New Work: Tejas Trailers Logo

Jon
06.29.07 @ 06:00 PM CST

So, this one is a quickie. I whipped it up as part of a business card design. I know, I am a sucker. They'll never bother buying the rights. I'm just workin' for free, like an idiot.

Thing is, they don't have a logo. And they didn't have anything that they wanted on their damn card. I mean, what the hell am I supposed to do? I mean, for christ's sake, I take their business more seriously than they do. In almost every case...which is why they're buying business cards from some traveling door-to-door printing salesman.



Okay, so I seriously just had a realization. These cards sucking is a function of the sales process. Every one of these clients are, and always will be, the type of people who want stupid shit. Otherwise they would seek someone out to take care of this shit on their own.
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New Work: Nicole's Save the Date Card...

Jon
06.29.07 @ 05:45 PM CST

So, Nicole might not want these to get out...but TOUGH TURKEY! ;-)


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Update

Jocelyn
06.29.07 @ 09:24 AM CST

Rain continues to fall every day here. Our roofing materials were delivered Monday and they're not able to put it on (it's Friday) and there's still a 50% chance of rain. Cross your fingers that doesn't include Euless today.

The garden is producing big red juicy tomatoes. yummm. Decent jalepenos and not good green peppers yet. No cucumbers or eggplant either. We'll wait and see. We haven't had the normal heat and we've had more rain than we know what to do with. When I show houses, I can point out faulty drainage alot easier now than during a drought.

A few weeks ago I was at my wits end. We joined a gym and I've been going to yoga a few times a week. I feel much better, calmer and I'm much more flexible.


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"Design Is..."

Jon
06.29.07 @ 09:18 AM CST

Okay, so this isn't a strictly "Design is..." entry. It's close though. Maybe I'll start a new category for these.

The principle difference between designers and "regular" people is:

We are willing to think about things that are uncertain for much longer, in a much more intellectually rigorous manner. We turn out things that "look" or "work" (I would argue they can be the same thing) better because we spend more time, think harder, and think critically. Of course we have technical skills. Anyone can learn those skills though. You can know photoShop, or CAD, or Dreamweaver inside and out, and still turn out absolute CRAP.

Design is really about treating thinking as a craft in and of itself.

I was explaining to Keith that it's like making and buying furniture. You can go to IKEA, which will look almost like what you want right now, and will fall apart about the time that it goes out of style. Or, you can go to Herman Miller, where the furniture will be crafted either by hand or micro-produced, original designs, and built to last for 50, maybe 100 years.

If you think about thinking the same way, you get carefully, lovingly brain-crafted ideas from designers. ;-)
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The iPhone will be released tomorrow. Yikes.

Jon
06.28.07 @ 01:26 PM CST

Unless you really hate Apple, you've been anticipating the iPhone. I know I have, even though I couldn't hold out to get a new phone until it came out. Sonofabitch.

Anyway!

It's going to be released tomorrow. Rate plans have been announced, and despite some really rather one-sided, cynical, anti-Apple negative iPhone crap out there (and I'm looking at YOU, Wired Blogs. Is it really going to cost you $6000 to own an iPhone? Perhaps. Will it cost just as much to own a top of the line Blackberry or Palm or Nokia or Samsung of Motorolla Smartphone? Hell Yes. More. The data plans for Treos are retarded! Go sell crazy somewhere else) just about everyone in the technology world is anticipating this release.

Why? Because it is going to be awesome.

Anyway.

I started this post off-topic, and I suppose it's time I reign it in. There is a pretty cool little open-source app out there (app is Mac/Unix Nerd-Slang for "Computer Program") that lets you see what your websites and web-Apps (that's web-based application/program) will look and act like on the iPhone.

Well, not really. But it looks like it...which I suppose is pretty cute, if not less useful than I had though initially. Anyway. I tested some recent sites I've built. They all work. Thankfully...

...not that it means anything. ;-)

Positive Feedback...

Jon
06.27.07 @ 11:13 PM CST
listening to: Top Chef
feeling: Getting sleepy...



So, Steve took the comic to a comic convention in philly a couple of weeks ago and showed it around...as some of you already know.

Well, he e-mails me this morning and says "Hey. Ape (a pretty big indie publisher) is interested in the book, but wants to see some pages in color."

So, guess that that means? It means I am going to be coloring Flacks. Assuming someone picks it up, I'll be coloring all 28 pages every month. (Yikes!)

Overall it means the book is good, and publishers are interested. Steve said that, beyond Marvel and DC, Ape was essentially the only publisher there, so the fact that they've responded in the affirmative is pretty freakin' positive feedback.

