989 Design

989 Design Blog has moved.

2009-04-29T16:26:00.004-04:00

It actually moved a long time ago, but I recently decided that it isn't worth the time I spend updating two separate blog pages. If I can figure out an easy way to port my WordPress blog to this page, I will do it. Otherwise, just know that you can find my blog at my website.
989 Design Blog

No, really...you can't touch this.

2009-04-16T16:33:00.003-04:00

I've written about Clayton Kershaw a couple of other times and I imagine I will write about him again in the future. Clayton was the young gun superstar-to-be who pitched for the Loons during our inaugural season. He is a lanky left-hander with a curve ball that makes grown men buckle at the knees.

He has been hailed as everything from 'the next big thing' to 'a once-in-a-generation talent' by scouts and baseball publications. Even with all of the hype, he was really a pretty nice kid. At left is a poster I shot and designed of Clayton. He was really easy to work with and made the photo shoot an easy process.

Anyway...Clayton rocketed from low-A ball in Midland to AA ball in Jacksonville to the Los Angeles Dodgers in about 18 months time. He spent most of last year with the Dodgers and really started getting into a groove by the time the season ended. His first outing this year was strong, so he looked poised to have a great season. But did anybody expect what happened last night?

7 innings pitched, 1 hit allowed, struck out 13 batters. 13 Ks in seven innings? That's siiiiiick!

Unfortunately, he didn't get the win because the Dodgers couldn't give him much run support. He was a total pro about it after the game, though. He was happy enough that the Dodgers won the game.

"I'm fine with it," said Kershaw. "I mean, there's going to be a game down the road where I go five innings and give up five runs and get the win. That's just part of baseball."

The kid just turned 21, had a fantastic outing in only his second start of the season and displays that kind of poise and professionalism. I am really impressed with him. Way to be a great player and a great sportsman, Clayton.

Good luck with the rest of your season.

Some People Really Like Business Cards

2009-04-14T13:15:00.005-04:00

This YouTube video has been bouncing around for the past couple of days and I finally got around to watching it. You absolutely need to watch this. This guy kills me.

Looks like crap? It is crap.

"You see that card? This is the most impressive business card I've ever seen. It's mine."
"My card is die cut. My card is foil stamped. My card is embossed."

As soon as I watched it, my mind went immediately back to American Psycho. It won't let me embed the video, so I will just post the link.

American Psycho on YouTube

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Bay City After 6

2009-03-31T20:21:00.004-04:00

Somehow, and I don't quite understand why, the idea of networking has become dominated by business and chambers of commerce. There's nothing wrong with their version of networking, but sometimes it seems like people doing chamber-type networking are only concerned about collecting the most business cards and working on their elevator pitch. It seems to me that networking should be more about just meeting people and getting to know them. If I meet someone and there is a chance to work together, so much the better, but I think getting to know people is reward enough. They don't need to hear my elevator pitch.

I've been working with Jenna Schrumpf of Dobson Home Health Care the past few weeks and our pet project is creating an informal networking group for professional-types. We initially started talking about it because we were both surprised that the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce didn't offer a young professionals group similar to the groups in Midland and Saginaw*.

Jenna and I decided that we'd go ahead and start a group of our own and see if anybody was interested. As we started talking to a few people about it, we were surprised that a number of people were more interested in a non-Chamber group. It isn't anything against the Chamber, but people seem to want something a little bit different. So we created Bay City After 6.

My beef with many YP groups is that they all have an age requirement of something like 25–40. Maybe it's just me being overly sensitive since I will be 40 years old in a few days, but I think putting an age limit—even if it's just a guideline—is discriminatory. What happens when I turn 41? Do I have to go to Carnival? It's kind of like refusing to call your group the Old Boys Club, but requiring a Y-chromosome to belong.

Bay City After 6 is focused on the social aspects of networking. Maybe it will benefit your business, too, but that is only because growing your group of friends and acquaintances will benefit your whole life. Initially we are just planning on having a couple of happy hours and talking to everyone who shows up (assuming anyone shows up, that is) about what it is they would like to see happen both with the group and in the Tri-Cities (I still can't bring myself to use the other name).

We aren't planning any business functions, but if people seem interested in having meetings with actual speakers and such, we can do that (in fact, we've already had one professional speaker/motivator offer his services). It's our group, we can do anything we like.

Our first meeting will be held this Thursday, April 2nd, at Midland Street Jack's (formerly Lumberjack's) on Midland Street in Bay City. Anybody and everybody is welcome to join. Also, the link above takes you to our Facebook page. We are probably going to get a blog going in the next couple of weeks, so we'll keep you updated.

Hope to see you on Thursday night.

Rebranding the Detroit Lions

2009-03-24T11:03:00.004-04:00

Anybody who grew up in Michigan or who follows the NFL is familiar with the logo above and all of the baggage attached to it. It's the logo of the Detroit Lions, a once-proud franchise whose 2008–2009 season was the worst in NFL history. From the Ford family's disastrous ownership to bad management decisions to bad luck, the Lions are in the midst of putting together the worst decade in the history of any NFL franchise.

You can't fire the owners (unfortunately), but you can make a lot of other changes. Along with management changes (several of which weren't really much of a change) and a lot of personnel changes, the Lions have decided to scrap the old-style Detroit Lions logo (above) and replace it with this:

Sorry for the small size, but it's the best I could find. As you can see, the basic shape of the Lion is still the same, but they've added in some nice broad strokes to give the logo a little more motion. They've also sharpened up the Lion's face, adding an eye and making the snarl more pronounced. It certainly looks a lot tougher and more menacing—now let's wait to see if the team matches up to the logo.

Overall, I like the logo change. I'm pleased that even though this is a big change for them, the didn't go too far. I'm glad they kept the Honolulu blue, as well. I know that some fans don't like the blue very much and don't think it's a very tough-looking color, but it is one of the classic NFL logos. Keeping your traditions intact while giving your franchise a contemporary look is a good way to go about rebranding.

In addition to the logo, they have replaced the old, western-style "LIONS" logotype with this:

I don't love it, but I don't hate it. The old type was really, really dated and always looked out of place to me. This fits in with the new logo and it has a little more motion to it. It's fine.

My only regret in this is that I didn't write about it last week when I first saw a leaked version of the logo. It wasn't the exact logo, but it was pretty close. Had I written about this then, it would be a little more timely. This is still pretty fresh news, but next time I won't sit on the news for a week.

My Brush with Political Greatness

2009-03-23T16:53:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in Bay City. Don't even ask why the parade was on Sunday, the 22nd. I can't make sense of half of the stuff that goes on in Bay City. Anyway, as part of the parade, United States Senator Debbie Stabenow came to town to walk in the parade.

I was in Brewtopia last week and Aaron Bolt—the proprietor and genteman purveyor of fine coffees—told me that Senator Stabenow was going to come to the coffee shop after the parade for a meet-and-greet with the public. I was planning on shooting the parade anyway so I planned on coming to the coffee shop to get a few photos of the Senator in hopes of maybe getting a good shot to include on the studio Wall of Fame (along with Lance Parrish, Tommy Lasorda and Ryne Sandberg).

I figured the place was going to be wall-to-wall because, after all, who wouldn't jump at a chance to meet a sitting U.S. Senator? You may not know this about me, but I am a bit of a political junkie. I used to do some work for a U.S. Congressman (he who shall not be named), but couldn't enjoy the work because his politics were...um...only slightly left of the Kaiser. So the chance to take photos of and maybe meet a politician who I have a lot of respect for was a pretty great opportunity.

As it turns out, while I was shooting the parade I ran into my friend Terry King, who was also taking photos. I mentioned that Senator Stabenow was going to be at Brewtopia so he came along to shoot some photos, too. I'm used to being behind the lens and don't really care much about having my photo taken. Even when I got to hang out with Tommy Lasorda, for example, I didn't bother him for a photo together. I've had the good fortune to meet a lot of interesting and well-known people and athletes and the only two I have ever had a photo taken with are Senator Stabenow and Gordie Howe. Running into Terry was just good luck, though, because it gave me a chance to have my photo taken with the Senator.

We talked a little bit about Bay City and about her hometown of Clare and we touched on Michigan State basketball. We only talked for a few minutes, but it was really a great honor and I'm grateful to the Senator and her staff for taking the time to come to Bay City. I'm also thankful that Aaron let me know the Senator was going to be at Brewtopia. And to round out my Gratitude Trinity, thanks to Terry for taking the photos and getting them to me.

Also, here's an interesting fact...did you know that it is Constitutionally forbidden to appear taller than a member of the U.S. Senate? The Senator is standing on a six-inch platform they keep handy so that she appears taller and more powerful. Okay...I made all of that up. I'm just not very tall.

Rebranding just for the sake of rebranding.

2009-03-20T12:42:00.003-04:00

Anybody out there watch Battlestar Galactica? If the answer is no, then Dwight Schrute might want to point out that you're an idiot. I wouldn't go so far, but I do think you have missed out on some pretty great television the past few years. No point in bothering to watch it now, though...the series finale is on tonight.

If the answer is yes, then you know that Battlestar Galactica has been a huge hit for the Sci Fi Channel. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I think it's probably the highest rated show Sci Fi has ever had. BG isn't the only big series they've ever had, but it has garnered the most critical acclaim as well as created a loyal fanbase as rabid as any in television (with the possible exception of Monty Python stuff).

So what does any network do when they're riding the crest of an all-time high wave?

They decide to rebrand. From now on, the Sci Fi Channel will be called...

That's right...it's Syfy. How very uninspired. Why the big change? According to Syfy president Dave Howe suggested that "Sci Fi" was too generic a term to trademark, so they came up with something which "seeks to distinguish the channel and its programming from cable competitors."

Personally, I always liked Sci Fi's little logo. Everybody knew what the name meant and what the logo was. Creating a new brand at this time seems to be a really goofy decision. Sounds to me like somebody somewhere in the chain felt like they needed to put their stamp on the product. Why does management feel like the product isn't really theirs until they get their fingerprints all over it?

On top of the timing, the logo itself is really pretty sad. Ooohhh...a font. With a 3D look. And a tagline. I mean no disrespect to the people who designed the logo (I don't know who it was just yet) because I am reasonably sure that the execs who made the decision wouldn't know a good logo if it bit them in the ass.

Goodbye, little Saturn and Sci Fi logo, I will miss you.

Imitation

2009-03-16T17:57:00.003-04:00

Is imitation really the highest form of flattery? Or is it just lazy design? What I'm referring to in this case are the two logos below. The first is for the TV series Heroes and the second is for Knowing, a new film with Nicolas Cage.

I know they aren't exactly the same, but they're both using the same penumbra-type effect. (Admit it, you're impressed that I know the word penumbra, aren't you?) Heroes was all about saving the world from destruction and from the looks of Knowing, it's got some of the same themes.

I think I'm going to start designing all of my logos based on the Heroes logo. Check back later this week for some Heroes-style work.

It's funny because it's true.

2009-03-10T16:41:00.008-04:00

Progress.

Hard to read? Click on comic to see full-size version.

I ran across this comic online today. It's from Penny Arcade. I looked online for rules regarding reposting their comic, but couldn't find anything. I couldn't find an FAQ that forbid reposting of their content, so in hopes that it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, I am posting it here.

Please visit their site and buy lots of stuff from them.

2009-03-09T17:58:00.005-04:00

Please join me in welcoming our newest client, Affordable Green Energy (AGE). AGE is, as the logo says, an alternative energy solutions company. At the moment, they are really focused on wind energy, but what sets them apart from other alternative energy companies is that they are focused on the small-wind market. They aren't building wind farms, they're manufacturing and installing personal wind turbines, designed for individual homes and businesses.

The analogy that the small-wind industry likes is to refer to it as wind gardening. When you plant a garden, you can meet some (or all) of your needs, but you won't be able to produce enough for your neighbor. It's the same sort of thing with wind gardening.

AGE offers a variety of personal wind turbines, some of which are specifically designed to work better in urban and city environments. The best thing about AGE is that they aren't just selling you a wind turbine and letting you fend for yourself. They take the time to do a complete wind assessment and then put together a plan personalized for you, based on your location and your energy requirements. Once the plan is approved, they not only install the turbines, they will help you with any paperwork that is needed.

AGE is a great example of a local, family-owned company pushing forward with green technology.

Quick note: Just to be clear, so far we have helped them out with some stationery and their new sales material. We did not design their logo or website—I want to be careful to NOT take credit for anyone else's work.

2009-03-04T18:52:00.003-05:00

It's awards season. In the past five weeks or so, we've seen the Grammys, Independent Spirit and Academy Awards shows all come and go. I didn't win anything.

Awards aren't limited to the entertainment industry, though. There is also a local award called the Ruby Award. It goes out to like a dozen or so local people who are all making significant contributions to the community. I didn't get one of those, either. And I never will because it's only for people under 40 and since I am turning 40 in about a month, this was the last year that I would have been eligible. Shut out of the Ruby Awards? Was it because I don't make a significant contribution or am I just not under 40 enough? I guess we'll never know.

On top of all of these awards which I will not be winning, there are graphic design and advertising awards—hundreds of them, maybe even thousands—and I won't be winning any of them, either.

Do I feel bad about it? No, not really. I just got thinking about it because almost every day I get another mailer from another organization reminding me of the deadline to enter a design in this contest or that. Some of the awards are legit—I'm looking at you Clio, Addy and Communication Arts—and some are not. Well, it isn't that they aren't legit, but many of them come from organizations you have never heard of before. And every year there are more and more of them. They are like award factories.

The business of charging people to enter design competitions in return for an award is becoming a very big business. It's starting to remind me of the Who's Who scam...you get a free listing in Who's Who in Animal Husbandry or whatever. And for just $15 you can include a photo. $25 more and you get a copy of the book. It's the pay-to-play aspect that I don't care for.

If you go to many designers' sites, you will to see them trotting out their awards. And I don't blame them, they've earned the awards. Moreover, they paid for them. With entry fees running $85 and sometimes more, it gets expensive pretty quickly. That's part of why you see the bigger agencies winning more awards—they can absorb that cost in their overhead because it's a much smaller percentage of their monthly budget. Even a couple of entries a month would be a big chunk for us—realistically the $150 covers my electric and internet bills for a month.

Don't get me wrong, trophies are nice to look at, but does anybody really pay attention? If you go to a large ad agency, one of the first things you see when you walk in the front door is the trophy case. At Integer we had a big case filled with Addys and Clios and so forth. It makes for a nice show if you're doing the dog-and-pony, but does anybody really know what these trophies are? Maybe I will go to the thrift store and buy a bunch of old bowling trophies and just put them up on display in the studio.

I only mention any of this because if you are looking to hire an award-winning designer, I'm not your guy. 989 Design is a small studio and there are just the two of us working here. It's not like a few entries is going to break the bank, but I don't see that the benefit outweighs the cost. What's the best thing that happens when you win an award? You get the respect of your peers, which would be nice, but I don't really need that sort of approval, except from my clients. And I suppose that if someone were hiring a designer based on how many awards they've won, they probably aren't the right fit for 989 Design. Seems a little uptight and that's just not our style.

I'd rather just keep doing good work and doing our best to keep our overhead low. Our goal isn't to be a cheap design studio because that isn't what we are, but keeping our overhead low gives us a little flexibility when it comes to pricing our projects.

If a no-cost competition comes along, maybe we will send something in. In fact, now that I think about it, I have entered one design competition in my career. It was a no-cost-to-enter competition sponsored by a paper manufacturer. I have never printed on a particular stock just to be able to enter a competition, but I happened to use the right stock and I was really proud of how it came out. A few months later I received a package in the mail that informed me that I was, in fact, not a winner. I thought maybe I'd get an honorable mention or something, but not even that. I remember being really disappointed about it, too.

Regarding the image above: I did not draw or create the bottle cap image. I came across it years ago and was not able to find the original source of the art. I wish I had because I'd like to give credit where credit is due, but I guess I'll just have to settle for not taking credit for someone else's work.

Am I Living in a Box?

2009-02-25T06:20:00.004-05:00

Clearly, I am having a hard time keeping up the blogging schedule I set for myself. It's not that I haven't had anything to write about, it's just that we're starting to get into baseball season and things are (finally) picking up around here.

Part of what has been keeping me so busy is that we are getting more projects in the studio that require both writing and design. I feel pretty comfortable with my writing skills, but when it comes time to write for somebody else it just takes me longer to get my mind around it. Part of it is that I have to learn about their business so that I can write about it intelligently. Plus, it takes me a little time to really "get into character," so to speak. It takes time to find the right voice for a project, the right words, and so forth. I'm enjoying the challenge it brings, but it also makes it harder to shift gears back to the blog.

I've also been spending a little more time reading, which is part of what I wanted to write about today. There is a very nice article in the current issue of Wired. The article is all about designing within boundaries and making that work for you instead of against you. The link above will take you to the intro to the article, which mentions the constraints of the page in graphic design. There are linked pages in the article to short pieces about design electric cars, antenna-less cell phones, and building a better plastic bottle.

As I read the piece it dawned on me that this isn't just about design, but it's about everything. Through the limits placed on us by ourselves or by external forces, we are forced to adapt to these constraints. It's either adapt to them or be crippled by them. With the current state of the economy, we are staring into an abyss that could change our way of life for generations. At the same time, though, there's an opportunity there. Not just for the country as a whole, but for many individuals who are choosing to try something new.

