rachelnpepper

We don't all like pink

2011-12-10T10:00:00.000Z

Isn't this photo just so lovely?
Little girls love pink and want everything in pink. I went through that stage myself. Grown women now also love pink and want everything pink. Is this really true?

Since secondary school I have hated pink with a vengeance, so much so that I influenced other women around me not to buy anything pink. This hatred has died down a little, now I understand that it's not actually pink that I hate, but the way it is shoved at us women, as if it is the only colour we want/like.
I have to wonder if all these women and girls love pink, purely because they love pink or because of the way it is targeted at us.

Does this mean everything, and I mean EVERYTHING targeted at women and girls should be pink?

This time of year, you can see the targeting quite clearly. All the gadgets for women, laptops, DSs, and mobile phones are shown in pink. Most of the perfumes are pink and nearly all websites targeted at women are pink or include pink in their advertising. Last year Tescos even had a small christmas tree specifically for girls, in you guessed it - pink!

On mother's day if you go to any shop this section, will be entirely pink. My mum's favourite colour is green.

My friend has recently given birth to a girl and she said to me, "I've not really hated pink until now, it's almost impossible to find clothes that aren't pink and pretty girly girly."

Colour psychology is used a lot in marketing and advertising, but sometimes I think it goes to far. Pink should probably be a primary colour by now seeing at how frequently it is used. You don't have to look far to see a company that uses a shade of pink. I've written about this before, back in 2009.

The last time a colour was so predominant was when easyjet hit the market and orange was the colour of choice.

While I admit that targeting is very effective and useful to businesses, I feel it has become unethical. My brother recently commented at how amazing kids advertising is as we both watched his son stand transfixed to the adverts rather than the kids programs.

I recently attended a wedding fair and one lady said to me "I really like your colours, they are so unusual." I was a bit surprised as the colours I had in my display were just bold primary colours. (red, green and blue).

To those who say that this is rubbish and advertising cannot influence people, I say everything has an influence. It's like ripples in a pond. Plus there is a reason there is so much research in what should and shouldn't be done to get customers, get followers, likes, etc. If it didn't work it wouldn't be done.

Unfortunately I think we have got to a stage where there is a lack of variety and certain subliminal messages are being re-enforced. Some such as pink targeted to women is actually damaging to society. Scientists have actually proved that subliminal messages do change the way people think. I remember when I was back in college in the early 90s learning how a coke-cola ad was banned because it relied purely on subliminal methods and this kind of advertising is still banned in the uk. Now although the science says the effect is fleeting and will pass, it doesn't include constant repetition and pervasiveness in culture. They did state that negative messages are picked up quicker than positive, something to do with our self-protection instincts.

Anyone who has been bullied or been in an abusive relationship, will tell you that the effects are subtle and long-lasting.

I will leave you with this link of visual subliminal messaging. Some of these may be accidental, I'm pretty sure some are deliberate.

Another massive subliminal message to do with women's right's is how women are represented in the media. Which I've written in the following posts, A scary thought, We are neurotic and paranoid, and the Bechdel test.

Bechdel Film test

2011-11-25T17:30:00.000Z

There is a basic test that many films and TV programmes fail. It asks are there:

a) two named women; who
b) have a conversation; and
c) that conversation is not about a man.

Just have a quick think. It's harder than you expect for this day and age and actually films from the 70s and 80s are more likely to pass than films of today.

Once you actually start looking at it and you are a woman it will really start to annoy you. Hopefully it will annoy you as a man too.

My guy is not a chauvinist in any way and has hired several women based on their programming skills, but when I told him about this test, he said

"What does it matter if you enjoy watching it?"

A fair point, but does matter because it's not representative of real life and reinforces the image that women aren't as important as men.

Side note: He then went and reset the media player so we didn't have a black border around the TV screen. That matters, but women's rights don't! He didn't even realise this subtle message he conveyed to me. I pointed it out, of course.

Let me be clear, the test is NOT about how good the film is. It is only about representation. This test can also be applied to any minority group. Many films that pass the test, do just barely and are still biased or still all about romance. Like that is the only thing that is important to women. The women depicted are also rarely in a positive or strong role.

