The Target Has Been Achieved!

Today is Thanksgiving, indeed around these parts as we have hit (minus PayPal service charges of course) the goal of raising the $450 necessary to start our rehabilitation into a working design studio again.

We’re almost there. We’ll have to figure out how to get the money to the vendor that we are thinking of using and then get the thing in house.

Thank you, all who have contributed, and Kris, who’s going to get him some serious logo design work now!

PowerMac G4 Power Supply: Another $25 Down

Thanks to another donation, I have now notched $25 closer to getting to my goal of acquiring the power supply I need or a system to replace it (thank you, Kris).

If I could get only sixteen more people to lay down $25 in my direction, I’m back in business. Of course, that’s not the requirement. As I said before, I will value any amount of money no matter how small.

Also, I reiterate my promises:

1. Any amount over the $450 target that I’ve raised will go to charity. I will not keep it. The charity of choice is still EFF.
2. The person who donates the largest amount when the target is reached will recieve a logo design package at no extra charge, including as many discussions as it takes to get what you want the way you want it and solidly designed. If you don’t want a logo, maybe there’s a print publication, some brochure pamphlet or magazine, that you want done. This job will commence after the computer is back up and working.

If I can sound a little corny here, just the donations I’ve recieved so far have done immense good to my psyche, which, it probably goes without saying, has been in better shape.

Thanks, guys. I appreciate this.

PowerMac G4 Power Supply: The Fundraising Continues

First of, all, if you surfed here from Faith In Honest Doubt, Dale’s blog, thanks for stopping by. And thank you Dale for mentioning my plight in your blog. I am flattered and thankful.

I am still trying to raise funds to get my computer, my trustworthy Apple PowerMac G4 (with the mirrored drive doors) off blocks and back to work.

If you’ve followed my story at all you’ll know that I have, for some time now, tried to find work as a designer. My main tool for creating (as well as job hunting) was the PowerMac G4, a beautiful and hardworking machine. I not only tried finding work with it, I used it to keep my skills reasonably current and also create and do some design work (hey, it’s volunteer stuff, for the Columbia Group of the Sierra Club and OryCon 30, but if you can’t get paid for it at least you get to get out and do it)

About 1 week ago the power supply died. Now, if it were a PC, I could go down to FreeGeek and get back to procducing with an outlay of $15 or $20. But I decided to go Macintosh, and when something fails on a Mac, sometimes it gets expensive.

In this case, a new power supply for the Mac runs upwards of $400. Money we don’t really have right now.

So, I’m fundraising. I need your help! If you can throw just a few dollars my way, I’d be very grateful. Moreover, the person who contributes the most after I hit the target is going to have a logo and letterhead designed for them for no extra charge, so I’m putting my skill on the line here too.

I need my computer back, badly.

I’m aiming for $450 because that will also cover the cost of buying a used system with comparable specs at a place like PowerMax, which has a good selection.

There’s a donate button at the top of the sidebar, and no donation is really too small. I’ve already gotten one donation for $25 (thanks again, Dale) and if just seventeen more people donated $25, I’d be there!

Also, any in excess I get over the target will be donated to an organization that does real good in the world (I’m leaning toward EFF, who I’ve always admired)

Thanks in advance to whoever looks kindly upon me and my dilemma.

Official Non-Judgmental OryCon 30 Fashion and Print Design Report

Out: Pirates. Sorry. Eh, I mean, saaaaarghry.

In: Gothic Lolita, in a big way, and by big I mean decolletage. Just in the last six hours I’ve seen my yearly requirement of tiny schoolgirl skirt and cleavage. And by my yearly requirement, I mean 2009. Yes, I’m already over limit for next year.

Program Books: Devinely designed, and I should know.

Official Non-Judgmental OryCon 30 Fashion and Print Design Report

Out: Pirates. Sorry. Eh, I mean, saaaaarghry.

In: Gothic Lolita, in a big way, and by big I mean decolletage. Just in the last six hours I’ve seen my yearly requirement of tiny schoolgirl skirt and cleavage. And by my yearly requirement, I mean 2009. Yes, I’m already over limit for next year.

Program Books: Devinely designed, and I should know.

I haz donation!

Good news today as I was able to score at least one donation, which places me $25 closer to what I need than I was earlier today.

Thank you to the donator. I really appreciate that!

$425 to go!

Help A Hapless (and Computerless) Designer Out?

UPDATE: I’ve sweetened the pot a bit. I’m willing to put up design services in return for donations – you could get a logo design package in return for your donation for no extra cost! Read how at the bottom of the post.

It’s been a difficult few days hereabouts. I’ve mentioned why: on Sunday, the trustworthy PowerMac G4 which has helped me get what few triumphs I’ve so far achieved in design, and helps me compete to the degree I can compete, quit working.

We’ve narrowed it down to the power supply. No big deal right? They have them by the bushel for $5-$15 at FreeGeek.

Well, my friends, you haven’t priced power supplies for a PowerMac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors) vintage 2003-2004. I’m still getting over the shock. New ones cost up to (are you sitting down?) $400.

This can essentially put me out of business for a while. I don’t really want to be out of business for a while. And anyone reading this can imagine what it’s like to struggle and hit the mark occasionally only to have your essential tool die on you or disappear just when you need it the most.