I've had three or four new businesses contact me about designing logos and stationery and each new startup excites me. Will every new business be a success? No, they won't. It's a sad fact, but statistically speaking, it is true. The people I've met with know that they are taking a chance by starting a new business, but they aren't willing to let their current constraints dictate how they choose to live their lives—how they design their lives, if you will.

Look at your current situation. What constraints are there upon you? How can you work within or around them? How can you make your situation work better for you? Try to discover the opportunities that are out there that you might be able to take advantage of.

Image above: From Wired, Bryan Christie Design

Think Classy, Be Classy

2009-02-16T17:54:00.001-05:00

Here's a very quick marketing tip. This one is both very simple and at the same time it is one of the most-broken rules of marketing. Does your business have an office or storefront open to the public? Take a look around and count the handwritten signs. At least half of the restaurants and stores I go into have handwritten signs somewhere. On the front door, at the cash register, in the restrooms, etc. Do yourself a favor and tear them all down. Immediately. Don't even finish reading this sentence...get up and tear them down.

There is nothing more amateur looking than an establishment who can't take the time to put even a half-ass sign together. Every business in the universe has access to a computer and printer, so there really isn't any good excuse. It's just simple lack of attention to detail. And if your printer at home is ten years old or older, maybe you should consider sending your file to someone else to print (I strongly suggest sending your file anywhere other than Staples, because there really is no telling if they'll be able to figure out the mysteries of your very complex order).

Here is an example of what I am talking about. Once upon a time, there was a restaurant that wanted to position itself as a high-end steakhouse. The restaurant itself was very nice, complete with white linens and entrées starting in the mid- to high-$20s. Not the fanciest or the most expensive, but in a town where the average entrée price is a lot closer to $8, they were trying to win over a more discriminating clientele.

What always stood out to me as I passed the restaurant, though, was that the sign in their front window was a homemade tractor-feed banner. Remember tractor-feed banners? They were very common back in the 80s. And this banner looked like it came right out of the 80s. The ink was a very faded black, the paper had rough edges along the perforations where the tractor feed was removed, and it wasn't hung very well. All in all, the sign didn't communicate anything high-end or classy. It just looked half-assed and cheap. Clearly, they didn't think their restaurant was worth a $150 investment, why would any consumer want to spend good money if they didn't even believe in themselves?

In an era when you can buy 5' x 3' full-color banners for under $150, why go cheap when it comes to signage? Think about that figure...one table for two with appetizers, entrées, and a decent bottle of wine would almost cover the cost of the sign. Okay...fair enough...add in the cost of a quick design and you'd need two tables to cover the cost. How many people may have been willing to give them a shot if it looked like they cared?

Handwritten signs are great examples of one of my favorite business screw ups: tripping over dollars to pick up nickels. Take a little bit of time and, if possible, spend a couple of dollars to upgrade your signage.

I think marketing guru Crash Davis summed it up best when he said, "Think classy, be classy."

Part of the Community

2009-02-09T17:52:00.002-05:00

About three weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a woman I met at a Bay Area Chamber of Commerce event. We only met the one time and didn't really know each other, but she wrote to ask if I would be willing to let her son spend a couple of hours in the studio, interviewing me and getting an idea of what it is to be a graphic designer. I think part of why I belong to the Chamber is because I don't just want to have a business here, but I chose to build my life here. And as part of that, I want to be involved with the community. I told her that I was happy to do it so we arranged for her son to come in to the studio for a couple of hours.

The son, whose name I am going to withhold because he is a minor, is a really nice, normal kid. He goes to school at Saginaw Academy of Science & Arts (I didn't even know such a school existed in the area). He likes art, but it isn't his only interest. He came to the studio with a few pages of questions about what I do. As somebody who writes profiles professionally, I have to tell you, he came armed with some really bright questions. I was really impressed with his preparation and we talked for a while about my career and stuff like that.

Time passed very quickly while we just sat there and talked. I asked him a little bit about what sort of art he likes and what he likes to do. In our back-and-forth, I got really excited talking about my career. I came to design through a back door, but I feel really lucky to have a career that I genuinely enjoy. I love going to work, I love being in the studio, doing the actual design, etc. I've never lost sight of how much I appreciate being able to do something I love and get paid for it, but in talking with this young many it sort of rekindled the fire a little bit.

I'm really grateful that I had the opportunity to spend some time talking with him. I know I got a lot out of it and I hope he feels the same way. After he left I was picking things up before heading home and noticed that he left me a message on the Etch-a-Sketch. He also took the time to write me a thank you note and mail it, but for me the Etch-a-Sketch message was perfect. You're welcome.

On a completely unrelated note...I thought I'd do a little show and tell with the other objects in the photo above. Along with the Etch-a-Sketch note we have:

• A photo of myself and Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe. This photo (taken by Barry Rankin) was taken on an evening when my job was to spend a few hours taking photos of Gordie Howe while he signed autographs. Other than to say hello, we didn't talk during the autograph session, but Gordie kept hamming it up for me. At the end of the evening, I had the chance to go up and chat with him for a minute. I can't tell you what a huge thrill that was!

• A Detroit Red Wings puck autographed by Gordie. He had just been signing his name for most things, but because we had "worked together" he surprised me and personalized it. When he handed it to me he said, "Here you go...To Mr. Photo from Mr. Hockey."

• A signed print of a photo I took of Ryne Sandberg when he was coaching the Peoria Chiefs.

• A photo of me from the first time I met the Stanley Cup. My friend Jim Biewer, now with the Detroit Red Wings, took this photo. I had about thirty minutes where it was just me and the Cup. I took lots of photos, but mostly I just read the names in the rings. I wanted to touch it, but I knew better. In any of the three or four times I've been around the Cup, I haven't touched it.

• Tucked between the Etch-a-Sketch and the Red Wings puck, you can see a Great Lakes Loons baseball peeking out.

Man, do I have a cool job, or what?

Customer Dissatisfaction Department

2009-02-05T16:16:00.005-05:00

Our January winner for bad customer service is Staples in Bay City.

I had to run into Staples to have something laminated. While I was at picking up and paying for my order at the copy center desk, I told the girl working behind the counter that I needed to buy five sheets of 11" x 17" paper. Simple request, right?

Me: "Do you have 11" x 17" paper in colors?"

Staples co-worker: "Yes."

"Can I have five sheets on the ivory or the cream?"

"We don't have it in stock...we have to special order it."

Didn't I just ask if you had it? Did she think I was inquiring as to whether or not such 11" x 17" colored paper existed?

"Okay...that's not a problem. Do you have it in stock in white?"

"Yes."

"Great. Can I have five sheets of that?"

"Um...okay...um...we don't...um...we can't really sell you five sheets like that. There isn't a way that we can ring it into our system."

You would think I was asking her to sell me her shoes or something. Even now when I think about it I have to shake my head in disbelief. There are several options she had, any of which would have worked out better than her response. She could have decided to:

1. Sell me the paper as if it were 5 copies. Easy. Problem solved.

2. Give me the paper for free. It's five sheets of paper...they cost you next to nothing. It creates goodwill with a regular customer.

3. Almost anything other than stand there like a deer in the headlights, stammering about point-of-sale systems.

My last job with Kinko's was as a regional trainer, handling customer service classes. This is Customer Service 101, Staples. Hire people who can solve problems, rather than create them. I'll still shop at Staples for supplies sometimes, but from now on my print work will probably end up elsewhere.

These days I frequently hear people blathering on about branding, but the truth is that very few people really have any idea what branding is. It's not your logo, it's not your tagline--it's everything. Including—especially in service businesses—the people who man your registers. In a micro environment like a small city where word of mouth carries a lot of weight, who you hire says more about you than your logo ever will.

Regular or decaf?

2009-02-03T09:58:00.005-05:00

As silly as it sounds, I really like pouring the coffee when 989 Design is the Chamber coffee sponsor. I always enjoyed my retail jobs in the past because, on the whole, I really do like people. I may pretend that isn't the case, but there I was this morning with a coffee pot in each hand and a smile on my face.

"Regular or decaf?" I asked.

The studio doesn't get much foot traffic—almost none, in fact. Outside of the mailman and Randy the UPS guy, it's rare to have anyone randomly stop by. So having thirty minutes to socialize and say good morning to a lot of people is fun for me. Plus, if this whole graphic design thing doesn't work out, I think Greg has a spot for me behind the bar. So I've got that going for me.

The hardest part of the coffee sponsorship is having to speak in front of the whole room for two minutes. I never really prepare what I am going to say because I end up sounding like a robot. Instead, I think of a few points I want to hit and wing it, hoping to not hear the bell that indicates I've gone over my two minutes (I'm two-for-two on being on time). Today I talked a little about the studio, a little about the site, pitched the Good Works Group again, and then did a few 15-second spots for the Saginaw Spirit, Great Lakes Loons and Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra. I hit all of my points, stayed under two minutes, and didn't throw up on my shoes.

I did get the chance to talk to a few friends and even met a few new people. All in all, I'd say it was a successful morning.

When I first moved to Bay City, I joined the Chamber to get to know more members of the business community in the area. I was new in town and didn't really know anybody. I've been a member of the Chamber for around four years now and even though I wasn't as active a participant in Chamber events the first year or two (which was dumb on my part, I realize, but I'm kind of shy), I've really tried to be more active the past couple of years.

Speaking for two minutes in front of a group of ten is intimidating to me, so doing the soapbox at the breakfast is terrifying, but I really do want to get the message out about 989 Design and the Good Works Group. After the breakfast a lot of people told me that I did a good job and I really appreciate that.

Thanks again for the support, Bay City.

Two Minutes Can Save You Hundreds of Dollars

2009-02-02T07:27:00.001-05:00

Do you have a preferred print vendor? The Tri-Cities...er...Great Lakes Bay Region (don't get me started) has a number of commercial print shops to choose from and chances are, if you do much print buying through the year, you have a favorite. It's great to have a relationship that you know you can rely on. You make a phone call and your rep is there to save the day. We're actually really lucky in that out of all of the shops there are several that offer a great combination of excellent quality work and a very high level of service.

The downside of having these great relationships is that sometimes you just quit bothering to comparison shop. When is the last time you quoted your job at another printer? Don't misunderstand me, I'm a very loyal client when it comes to print shops, but different shops have different equipment and may or may not be the best fit for a job. There are many shops who can print an oversize poster, for example, but some of them are better-suited to it than others and the shops who are better-suited for a job, generally can offer better prices as a result of economies of scale. It's rare that your print rep is going to tell you that maybe another shop is a better fit for a job (although it does happen from time to time). Who can blame them? They're paid on commission so they have a vested interest in keeping the job in their hands, no matter what the cost is to you.

In an economic environment like we currently find ourselves in—especially in Michigan where so many businesses are hanging on by a very thin thread—we need to be sure that we are making the most of our money.

Take the time to have another shop quote your next project. It's sad to say, but some shops are really hurting right now and they are very aggressive in their quoting. They are more interested in keeping their presses running, so they are offering great deals.

I recently designed a brochure for one of my larger clients and, as is my practice, I quoted it at the two shops who were the best fit for the project. I knew that either shop would do a great job, so no matter which direction I went I would not be sacrificing quality. I was really surprised, though, when I got the quotes back. One shop was almost double the price of the other shop (at lower quantities). At the quantity we ended up printing, the cost difference amounted to over $700, which was about 30–40% lower than the other shop. In the end we got a product that everybody was very happy with and I saved my clients a chunk of change all because I took the time to send one e-mail.

Time to write one e-mail: 2 minutes.
Cost savings: $700

If you don't have a sales rep from another shop, feel free to e-mail or call and I will give you names and numbers for several shops.

Branding Does Not Correct For Incompetence

2009-01-29T14:02:00.004-05:00

I love Bay City. Even now, in the dead of winter, there is nowhere else I'd rather live. I chose to move here from the world-class city of Denver—that's how much I love it here. That being said, once again I find myself feeling frustrated with the city leadership.

Remember a few months ago when I wrote about the money Bay City wasted on developing the new city brand? A few years ago, the city paid nearly $50,000 for a horrible logo—an absolute abomination. Along with the horrible logo there is a trite saying. VOILA! There's our brand.

No matter how many times I scream it, a logo is not a brand!

Anyway, we've got our logo so we're all set, right? Bay City is on the rise again. No bad decision making or bad publicity can affect us because, after all, we've got that crappy logo...er...brand.

Our first stop on the bad-PR train came in December when a Wall Street Journal article featured a mention of Bay City alongside one of their trademark stipple images of our mayor, Charles Brunner. The city couldn't afford to put up the annual Festival of Lights display for Christmas this year and the story was wrapped into a Journal piece on cities feeling the economic crunch at Christmas time. This was a good decision by the mayor, it was just a small bit of bad PR. No city wants to be painted as anti-Christmas, but there we were on the front cover of one of the most-read newspapers in the world.

Fast forward one month to a much uglier story.

Two weeks ago the body of a 93-year-old man was found dead in his home on Bay City's southwest side. The house is actually only a mile away from mine. The man, a veteran who received the purple heart as a medic in World War II, died of hypothermia in his home. You read that correctly, he froze to death in his home. Due to unpaid electric bills, the city electric department had placed a device to restrict the amount of electricity he could use. He apparently didn't know what the device was or how to reset it and died a very slow and painful death.

His death has received all sorts of national attention, once again turning the nation's eyes to Bay City. MSNBC is among the many national news sources who carried the story.

According to our city manager, he didn't think the city did anything wrong. I understand that actions have to be taken when bills aren't paid, but you'd think they'd be a little more careful when it comes to something like this. The new policy is to not use limiters, but don't you think we could have come to this sensible policy, say, before an old man died needlessly?

One time after another, this city keeps giving itself a black eye.

You know what I think might help? A new logo...some new branding idea that clearly states that we no longer kill our elderly for unpaid electric bills.

Pow! Right Between the Eyes!

2009-01-24T16:50:00.002-05:00

As I wandered around the web earlier this weekend, I came across a blog by a guy named Andy Nulman. Andy has a new book out called Pow! Right Between the Eyes and it sounds like a great read. The premise of his book is the use of surprise in marketing.

He is currently running a promotion where if you mention his book and link to his blog, he will send out a copy of the book for free. He does say that he's sending them out to legitimate bloggers, though, so I guess we'll have to wait to see if I qualify as legitimate. I'm hoping that the hundreds...okay...hundred-and-fifty visitors per week to this blog will qualify me because I really want to read this book.

Anybody who is interested in keeping their business relevant in the current economic environment should check out Andy Nulman's website. I have only had ten minutes to look it over, but saw a few posts that I have bookmarked to go back and read. If you have a business and you aren't taking the time to scour the web for some of the great ideas that are out there, then I'm not sure you're really interested in being in business.

I keep saying that one of my biggest problems is that I don't have enough time to read everything that is out there. There isn't a secret formula to success and there aren't any shortcuts, but there are about a zillion sites out there with different ideas about business. Start going and reading what's available...you never know when you're going to find something that sparks your next big idea.

So take a few minutes to check out his site. There is some good stuff there and it's free—it's all free!

Who are the people in your neighborhood?

2009-01-24T16:14:00.002-05:00

Okay...the photo above doesn't really look anything like Midland Street at the moment, but it's the only Midland Street photo I have on my MacBook (I'm out of the studio at the moment...care to guess where I am?).

I am asked pretty often about how I like having a studio out of my home. After working from home for six or seven years, it was a pretty big adjustment to get used to actually going to work. Getting up early was never an issue as I have always been an early riser, but the whole act of leaving the house to go to work was hard to get used to.

My answer is always an enthusiastic yes—I love my studio. I like that there is a distinct separation between work and home, even though at times it makes for long stretches without much at-home time.

One of my favorite things about the studio—and I may have written about this before—is that I really love being a part of the neighborhood. Working at home, you could go for long stretches where you didn't interact with other people and that could be a drag sometimes. What I love about Midland Street is that I enjoy working in an area where, even in winter, there is a lot of activity.

This morning I had to take my truck to the Smith's Auto Service—a mechanic just a few blocks up the street. When I walked in the door I was greeted by my friend Brian sitting there, also having work done to his car. We chat for a while in the garage and then then I had to get going.

I walked down a block or two to say hi to the guys at Sandlot Sports. We're working on a couple of projects together and haven't had a chance to talk this week. I hung out there and visited with Ryan and Adam for a few minutes before heading back toward the studio.

As I was walking, Randy the UPS driver waved me down from his truck. "I just left you a note on your door; I've got something for you," he said. He went into the back of the truck and pulled out a package of business cards. That was a huge help because I wanted to get the cards to the coffee shop this weekend.

After Randy gave me my package I continued on toward the studio, deciding to stop at Lucky's Pub to see what the lunch specials were. When Wayne told me that they had a meatball sandwich, my decision was made. I placed my order and then headed across the studio to kill 10 minutes until my lunch was ready. After checking e-mail and puttering around the studio for a few minutes, I headed back to Lucky's. When I got there my friend Bruce—one of the owners of Lucky's—was there along with another client of mine. We chatted for a few minutes and then I got my lunch and headed back to the studio.

In about 30 minutes I talked to about nine different people about everything ranging from work to family to playtime. This is the sort of thing you don't get when you work at home. I never got lonely or anything, but I would sometimes get a little desperate for human contact, you know? I'm pretty sure that I was so chatty that there were some telemarketers who put me on their NO CALL list to avoid having to talk to me again.