I do think some films can be exempt, such as those based on books that are faithful to the story. I really resent how films change the storylines of some books just to meet certain policies. Positive discrimination is as bad as negative. Film's that are set in specific time period in an all male setting such as a prison during the world wars.

Clearly all films cannot include all people from all types, but they have more opportunity to do so than when you choose an image for a brochure.

I have been through our collection of films and it is depressing to note only EIGHT of approx 50 pass this test without me having to watch them again. The reason it is so bad, is that women appear to be considered a minority when in some countries there are more women than men.

Even films like Charlie's Angels, which has three strong well rounded female characters, it's hard to spot the conversations that are not about men and they actually talk directly to the men more than each other.

What do you talk about?

I don't just talk about the men in my life. I certainly don't spend a lot of time talking about girly subjects, like hair, make-up and clothes either. Which could be considered boring but then so could traditional male subjects, such as sport, cars and gadgets.

My facebook feed is full of women of all ages who discuss more than the men in their lives. Many talk about politics, photography and music. Sure they also talk about clothes and romance, but on balance the guys are far more likely to talk about the women in their life. I think there should should be more talk about food and music in films as most people talk about this all the time. The small talk about the weather should be included too, but then I guess this would be boring - it could be funny!

This is a follow on post from A scary thought and We are neurotic and paranoid.You might also like, We don't all like pink.

We are neurotic and paranoid

2011-11-11T16:30:00.000Z

I think this is true and often state it. Some people may say I am being hard on my gender but it is true. Unfortunately it is not easy to avoid. Obviously this is a sweeping statement, but of all the women I know possibly only one isn't. We are conditioned from childhood to believe it. Whether it is from our dads saying don't forget mum's birthday she'll have a fit, or the prolific stereotyping in films, TV and on adverts. Seriously, we have so many images, that society throws at us and we feel we have to adhere to. Many based on appearance first and you've pretty much run out of time by the time you reach 30.

We are told we can have it all. What happens is that we actually end up doing it all. Even some of my girlfriends who are younger than me end up doing it all, while their husbands sit around doing what they want. Although more men do an equal share of chores these days they are still in a minority.

Added to that we have so many extra things to think about.

The menstral cycle for one, something that is easily upset. Pretty much everything can affect it; food, exercise, moving in with other women (for some women it can even change in a new workplace), stress. Even if a women has very little problems with it, it can still throw you off. I've been monitoring my moods and clumsiness against my cycle and dicovered that it is a pretty stable cycle. I get a couple of emotional and energy dips usually the same days of every cycle. The same again for the days I keep dropping things and seem to be unable to park. Being aware of this is great and can help to avoid these problems. Guys don't have to think about this. Although I think maybe they should because guys have cycles too. Have you noticed how people seem to be short tempered and aggressive all at the same time. It's been labelled the full moon effect, but it doesn't always happen then.

Pregnancy brings a whole host of problems before and after. Women can catch more STDs than guys. Cystitus/urinary tract infections are just awful. We can get that just from wearing clothing that is too tight. It's a very common problem for women and very rare for guys.

Then there is just walking down the street, guys don't tend to get jeered at by complete strangers or have their bum's pinched.

We have twice as may clothes options and make-up is seen as essential to the majority of women.

It's no wonder we are neurotic and paranoid.

This belief goes against us as women. It was right and good that when Emily Pankhurst and the suffragettes were fighting for women's rights that this was denied or played down. However, these days we are more enlightened and there are several studies that prove having a balance of genders in the work place is very beneficial.

I don't think this phrase necessarily puts us in a bad light. We are this way because we care. We care about the people in our lives, want them to be happy and don't want conflict. Conflict happens because we let ourselves worry about too much and then we fall apart. It's how other people deal with us in this state that is more important. It shouldn't be brushed off as the status quo. It's just another issue that needs addressing. We as women need to work out our triggers and then we need support and understanding from guys to work through them. There are still too many guys who think what we worry about isn't important or is stupid, this just compounds the problem and adds something else to our list of things to worry about.

I know one of my triggers is the dip in my mood related to my menstral cycle, so I know that I can pretty much dismiss more than half of those negative feelings at that time, unless they are recurring. Guys can help by not saying things like, it's just your time of the month — that just makes us angry. Take us seriously at that time or try to give us a different point of view.