Steve is kind of torn, inasmuch that he's really happy with Ape exhibiting some positive response...but also feels like most of the publishers haven't seen the book yet, and he's anxious about waiting a few weeks and seeing a bunch more publishers in San Diego to see what they think of it.

I think it's great. I hope Ape decides they want it. I hope Image decides they want it too in a couple of weeks. Let's get it started. ;-)

At this point, I'm just happy to be doing cool work in an industry that I had dreamed of working in when I was 11. Not a lot of people get to fall ass-backwards into working with their friends, on a project they believe in, fulfilling a childhood ambition in the process.

Ain't Life Grand?

making a choice

Nicole
06.26.07 @ 07:56 AM CST
feeling: fine

So this seems to be a time of choices: one money is becoming a need- as guilt lies in as Kevin is trying to pay all of the bills, which I can pay but he doesn't entirely want me to- luckily I did apply for a few more jobs thanks to a friend who knows a lot of upper level people in the Princeton area.

next is not as important- my wedding dress, I am stuck, there are the two from the store this past weekend and one from the last time I was home. I know which one is the most affordable, and it was the original reason that I went to a couple of stores but it is sleeveless which I had been pushing away from, but since I have lost some weight my back looks better.

anyway, that's my life right now- finding a job, cleaning, working on the wedding, and fixing up the table

Something Cool...

Jon
06.22.07 @ 03:10 PM CST
feeling: It's Friday!

So, look at this cool thing I did in KeyNote! You make it just like a Powerpoint, but not sucky, and then I exported it in Quicktime. Click on the movie to advance the slides, or use the arrow keys to move forward and backward.

Anyway, I know, I know. It's not super fancy or new, but it is super fancy and new to me. The best thing about it is the transitions. I love those damn things.

No one has any suggestions? Really?

Jon
06.22.07 @ 10:15 AM CST
listening to: Loveline, duh

Really? No one has any suggestions for the redesign of this site? Really? Nicole? Kevin? Mom? Dad? Greg? Jocelyn?

Nobody?

Well, okay, but if you don't put anything in the hat, you're gonna get whatever I give you.

PharmaStrategies.net is LIVE, MFers!

Jon
06.21.07 @ 06:47 PM CST
listening to: Nothing. If I listen real hard to the inside of my brain I can hear the ocean.
feeling: Ugh. Tired. So very tired.

So, with many, many rounds of revisions and changes and a last-minute reworking of the interface, the PharmaStrategies site is finally live, on their own server, with their real domain name, BOOYAH!

Now I just need to get through the Flash™ part, and the business card and stationery and I can get paid!

Hot damn.

PS - Go check out the site, damnit!

New Work: ACEP T-Shirt 2

Jon
06.20.07 @ 07:06 PM CST
feeling: Fine. Tired. Good God I'm Tired.

No, this isn't the second idea for the same shirt. It's the second in a series of shirts. There wasn't supposed to be a series of shirts...but they liked the AC/DC parody shirt so much that they decided to keep it, even though someone on the board said that they wouldn't give them out, and they had me do another one that everyone WOULD give out.



So, there you have it. Click on it to make it bigger...which will let you see it better, duh. ;-)

Changes to the Blog...

Jon
06.15.07 @ 12:14 PM CST
listening to: Loveline. Always.
feeling: Really tired. Again. Damn.

So, you'll notice that the blog is undergoing some changes. Well, maybe you won't. Perhaps you aren't very observant, you dullard.

New Work: ACEP Recruitment T-Shirt

Jon
06.14.07 @ 03:25 PM CST
listening to: Loveline
feeling: Tired. Man I am tired.

So, I designed this T-Shirt for ACEP. It's a recruitment premium (that's something they give away at a registration event, for those of you who are not "in the know" on marketing crap) they are using as part of their effort to recruit new ER Residents. Residents are guys (and gals) who are in between being an intern and an attending...so they are typically in their twenties.



Anyway. I think I'm clever. You do too...you know it.

Continued Badassery

Jon
06.12.07 @ 06:07 PM CST
listening to: Freaks & Geeks : Check it out yo. Funny show.
feeling: Tired. Fine I guess, but tired.

So, with a little bit of dread, I went to LogoPond today, to check my current ranking. It has, after all, been a pretty busy month, but things seem to be taking forever to do, and that means that I've been pretty inactive on the site lately...and I can expect my rank to slip.

Well, F*** That! Tidy Tom and KeepOpen.com are both still in the top 20. In fact, they're ranked better than ever.

So, I guess I don't suck.

Now, if I could just get more people to pay me more money to design logos more often.