In summary, thanks for a great day Midland Street Historic District. And just think, when the warm weather gets here (in about eight to ten weeks), it will be even more fun. More people, patio beers, sunshine...I can hardly wait.

Keep your Utopia. Make mine Brewtopia. Brewtopia Coffee, that is.

2009-01-20T20:20:00.003-05:00

About a month ago I was approached by Aaron Bolt, the new owner of (the former) Harvest Coffee House in Bay City to design a new logo for the coffee house. The new name is Brewtopia Coffee and Aaron wanted the new logo to have a classic look and to reflect the café’s downtown location.

At the top you can see the logo we came up with. We played with a few different versions of the type until we hit on something we were all happy with. As a backdrop for the logotype, I created a few generic buildings and some quick drawings of a few downtown Bay City landmarks—the fountain in Wenona Park, Delta College planetarium and City Hall. So far, we have received a lot of positive feedback on the logo which is really gratifying.

Brewtopia is not just a coffee house, it’s a community center. A place where people get together for meetings or to just relax and talk. I’m sitting in the café right now and there is a group of young guys working on something. I’m not sure if it’s homework or their fantasy baseball draft, but they are just hanging around and having a good time. Toward the back there are a couple of people working, a couple and their baby buying some fresh-roasted beans, and another couple who are really enjoying being together (don’t worry family folks, they’re not canoodling or anything, Brewtopia isn’t that kind of place).

It’s a little after 8PM on a Tuesday night and there are about 15 people here—that’s not too bad for a weeknight in Bay City.

Clearly, Brewtopia Coffee is the place to be. So the only questions is this: Where are you tonight and why aren’t you here?

They are staying open until 9 or 10 every night of the week (except Sunday, when they close at 6). There are always several different coffees fresh and waiting for you as well as a wide variety of specialty drinks, many of which exist here and nowhere else.

You know what else is great? They roast their own beans right here in the coffee shop. They aren’t buying beans that were roasted weeks or months ago, they are buying fresh beans and roasting them themselves to be sure that you are getting the best cup of coffee in Bay City.

If you are out and about in downtown Bay City, be sure to swing by and say hello to Aaron and the gang.

This has been an unpaid advertisement.

My All-Time Favorite New Media Campaign

2009-01-15T16:23:00.002-05:00

The best new Facebook application I've seen in a long time was put to rest this past week.

The campaign was brilliant in its simplicity. Instead of Facebook applications' usual MO of "sign up and send it to as many friends as you want/can," the Whopper Sacrifice went the other direction. It urged people to delete friends in exchange for a free Whopper. Every Facebook user who deleted ten friends from their friends list was given a free Whopper.

The caption at the bottom of the Whopper Sacrifice page now reads that "your love for the Whopper sandwich proved to be stronger than 233,906 friendships." Assuming ten ex-friends per person, that means that over twenty-three thousand people took part in the Whopper Sacrifice. In addition to the 23,000 active participants there were a LOT of press mentions of the program. Newspapers, magazines, online sources, television...everybody was talking about the Whopper Sacrifice.

And whose brain child was this? Not surprisingly, it was the work of Crispin Porter + Bogusky. I can't begin to tell you how much I admire some of the work that CPB does. If they were to call me and offer me a job in their Boulder office, I would have to think long and hard about moving back to Colorado just to have the opportunity to work in a shop of their caliber. Nothing against any agency I've ever worked with, but CPB is working on a whole different level than everybody else.

CPB has been handling the Burger King account for a while and their offbeat approach is working well for Burger King, who have long been notorious for their bipolar advertising efforts. Radical changes every couple of years...campaigns that were as boring as they were ineffective.

I think you are going to see a lot of people mimicking the Whopper Sacrifice app. Whopper Sacrifice helped change the way people think about advertising on Facebook. Instead of spending money on the little ads, put a little money into a unique application. Make it fun, make it funny, and the people will follow.

Hats off, Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

Contingency Plans are no Substitute for Little Brothers

2009-01-13T18:29:00.002-05:00

I had grand plans of coming into work over the weekend and getting ahead on my work for the week. Those plans came to a grinding halt, however, when my beloved G5 wouldn't boot up. I spent hours trying to troubleshoot the problem and came to the conclusion that it was a major problem with either the power supply or the logic board.

The good news is that none of my work was in danger, but the bad news is that I had no way of getting to any of it because it was all stored on a pair of internal hard drives. I remembered that my brother had a near-identical G5 that he isn't using at the moment. I called him and he told me I was welcome to borrow it as long as I needed, while trying to repair my Mac.

He offered to bring the Mac and meet me halfway between Bay City and South Bend, so we settled on meeting up for lunch in Marshall (southwest of Lansing). We met up at Applebee's (it's the best sit-down restaurant near exit 36) and had a good time. Afterwards we loaded the G5 into my truck and I headed back to Bay City.

I spent the next two hours on the highway and the two hours after that stripping the hard drive and memory from his Mac and replacing it with the hard drives and memory from my Mac. For the most part, the transfer worked out perfectly. There were a couple of glitches, but they were minor and easily settled.

Once you add up the time I spent troubleshooting, driving, and repairing I probably lost about 8-10 hours out of a week when I could ill-afford the lost time. On the whole, though, I am grateful because were it not for my brother Kevin, my situation would have been much worse.

The moral of this story is that I need to have better contingencies in place for the future. I won't always be able to rely on help from Kevin because he would have to have a warehouse of unused Macs laying about and that's just not in the cards. I'm pretty good about backing up my data, but I need to be better about it. You'd think I would have learned my lesson when I lost a hard drive three months ago, but I am still lax in the backup department.

If you are the well-wishing sort, you might want to keep a good thought for my G5. I hope that the problem is the power source because that repair will only take a few hours of my time and about $150 for the replacement part. If it is the logic board, though, the machine is likely unsalvageable because the cost of a new logic board is only a little shy of what a new machine would cost.

One of these days, the blog will get back to the business of design. For now, though, I just want to send out a big thank you to my brother. Thanks, Kevin, you really came through for me. Maybe I'll name my next puppy after you or something. How does that sound?

The one about the in-laws...

2009-01-07T16:50:00.005-05:00

Does anybody remember the mini-saga in Detroit involving Detroit News reporter Rob Parker and then-Detroit Lions head coach Rod Marinelli? In a very small nutshell, during a press conference after the Lions' 14th or 15th loss of the season, Parker asked Marinelli if he wished his (Marinelli's) daughter had married a better defensive coordinator (ex-Lions defensive coordinator Joe Barry is married to Marinelli's daughter). At the time Marinelli blew the remark off.

Some sports columnists and bloggers began vilifying Parker right away. And once a few people started it, everybody jumped on the hand-wringing bandwagon and the SS Rob Parker was taking water. The next day Marinelli was interviewed and he was pissed. I mean he was really pissed. "Anytime you bring my family into..." and blah blah blah. Thing is, I believe that he was pissed, but as the head coach of the worst football team in NFL history, I think he may have been channeling some other frustration at Parker.

I get that it was probably a stupid question, but let's not lose sight of something: it was funny. Rob Parker was right...if Marinelli's daughter was going to marry a defensive coordinator, she picked the worst available. Let's not sugar coat it—Joe Barry was a failure as a defensive coordinator in Detroit. Was it all his fault? No. Detroit is outmanned and outgunned in all aspects of professional football, with the possible exceptions of punter and kicker. But he was horrible. Detroit was at or near the bottom in almost every major defensive statistic.

And let's not forget something else...Rob Parker didn't bring Marinelli's family into it. Marinelli did by hiring his son-in-law in the first place. All he did was mention the daughter. He didn't call her a name or insult her. I suppose it is unprofessional to make a joke, but he didn't really make the joke about the daughter. It was a jab at Joe Barry who, as you may be aware, was horrible. The mere mention of Marinelli's daughter shouldn't have created so much drama. Many, many columnists have made a career out of being wise asses (check out Woody Paige with the Denver Post--he's one of the best).

In the end, the forces of political correctness won. Rob Parker resigned his position with the Detroit News after having been demoted to general reporter or something like that (a clear case of jumping before you are pushed). It's really too bad because all the guy did was make a joke. It wasn't even a bad joke—it was funny. Lighten up, Francis.

I really hate kowtowing to the politically correct police. Remember, if you outlaw jokes than only outlaws will have jokes. Hmmm...I guess that stupid statment only works with guns.

So Parker resigns, Marinelli and Barry are both fired, and the Lions are searching for the next puppet they can hire and the next wide receiver they can draft.

Parker, Marinelli and Barry are all unemployed, but they're probably all better off.

Wherever you end up, Rob Parker, I wish you well. You, too, Rod Marinelli. I think you overreacted to the joke, but I still liked the way you handled yourself under the worst set of circumstances any head coach has ever had to endure. And Joe Barry, please believe that when I say you were horrible, I only mean with the hand you were dealt. I am sure that you will find a new gig and you will excel.

So let's try to tie this into branding, just so you don't feel like you've wasted your time. Think about what the Detroit Lions brand is worth? This whole dog-and-pony show must have made William Clay Ford (Darth Fordius) gleeful because it pulled a little more attention away from the fact that the Lions are a Division-II team in the NFL. Can the Lions brand be tarnished any more? Or have we finally reached the limit?

You know what, this gives me an idea. I think I am going to do a little column about the Lions brand and what impact the winless season had. And what it could mean for the future of the franchise. Stay tuned...I'll try to get to it this week.

Hello, 2009. It's a pleasure to meet you.

2009-01-05T18:00:00.000-05:00

2008 was a pretty good year for 989 Design, but I have to tell you that I am really looking forward to 2009. As much as I hate lame, weather-worn clichés, I am really excited to see the seeds we planed last year begin to grow.

Every day when you listen to the news or read the paper, you are hearing so much bad news about the economy that it seems like we shouldn't even bother holding onto hope. There are so many people telling me that the sky is falling that I'm afraid to look up.

They're right about the economy, it's a mess. And it is probably going to get worse before it gets better. But there are still plenty of bright spots to look at, so let's not give up hope. Just today I had a new client come in the office talking about a new project that they are starting up and I am really psyched about working with them. I can't divulge much due to confidentiality issues, but it is a great lemons-to-lemonade story. The owner of the company ran into a huge (and costly) hurdle and rather than just scrap the project or pay the freight, he came up with a plan that ended up creating an entirely new business. And this is a business with legs—he could make a fortune, if he's not careful.

I guess that what I am saying is that even though times are bad, keep your chin up. The new year is not just the turn of a calendar page, but it's a chance for us to (mentally) wipe the slate and start over. Spend some time the next week or so making plans for the rest of the year.

No matter what your business is, there are many low-cost advertising/marketing/PR ideas out there. Look into them and take advantage of them. If business is slow, it's a great time to try out some new ideas to see what ideas may help you attract new customers.

I hope you all had a really wonderful holiday season. Thank you for continuing to come around. Let's all have a happy and prosperous 2009.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T12:45:00.001-05:00

2008 has been a great year for 989 Design. The studio started the year as a one-man show and grew to include Laurie Russell. Laurie brought a lot of experience and talent to the table as well as a welcome alternate creative voice to our work. Between the two of us, I think we did a lot of interesting and fun projects and I look forward to growing and challenging ourselves more in 2009.

We've had great luck with our clients this year, too. Not only did we get to work with all of our existing clients, but we were able to land a few new clients. I am really happy with the work we did this year with all of our clients and I am grateful to each and every one of them for giving me the opportunity to do what I love to do. Many thanks to all of 989 Design's clients—past, present and future.

I'd also like to send out season's greetings to the vendors we work with throughout the year, especially the Tri-City Printing Holy Trinity of F.P. Horak, McKay Press and QRP. I appreciate your efforts on our behalf. You really do make us look good and I am really happy to have the chance to work with you.

Even with a harsh economy right now, I really am excited for the opportunities that 2009 presents. We have a few big announcements coming up in the first quarter of the year, so be sure to stay tuned.

To everyone reading this blog I wanted to say Merry Christmas. Enjoy the time you spend with your loved ones and I look forward to talking to you very soon.

Be well.

...shawn...

It's Been a Long (and Snowy) Week

2008-12-22T17:54:00.002-05:00

Believe it or not, I really did get a second entry up last week, but I ended up taking it down because it was written when I was feeling a little bit cranky. A vendor of mine did something completely unprofessional and I was so bothered by it that it was the only thing I could focus on enough to write about. I read the entry over the next morning and while I didn't name names, I still didn't like the negative vibes so I deleted it.

To make up for the weeklong absence, I will try to get a few entries up this week. The big news around here for the past few days has been snow. And lots of it. I don't have the exact snow totals, but we've probably seen 14–16 inches in the past five days. And they're saying that we could get 4-8 inches more in the next two days. By far the snowiest week we've had since I moved back to Bay City.

The photo above was taken about five hours into the big storm last Friday morning. I was able to run out of the studio and use the camera for about sixty seconds before I rushed back into the studio to keep the camera from getting too wet. The whole city was halfway shut down on Friday. I sat here in the studio and tried to work, but spent a lot of my time just watching it snow. It was a very relaxing day.

One thing I had to do at the end of last week was fax something to a vendor. That's right...I said 'fax.' How very 1980s. Years ago I had a dedicated fax line and a fax machine and so forth, but that technology has very quickly become little more than an annoyance. There are a few good reasons for still using a fax machine versus using e-mail, but only a few (even hand-written documents are more easily scanned and e-mailed).

In his book Microserfs, Douglas Coupland says that receiving a fax is like getting an e-mail from the 1980s—and that was written in 1996. It's been twelve years since the book was written.

If you are a company who still uses fax as a primary mode of communication, you really need to think about what message this conveys to your clientele. Compared to e-mail fax is low tech, time intensive, less efficient, more costly to operate and less flexible. Do you want your clients to think you are low tech, time intensive, less efficient, more costly and less flexible? Fax machines take up space, use electricity and are totally redundant.

Trust me...it's time to ditch the fax machine.

989 Design Website

2008-12-17T13:32:00.003-05:00

This blog was around first, but these days it is just a copy of my site blog.
The site blog is kept at http://www.989Design.com.

Also available is a portfolio of our work, information about 989 Design, and more.

Please stop by and check it out.

Thoughts on Branding the Tri-Cities

2008-12-15T17:44:00.002-05:00

I was reading an article about the Tri-Cities earlier today and they were talking—in an elementary way—about branding and efforts to give the Tri-Cities a brand to help propel the region into the future.

You hear more and more about branding these days…it’s not a new term or practice, but it is (once again) the flavor of the week. Personally, I am a big believer in the effectiveness of branding on a product/corporation’s performance. I think that the way consumers view your brand has a great deal to do with how effective the rest of your marketing communication is received.

What bothers me is that very few people have any idea of what branding is really all about. I’ve had clients ask me to create a brand for a product without themselves having any idea of what their comapny is all about. I have literally had someone ask me to create a brand for them without a company name, a product or service to sell, or any thought as to who the brand was supposed to appeal to.

A brand isn’t an Easy Button. You don’t just create a brand and ABRACADABRA! Instant business!

The problem in the Tri-Cities is compounded because in the Tri-Cities there are very few people with any branding experience whatsoever. Don’t get me wrong, there are some local marketing communications firms who can do a good job of it. I'm not saying that the talent isn't available, but they are often an untapped resource.

For example, a few years ago the city of Bay City hired a branding firm to create a new logo for Bay City. Instead of working with a local studio, they put together a committee and worked with an out-of-state firm. What this firm came up with was a tremendously expensive nightmare of a logo. And, from what I can tell, that’s all they delivered. I don’t see a cohesive brand strategy being applied to any of Bay City’s communications. In fact, while some of the publications for the city have been updated, I also see the new logo being slapped on the same, old, ineffective publications/advertisements they’ve been using for years.

I love Bay City, I really do, but there is a real lack of marketing/advertising savvy here. At the same time it’s a very tight circle of people who make many of the decisions that affect the city. If you’re not on the inside of this circle they never even think talk to anyone outside of this circle. In the spirit of candor, I am clearly on the outside of this circle. It’s not even that I want to be on the inside, but I hate seeing Bay City continue down the same path that we’ve been plodding down for so many years.

On the other hand, when the city of Midland wanted to do some branding, they used Bolger+Battle, a Midland marketing communications firm and in my opinion (I’m a fan of Bolger+Battle) B+B really delivered. I have heard a few people who don’t love the new “Million Brilliant Possibilities” brand, but these people are few and far between. Also, they’re wrong. What B+B gave the city of Midland wasn’t just a logo, but a campaign that really says something about Midland. I’ve seen it used in a number of different applications and it just works. Nice work, Bolger+Battle.

I have friends who work for Bay Future and Saginaw Future and I believe that these organizations are really important to the future of the region. My friends are hard-working and really want what is best for the city, but the final decisions aren’t solely up to them. My hope is that the people working on the Tri-County regionalism group take a lot of their lead from the Midland people because Midland really is doing a lot of things right.

Lasso the Moon

2008-12-09T23:46:00.004-05:00

One of my favorite clients that I work with throughout the year is the State Theatre in downtown Bay City. I can remember going to see movies there when I was a little kid (for whatever reason, Disney's The Rescuers is the one that keeps coming to mind) and I always really loved the State.

After moving home a few years ago, I was lucky enough to meet Mike Baciagalupo who is the executive director of the State Theatre. Mike has asked me to take photos at the State about four or five times over the past few years. I've seen (and shot) a few fun shows there, but I hadn't seen a movie there for many years.