Guys can be just as neurotic and paranoid, the difference is that they can become controlling and violent with it. At least we try to talk about it.

We as women need to stand our ground more often and get to the point quicker. We need to stop blaming ourselves and our men and actually sort the problems out on an equal level. Less yielding and more compromise. Give reasons rather than nag someone until you get the outcome you want.

This is a follow on post from A scary thought. You might also be interested in the Bechdel Film Test and We don't all like pink.

A scary thought

2011-10-29T11:55:00.000+01:00

Women's rights have moved on a great deal it's true
but in some ways they haven't moved on at all!

A scary thought just in time for halloween.

I've been thinking about this for a few weeks now ever since a conversation with the karate guys about prostitution.

You may think I am being feminist and have a chip on my shoulder, crying wolf or any other similar phrase. I do agree that women's rights have moved on a great deal. We can now do very much more than we ever used to. For a start I am allowed to practice karate. But in other subtle and some not so subtle ways things are still not equal. I believe that until we get the gender balance right we aren't going to be able to solve any minority issues.

This is a list of some of the things I have started writing about.

We are neurotic and paranoid
Bechdel Film Test
We don't all like pink
Legalising prostitution
Female role models
We are our own worst enemy
Photoshopped too far

To get you started take a look at a movement called Miss Representation that is happening in the US. They are focusing on the fact "You can't be what you can't see". Halloween costumes are a hot topic. In the US many girls under 12 find it impossible to find something that isn't highly sexualised and gender biased. Thankfully we don't have the same problem here in the UK our supermarkets are selling decent costumes which apart from witches and princesses aren't gender biased.

Then there are countries, such as those under Sharia Law who can't do hardly anything without male permission and can't vote. Just recently there was the little chinese girl who was run over not once but twice with 18 people walking by and doing nothing.

Fed up with social media

2011-09-22T13:43:00.000+01:00

Social media is meant to be everything these days. The best place to market your stuff and find information. To me it just seems to be more and more senseless noise and only the popular get more popular.

Twitter

In fact everytime I post on twitter I seem to lose people and gain them when I'm inactive. I only get replies from people I already know personally. Just feel like I am wasting my time. I used to follow loads of designers and read every tweet and at the beginning it was really useful and I learnt a lot very quickly. But it soon got overwhelming and there are only so many tutorials and list posts you can follow. Then there are the retweets that just clutter up your feed. I don't want to see the same link posted over and over again. So earlier this year I had a cull and I'm planning on keeping the people I follow to under 50.

Then there are the people who think it is nice to thank you for retweeting something. This is a useless exercise. I wouldn't retweet unless I found it interesting and what good does a thanks get me other than more popular people thinking I might retweet them. If you really want to thank me find something of mine to retweet or reply to one of my tweets or better yet comment on my blog. I don't care if you disagree with me either but the interaction needs more substance than a thank you or a looks great. I've made it a policy to tweet something only once on my feed. So you can be assured there will be no intentional repetition.

Facebook vs Google+

I haven't looked a Google+ at all because I don't want another social media platform taking up my time. Although with Facebook's recent most hideous change into a busy, noisy mess, I may consider it. They mean to be helpful but ultimately they have taken away the users right to choose what to see first and instead the computer chooses what it thinks is important. Which mostly seems to be things other people have commented on, so again making the popular more popular. It's a sad reality though that I and many others will probably stay on Facebook because

we have too much invested in it; and
all our friends are on it.

To move means we have to convince all our friends to move with us and that is an even bigger change than the annoyance of Facebook changing. It's like getting someone to change their bank it's really just too much hassle.

Blogs

I still like to read these but I have also culled down to 20 or less. All in all less is more and I have better quality information to read. My own blog I will continue to write no more than one article a week.

Yin Yang designs keep the essence

2011-08-05T17:00:00.000+01:00

After a discussion with fellow karateka about the yin yang symbol I decided to have a look at what alternative designs were out there. The Sensei of our Friday club Uchi Naru Chikara would like a stylised version using the karate dove.

What orientation?

