So Bruce got the steep "get the job done and don't bother me" discount.

Art happens

This graphic showed up while I was working on a very different looking design. I'm entertaining the notion of assembling a show of the art that proceeds from my logos. It'd be fun, to see logos as art, stripped of their context.