So when I saw that the State was playing It's a Wonderful Life as part of Bay City's Sundays in the City series, I couldn't wait for my chance to see one of my all-time favorite films on the big screen for the first time.

Last Sunday afternoon Michelle and I bundled up and headed over to the State and we had a really great time. First off (and maybe it goes without saying) the movie was fantastic. To see it on a screen larger than a television screen was a real treat. I think the best thing about the day wasn't the movie, though. It was the crowd. The movie wasn't packed, but there were a lot more people than I would have expedted. It was just a great day to spend a couple of hours stocking up on the holiday spirit and enjoying a classic film

Events like this help make Bay City what it is. I was really happy to see so many people out supporting the work that Mike is doing. I'd like to see the State show more classic films, but there are quite a few events coming up in the next year that you should check out. I linked to their site above, so if you get the chance please take the time to visit their site and check out the schedule of upcoming events.

I hope everyone reading this is having a great week. Check back later this week for another new blog post.

Greetings from Beautiful Bay City

2008-12-05T14:57:00.001-05:00

I received an e-mail the other day from a woman named Kathee. Kathee was irked because without realizing it, when we updated the site a few months ago we inadvertently left off what city the studio is located in. I still can't believe I made such a rookie mistake. I am genuinely grateful to Kathee for taking the time to let me know. I think most everybody who reads the blog regularly knows it, but I'll state it again for the record: 989 Design is located in Bay City, Michigan. We are located at 701 E. Midland Street, in the heart of Bay City's historic Midland Street business district.

I think what really bugs me about the omission is that sites who leave out that sort of information is a real pet peeve of mine. There are a lot of business sites which deliberately leave out location information. I really don't understand the rationale behind it, but I suppose they think it makes them seem like a bigger business than they really are.

For example, somebody mentioned a business in Saginaw (whose name I will not divulge, I'm not trying to be nasty I'm just using them to illustrate my point) and I had never heard of them before, so I looked them up online. If you go to the site and read through it, you would think that it's this giant business employing scores of people. Everything is written in this really silly, puffed-up style. "Our team of experts" and stuff like that. In reality, it is one person operating out of their home.

For years people have been saying that the internet is a great equalizer and that it levels the playing field for small business. I suppose that is true, to a certain extent, but I can't help but wonder why people think it's so important to look big. Personally, I think that being a small business gives you a big advantage, especially given the current economic climate. I like the idea of being more nimble and better able to respond to client needs because I don't have the same overhead as a big studio.

Granted, there are times when being a small studio excludes you from certain jobs and clients. For certain projects, size really does matter. You need the manpower to keep up with the demands of a big client. These clients are few and far between, though. For every client like Hulu.com, who recently awarded their $50 million account to a new agency, there are hundreds of clients with much smaller budgets, but the demands of these accounts are easier to keep up with as a small studio. I think that one of the most important things you can do with your website is to be sure that it accurately reflects what your business is all about.

Also, remember to put what city you are located in.

Network Without Leaving the Office

2008-12-03T17:41:00.002-05:00

I remember having a conversation with my cousin Jamey a year or two ago. Jamey is a senior in college now and we were talking about Facebook. She was saying that she didn't like non-students on Facebook. Jamey isn't an agist or anything, but I took her to mean that she felt like the newcomers were kind of ruining a good thing. I guess it's like when your favorite band starts to make it big and suddenly everybody loves them. It sort of ruins it because they were your band.

It wasn't until Facebook first began allowing non-students to join (much to Jamey's chagrin), though, that the true power of this networking juggernaut became apparent. What was once solely a social tool opened itself up to allow people to use the network to promote themselves or their businesses in a friendly and comfortable manner.

I will admit that I am a very reluctant networker. I go to the Chamber of Commerce events and I talk to people, but I'm not one of those folks who enjoys making the rounds and introducing myself to everyone. I enjoy meeting new people, I really do, but going around and handing out business cards to strangers feels awkward to me...it's outside my comfort zone. Networking is not about closing sales, it's about getting your name out there and letting people know what you do—Facebook is a great venue for doing just that.

A lot of businesses steer clear of networking sites because they write it off as something for kids. Facebook is definitely not the right venue for every business, but that's okay because there are a lot of different networking sites. So it's important to think about who your core customers and clients are. Once you have an idea of who you want to target, you can figure out what networking sites work best for you. Maybe it's myspace (event planners, for example) or maybe it's linkedin (great business site with a wide variety of individuals and professions represented). Maybe what you really need to to is to set up a blog to let potential customers about your business.

Take the time to look into networking sites and decide if there is one that makes sense for you and your business. The best thing about these sites is that most of them don't cost a dime. The only investment to be made is the time it takes to put the page together, so what do you have to lose?

If you think you would like to look into this further, but would like some help putting everything together, give us a call. We're pretty comfortable with new media and would love to help you out in any way we can. We can make recommendations on which sites work best for you, create the pages you need, write the blog or anything else you need help with.

The Great Debate

2008-11-25T18:16:00.002-05:00

Almost every time somebody comes into the studio for the first time, I get a comment along the lines of:

“You use a Mac?”

I generally don’t comment much beyond affirming that the studio is, in fact, entirely Mac-based. I am a very happy Mac user. I drank the Macintosh Kool-Aid a VERY long time ago (1988), but I don’t talk about it much. It seems like most people who bring it up (author’s note: the folks who comment on the Macs in the studio are not trying to spark debate, it’s just that an iMac is one of the first things you see when you walk in the front door) only bring it up to debate the merits of Mac vs. PC.

The question has come up a few times in the past couple of weeks, so I’m going to give you a little bit on my history as a Mac guy. I don’t care if you agree with me, I don’t care what kind of computer you use, I don’t care if you convert to Mac or not. If you have a PC and you love it, that’s great. Don’t change a thing! If you are thinking about buying a Mac, this is not meant to sway you. I don’t get a dime from Apple no matter if you buy one Mac or one hundred.

The first time I ever touched a Mac was in 1988, working on a few-year-old model in student media at Central Michigan University. It was a self-contained beige box with a keyboard and mouse. No hard drive, swapping 3.5″ floppy disks back and forth to use applications. It was completely different than any computer I had used to that point. The mouse alone was enough to distinguish it, but you also had the white screen with black type (as opposed to the black screen with green type). It allowed you to change type size and style and it showed you EXACTLY what you would see when you printed (WYSIWG was pretty novel in the mid- to late-eighties).

Over the next few years as I began dipping my toes into the world of design (by way of publication design) I used our Mac more and more frequently. When I got my first job at Kinko’s, my familiarity with the system allowed me to work as a typesetter in addition to my other job responsibilities. I kept working on Macs and kept loving it more and more.

Apple made a conscious decision to focus on the niche market of computer graphics very early on. They knew that they couldn’t compete with PCs, whose market share was pretty close to 100% when Apple first came on the scene. With their focus on design—both physical design of the Mac as well as the completely innovative user interface (the mouse and desktop)—they were catering to a very specific user set.

The strategy worked very well. Macs are the go-to computers of graphic designers around the world. In the early going, it was your only real option. As the hardware of both Macs and PCs have changed over the years, the software manufacturers have worked hard to make design an option on both platforms.

In the early going, design and publishing software on the PC was pretty dismal. Early PC versions of PageMaker (a blast from the past!) and Illustrator couldn’t hold a candle to their Macintosh counterparts. Over time, though, I have to admit that other than little things like key commands and the way certain menus are organized, the software packages are pretty much the same thing. You can accomplish the same thing on either platform, so now it does come down to personal preference of platform.

I’ve worked on both platforms, although my exposure to PC is very limited compared to my Mac experience. In my experience, though, I prefer the way the Mac works. The operating system (I can’t remember if we’re on Leopard or what other cat-name we’re on now) works very well. One of the things that I love about Apple is that they spend a lot of time and money on the actual design of the software—being innovative is a part of the culture at Apple and I appreciate that. And not just in the computer division, either. Sure you can get an MP3 player for less than an iPod, but I like the way the iPod works.

You can see Apple innovations turn up in non-Apple products all of the time. For me, it’s not about being cool or cutting edge or anything like that (when I bought my first iPod, it was the only game in town and I’ve stuck with it), it’s about supporting a company that actively works toward innovation. That being said, I have thus far steered clear of the iPod, although with my cell phone contract coming up soon, I may end up making that switch. Once again, though, not for the cool factor. I rarely take my cell phone with me when I go out, but it would be nice to have a phone that integrates all of my vital information with my computer so easily. I digress.

I think I have purchased about 10 Macs over the years (including the five I currently use for my home and the studio) and I’ve never had a significant problem with any of them. Sure, I’ve lost a hard drive or two over the years, but that is something that happens in the normal course of a computer’s life. The machines themselves are reliable. Very, very few random crashes (I think my two laptops have crashed a total of 8 times or so in the past three years), reliable performance, etc.

I’ve been a creative professional for a lot of years now and I can also say that no serious graphic designer I have ever worked with uses a PC. I’m sure there are some, but in every agency/company I have worked with/for it was all-Mac, all the time (web guys and other animators often use PCs, I know, but they are a different type of creative pro from pure graphic design).
Honestly, I’m not sure what got me on this tangent today. I guess I just wanted to wave my Apple flag.

Seasons Change in the Neighborhood

2008-11-21T16:44:00.000-05:00

I'm out of the studio while I'm writing this entry so I don't have access to most of my photos. Instead, I pulled a photo from last February.

We're still about a month away from the official start of winter, but we've already had a few light snowfalls. I've not had to shovel yet (the broom has handled these early season snows), but it won't be long before the real snow begins to fall.

With the change in weather, the Midland Street neighborhood takes on a whole different feel. In the summer you have a constant stream of traffic walking past the studio windows. In the winter there are still a few passers-by, but they're all bundled up and rushing to get to the tanning salon or the bar or wherever they are headed.

I really love this neighborhood. I was driving to work in the half-light of the morning a couple of days ago and they already have the Christmas lights up. I'm not a fan of Christmas lights before Thanksgiving, but I know the city has to get them up while the gettin's good, so I don't mind. I'll be hanging the lights in the windows of the studio either this weekend or next week, so stay tuned for more photos.

Sorry for the really vanilla entry, I'm just in a reflective mood. I am looking forward to our second winter in our studio. If you are one of the few who brave the winter, please feel free to stop by and say hello. Maybe we can play ping-pong or something.

My Small Role in the History of Qdoba

2008-11-19T14:58:00.004-05:00

One of the happiest days of my life was when Qdoba opened a location in Saginaw. Prior to that, I would make the drive to the Miller Road exit in Flint to get my Qdoba fix. Over the past few years, Qdoba has really grown a lot. I think there are close to 500 locations in the US and most people are familiar with the chain.

What most people don't realize is that Qdoba started out in Denver in 1995 and my first apartment in Denver was only a few blocks from their second location (and just about one mile from the first location). When I first visited Denver to search for an apartment, it was the first restaurant my friends took me to. At the time it was called Zuma, but it was pretty much the same as the Qdoba restaurants of today (minus some of the newer chainwide decor).

For my ten years in Denver, Qdoba was a staple of my diet. In total candor, I did also eat at Qdoba rival Chipotle (chip-ot-lay, not chip-ol-tee) which was founded two years earlier in--you guessed it--Denver. Even with my occasional trip to Chipotle, I was mostly very loyal to Qdoba.

In the late 90's, they had changed the name from Zuma to Z-Teca. I have to be honest, as far as branding goes, I've never loved their naming decisions. It just seemed like they were trying to confound people (and based on the comments from friends/acquaintences, they were doing just that).

Anyway, around the time of the name change (1998, maybe?) I was lucky enough to actually have a small (very small) role in the early growth of the chain. I was hired by the Z-Teca corporate offices as a freelance designer. I can remember the chain growing from a handful of stores (at the time, I think they had around 10 locations). They had done some work with an ad agency who provided some guidelines, but brought me in to work on a variety of things—mailings, coupons, menus, postcards, and so forth. We kept tweaking the pieces until we finally came upon a look we were happy with. For a while it seemed like I was doing a few grand opening postcards and menus every single week. Locations throughout Colorado and then into Texas, I think. Z-Teca was strictly a franchise operation then (I think that Qdoba now has some corporate money from Jack in the Box) so you would had individual locations springing up here and there throughout the country.

It was a really exciting time to be involved with the chain because you knew that it was going to blow up. I like the feeling of getting involved on the ground floor of something. That's one of the best aspects of this gig—you get to meet a lot of people and work with them to help bring their dreams to life. In the case of Qdoba, they were going to be huge no matter what I did. I am proud of the work I did with them, but their success had nothing to do with my work (I could have put swastikas on their menu and I don't think it would have made a bit of difference). I think what I love about it is the energy that a new product/restaurant/etc. has surrounding it. It's all about hope and promise and possibility—that's the sort of environment when I feel like I do my best work.

After about a year or so, the growth was so great that they brought in a professional restaurant marketing guru who had her own team of designers. I was disappointed that I wouldn't be working with them anymore, but I was grateful for having had the opportunity.

Thanks for everything, Qdoba.

In which Shawn breaks out a popular cliché...

2008-11-12T15:32:00.001-05:00

You have heard this one before...be the change you want to see in the world. As overused as the expression may be, I still like it. It's not just a platitude, it is also a call to action. One of my biggest pet peeves are people who complain about what they want/what they would do/what should be, but they never actually do anything about it.

There was a post I was going to write about a month ago about people who sit on every board and committee in town. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for these people. My only beef was the fact that so many of the same people sit on all of these boards that there doesn't seem to be a seat at the table for anyone who is not in with the in crowd. This is a bit of a theme in Bay City, where ideas and people are recycled and reused for years and years.

What does a guy have to do to be asked to join a board of directors? Apparently, he just has to wait his turn. Since I made the first "soft" announcement of the Good Works Group, no fewer than two groups have asked me to join. (For the record, no more than two groups have asked me to join.)

The first is the Literacy Council of Bay County. After reading the profile of me in the Tri-City Business Review—where I commented that two of my pet projects are literacy and education—they contacted me and asked me to join their board of directors. I can't tell you how excited I am to join this group. I genuinely believe that literacy is one of the keys to improving many of society's ills, so I am looking forward to the opportunity to help bring more attention to the problem.

The second group is an advisory committee for the Bay Area School District's career center. The career center offers a wide variety of classes in areas such as graphic arts, culinary arts, health careers and more. For some of the kids involved, they use the classes to earn college credits in the field they plan on majoring in. For others who may not be planning on attending college, they get hands-on work experience that will help them find a job after graduation. I have seen some of the work that both the culinary and graphic program students do and it's really impressive. A chance to be involved with this group is really exciting.

I like to think that I'm a money-where-his-mouth-is guy so I am genuinely grateful for these opportunities to contribute to my community. As things get busier with the Good Works Group, I know that I will need to be wary of spreading myself too thin, but for now I look forward to the challenges ahead.

If you've made it this far, thank you for allowing me to indulge in the up-with-people entry.

A Brand is Born, A Brand Dies

2008-11-10T16:19:00.003-05:00

I know that I'm a little late in writing about this, but I wanted to write about the FedEx decision to kill the FedEx Kinko's name in favor of FedEx Office. I'm sure that a move like this was planned from the time FedEx initially acquired Kinko's, but I think they kept Kinko's in the name to help transition consumers from one brand to the other. From a branding standpoint, it makes perfect sense. FedEx Kinko's was a terrible name—it was made up of two corporate giants whose names had become nearly synonymous with the product. This can instill in consumers a certain amount of confusion—is FedEx Kinko's a print shop who ships or a shipper who prints?

So, as I said, the decision to change the name makes sense. FedEx Office eliminates the two-brand name confusion and better communicates the full range of services offered. The name says business, which is the market that they want to appeal to. I worked for Kinko's as a general manager and regional trainer for a number of years, so I can speak from experience when I tell you that the small- to medium-size office is the bread-and-butter for Kinko's. They'll still be happy to do color copies of your grandkids and copy the minutes of your PTA meeting, but serving business is where they make their dough.

Kinko's is a great example of grass-roots growth of a brand. The name itself was founder Paul Orfalea's nickname which he applied to his first copy shop, located on a college campus. The brand grew by opening additional locations on campuses across the country. As this first generation of Kinko's customers graduated from college and moved into the professional world, they created a demand for the same services in the commercial market. That demand further grew the brand. With this growth in the number of locations, Kinko's began utilizing more regional and national marketing. Their success was so great that there are some who feel that the name Kinko's was in danger of becoming a genericized trademark—in effect, they were nearly so successful that they nearly killed their own brand (examples of lost brand names include zipper, thermos, and pilates—each of which was a trademarked brand at one time).

Personally, though, I have to admit that I am a little saddened to see the Kinko's brand go away. I have great memories of my time at Kinko's and of meeting and speaking with Paul (Kinko himself—his inspirational book, Copy This, is one of my favorite motivational/business books). As a matter of fact, I credit my time with Kinko's as one of the major contributing factors to my decision to become a designer. So thanks for everything, Kinko's. You'll always be open 24 hours in my heart, your name displayed in Reflex blue Revue font with a red dot above the i.