Part of the discussion was about the orientation of the symbol. The Dan grades said it had to be a specific way round. Black on the left and white on the right with the dots vertical. I've not found any definitive answer although in the wiki this orientation is stated as the English version. Even the yin and yang can be reversed with the black and white.

But it does seem that you can use any orientation as the whole thing represents flow and is constantly turning see this description which has the symbol on it's side.

Keeping the essence intact

For me the most important part of the symbol is the fact that you cannot have yin without a bit of yang and the reverse. So the dots are all important meaning balance. Indeed in my search for alternative yin yang symbols many designs have missed out this very important aspect. There were lots of lovely designs with animals on the two sections or around the symbol. Such as this dragon one from Just Tattoo which also includes the fire and water elements.

I've tried to find ones that keep to the essence of the meaning of the symbol.

The designs

Koi by Katie Howden

Tattoo style [link location was spam]

Horses available as sticker from Northern Sun

A variation of the yin yang, (without dots) using arabian horse heads has been created by Maggie MacNabb which is used as a logo.

Water fire styles one second was obviously taken from somewhere else but not credited, third I saw in Torrevieca in Spain. Personally I would prefer a fire earth one that matches my aries taurus sign elements. But I guess it's not easy to depict earth well. Maybe a project I might attempt in the future.

Celtic style from FullmetalDevil
I particularly like the way the knotwork is also reversed on this one. Many designs I looked at didn't do a true reversal for each side.

Really gorgeous dragons from Bladewing
The detail on these are great.

Sci-fi fantasy by Heather J Dennis

Naruto/Sasuke from Kirotighta I really love the description on this one.

Think about it though, Naruto and Sasuke are like exact opposites in both looks and behavior! Naruto is bright and happy and Sasuke is dark and brooding. Its perfect!

Feather from Rachael Mayo

Spanish graffiti by Pixel Pancho

2011-07-29T17:00:00.013+01:00

I forgot to add this one to my previous post. Spanish Graffiti

This was my favourite apart from the superhero ones I saw, while in the car. They are by Pixel Pancho who have actually done loads of awesome graffiti. Most of it has a robot theme.

Spanish Graffiti

2011-07-22T17:00:00.002+01:00

I've just got back from two weeks away in Spain and I thought I would share with you some really nice graffiti I saw out there. Something interesting that the spanish do is not use printed billboards, but paint their advertising directly on the walls. I think this is possibly a greener option than printed boards.

I wish the graffiti in England was this good.

The art of looking

2011-06-22T13:57:00.032+01:00

Take in the details

There is a song which has the lyrics

I wandered out in the world for years while you just stayed in your room
I saw the crescent, you saw the whole of the moon

To me this means that you can see and experience a whole lot of things, without even going anywhere. Take my photo above, when I took this I was only interested in the waterdroplets and capturing the veins in the petals. I didn't expect to be able to see myself reflected back in one drop. This drop was smaller than my little fingernail, but there I am reflected.

Change your perception

I really love doing this, just going out in the garden and taking photos of things really close with the macro. Even though my camera isn't really up to the job I still find things I really want to take a snapshot of. Mostly to see if the camera can see what I see. It doesn't! How can it? My perception is organic and the camera's is mechanical. What you do get is something else, another viewpoint.

It used to really annoy me when I would take leave from work but not go anywhere. This was considered weird by most people. My argument is that people spend a huge majority of time at work and spend a huge amount of money on their home, but do not take the time to enjoy it. I'm guessing this viewpoint will change now I work at home. I have to say that some people did try not going away and staying at home after hearing my viewpoint. They were surprised how much they enjoyed it. I wasn't.

I guess the point of this post is that we don't really take the time to appreciate the things that are literally all around us. I wonder how many of you have been to your nearest local tourist attraction or just ignored it as you pass it every day.

Many people appreciate food in this way. I personally cannot get worked up about food, unless it looks amazing. For instance the way the Thai carve their carrots into a decoration.

See more

You can see more by just looking. Why do think so many artists draw, paint or create things that are inanimate, like shoes or chairs? It is because they are really looking, not just at the shape and colour, but the shapes within shapes. The different shades, the effect of light and shadow, the textures and how to recreate that look. Whatever they do they will never capture what they really see, they can only give an impression of it.