So, I’m humbly and sincerely asking for the assistance of the general public. If I’ve entertained you a little, found a tip that helped you, fired your interest in type, tutorials, or just having fun designing or blogging right now, I really need your help.

At the top of the blog sidebar there’s a donation link to PayPal. No amount is really too small, and I’m only looking for enough to fix the PowerMac G4 (which was serving me really well). Any amount I can get will help defray the expense at least. And maybe we can get a little internet-famous doing it? (I’d blog it of course).

Anyway, any help I could get from anyone will be more than appreciated. Right now I have nothing to give in return but my gratitude, but I tell you all this: any boon directed my way will, at the very least, be paid forward. Because when I succeed, people who made it possible will succeed as well.

Moreover, any in excess of what I need to get the computer back on my desktop working will be applied toward a worthy charity, such as EFF or anything that keeps the internet available for all (it will probably be EFF).

Thank you in advance.

Update as stated above: I have just decided that there will be a sort of a prize attached to this. Judging by the costs, it should take, if I can get a new power supply, about $450 to get the job done.

If and when the donation hits or exceeds that target, the person who made the largest donation will receive a logo design package. That means I will design for you a logo and a complete business system (business card, envelope, and letterhead). Want to have a professional finish to whatever activity it is you’re doing? Nothing does it like a custom logo design. And my going rate for the basic service is comparable to the target I’m trying to reach … which means that you’ll be getting this valuable service at a discount.

Here’s an example of what I can do.

So, what do you all say? Help a fellow out?

Thanks again.

Lost My Computer Today

Bad day today. My PowerMac G4, the thing that I created with, that I was (so far with futility, but have not given up hope) searching for design work with, has died.

It’s probably the power supply, but it’s hard to say how those things go. All now know is, the start up that should have happened, didn’t. The power switch blinked for a brief second, then nothing.

I’ve never been one to beg, but I really need a break or some good news right now. And I’ve been keeping up a good front so as to keep up my own personal hope.

But without the one tool I need to even try to compete, I don’t know how that’s going to happen.

Tried pressing the PMU button. Nothing.

Ahh, I’m going back to bed.

Jack Bogdanski Can Link This When He Posts About The Tram …

1862.

http://instantrimshot.com

(If I needs to tell you alls to hit the big red button, turn off the computer and return it to Circuit City please. Yes, before they go out of business).

Tags: liff, net_liff, strange stuff, web weirdness, single-purpose websites

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Seattle’s KIRO Moves From News/Talk to Sports, Sports a New Logo

1861.

Recently Seattle’s KIRO radio, one of the biggies and the way-back-when stations, kind of on a par with our own KGW or KEX moved from News/Talk to Sports radio.

KIRO 710 AM’s logo, which I’ve expostulated on before, looked like this:

And here’s the horizontal display:

I’ve also gone on at length about the simple briliiant genius of this design (follow the slant on the end of the red stripe to the down stroke of the R on the top version and the W on the bottom. This is pure inspiration.

KIRO news talk format has moved to 97.3 FM (I’ve also opined on the FM version of the logo, which I’m not crazy about). It was apparently in preparation of 710 AM becoming a branch of the ESPN broadcasting empire. Here’s the new logo:

I’ve enrolled in two schools of thought as far as this logo goes:

1. Technical Considerations: A logo that works. It’s not spectacular though. It won’t win any awards. But it does its job well with admirable economy. Most notable is the way the ESPN "font" (If there is such a thing) is translated successfully into the entire logo. The letterforms in the frequency and the city name harmonize very well with the ESPN logo, though there are places (the counter in the A and something I can’t quite put my finger on about the S) that make it look like a font that was obliqued by the designer, which strikes a sour chord with me. The choice of the form to depict the 1 in the frequency number is well done, as that allows the 7 to snug in withougt looking forced on. The sound waves work alright, though the logo could do without them.
2. Emotional considerations: a real let-down. I fell in silly love with the KIRO 710 AM logo the second I saw it. I’ve explained before why. The internal structure, the artful sketch of the Space Noodle … simple but clicks. Nails it nicely. This … well, there’s a great deal to be said for chain store signage. I think it looks awful on a broadcast station. At least they got the red and black from the old logo in there.

I’ll expand a little on the thought in point 2, the "chain-store signage" thought. I’ve listened to radio an awful long time, and can’t help (from growing up listening to local giants like KEX and Salem stations like the late great KSLM and KBZY as well as Corvallis’s KFLY, which was an AM station back in the 80s) but identify a call-sign with a locality. It’s part of the local personality. A skillfully-done local station identity becomes, to me, like part of the local heart and soul. It doesn’t have to have such location-specific features but it does have to be unique.

Your local broadcast outlets are part of the local personality. Divest it of local identification and … well, meh. No passion. No connection. Just the word "SEATTLE" is kind of pale in comparison with the artfully done Space Noodle sketch that expresses all sorts of Seattle intangibles. It signifies the heart and soul of Seattle.

So the re-branding will no doubt work, but it leaves something behind that’s valuable. And that’s kind of sad, I think.

(H/T to Ben, the gentleman from Seattle. Thanks Ben!)

Tags: KIRO, Seattle Radio, Broadcast Logos, Logo design, 710 AM Seattle, 710 AM

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