989 Good Works Group

2008-11-06T10:38:00.004-05:00

I wanted to give a quick update regarding the 989 Good Works Group. I made an informal announcement of the Good Works Group at the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce breakfast in October. I am still working on some of the details, but the immediate response has been fantastic. I’ve heard from potential clients and designers alike. In addition, I’ve spoken with people at several area schools with students interested in participating in the project. I was very pleasantly surprised to hear from a few people who either read about it in the blog or heard about it from someone at the breakfast—they, too, want to donate some of their time and talent to the Good Works Group.

I think the biggest trick of it is going to be keeping up with the logistics of the various projects. There are a lot of moving pieces in a project like this and along with acting as creative director, I’ll be playing the role of traffic cop. We are going to be starting off with just a handful of clients to get a feel for how all of this is going to work. So far we have lined up three Good Works Group clients and I have commitments from a couple of designers and photographers, which is a great start to the project.

I am really excited to get things rolling and hope to wrap up the business plan for the second semester. I think I am going to need to put together a board of advisors for a project like this. I think we’ll want some people who are creative professionals as well as a few who are from outside of the design/photo fields. If anyone thinks they might be interested in participating in something like this, please drop me at e-mail or give me a call at your convenience. Or, as I keep saying, feel free to stop by the studio.

Also, I’d like to take a moment to point out the fact that this is two blog entries in one week. I’m like the Victor Hugo of blogging. This week, anyway.

Long Time, No Blog

2008-11-05T13:56:00.004-05:00

Okay…it’s clear that my plan on keeping the blog updated isn’t working very well and it’s driving me nuts because I’ve had some great feedback on the blog. I’ve even had a few people comment on the lack of updating, which is a little embarrassing. I know the reasons that I’m having such a tough time, but the truth is that most of the reasons are just excuses. When I am in the studio there are just too many distractions: the phones (landline and cell) ring, e-mail, internet, ping pong, etc. At home it’s walking the dogs, raking the leaves, hanging this picture or that mirror, doing dishes, etc.

It’s the same problem that everyone has—prioritization. When I’m at work my list starts with income-generating projects and then moves on to whatever is the next highest priority. At home it’s no different. When I’m busy at work, I put off tasks that need to be done around the house until things slow down. So in the time I could be writing a blog entry, I look at my laundry list of things I’ve been putting off and then I try to tackle them. In between episodes of House, that is.

I think I finally figured out the biggest part of the problem, though. I need to treat writing just as I would any other client project in the studio. I have a list of article ideas a mile long, I just need to set specific deadlines and get them written. The truth is that I enjoy sitting down to write, I just need to be more strict about defining the when and where of writing.

Today I said I’d get two entries written and one posted (so that I’d have one in the bank for later this week). I drove to Harvest Coffeehouse & Beanery on Bay City’s east side (a really great coffeehouse, by the way), left my cell phone in the truck, put Okkervil River on my iPod, and just sat down to write.
From now on, I am making a commitment to update the blog at least twice per week—hopefully Monday and Thursday, but let’s not hold my feet to the fire on the exact days. Baby steps, right?

Thanks again for your continued support on the site and the blog. Keep coming back and I promise to deliver on my commitment to blog more often.

Hope your November is starting off well.

A Belated Farewell

2008-10-01T17:46:00.002-04:00

I sat down to write about this a couple of times, but it never came out quite right. So I guess I will try again.

Patrick Flynn, the music director and conductor of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra, passed away in California.

I didn't know Patrick very well, but we had met and worked together a handful of times. The first time we met, Dan McGee (Executive Director of the SBSO) brought Patrick to my studio in Bay City. It was, more or less, my audition for Patrick—a chance for him to meet me and see if he would be comfortable working with me on the SBSO materials for the season.

I liked Patrick from the moment we shook hands. Here he was, a conductor of the American Ballet Theatre, a man who has worked with Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Maestro, right?

Hardly. In his untucked flannel shirt and work boots, he looked like he could be coming off the line at GM. The only clue that he was, in fact, not just your average guy was his British accent.

Our first meeting went great. Patrick had this charisma that put you instantly at ease. He was passionate about music, but had a great sense of humor which included a healthy self-depracating streak (he referred to his SBSO headshot as his "Count Dracula" picture).

At our first meeting, we drank some Earl Grey and Patrick did a lot of the talking, sharing stories with Dan and myself. My favorite was the story he told of the first time he worked with Baryshnikov at the American Ballet Theatre. The story itself isn't as interesting to read as it was to hear Patrick tell, complete with his English-accent-doing-a-Russian-accent impression of Baryshnikov.

Patrick also had a background in advertising, composing music for commercials for an international ad agency based in Australia (his Aussie accent was great, too). He understood advertising and since I had an advertising background, he treated me like an insider.

Our working relationship was great. He'd come down to the studio with an SBSO entourage and we'd look at proofs and make changes on screen while he sat here. I really did enjoy the times he came into the studio and I think he did, too. He always said how much he liked the look and feel of the studio—that was very nice to hear.

I was lucky enough to see Patrick perform last spring (which is when I shot the photo above). Seeing a great artist in his element—be it a musician, a painter, a dancer—is always inspiring to me. And watching Patrick conduct was no different. A combination of elegance, showmanship and playfulness came out of him while he was on stage.

Even though I didn't know Patrick well enough to consider myself a friend of his, I really did enjoy working with him and I was very saddened to hear of his passing. When he came to Saginaw, he had a lot to do with the revival of the Orchestra and his time here will leave a mark on the Tri-Cities—and myself—for years to come.

What’s the best thing about being a graphic designer?

2008-09-15T14:35:00.003-04:00

Well, for one thing, accountants don’t have severed mannequin heads and ransom notes delivered to them.

And to you, Sandlot Sports, this is not over.

Is Mad Men the new CSI?

2008-08-28T17:55:00.002-04:00

989 Design is not only a graphic design studio, but we are a boutique ad agency. And by boutique, I mean small, it just sounds fancier. We do the same things most agencies do: prospecting and landing clients, design and copywriting, branding and ad placement, and so on. We'll probably talk more about this elsewhere on the site, but between Laurie and myself, we have nearly 40 years of experience in design and advertising.

I've been watching the new season of Mad Men on AMC and loving it. If you haven't watched the show, you are missing out. As someone with a keen interest in advertising (coming out of college, I was going to go into ad copywriting, but we'll talk more about that another time) and a few years of experience at a large agency working on a few HUGE accounts, I have an appreciation for the history of advertising.

For those who haven't seen it, Mad Men is centered on a small-to-medium-size agency in New York in the early 1960s, they heyday of Madison Avenue. Even though Sterling Cooper is fictional, they reference a lot of actual ads and agencies in the show. One of the first things you notice when watching the show is the dynamic of the agency offices. Everybody smokes...all of the time. At their desks, in meetings, etc. Women are treated like they are children (on a good day) or property of the agency (most of the time). The other thing that jumps out is that everybody drinks. A lot.

My agency experience is that a few people still smoke, but they have to go outside to do it. Women are not only equal, but in the agency I worked at there were more women than men. The one thing that still holds, though, is that the three-martini lunch still exists. Except instead of martinis, they were three-beer lunches. Our biggest client was Coors Brewing Company and when we'd do company meetings and studio lunches and so forth, the beers flowed freely. On many Friday afternoons, the agency would loosen up a bit and start the weekend early—and the Coors Light would be flowing (in my case, substitute Wednesday evening for Friday afternoon because a handful of studio artists worked a three-day week, ending on Wednesday).

Working in an atmosphere like that was a lot of fun, not because they let us drink while we were working, but because they let the creatives pretty much run free as long as we didn't miss deadlines. There's something to be said for that—treating people like grown-ups instead of policing their every move. The things that are acceptable behavior in a design studio/ad agency wouldn't fly most places, but different rules apply when you're working with creative people.

And when I watch Mad Men, I get the same feeling I used to get when I worked at the agency. If you have the talent, just let them do what they have to and trust that the work will get done. It's a little different in a two-person studio (although, in the interest of complete candor, I've polished off a Shiner Bock while writing this entry), but it's really not all that different.

My little trip down memory lane has pulled me away from the point, though. Remember when CSI first came on television? People loved the show from the beginning (I don't really watch the show, but I know that I'm in the minority on that) and suddenly you had this spike in interest in forensic science. There were documentaries and stories on forensic science on every channel. Schools couldn't add forensic classes quickly enough to keep up with the demand. Crime lab work was suddenly sexy.

Is advertising the new crime lab? Is Don Draper the new Grissom? Are advertising programs going to see a jump in enrollment?

And if schools see an influx of future advertising professionals, what will be the net effect on advertising?

Over the past fifty years countless industries have seen advances that nobody could have imagined, yet aside from the development of the Macintosh computer, the advertising industry still operates the same as it did in 1960. Will the next generation of Ad Men and Women bring the revolution with them?

Or will it just be more bikinis and double entendres?

15 More Minutes

2008-08-21T12:35:00.002-04:00

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I said that I was interviewed for a profile being run in the Tri-Cities Business Review? I just received a blast e-mail from the TCBR and my photo is the first thing I see when I open it up. Here is a link to the article. I don't have any problem with it other than they have a quote wrong--unfortunately, it is the quote that appears beneath my photo in the e-mail. There is a word or two missing and somehow nobody noticed that the sentence there doesn't make sense. Great...now I look like a buffoon who can't string a few words together into a coherent sentence. The best part? The quote is about communication.

Reading through the article, I think the writer did a decent job, but it's a little uncomfortable for me to be on that end of the interview/camera. I'm used to being the one asking the questions and taking the photos, so when I'm the subject I get a little self-conscious. Reading through the article there is a quote when I said, "I don't go out to sell," he said. "Work finds me." That sounds a whole lot differently now than it did when I said it. The writer was asking me about how I find work and I explained that I am not a salesperson (I've never been comfortable in that role) and I don't really go out to sell. I have no doubt that I said the words, but as an out-of-context quote they make me sound arrogant. Blech.

I've never been comfortable being interviewed. In the winter of 2007, the Saginaw News ran a feature story about me on the front page (below the fold) of the paper. The angle of the article was about an American designer designing the logo for the 2007 Ontario Hockey League All-Star Classic. The article came out great and included a photo of me. At that time I was sporting a VERY full beard--we're talking Grizzly Adams full. A lot of people recognized me and complimented me on the article and on the OHL work, but one person went a step further (I think I wrote about it in my old blog, actually). She sent an anonymous letter to my home, the letter read:

Hi Shawn,
I saw this picture of you in the Saginaw News on 1-30-07.
I have one question to ask: Don’t you think you are getting to old to have that long dirty looking hair? And that silly hair on your face, you sure could use a razor.
a Reader of the News

Nice, huh? One of these days I need to dig up that letter, scan it and post it here. Until then, I leave you with the full photo that was taken for the article. I was hoping they'd use the whole shot and show off the window graphics, but no such luck.

A Free Lesson in PR.

2008-08-15T14:05:00.001-04:00

There was an article in the Bay City Times this week about the Bay City paying a consultant $30,000 to “find ways to get a positive message out to residents regarding the city’s water and wastewater systems.”

I sat at a Chamber of Commerce breakfast a few months ago where city officials were pleading poverty as to why we can’t repair the streets of Bay City. We can’t afford to fix our roads but we have money to invest in making us feel better about our sewers?

This isn’t the first time that Bay City has used outside experts who came with a high price tag. I don’t have anything against using outside experts when the situation calls for it, but $30,000 to get a positive message out about the sewer?? Really? Really? Sometimes I am not sure if the people running the day-to-day operations of our city are capable of making good decisions. I wouldn’t let them run a bake sale and they’re in charge of the city budget.

Our city is falling apart and I am not speaking figuratively–the streets are actually crumbling. Is this really the best use of $30,000 out of an already overtaxed city budget? I don’t care if the money wasn’t earmarked for street repairs, we don’t need a PR campaign to make the sewer warm and fuzzy. It’s the sewer! If you have thirty grand to throw at a consultant, that’s thirty grand that could go to street repair. Or whatever…just not a PR campaign for the sewer.

Want a free lesson in public relations? A lot of PR comes at little or no cost–newspapers, tv, town hall meetings, etc. I have nothing against using consultants/experts when it makes sense, but Bay City is too quick to turn to consultants because there is a very low level of expertise when it comes to dealing with PR/advertising. Just look at the city logo that came out a couple of years ago–that monstrosity cost the city nearly $50,000. There are at least ten designers in Bay City who could have done a better job at a fraction of the cost. Hell, there are probably ten fifth graders who could have done a better job.

Sometimes, Bay City government seems more concerned with looking good than doing good. And that’s a problem. Good public relations come from sound decisions. Spending $30,000 for a consultant's ideas is not a sound decision in the current economic environment. Quit trying to look good and just fix the city.

The Skinny End of the Pareto Principle

2008-08-12T08:26:00.001-04:00

I want to be careful here to avoid equating the business of graphic design to, say, selling vacuum cleaners. Obviously, there is a world of difference, but when you distill it down to the essentials, graphic design is like a lot of other businesses in that it's all about the numbers.

Between the cost of operating a studio (rent, utilities, insurance), staffing the studio, marketing and so forth, there is a number we have to hit every month just to keep the doors open. So, in effect, I know that every month I need to move X units of graphic design. The units vary in shape and size (logo design, brochure design, photo shoot, etc.), but I need to move enough units to pay everybody else and then hopefully have enough left over to pay myself.

I'm a big believer in the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80-20 rule among other names. Basically, the Pareto Principle says that 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients. (Note: the Pareto Principle does not apply to just business, but to many other things such as baseball teams--80% of your run production comes from 20% of your players, for example.)

I first learned about this notion while I was a general manager with Kinko's and it proved itself valid time and time again. The way we applied the Principle at Kinko's was that we focused the lion's share of our marketing efforts on the clients who were already loyal (and often major) customers. This is a valid approach and it worked--in about three years I grew my store from about $30K per month to over $100K per month.

The Pareto Principle applies design studios and ad agencies, too, bit that runs straight into one of my worst business fears--having all of my eggs in one basket. I know of several studios and agencies that have gone out of business because one or two big clients moved their business and the revenue loss killed the studio. And I know of many more who lived in mortal fear of it happening to them. Nobody wants to have too much business from any single client, but it just sort of happens over time. You keep doing a good job, they keep bringing you more and more business. Then one day something goes wrong or the client is purchased by someone who mandates that their agency be used and it is all over.

There is one company in the region who, if they were to go out of business or pull all of their business out of the region, would kill a BUNCH of agencies/studios. Maybe not right away, but over the course of a year it would be a bloodbath. The principles would get out okay, but for the studio rank-and-file it would be all over. The Tri-Cities would find itself flooded with designers and copywriters, many of whom would take to freelancing, which would hurt freelancers and other small studios. The trickle-down effect would be devastating on the local design and advertising industry.

To avoid the all-eggs-in-one-basket trap, I have tried to take a different approach by focusing my attention on the 20% side of the Pareto Principle. Not so much the 20% of clients who are occasional clients, but the 100% of potential clients who don't work with us. Yet.

I make a conscious effort to reach out to a wide variety of clients in a variety of industries. The effect of making phone calls and meeting with potential clients leaves me feeling a little bit like a door-to-door salesman. I'm not trying to sell anyone a logo design they don't need (although, believe me, there are plenty of people in need of a new logo design--I'm talking to you Sherwin Williams), but there is a degree of discomfort in asking people for new business.

Discomfort or not, I need to keep making the phone calls and setting the meetings. The more people who see the work 989 Design has done, the more people want to work with 989 Design. A pretty high percentage of our meetings turn into actual work, which is something I am very proud of.

The way I see it, as long as we continue doing great work and keep working the skinny end of the Pareto Principle, we should be in pretty good shape.

The Flood of Aught-Eight

2008-07-30T17:20:00.001-04:00

Among the things I haven't had the time to write about was last week's storm. Last Wednesday (I think), we had a very sudden, very heavy rainfall which dumped about 5 inches of rain in an hour.

The sky went from sunny to overcast in about 30 minutes and you could see the storm front moving in from the west. When the rain started, it was like someone turned on a faucet full blast--no gentle summer rain, this.

It was a busy day and I just kept working (and saving frequently, in case we lost power) and listening to the rain pouring down. I started to hear a dripping sound, but couldn't quite figure out where it was coming from. I walked up toward the front door and couldn't see anything, so I walked back toward the back of the studio. As I walked into the back office the water was coming faster. I looked toward the back door and water was coming in beneath the door.

Mayday! Mayday! We're hit and we're taking water!

I ran to the bathroom and grabbed every hand towel in the studio (3) and a large bucket. I couldn't find anything else to soak up water, so I just started dropping the towels and wringing them out into the bucket. could. AAfter nearly an hour, the rain began to let up and I was able to take a minute to assess the damage. The carpet had a semi-circle of water surrounding the back door--it's radius was about 4 feet and other than a filing cabinet that I had already moved, didn't get close to anything vital. Water came in the front door, too, but it wasn't as serious. I peeked in the basement and that was a big mess. About 6 inches of water. All in all, not too serious.

I decided to run home to grab more towels to work on drying the carpet (and guarding against more flooding). On the way home, I come to a puddle which ran the width of my street. It looked to be about 12 inches or so, which wouldn't be a problem for my GMC Jimmy. And that would have held true if it had only been 12 inches. Even 18 inches wouldn't have been a big deal. Unbeknownst to me (in reality, I guess it was actually knownst to me, but I never really gave it a second thought), there is a big dip in that particular spot on the street. As I drove in, the water got really deep, really fast.