Sometimes the harder you have to look the more you will see. Ever since I can remember, I always wanted to go to South Africa on safari. When I finally got to go, people said to me, you should go to Kenya you will see more. Which is true I would have seen more animals, but I wouldn't have had the satisfaction of knowing I had really looked for them and seen signs of where they had been. Somehow it means more that I spent hours staring at miles and miles of trees, just to see one elephant, leopard or giraffe.

On the walking tour we did. We only saw antelope, but the ranger found things to show us that you wouldn't normally look for. Like this lion's paw print. It doesn't look that big in this photo, but it was as big as a man's hand. So as far as I'm concerned I saw more of their life and habitat, than if I had gone to Kenya and seen the herds of animals.

Ambigrams need balance

2011-05-29T13:43:00.000+01:00

Mary and Peggy

Really pleased with Mary, I haven't had to alter any of the letters, the two as merged together perfectly and the ry makes a nice m.

Mary means star of the sea or bitter in Hebrew. Mary's are considered kind and likeable people.

Peggy was much harder, particularly as most of the combinations I tried for the central 3 letters ended up looking identical. The P into y was also problematic, it keeps looking like an h. I think this typeface just about works though. These were for the same person.

Peggy means Pearls and is considered a smart, hardworking and determined person.

Beloved Friend

This one I have had on my waiting list for over a year. So I'm really pleased to get it done. The customer was happy too, even though they had to wait so long.

Thanks you soo much for the help, I really liked it a lot, I sure got a nice ambigram :) :) :)

I'm not too happy with the vi combination but I think it works. I was also concerned that the el to n looked more like a p.

The b/D combination works reall well and I didn't have to alter that letter at all.

Libra

I'm really happy with how this turned out, my sketches didn't look too convincing. But this typeface works really well and looks nicely balanced like the star sign it represents, the scales.
Two bs put together. r and i merged, and a little part of a number added to the L to make a nice A.

Facing a new horizon

2011-05-27T18:18:00.000+01:00

As you can see I have haven't written for a while. Nearly two months in fact. It's not that I have nothing to say, just that I haven't been able to phrase it in a way that I would be comfortable sharing with the rest of the world.

Even though I only have a few subscribed readers and I lost one in these two months, you do need to think of it this way. That is the great thing about the internet, you can reach anyone, anywhere. The thing is this means you have to watch what you say more than if you were just speaking to someone. There could be repercussions, like ripples in pond. I learnt this fairly quickly working for KCC, many staff have worked there a long time.

When I started there aged 24 in 1999, I was one of the youngest members of staff in the whole of Libraries, numbering around 800. Thankfully this has drastically changed due to certain intiatives, such as the graduate and apprentice programmes. Libraries in particular changed their recruitment to target shop assistants for Library front of house staff. Although the number of staff is much lower now and due to drop again by the end of the year to meet government budget efficiencies.

Leaving KCC

Part of the reason I haven't written is that since I have left Kent County Council, much of my thoughts have revolved around why I left and what is currently happening to my colleagues. It is really not a good time for them at the moment, and I don't regret leaving one little bit. Overall they are good company to work for and all the staff work hard. I mean they really work hard. Many do more than they should just to get the work done.

There are a lot of things I would like to say, but it wouldn't do anyone any good and I'm not the kind of person that likes to be negative. This is another reason I've left, I was starting to feel quite negative. It wasn't the people or the work getting me down, but more the fact that I've pretty much not worked anywhere else. I needed the change.

I had a lot of scope to push my post into pretty much any direction and could manage my workload to a certain extent. I've taken Libraries from paste up publications, through using clipart, to having a full set of design guidelines. I worked with the company that set this up. It is a set of guidelines that work on top of the KCC brand. They cover wording, type of image and document layout.

I nearly left at that point. The guidelines are very strict, so are very good for staff, but not so great for a creative. However it give me time to improve some of my skills in Photoshop. Not long after that I got a new toy, a replacement signage machine, one we could make banners on. Both of these things kept me going for a few more years, but inevitably that feeling that I needed to leave came back.