Finally

Nicole
06.12.07 @ 03:37 PM CST

So I have a few comments for my entry:
1- It is nice that mom is finally using the blog site

2- it is nice that things seem to be coming around:
a- today it is raining, and I love it!!!

b- I had my first job interview today, it went well, I think, although the owner doesn't know if she will be able to start me right away

Things are going well!!! PEACE!!!!

Red

Nicole
06.11.07 @ 06:36 AM CST
feeling: okay

So what is it that Red means? Well in this case it is not product Red, although I am still a supporter (I know that Mom thinks this is a waste of money, but as it is not her money I don't have to listen to her).

No, this time it is about me being Red, and not my hair. Yesterday was the annual bike race in Philadelphia and I went over to my friends for a day of drinking, yelling at bikers, eating, and meeting lots of people. You see I went to Allison and Jason's new house. Allison and I lived together in Rome, and Jason lived with Kevin, so we all know each other very well. Our friend Jenny is also currently staying with them, and Al's little sister lives there too. So there was a mix of people from old and new friends, friends of friends and more. So during this long day, which was only in the 70s, it was nice to walk around and sit out in the cloudy to sun weather. Not thinking about it, I had a little too much to drink and no sunscreen, so yup I am rosy.

As I am aware of my ease of burning, I did wear a t-shirt and not a tank so I'm not in pain and my face is only red around my nose.

Anyway, that's what is going on now in the world of Kevin and Nicole.

Imagination

Jocelyn
06.07.07 @ 02:04 PM CST

This week Jon, Keith and I went to the gas station for some hot choco. I park, lock the car and go inside. When I return my car key is not on my key chain. I look inside the car and on the ground. Nope. Not there. My mind splits into two realities. My own make believe world and the real world that we all live in. The Real world tells me to keep looking in the car, stay calm, I only had the keys out two time, to get out of the car and to enter the car. My make believe world pretended that David Blane ( a magician) was at the gas station and he magically took my key of the keyring and was waiting for all three of us to leave the unattended car and look for the key inside. He was then going to steal my car with my purse, cell phone and computer inside. He's a magician and scanned my car quickly for it's contents. This whole process my real brain was telling my imagination to take a hike but it was difficult! I found the key in the side pocket of my door. Silly Key and silly me.

So, IE Still Sucks!

Jon
06.07.07 @ 10:05 AM CST
feeling: Shitty. Fuckers.

So, like I said. IE sucks. Has for a long time...so what else is new, right?

Well, here's what's up.

IE7 was supposed to be the version that brought IE into pace with the rest of the standards compliant, God fearing, reasonable web browsers in the know universe. Well, it doesn't.

ASS!

If you are looking at this site in IE7, as I did this morning for the very first time, you'll see that it is tremendously fucked up. Can I figure out why? No. Know why? Because it's not having any problems in any other browser, and the logic in the CSS and HTML Markup is all solid (it hasn't changed in three years, for crying out loud) and it didn't used to do this in IE 6 or 5.5, which means it isn't a "legacy bug." So, this is a totally NEW, IE7 Specific, tremendously screwy bug!

It also has this weird bug where it anti-aliases text, but if you use a .png file with alpha transparency and the bgsleight.js javascript, it un-anti-aliases the text as the CSS loads, so I look like a jerk, because as people are updating their browsers their sites look like ass!

Anyway. IE 7 blows. Or sucks. Or whatever. I am mad.

wedding planning

Nicole
06.06.07 @ 03:14 PM CST
feeling: blah

so I was just wondering, are you supposed to feel like you are doing this all alone (and I mean us, not me) or are people supposed to be there for you?

I'm asking because I made appointments to go dress shopping and none of my bridesmaids can go with me, even though I told them about this 2 weeks ago.

Anyway, I guess I'm going all by myself, it should be interesting.

Making Fun Graphs with iWork '06!

Jon
06.06.07 @ 09:34 AM CST
feeling: Fine. Unbelievably Tired.

So, for a long time I've enjoyed making really fun charts and graphs in my pro-Apps, such as Adobe Illustrator and PhotoShop...because a graph is informative, but a really GREAT graph is a double threat.

If you can get someone to go, "Dude. Wait. Go back to that graph" and actually spend some time making sense of it, then you've made your point a lot better than a graph that they just look at and go "Next."

Anyway. This week I loaded iWork '06 on my Mac, for the express purpose of making some killer graphs for a website...and as you can see, from the graph above, it does just that.

It's cool too, because it's easy, and it's cheap ($79), and it's EASY. I had the whole thing figured out in about 45 minutes (and really, I had it figured it out enough to use in about, um, 45 seconds).

Anyway. It's cool. Make cool graphs with iWork. For which you'll need a Mac. Get a Mac. Bitches.