The truck died in the middle of the pond as water splashed over the hood and hit the windshield. I was irked but not really concerned until the water started coming in from beneath the passenger-door (this water-rushing-under-the-door thing is going to be a lifelong phobia, I fear). I needed a second to regroup and decide what to do. The only thing I could think to do was get out of the truck (through the driver-side window) and push. Michelle was in the truck with me so she got to pilot my new GMC U-Boat while I pushed in hip-deep water.

I actually managed to move it 5-6 feet by myself when we got to the other side of the dip and I was pushing uphill. If I didn't find some help quickly, this was not going to end well. Just as I'm about to summon that superhuman strength people get in emergency situations, two teenagers came running out from their house to help push. The two of them together probably weighed about as much as I weight, but the three of us were able to get the truck out of the water and up to high ground. I didn't have my wallet on me, so I couldn't give them anything, but I was more grateful than words could express. The kindness of strangers, man, that's something you can never count on, but it goes a long way toward restoring my faith in mankind.

Anyway, the truck was flooded and would not start. I did my best to use towels and whatever to soak up the water in the truck so that there isn't any standing water in it and leave it there. I tried to start it the next two days and it still wouldn't start.

After a trip to the mechanic (I kept picturing the scene in Risky Business with the Porsche 928), it started again, but the transmission was screwy.

After a trip to the transmission shop, all is well.

It was a whole lot of running around and more than a few dollars to get Jimmy up and running again, but I can't really be upset because it was my own fault. I guess I could be upset with myself, but that seems to be a waste of time. At least I learned a valuable lesson: If you are unsure about making it through safely, maybe it's time to look for an alternate route.

Bird Day.

2008-07-10T17:14:00.003-04:00

My day started pretty early today. I had to get up early to put the finishing touches on an article I'm writing for Tri-City Magazine. I got the article done, then I made some coffee and took the dogs for a walk.

We left the house around 6:15 and it was absolutely beautiful out. Blue sky, sunshine, 55 degrees. Couldn't ask for better dog-walking weather. The dogs and I have a route that we usually walk, with slight variations along the way. We almost always, though, walk to the river and follow the river for a little bit, then head home.

This morning, when we got to the spot where we usually turn around, I saw something unusual in the water. There were two ducks swimming side by side and one of them had something in his mouth (they were both males, green heads). I was trying to figure out what was in his mouth. It looked like a fish, but that didn't make any sense. As I'm staring at the ducks I finally see what it is--it's another duck's head. This one duck is holding the other duck's head underwater. And he's got a buddy there to help him hold the duck under. It was one of the craziest things I've ever seen.

I watch this real-life Mutual of Omaha segment unfold for a couple of minutes. The two ducks are really not letting the third duck up. I begin to feel really bad for the third duck. I mean, what the hell did he do to deserve this?

I whistle at them, not too loudly, but loud enough that it draws the two bullies' attention. While they are looking over at me, the third duck manages to slip out from under them and flies off.

Even though I just told Darwin to screw himself and probably ruined the process of natural selection, I still feel pretty good about myself.

When I got back to the studio, I googed something like, "ducks drowning other ducks" and sure enough I got a hit (I love the internet!). Apparently, that is how ducks mate--it's a pretty violent process. The males gang up on a single female. There is one male who is there to get what he wants and the others are just there as muscle.

Kind of like a party in Kobe Bryant's suite, I guess.

As if that wasn't aviary drama enough for the day, when I get to the studio this morning I see two mourning doves sitting outside the back door of the studio. They look like they were fighting, but Laurie noticed right away that it was a mother and baby bird. The mother bird was bringing food and kind of pecking at the baby bird to feed him. It was really cute.

I managed to get outside and snap a few photos. It's not the best photo because I couldn't get too close, but you can see them pretty well here.

They hung out for a little while, but I had to get to work so I lost track of them. It was a nice counterbalance to the waterfowl domestic violence I had witnessed earlier.

I know this had nothing to do with design, but that's just the way it is.

Visit our real-and-official blog at:
http://989Design.com

Studio News

2008-07-04T16:17:00.004-04:00

It's been pretty busy at the studio the past couple of weeks, so I've been a little lazy about updating the blog. There is a little break in the action, though, so I can take a few minutes to report on some things at the studio.

First off, the new 989 Design website is up and running. We have had a lot of positive feedback on the site, so a big thanks goes out to Laurie (more about her in a minute) and Mike Weiss of MJ Media—they are the people who actually took Laurie's design and brought it to life. As part of the redesign project, the blog was integrated into the site, so you can read the blog without ever leaving the site. I am going to continue to post here, although from here on out all Blogger entries will be identical to the entires on 989design.com.

The second piece of news is actually the big news I have been promising. I was holding off to try to tie the announcement in with the announcement in the Bay City Times, but I can't wait anymore. Laurie Russell has joined 989 Design as a designer/art director. Laurie is a fine artist with around 20 years of experience in design/advertising and is a real asset to the studio. Having a second set of well-qualified hands in the studio has been a real help.

The third news item isn't as cool as adding a designer to the team, but it's pretty visible. We finally got around to putting up our permanent signage in the studio (as seen in the photo on the left). We chose to work with Klender Design and they did a fantastic job. The work was finished quickly and the guys who installed the graphics were great. I can't recommend them highly enough.

That's all the news I can think of at the moment. Have a great day and we'll see you soon.

Chamber Breakfast

2008-06-06T09:06:00.000-04:00

This is a couple of days after the fact, but we went to the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce breakfast on Tuesday. The key speaker that morning was Bay City Mayer, Charles Brunner. The topic of the day was the condition of roads in Bay City and let me tell you, it was not a pretty picture.

Bay City is in a world of hurt when it comes to infrastructure. I can't remember the exact numbers, but something like two-thirds of the streets in Bay City receive a failing grade and the city doesn't have any money to do much more than repair potholes. I think the one figure they gave is that it would take around $100 million dollars to bring all 200 miles of city streets up to passing grades. That's about 30 years worth of budget for street repair. In other words, it isn't going to get done.

My biggest concern is that if we don't have enough money to take care of our streets and bridges (it is up to the city to take care of two of Bay City's four drawbridges, the other two are either state or federally funded), how are we going to have money to take care of anything?

Maybe we just start selling off naming rights to all public places. I know that some people were pissed when Jack and Alice Wirt's name went up on the new library, but their contribution went a long way toward getting the library built. Dow Chemical has been very active in putting their money back into the tri-cities and giving life to a variety of projects--Dow Diamond and the new YMCA, to name a couple. How long will it be before cars driving over the 989 Design Liberty Bridge?

I'm not a doom-and-gloom guy and I really do believe that there could be a bright future for Bay City, otherwise I wouldn't have moved here. I have to be honest, though, it scares me to think that our infrastructure is an economic albatross. Not just in Bay City, but in towns and cities all over the country. How can we, as a country, get out of this downward spiral? We've been spending tomorrow's dollars today, waiting for some economic bubble and that bubble doesn't seem to be coming anytime soon.

What actions can we take today to avoid completely bankrupting our future?

Congratulations, Clayton!

2008-05-27T17:50:00.000-04:00

Sunday afternoon, former Loons ace Clayton Kershaw made his Major League debut, starting for the Los Angeles Dodgers. I shot and designed the poster above last year while he was still in Midland. He has been referred to as a "once-in-a-generation talent" and we all knew that he was not long for the minor leagues, but nobody was quite exactly when he would make the jump.
Showing no sign of nerves, Clayton scattered five hits over six innings, giving up two runs, both earned. He would have won the game, but the bullpen couldn't protect the 3-2 lead he spotted them.
I got to work with Clayton a couple of times last year and he was a genuinely nice kid. I am really happy for him and look forward to watching his career develop. Congratulations, Clayton.

Another reason I love working with the Loons.

2008-05-22T11:26:00.001-04:00

I had the opportunity yesterday to meet baseball Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda. He was running around Dow Diamond, spending time with the players and doing some promotional work for the team, when he took a few minutes to do a TV interview with the Voice of the Loons, Brad Golder. Just before the interview, Brad introduced me to Tommy and I got to say hello and shake hands with a true living legend.

During the interview, which was semi-private since it was taking place before the full press conference, I was one of three or four people who got to stand there and listen to Tommy Lasorda tell stories about his 59 years (!!!) with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The best part of the whole interview was hearing him tell the story of Kirk Gibson's big home run in the 1988 World Series. As a lifelong Tiger fan, I've always loved Gibby and even though he had moved on to LA by then I was rooting for him. I've heard bits and pieces of the story before, but to hear it firsthand from Lasorda himself--standing six feet away from me--was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

I truly enjoy working with all of my clients and I try to learn from each of them and take something away, but the opportunity to work with the Loons has given me something I never expected to get from my career--a chance to relive my childhood dreams of rubbing elbows with baseball's elite. Thank you, Great Lakes Loons.

Have a safe holiday weekend, everybody.

When Good Things Happen to Great People

2008-05-19T16:22:00.000-04:00

This is not a photo to demonstrate my mastery of the camera. It's just a shot I caught in bad lighting and didn't have my flash ready. I didn't want to miss the photo, though, so I took the shot, bad lighting and all. On the left is my good friend, Jim Biewer, former game day director for the Saginaw Spirit; on the right, making his league-leading, third appearance in the blog is hockey hall-of-famer, Gordie Howe.

This post is not about Mr. Hockey, though, it's about Jim. Working with the Spirit, I've had the opportunity to work with a number of really talented, bright, hard-working people. It really is a testament to the organization that they are able to keep their offices filled with quality people.

Of all of the people I worked with, Jim was the guy I worked with the longest and, as a result, became pretty good friends with. We hung out, drank beers and played ping pong here in the studio. If my memory serves, I never lost a game to Jim. He may recall it differently, but this is my blog and in this blog I am a superawesome ping pong player.*

As of today, though, Jim is no longer with the Saginaw Spirit. Another friend once predicted that one day we'll all be working for Jim and the first step in that direction comes today. As of today, Jim Biewer is a marketing coordinator for my beloved Detroit Red Wings. I'm pretty sure that the boys were just sandbagging the past couple of games so that they could make Jim's first day even more memorable by clinching the Western Conference slot in the Stanley Cup Finals.

I am really going to miss Jim and our ping-pong-and-beer meetings, but I couldn't be happier for him if I tried. He's a really fantastic person and works harder than almost anyone else I know. Congratulations, Jimmy. You worked your ass off and got what you deserve--it really couldn't happen to a better guy.

* Okay, I lied. Jim beat me almost every single time we played. In my defense, he was a client and I was just letting him win.**

** Lying again.

Rainy days do not, in fact, get me down.

2008-05-14T13:13:00.000-04:00

It's been just over a week since the Mid-Michigan Regional Business Expo (it's too bad they can't come up with a longer name, isn't it?). I was going to write some sort of wrap-up about the Expo, but I didn't. The truth is that there really wasn't much to write about.

989 Design had a booth at the Expo, but I have pretty low expectations when attending events like that. I guess 'low expectations' isn't the best way to put it. I have realistic expectations. I don't expect to walk out of there with a bunch of new clients or anything like that. People aren't just walking around with logo design needs, you know? One benefit of attending a show like the Expo is that I do get to talk with a lot of people and help raise awareness of 989 Design. I suppose the biggest benefit is that a number of my clients have booths at the Expo and seeing 989 Design there helps keep me top-of-mind (or closer to it, anyway).

I'm glad I was at the Expo and I will probably do it again next year. If I had one criticism of the event, it's that I think people from the Chambers of Commerce should make a better effort to get around to say hello. I did talk to a couple of people at different times, but as I was at my booth I saw folks from both the Midland and Bay Chambers walk right by my booth. The only Chamber person to stop by the booth was Mike Seward,President of the Bay Area Chamber. I thought it was a nice move to just swing by to say hello and thanks for being part of the Expo. Well done, Mike.

Other than the Expo, there is not a lot to report. Okay, that's not entirely true. I actually have some very big news to report, but we're still a week away from the announcement. So be sure to stay tuned for that.

I suppose I should turn my attention back to work for a little while. As I said, check back for a big announcement in the next week or so. Have a great day.

A few more photos from Dow Diamond.

2008-04-19T16:43:00.000-04:00

Last night's Great Lakes Loons game was great. The unseasonably cool weather we've been experiencing for the past few weeks finally gave way and some unseasonably warm weather came to town just in time for the Loons to welcome the Peoria Chiefs, the low-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. The Chiefs are coached by Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg. I shot the game last night and thought I would share a few of the photos here.

Here is Ryne Sandberg coaching third base. I have to give it to the guy, too, because he looks like he could still step in and play the game.

This is a photo of Joe Becker sliding into home with Preston Mattingly right on his heels. Loons manager Juan Bustabad plays a great style of ball with runners moving a lot. This is the sort of photo I'll probably get to shoot pretty frequently this year.

This is just a nice-looking swing by first baseman Jaime Ortiz.

This is Jordan Latham, a pitcher for the Chiefs. I just liked the way this photo came out.

Joe Becker plays shortstop for the Loons. I know he's already shown sliding into home above, but like Latham's photo above, I just like the way this one came out.

You don't have to do it perfect. Just do it well.

2008-04-15T13:54:00.000-04:00

I am here today to sing the praises of McDonald's.

Yes, you read that right.

Before we go any further, I think I should tell you that I'm not a fan of McDonald's food. I liked McDonald's when I was a kid and even when I was in college, I guess, but I don't really like the food there. I think I've eaten there once in the past few years and that was only out of necessity when I couldn't find anything else open while I was out of town.

There are two things I don't like about the Golden Arches. First off, they're a MegaCorp. In general, I'd prefer to eat/shop local. I make exceptions, of course, but to my mind, McDonald's is like Wal-Mart. They don't need my dollars.

That being said, I was in a hurry and heading out of town one morning and swung through a McDonald's drive-thru for coffee. I had heard that their coffee was good, so I grabbed a cup of coffee. In short, it was a good cup of coffee so I made the same stop a couple of weeks later when I was on my way out of town.

Here is what McDonald's does right:
1. When you order your coffee, they ask if you want cream and sugar.
2. They put the cream and sugar in the coffee and stir it.
3. The cup they use has some insulation that allows you to actually hold the cup without burning your hand.
4. They use an easy-open, easy-to-drink-from lid.
5. The taste and smell of the coffee is very good.
6. For less than $1.50, I get a good cup of coffee and friendly service.

Still, though, I felt a little guilty about patronizing McDonald's so the next time I was headed out of town I decided to try something different. I tried Tim Horton's. For anyone not familiar, Tim Horton's is a chain based out of Canada. They are much smaller than McDonald's and specialize in soup and sandwiches, donuts and coffee. The food is pretty good and Tim Horton played in the NHL for 24 years. What's not to like about them, right?

To my surprise, the answer is that there are many things to not like about Tim Horton's.
1. When I pulled up to the window--I'm the only car in the drive-thru--the girl at the window seemed bothered by having to deal with me.
2. The coffee comes in a flimsy-ish cup that gets really, really hot. It actually hurt trying to hold the cup for too long.
3. The lid on the coffee is cheap and not moving-car friendly for drinking.
4. They didn't ask if I needed cream or sugar and when I asked for some, she seemed bothered. Again.
5. A minute later when she came back with the cream and sugar she just handed them to me and couldn't get me out of there fast enough. Luckily the third-degree burns on my hand allowed me to stir the coffee with my finger with only a modest amount of additional pain.
6. The coffee sucked.

Bad service, bad cup, bad lid, bad coffee.

Tim Horton's has all of these ads on TV about their fresh food and no heat lamps and so forth. They throw their coffee away if it gets 15 or 20 minutes old and make a fresh pot. The ads are slick and some are even kind of cute. But what's the point of spending money on an ad campaign when your product can't deliver what you promise?

There's an old Woody Allen quote (it's attributed to him, although I can't say where or when it is from) that says that eighty percent of success is just showing up. It's not that McDonald's blew me away with the best cup of coffee in the world, but they gave me good coffee, great service, a fair price, and had me in and out of there in under two minutes. They just showed up and did what I expected.

Tim Horton's, on the other hand, did everything in their power to turn me away. And you know what? It worked.

Absolut-ely Ridiculous

2008-04-08T12:32:00.001-04:00

Have you seen the ad above or heard the uproar over it? This is an ad designed to run only in Mexico, but of course it made its way to the mainstream media and has taken on a life of its own. I have a few thoughts on the ad.

The things that are okay with this ad...

1. It is visually appealing. I love old maps. You love old maps. Everybody loves old maps. (Also, as a fan of alternate-reality-type fiction/movies, it's an interesting prospect.)

2. Setting aside the fact that the ad is potentially insulting, it is clever. Absolut is masterful at combining visuals and headlines to reinforce their brand.

3. I think this could be an effective ad and that Absolut might sell more vodka in Mexico because of the ad.

The things that are stupid about this ad...

1. I don't have any facts to back this up, but I have to believe that the US buys more vodka than Mexico. Just based on per capita income alone, that would seem to make sense. I understand that they want the ad to appeal to the intended market, but to give what I have to assume is one of the largest consumer countries a black eye in the process is poor planning. Even if they sell more vodka in Mexico, those gains could very well be offset by sales dips in the U.S.

2. Does Sweden not have the internet? What in the world would make Absolut think that the ad would only be seen in Mexico. Nearly everyone on the planet has seen Britney's pantiless escapades. How could any major corporation be so naive to think that a potentially inflammatory ad would be contained by borders?