So I've decided to go freelance. I already have many of the skills I need to make this transistion as I had to:

manage my own workload
provide/source quotes
find solutions for very small budgets
work to very tight deadlines - like can you do this today!
juggle several different jobs at once
prioritise
liaise with printers
find my own training
provide some basic DTP training to staff
get involved in marketing strategies
set up word templates
work on copy and images, and of course design things.

What can I design for you?

So now I'm free to focus on my freelance business full-time. Please feel free to contact me, even if it's just for advice.

#Karate: Few Women

2011-03-30T16:07:00.000+01:00

In general there aren't many women that do karate. In our club we have several female black belts but they are still outnumbered by about 3 to 1 and all of them graded as juniors. There are a lot of girls in the kids classes but in the adults much less. They also come to class less frequently. As far as I know I am the highest grade adult female that started as an adult in our club. There is another stripy brown but I haven't seen her at a grading for ages and I have been to every one since last year.

There are many reasons I think.

Finding feminity

For me, after a lesson or even more after a grading, I need to feel more feminine. This one big reason I think many women start karate and then give it up. They find their femininity. We struggle with hitting someone even if at the beginning we won't do any harm. We build up muscles that we don't necessarily want to look bigger. Then there is the sweat, let's not even go there. Not to mention unladylike positions such as Shiko-dachi also known as horse stance. Bruises are common even for the most careful clubs. Not really something that most women want to show off and boyfriends/partners/husbands can be accused of abuse.

Putting in the time

Then there is the dedication. You really have to be willing to put a lot of time and practice in. Many women can't or are not willing to. Guys are much more serious and focused about their hobbies. Where as women generally need a reason to put this amount of effort in. They are far more likely to go running for charity. When you get my level you need to be going to class at least twice a week or practicing every day.

It's a male domain

The guys in our club are great they don't differentiate, but it is still a male domain, with all the talk and attitude you find with groups of men. This can be very uncomfortable sometimes. Especially when you feel emotional. Guys don't tend to cry and certainly don't have the ups and downs that we have with such regularity.

2121 and 2222 = 4 ambigrams

2011-03-13T22:53:00.000Z

Daniel into Robert

Two designs in different fonts. One for each parent. Mother is having a tattoo done. I really struggled to find a solution for this one and when I found something I couldn't get it to work properly with any fonts. It was the mix of upper and lower case that was making it awkward and hard to read. I could get Robert looking very good and neat, but Daniel always looked messy. In the end to make it work I had to adjust many of the letters.

To make this one work I had to offset some of the letters for each word. So a modified half of R and the T or t make the D. The other half of R and a t to make A. Open up the b to make an n. Then o to make an i, not an easy transition. To tackle this I have used an open o to make one i and used a font which had a flat bottomed o for the other i. Then I've used half of a B with L to make the EL and R.

Robert means bright with fame and is generally considered funny and carefree. Daniel means god is my judge and is generally considered brave.

Miranda

This was another difficult one to make look right. The soloution was fairly easy for the middle part, iran rotated quite naturally with the curve of the r making the tail of the a and the ir working as the n. It was just the M into da that was giving me trouble. In my sketches I had several variations but in the end I just had to play around in Illustrator until it worked.

I just love my customer's response "omg i got it! it looks fantabulous!!!"

Miranda means to be admired.

Valery

This looks like a fairly straightforward solution but it took me quite a while to find it. Slightly adjusted y makes the V. r inverted with a crossbar from the E makes the A. E makes the L. The hardest thing about this one was to make it readable between le.

Valery means vigorous and mighty and they are generally considered to be happy and funny.

Holly into Geoff

Most of this one was fairly easy. The two ffs easily transform to H, which meant I could keep the o the same both ways. The G/y combination I knew was there, it was just a matter of finding a font with the right characteristics. One added problem to that was that the customer wanted a calligraphy style and most of the solutions to the G/y combination were script.

My biggest problem was to work out how to make two lls or LLs turn into an e or E. The soloution I had on paper just didn't work at all. I actually found the answer by accident, where I had placed a few letters on top of each other in illustrator. I am really pleased with this one and so is my customer who has been trying to get one for two years. She had to wait a year for me to find the solution! This is one reason I offer them for free and state the condition of no deadline.