3. Earlier I said that I think it could be an effective ad, but that doesn't make it a good idea. I'm willing to bet you a fiver that Absolut could put together an ad that says, "In An Absolut America" with visuals of the Confederate flag and slaves and there are would be an increase in sales in certain parts of the country. Pandering works, but it's a low-road way to get a result. (Yes, I know that this directly counters point 3 above, but I've got a big brain and can see it from both sides.)

In the end...

Some people are calling for a boycott of Absolut products because of this ad this ad. Relax, What a stupid idea.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for boycotting Absolut, but let's do it for the right reasons.

Boycott Absolut because it's crappy vodka.

Finally!

2008-04-04T15:30:00.000-04:00

The Great Lakes Loons opened their season last night against the Dayton Dragons. We beat them 5-2, so the season started off on the right foot. The weather is still pretty brisk, which took some of the fun out of shooting the game, but I know that soon enough it will be perfect. And while I'm waiting for it to warm up, I can work on getting my timing back. I felt a lot more rusty than I thought I would, partly because I was using a new lens that I am unfamiliar with, but it was great to be out there.

I am happy the Loons are playing ball again and am looking forward to a great season.

Happy Birthday. One Day Late.

2008-04-01T07:21:00.001-04:00

I just realized that yesterday was the birthday of my friend, Gordie Howe. Okay, he's not really my friend, but I had an assignment to take photos of him and I did get to hang out around him and chat with him a little bit. It was a real thrill to meet the greatest hockey player of all time. He would have been 78 in the photo above and he's as sharp as ever. Mugging for the camera with girls and horsing around with young boys. He had a line of hundreds (maybe 500?) waiting for his autograph and he took time to talk to every single one of them and he maintained his sense of humor throughout.

At the end of the evening as he was wrapping up to go home, he took the time to pose for this photo (graciously taken by photo superstar Barry Rankin of Dirla Studio) and sign a puck for me to "Mr. Photo from Mr. Hockey." That was a pretty good night.

Happy birthday, Gordie.

It's Official

2008-03-31T11:43:00.001-04:00

Issue 1 of the 2008 LoonsNest, the official magazine of the Great Lakes Loons, is now out of my hands. The weekend was a bit of a scramble, especially the last 18 hours or so. Working closely with the team, we were getting together photos and bios for all of our likely players for the year, but we did not have the official list until 2AM. When I came in this morning, I had to assemble the last few players added to the roster, get everybody in order and get the last 12 pages put together. It's all in the hands of F.P. Horak now and they will, no doubt, do their usual stellar job.

The start of the 2008 season is now just three days away and I still have PLENTY of work ahead of me, but I can't begin to tell you how great it feels to have the program out of my hands. My next big priorities with the team are working on our first poster giveaway of the season, spending the day taking shots of the players on Wednesday, and then shooting the season opener.

Another nice moment in the past week was the launch party for Tri-City Brewing's newest offering, Loons Summer Ale. 989 Design developed the logo/look for Loons Summer Ale. At present, there are no plans to bottle Loons Summer Ale so the only place you will see our logo is on tap handles and signage at Dow Diamond and select establishments in the Tri-Cities.

Counting Down the Days

2008-03-26T20:27:00.000-04:00

Instead of taking the usual shot from right in front of the studio I walked across the street so that I could catch the sun setting. I can't tell you how happy I am to see the sun on a pretty regular basis. I'm happy to be back in Michigan, there's no doubt about it, but the one thing I miss about living in Colorado is the 300+ days of sun each year. The weather is still a little chilly, but it is warming up a little bit.

It needs to warm up a little quicker, though, because opening day for the Great Lakes Loons is only eight days away. Eight days! I am over the biggest part of pre-season hump, but there are still plenty of things to do before next Thursday. My number one priority for the club is finishing the last twelve pages of LoonsNest, the Loons' program. Sixty pages are already at the printer and have probably already printed, but the last twelve pages are the pages which include the player photos and stats. The trick of it is that we can't do those pages because we don't know who our players are going to be just yet. It's going to be a little rough on me, but F.P. Horak has the toughest part of the job because they have to take what I give them and then print it, trim it, fold it, marry it up with the first sixty pages, throw a few staples in and then deliver it in about 72 hours. They're superheroes, I'm telling you!

I am not feeling particularly verbose right now, I guess, because I don't really have much to say. I know there are things I should be reporting on, but they just aren't coming to me.

Too many long days (and nights) in the studio. Come April 4th, I'm going to sleep like there's no tomorrow. Except I'm not really going to do that because there are already three or four jobs lined up and waiting for me to get after them. So after them I shall get.

What kind of week are you having?

2008-03-12T13:26:00.000-04:00

Here are things than have happened in the past week and a half:

• The furnace quit working one evening and I woke up to a 40-degree house the next morning. I don't mind the winter, but that's a little on the cold side when you're trying to get up in the morning. I couldn't get it started again so I had to have someone come out and make the repairs, which turned out to involve replacing my thermostat.

• A few days later I came home to find that we had no water. I called the city and was told that it wasn't an emergency and someone could come out the next day. The next morning, a water department guy came out to figure out what the problem was. Turns out that the city was trying to turn the water off at a vacant house next to mine and shut my water off instead. Great.

• After the water was back on, there must have been a lot of junk in the lines because my upstairs sink had almost no water pressure. I tried to turn the shutoff valve beneath the sink and it started leaking and spraying water everywhere. The problem had quickly gone beyond the meager limits of my plumbing skills, so I had to bring in a plumber. Two new shutoff valves later and there are no more leaks and the water pressure is great.

What's next?

Yeah, I know this isn't anything to do with design, but these little problems have been taking up a lot of my time. All the time this stuff is going on, I'm fighting to try to keep up with all of my work.

I had lunch with a friend who is a local mover & shaker today and I think I have a very high profile project coming up in the next month or two. I will update more as this project takes shape.

Okay, time to get back to work. Have a happy Wednesday.

A spammy Tuesday morning.

2008-02-26T08:32:00.000-05:00

According to about fifteen e-mails that I have received in the past twelve hours, my order has been approved (repeatedly) and I am eligible for significant discounts on high-quality, replica watches and fashions. On top of that, and maybe I shouldn't mention this to just anybody, but apparently there are a number of ways to legally cancel all of my credit card debt. Now this is a way to start the day!

To prove the old adage that you have to take the better with the bitter, though, there seems to be some sort of security problem with my FifthThird and Citibank accounts--which is espcially troubling since I don't have an account at either bank. They seem to think that they can clear it up as long as I send my credit card info, though, so I'm not too worried.

Spam Subject Line of the Day: Let the size be a subject of your pride

Runner up: I want sale you rolex . Do you want one?

A good start to the week.

2008-02-25T23:34:00.001-05:00

The photo is a slightly different view of Midland Street from earlier today. Instead of my usual shot of the studio or shot from the studio steps, I thought I'd show you a shot of bank robbery. Yes, I said bank robbery. We were sitting in the studio when 6-8 police cars went racing by to the bank a few blocks up. I grabbed the Nikon figuring that if there were any pictures to be taken, I could do some stringing for the Times. By the time they got there the bank robbers were gone, so I got a few shots of police cars and a shot of this deputy with his M-16. The best news is that nobody in the bank was hurt. They haven't caught the guys yet, but they will. Face it, bank robbers ain't exactly criminal masterminds.

Aside from the bank robbery, the last couple of weeks have been pretty surreal. I've landed new clients, most notably the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra. I'm really very excited about having the opportunity to really give the SBSO a new look for the 2008-2009 season. On top of the Orchestra, a couple of other clients have come my way. It's been a good week in that department.

Better still is the interesting mix of people I've been meeting and talking to. A few of the people I've been getting to know:

Patrick Flynn, an internationally renowned orchestral conductor whose credits include the English National Ballet's historic ballet-in-the-round Swan Lake at the Royal Albert Hall as well as—at Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's request—the first concert performances of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Cici Carter, a rapidly up-and-coming jewelry designer who splits her time between her homes in New York City and Saginaw, MI. I am writing a profile piece about her for a regional magazine and was able to sit down for lunch with her and had a really enjoyable time. She has a lot of energy and her enthusiasm is infectious. As I write this her website seems to be a little goofy, but check it out if you get a chance. She does some beautiful work.

Kathy Quinn, the widow of Academy Award winning actor Anthony Quinn. She has signed on with Cici to have Cici create a line of jewelry based on fine art created by Anthony Quinn. It was a brief conversation, but it was kind of cool to get a chance to speak with her and listen to her stories about her husband and his art.

Danny Wiseman, a professional bowler who just won his 12th PBA tournament a couple of weeks ago. And before you laugh at the idea of professional bowling--Danny has made about $1.4 million since going pro. Sure, he's not pulling LeBron money, but the guy is doing pretty well considering that he bowls for a living. And a pretty decent living at that. It looks like there is a pretty good chance that I'm going to be working with a few different parties involved in pro bowling. I will happily add that to the roster of sports clients.

And as if all of that wasn't enough, I even found time to do some serious hanging out when a few of my friends came over to the studio for a late-night beer-and-pong session.

I am having a good life.

Okay...it's ten after midnight, I still have work to do and I hope to be back home and in bed in the next two hours. I should probably get back to work.

An interesting week.

2008-02-14T15:38:00.000-05:00

The photo is another Midland Street photo, it's just an interior instead of the usual exterior view. This is the bar at Lumberjacks, which is just up the street from the studio. I don't think it's a great photo, but I like that you can see the reflection of the stuffed bear in the mirror. If you haven't visited Lumberjacks, you really should check it out. Great people working there and really excellent food. They're trying to have a more...um...loungy-type atmosphere on Wednesday and Thursday nights. Give us older kids someplace to hang out that isn't all karaoke all the time, you know?

I tried writing this a couple of times, but haven't really had any time to devote until right now. It's been, as the title says, a really interesting week. Since last we met, I've had a few great opportunities pop up. I can't make any claim to having great timing, it was just dumb luck that I was in the right place at the right time (about three different times), I do believe, though, that we make our own luck to an extent. I guess the seeds I planted are finally coming home to roost (to mix a metaphor or two).

The biggest news is that 989 landed a new client this week. I can't say too much about it yet, other than to say that it is a high-profile client and I will get pretty good exposure because of it. I'm hoping to make the big announcement in the next week, pending a few minor details being wrapped up.

In addition, it look like we are going to be adding a couple of golf courses to the client roster. It won't be a ton of work, but it will mean that I get to golf a lot this year. I'm not really a golfer, but I do enjoy it and I've always said that I think I could be decent if I actually spent some time doing it. I'd like to try to get out once a week all summer long. Check back with me in September and I'll let you know how that went.

I've also met some really neat people in the past ten days. I sat in the studio and had tea with a fascinating person who shared his stories about working with Mikhail Baryshnikov. I met a fellow designer and we had a great conversation about design in the area and about the possibilities of working together. I always love hanging out and talking with designers (how I miss my days at Govnr's Park with my designer pals) because it's fun to share war stories.

I'm more excited about the business than I have ever been. Things are falling into place...the stars are lining up...I feel like I'm on the verge of something big.

What Kind of Day Has it Been?

2008-02-05T10:35:00.000-05:00

Today's photo is a shot of Midland Street during last week's snowstorm. It was taken on February 1 at about 7:00AM.

It's only 10:35 as I sit down to write this entry and already I can say that the day has been great. From the moment I first opened my eyes, I was in a great mood (mostly because I was happy to wake up this morning after a night of half-nightmares).

This morning was the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce Eye Opener Breakfast. Because I was going to be out in public instead of just in the studio, I chose my good clothes rather than the Preferred Studio Uniform of jeans and Ramones t-shirt.

I got to the breakfast, walked in and ran the gauntlet of Chamber Ambassadors--these are the folks who stand at the door and make you feel welcome when you first arrive. They really are nice people, but whenever I walk into a room with that many green sports jackets I fully expect--nay, demand--that Tiger Woods and Seve Ballesteros be among them. Otherwise, it's just a lot of green coats, you know?

Anyway, as I am walking in and saying hello to the folks at the door, I see someone look at me and then lean to the person next to them and whisper, "that guy has great hair." Maybe 'whisper' isn't the right word since I heard them say it, but it was awfully nice to hear. It's not that I think I have great hair or anything. In fact, I was planning on getting it cut this week, but I might have to rethink that plan.

The breakfast was the normal Kingfish breakfast buffet, followed by some introductions and some speakers. I tend to sit in the back part of the room (because that's where the cool kids always sit, right) and invariably I only hear about half of what is said. I either need to start sitting closer to the front or hone my lip-reading skills.

There was an interesting presentation on economic development in Bay County by Fred Hollister from Bay Future, Inc. I appreciate the work they are doing because I left a pretty good gig in Denver and tied my entire future to the Tri-Cities. The more they work to promote growth in the area, the better it is for everybody trying to make a future here.

While we're on the topic of the future of Bay City, at some point I really need to make a few notes on why I am not sold on the proposed Maritime Heritage Center. Autoworld, anyone?

In closing, I know that I'm a bit off of my one-post-per-week schedule, but I am trying. In my defense I was pretty sick a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure what my excuse is since then, but I'm sure I could come up with several if I were pressed. My (almost) weekly columns will begin running next week. Please take the time to check back and comment.

Have a great week everybody.

Your pal...

...shawn...

Happy (Belated) New Year

2008-01-17T13:00:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure why it is that I am having a hard time keeping up with this blog. In the past, I had a blog that I wrote in almost every day--sometimes several times in a day. Part of it is the pressure to try keeping it interesting, but is this any better? No, not really.

I need to have a topic that I write on and post every single week. In fact, I think that's what I am going to to. I am going to commit to update my blog every single week for the rest of the year. It isn't that I don't have opinions or things to write about, I just have been a little lazy about taking the time to do it.

So come back next Monday for a real entry.

Even though the week is almost over, I still have a couple of hurdles to clear. The big one is finishing up a 989 Design 2008 calendar. I know, I know...it's a little late for that, but I think I'm going to do it anyway. I recently published a 2008 calendar for Bay Regional Medical Center and I've received a lot of great feedback on it. Take a look at it here...

http://www.989design.com/calendar/

Bay City used to put out a calendar, but it was an expensive item in an already-tight budget and they cancelled it for 2008. I want to design the calendar and make it available for people to download for free. It's certainly a day (or 20) late, but I'd like to get it done and get a press release to the paper. Maybe get a little bit of ink, you know?

Alright...it's already after 1PM and I've only barely made a dent in my TO DO list.

Have a great week/weekend. Talk to you on Monday.

Happy Holidays

2007-12-11T17:14:00.001-05:00

A couple of weeks have passed since Thanksgiving came and went. I got my Christmas lights up in the studio, as you can see (barely) in the photo above. I find myself in the increasingly unenviable position of having a lot of Christmas shopping to do and not a lot of time to do it. I really don't want to end up doing gift cards all around, so I had better spend some quality time planning what I need to buy for everyone.

The Bay Regional Medical Center Charity Ball was held last weekend. Normally, that isn't my sort of thing, but I did all of the art for the ball (billboard, invitation, newspaper ad, tickets, program, etc.) and they asked me to come, so we got all dressed up and went to a ball. It was a good opportunity to see some people I work with in a non-work setting. Plus, I got to spend the evening looking at Michelle--she looked great.

I'm working on one big project for the hospital right now and have a number of smaller projects all simmering. I've recently landed a couple of new clients. I wish I could link to their pages, but they don't exist just yet.

The first is Black Cat Racing, a criterion-class cycling team. We designed the new team's logo and are currently putting the finishing touches on their shorts and jerseys. That's been a pretty fun project.

The second new project is called Andy's Animal Prints. It's a long story that I can't get into now, but it is a great opportunity to work with great people on a project that is greater than the sum of its parts. That's a little cryptic, I guess, but I'm not at liberty to divulge too much. It's going to be a fun project and I will update as time goes by.

Okay...it's snowing and sleeting and I need to get packed up and get the dogs in the truck to head home for the evening. More work to be done (as there always is), but it should be a somewhat calm evening. I can use it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-21T10:42:00.000-05:00

It's one day early, but I'm already in the Thanksgiving spirit. I am in a really great mood today...I love the last day of work before the holidays. I think it goes back to when I was a kid working as a bag boy at Ray's Food Fair. Over the Christmas break I would go from part-time to full-time. I loved being in the stores at that time of year. Everybody--the other employees, the customers, the delivery drivers--was in a great mood. Sure, we were working, but there were Christmas carols on the canned store music and the days just flew by. I'm not really sure what I'm rambling about that for, I guess I'm just coming down with a seasonal bug.
So what's been up with the studio? Nothing new...just working a lot. I have been trying to get things organized at the studio, but it seems like the more I try to organize, the less organized I become. It's really a little disheartening. I sort and clean and file and I now have more piles of things to sort, clean and file than ever before. I have client open house coming up in a few weeks, though, so I had better finish my organizing very soon.
When I first signed on to make this entry, I noticed that my last post was my overly optimistic Picture of the Day post from October 9th. Picture a day? I'm not even doing a picture a month. I need to think some more about what I am going to do with this blog because as it stands right now, I feel like nobody is reading this so why bother? I want to devise some actual USEFUL purpose for this blog that will cause people to want to read it. If anybody has a suggestion, please let me know.
It's almost 11AM and I have yet to do any actual WORK. I've run a bunch of errands today and am getting things done, but I haven't spent even a moment pushing the pixels around. I needed to get out of the studio to do some writing (including this entry) and I'm now sitting in the Hen House, thinking about having one more cup of coffee before I get back to business.
I hope that anyone reading this has a great Thanksgiving.
Be well.

Photo of the day.

2007-10-09T12:28:00.000-04:00

I decided a week or two ago that I was going to start taking a few photos of the neighborhood every day. I can't quite decide if I'm just going to show the same view every time or if I'm going to mix it up a bit, but here is the photo from earlier today. This was taken around 9AM or so.

As I said on the front page of the site, things are still pretty busy here, but I want to try to make the site and blog a higher priority. That's where the idea for the photo came in. If I can force myself to upload a photo every day, then maybe I will get in the habit of making the site and blog higher priorities.

I do have a lot going on right now. I had two different clients contact me after hearing the 989 Design spots on Central Michigan University public radio. That was pretty exciting because after almost 4 months of underwriting, they were my first two hits. I am already working with one of the clients (I'm not sure about the other), but it's a really exciting new project. I can't say too much about it yet, but it's something that I believe very strongly in and I am proud to have the opportunity to work with the company. I will give details as soon as I am at liberty to do so.

There is probably a lot more to report, but right now I have to get back to work.

I'll leave you with this, a recent shot of the building. It was another photo of the day shot, a little earlier in the morning before the sun had come up. I like the way the studio looks with the lights on. It seems cozy.

Also, if you need to do some tanning, TanFastics upstairs has unlimited tanning for only $25. And they are open 24 hours.

Workflow changes

2007-08-25T08:26:00.000-04:00

As I said in a post on the front page of the website, I am now working full time in my studio. Well, I guess full time isn't completely accurate since I'm in and out a lot (for photo shoots, client meetings, etc.). It would be more accurate to say that I am a full-time outwardly employed designer, since I do almost no actual design work at home any more.

The only problem with working outside the house is that I haven't worked a 40-hour week in a very long time so I either have to put in LOTS of hours outside of the house or I end up not getting as much done as I wanted to. What I need to do is define the tasks that are most easily portable and take care of them at home in the evenings or on weekends. For example, I need to do some invoicing, but instead of spending the time doing it yesterday at the studio, I am sitting here on a dreary Saturday morning getting my invoices together. (Author's note: when I say that I'm getting the invoices together, it's more of an in-theory thing since I'm writing here instead of actually doing the invoices.)

It's going to be a fun weekend. My mom and brother are coming to town for the weekend so I will get to show off the painting that we've done around the house as well as the new studio. And then later today, we are all heading to the casino with a bunch of family folks to celebrate my cousin's birthday. Tomorrow is a noon brunch for my grandma on the other side of the family--she's 90 years old!

And somehow in between all of the betting, gambling and whatnot (Author's note: whatnot means beer) I have to draw some new maps for Bay Regional Medical Center, work on a trade show display for Dow Chemical, begin writing an article for Interlude Magazine and develop player pages for the Saginaw Spirit program.

These are busy times, my friends.

Almost moved in.

2007-07-30T10:58:00.001-04:00

Last week was pretty busy, but I did spend some time in the studio trying to get things finished. The big achievement was getting all of my furniture assembled and it looks really great. I walked by with the dogs this morning and now that there is furniture in there, it looks good. It's starting to really look/feel like an actual design studio.

I'm going to try to get over there today to do some cleaning/sorting. I'm hoping to be all moved in in the next few days. I have a sign in the windows that says, "OPENING JULY 2007." I might be off by a couple of days, but I'll be pretty happy to have the place up and running in the first week of August.

Now I need to find an intern and scare up more and more work.

How to succeed in design without really trying.

2007-06-19T17:02:00.000-04:00

Okay, I guess that isn't really accurate because I try pretty hard. I've been working the rooms, pressing the flesh and making connections. In the past few weeks I picked up my first job from Dow Chemical, which completes my trifecta of clientele (before moving back to Michigan, I identified three clients that I wanted to land--the Saginaw Spirit, Bay Regional Medical Center and Dow Chemical). I've landed plenty of other clients, but to have gotten all three of my pre-move picks feels pretty good.

The biggest news is that I am moving my studio into a historic building on Bay City's west side.

The building is called the Fisher Building, named after S.O. Fisher who was reportedly the richest man in Michigan in the late 1800s. The building was built in 1893 when it was known as the Lumbermen's Bank. The first floor/garden level, which is where my studio is located, was the bank itself (presumably there were some offices on the top two floors). I have the entire first floor to myself. The space is made up of two rooms.

The front half of the space is big and bright. The floor is a mosaic made entirely of Italian marble, with the initials "SOF" set near the middle of the room (the SOF initials are also etched in glass on the back door). This view is from near the front door, looking toward the back room. You can see the fireplace (not working) in the back room and to the right you see a yellow door. Storage closet? Bathroom?

Good guesses, but no...it's the vault. Which will now be used for storage such valuables as reams of paper and ink cartridges. I will rest easier at night knowing that ny supplies are safe and sound.

A few photos from Dow Diamond.

2007-04-19T07:45:00.000-04:00

In addition to graphic design, I've been doing a lot of photography for the Great Lakes Loons. Here are a few shots from the first few games at Dow Diamond.

The first is a shot of 8-time Major League All-Star Lance Parrish, the manager of the Loons.

Here is a photo of outfielder Scott Van Slyke, the son of long-time Pittsburgh Pirate (and current Detroit Tigers coach) Andy Van Slyke.

The next two are shots of Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, the new manager of the Peoria Chiefs (the Cubs low-A affiliate).

This last photo is of a Peoria Chiefs player in the on-deck circle. I really like the way this one came out.

Play Ball!

2007-04-13T15:09:00.000-04:00

Plenty has happened in the past few weeks. So much, in fact, that I can't even imagine trying to commit it all in writing. The time has passed in a blur, though, because I was rushing to keep up with the projects leading up to the beginning of the season for the Great Lakes Loons. I managed to keep up with all of the projects and deliver them to the printers on time, plus handled the inevitable last-minute emergencies (some signage that wasn't done on time, etc.). The Loons' season opened last week in South Bend and I was there to take photos. In the week since their first game, the Loons have compiled a 4-2 record.

Today, however, is the big day--the home opener at Dow Diamond. Whenever I think of the Loons, I think WE. They are a client, but they are much more than that. I've been living and breathing the Great Lakes Loons for the past three months and the big kick-off party is tonight. We play the Lansing Lugnuts tonight at 7:05 and I will be shooting the game. I actually need to get there a few hours early, though, so that I can go over a shot list with the Assistant GM and be there to shoot the pre-game ribbon-cutting and various festivities.

The weather, while still unseasonably cool, is doing its best to cooperate. It's only 46 degrees or so, but at least we have blue skies and plenty of sunshine. Not the most comfortable weather to be shooting in, but the temp won't show in the photos (aside from the players' breath being visible, that is).

I don't know if it's all of the caffeine I drank today or if it's just nerves, but I have butterflies the size of bats in my stomach. I've been looking forward to this for months and it's finally here. The pressure isn't even all that bad since I am only one of several photographers at the game, but I still feel that I need to perform. The team is already very happy with my work--both design and photography--but if tonight goes well, it could open a lot of doors.

Okay...fifteen minutes until I have to leave. Time to get dressed and get all of my gear together.

Play ball. And go Loons!

Hacked again.

2007-03-27T00:30:00.000-04:00

For the second time in one week, someone hacked into my website. What it looks like is that they left themselves a backdoor to get in even after the username and password were changed. This time, though, instead of running up charges on my credit card they put up a different page. Not just any page, mind you, but a page with the the Saudi Arabian flag and a whole bunch of stuff in Arabic.

After a couple of hours of rooting around, we were able to find any traces of their two visits and deleted them. In all of the time I owned my domain but didn't have a site, nobody bothered me. In the four weeks after my site goes up, I've been hacked twice. With their backdoor closed and the password changed (again) the site should be secure for a little while, but keep your fingers crossed for me.

Saginaw Spirit in the OHL Playoffs.
The Spirit went into the playoffs as the #4 seed in a very tough western conference. The good news is that they will have at least one home series. The bad news is that if they manage to beat the Soo Greyhounds in the first round, it only gets tougher and tougher the rest of the way. I'd love to see a Saginaw-Plymouth Whalers matchup, but we're nowhere near that just yet. The series is even at one game apiece after we split with the 'Hounds this past weekend.

Great Lakes Loons getting ready to take the field.
The season is only about ten days away and I have a TON of things that must be done in the next few days. The season tickets and schedules are all done and they came out great, but now we're into the big projects. Game program, media guide, etc. The biggest hold-up is that we won't know who will be on our team for another week, so there will be a lot of last-minute scrambling on my end. Once I drop the program off at the printer, though, things should lighten up a little bit and I will get to relax a little bit. But only a little.

I was hoping this would be a better entry, but I'm running on very little sleep so I guess I should probably hit the rack.

I'll try to do better next time.

Frustrating start to my week.

2007-03-20T13:55:00.000-04:00

I was working late on Sunday night (like I do on so many Sunday nights) and started receiving e-mail from my web host. One invoice after another was coming through and showing up as paid. I logged into my account and saw that someone had run up a bunch of charges by registering and changing domain names. In addition to the charges, they changed the contact information, but apparently it took too long and some of the e-mail made it to me.

I called the people who host my site and the woman was very helpful. I changed my username and password and she started a billing ticket to have the fraudulent charges removed from my account. I thought that this was going to be a pretty painless operation.

I was wrong.

Come Monday morning, my website was down and had a placeholder page saying that my account was suspended due to a billing problem. As if it's not bad enough that they decided to take the site down, they also add insult to injury by putting that message up. So now everybody that goes to my site (all four of you) thinks that I'm a deadbeat who doesn't pay his bills. I am not really worried about current clients visiting the site, but what about prospective clients? What kind of a message does that send to them? And what are the chances they're going to come back to me at a later date?

I made phone call after phone call after phone call, but I tried to be pleasant. Nobody could give me a straight answer. Everybody kept passing me off to somebody else, having me leave voicemails, or having me call back for people who never answer their phone. By the end of the day I was completely frustrated and my site was still down.

It's finally back up and running today, but I am really disappointed in the service I received. There was no good reason to take my site down in the first place and there was certainly no reason for such a ridiculous temp page. I have been with Globat for years, but I think I'm going to have to give up on them. They made a frustrating situation ten times worse.

In closing...stay away from globat.com. The prices are great, but the service stinks.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled blogging.

Marathon Runner

2007-03-12T16:46:00.000-04:00

It's been a pretty long day. I sat down to work last night right around midnight and here it is--seventeen hours later--and I'm still going. I almost said "still going strong," but that wouldn't really be true. I'm starting to run out of steam, but I feel pretty good because I have accomplished quite a bit so far today. I still have a few things that I want to get done before I crash, but I have already finished with most of the heavy lifting for today.

I'm out of the house right now because I just needed some time out of the studio. I had a couple of errands to run, so I decided to grab a cup of coffee and spread my work out on one of the big tables at Harvest House. I wish I had room in my studio for a big table like this because it really helps my brainstorming. I could use the dining room table, but I couldn't leave my things spread out for very long because...you know...dinner and stuff.

I should probably get going pretty soon. I've gotten some good work done here, but I need to get home to take care of Spooky. She had surgery on her cruciate ligament last Thursday, so she's all stitched up, stapled up and cooped up. We can't let her out of her kennel without somebody nearby because she wants to be up and running around, which could re-injure the leg. As long as we can keep her pretty stable and calm for the next couple of weeks, the rest of the healing process should go smoothly. Two more weeks of almost no activity, followed by a couple of weeks of very light activity and then she'll be back to (almost) normal about eight weeks from now. It sounds like a long time, but the way time has been passing, I'm sure that she'll be up and running (literally) in no time.

The late sunrise threw me off today (especially since I was up all night), but the late sunset makes up for it. It's around 50 degrees again today, so my spring fever is at a fever pitch. It's going to cool off again later this week so I'm going to try to enjoy the temperatures for as long as they last. It won't be long now, though.

Okay...breaktime is over. Time to get back to work.

Busy week.

2007-03-02T17:55:00.000-05:00

989 had a pretty good week. I had a couple of really productive meetings, I had a great pitch meeting with a potential new client, I managed to keep my head above water with all of the jobs I'm working on, plus I finally got www.989design.com launched. The website was the big thing because it's been something that's been on my TO DO list for over a year. Hell, I've never really had a site worth speaking of, so I guess it's been on my TO DO list for over five years.

Anyway, the site is up and running and even though there are GAPING HOLES that I need to fill in, it's there. My big project for the weekend is fleshing out the writing in a couple of sections and working on the portfolio pieces I want to show. Currently, I have a portfolio up there that you can view or download, but the portfolio section is where I really need to be focusing my work.

The space I was looking at to open my design studio/record store is being rented, which is a little disappointing. The space is perfect, but I'm so busy right now that the timing is just awful. On the bright side, though, the guy renting it is my doctor. And he's looking to open up? You guessed it, a record store. We're going to talk about doing something together and I might even be able to still use the space for the studio, which would be awesome.

Okay, I'm looking at the clock and realizing that I still have a lot to do before I think about relaxing tonight, so I should get back to work.

I need to start pushing the site and the blog because I'm really curious to know if anybody is even reading this.

Another great day in 989 history.

2007-02-22T12:17:00.000-05:00

Even though I am not a professional photographer, part of my work with the Saginaw Spirit involves me taking photos from time to time. A few weeks ago I was shooting at the OHL All-Star game and got to get up close and personal with the Stanley Cup. Last night, the team asked me to stick close to Gordie Howe for the evening and take photos of him signing autographs and interacting with fans. I've been a Gordie Howe fan for as long as I can remember, so this was a dream assignment. I spent four hours within a few feet of the greatest hockey player to ever lace up a pair of skates. At the end of the evening I had a chance to talk with him for a minute and have him sign a puck for me. One of the other photographers took this photo while Gordie was signing my puck.

Fat Tuesday.

2007-02-20T16:36:00.000-05:00

The website is coming together a little more slowly than I had hoped. It's not the fault of the guys building the site, though; the blame rests squarely on my shoulders. Part of the problem is that there just don't seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done. The other part is that I'm having a hard time writing the site.

At this point I think I need to just let go and write something--anything--just to get a fully functional site up. If I can have the site complete and online by the end of the month, I'll feel pretty good about it. And then I can start making improvements. What I've been doing is giving my guy direction and then making a series of tweaks to it. By no means am I a perfectionist, but I keep monkeying around with this site. It's time to bite the bullet and get the deal done.

I am getting 5-10 web hits a day and have nothing to show for it. Just imagine what kind of traffic and interest I could generate if I actually had something there for people to look at?

Outside of trying to get the site up, the past week has been all sports, all of the time. I just wrapped up a couple of small projects for the Saginaw Spirit and have begun work on pieces for next season. At the same time I am plugging away at work for the Great Lakes Loons. Two big jobs--the season ticket brochure and the season pocket schedule--both went to the printer today. There is a stack of work a mile high behind those projects, but it still feels pretty great to get them out the door.

Speaking of that mile-high stack of work, I suppose I should get back to it. Happy Paczki Day, everybody.

The Price of Publicity

2007-02-13T07:41:00.000-05:00

Things continue to go very well with the studio. My work for the OHL All-Star Classic was the subject of a front-page article and photo in The Saginaw News about two weeks ago. It was pretty strange being on the other side of the lens and having a reporter ask me all sorts of questions. And then when I saw that I was on the front page? Very surreal, but a lot of fun. People attending the game recognized me and said hello and complimented my work. Not too shabby, right?

One day last week--long since the article had been forgotten by everyone except me--I bring in the mail and there is a handwritten envelope addressed to me. I figure it's another dumb mortgage offer (they love the handwritten envelopes because somewhere, somebody wrote that you get a better response to handwritten envelopes, no doubt), but when I open the envelope out falls a copy of the photo of me from the paper. There is also a handwritten note, written on a yellow legal pad in what seems to be an older woman's writing. It says:

Hi Shawn,

I saw this picture of you in the Saginaw News on 1-30-07.

I have one question to ask: Don't you think you are getting to old to have that long dirty looking hair? And that silly hair on your face, you sure could use a razor.

a Reader of the News

I almost fell off the couch laughing. The photo may not have driven prospective clients to my website, but it apparently drove somebody's grandmother to complain about my appearance. I guess you really can't please everyone, can you?

Actual progress.

2007-02-04T22:13:00.000-05:00

I originally set this blog up thinking that I would have my web site up early last year. The thing is, though, I haven't had time to get the site up. Being really busy is a great problem to have, but it's still a problem. I spent so much time focusing on just treading water last year, that I didn't do enough long-term planning. That's going to be a big part of my focus this year--planning for where I want the business to be a year from now, five years from now, etc.

I had to laugh when I saw the date of the initial (and only previous) post here--February 5, 2006. 364 days ago I signed up on Blogger and made an entry. The blog sat untouched and unread for one year. My goal is to use this as a way to keep track of my progress on various projects related to the business. I'd even like to use it as a spot to write a monthly (bi-weekly?) column with marketing or advertising ideas that people can pick up and use.

Either way, this is the first entry now. Let's see if we can't get back here more often than once every 364 days.