Holly gets it's meaning from the plant and often used for Christmas baby girls. Geoff means man of peace. These names are the customer's husband and daughter's names. She wanted it for a tattoo and is going to have some colour added to it. I can't wait to see it, but then I guess I'll just have to be patient, as she was for me.

#Karate: Mind, Body and Spirit

2011-02-23T23:57:00.000Z

A lot of people don't understand the huge amount of dedication it takes to do Karate properly. By properly I mean you don't just train your body to do the moves and your mind to understand them. If it were just that more people would do it. You also train your spirit, that indefinable thing that makes up your personality and gives you strength and weakness.

Your greatest enemy is yourself

In karate everything is about your weaknesses and making them strong. Some days it feels like nothing is right, but then there are no rights, only betters and plenty of wrongs. Each student's weaknesses are different. Some have physical issues, some concentration.

Mine is confidence and self-conciousness. It has and most likely will always be my greatest weakness. This does always seem to mean that I get emotional and cry a lot about it. I don't know if this is because I am female or if other people who have confidence issues have the same problem. It's possibly just a family gene when things are too emotional good or bad. My brother is well known for crying when he gets emotional, when he was little, we nicknamed him wimpus maximus. But this isn't a weakness at all, to cry, as you are releasing pent up emotion. I just wish it didn't come with a snotty nose and a blotchy red face.

Today was one of those lessons. What set me off was trying not to smile and Kiai at the same time. Well smiling is obviously one of my coping mechanisms, when I feel stressed or in a way picked on. I say in a way because it's all meant to help improve what you are doing. I would far rather have these things pointed out to me and I got upset, than not. Strangely I do actually feel better than before I went to class today.

Conquer or die!

My family is decended from the scottish clan of McNeil, whose motto is 'conquer or die'. To me this means never give up on what you want. I take comfort from the fact that I still feel able to turn up after one of these lessons and keep going. There was a point where I thought of giving it all up and I did try to, but I want karate in my life despite these hardships. So I am going to conquer this!

Have you faced yourself?

If you don't what I'm talking about, then you really can't have faced yourself. It is the hardest challenge of your life. If you are a black belt and you don't know what I am talking about, then I as 2nd kyu am at a higher level than you. I'm not being arrogant just stating a fact. You might have all the greatest technique and skill, but if you come up against your weakness you may not survive. It could knock you for six. I know I can get past mine and keep going.

Boomerang and yo-yo jobs, with argy-bargy on the side

2011-02-07T23:09:00.000Z

I'm not a big fan of work jargon and try not to use it, wherever possible, but, I have my own jargon for my job. I think it's a character trait I've picked up for my Dad. It's certainly something we do in our family, make up new terms to describe something or if someone says something but means something else, it sticks. For example pickle in our family is always known as tickle, ever since one of us called it that when we were little.

There are some terms of jargon we cannot avoid using and often forget that other people not in our job won't understand it. You can tell when you've used jargon on people, as they soon give you that dazed and confused look.

Boomerang and yo-yo jobs

I nver used to be much of a metaphor person, but the older I get the more I keep refering to some of my jobs as boomerangs or just this week a yo-yo.

Boomerang

This is a job that you can sometimes catch before it unsuspectingly crashes around the back of your head. There are often long gaps in between working on it. I seem to have a lot of these types of jobs at the moment. These jobs have a tendency to turn into…

yo-yo

…jobs. This is when you keep getting asked to do amendments in quick sucession. I had one of these on Friday. Everytime I thought I was finished and the job was going to be sent print, it came back for more amendments. I didn't even get the chance to start something else, because as soon as I got my head around it, I had to go back to the yo-yo job.

This is not a good way of working and usually amounts to bad or no planning, or committee involvement (too many cooks and all that). It generally involves me dropping what ever else I am working on to meet short or passed deadlines. It's particularly galling if the job was a boomerang first, because you know that this last minute panic was completely unneccessary. Quite often you can end up going back to your first draft.

Have a good plan

It takes only a few minutes to flesh out a plan. I try to get all my clients to give me a proof and required deadline. ASAP (as soon as possible) just isn't helpful to anyone. Firm dates that all the people involved can work to are what's needed. It's also good to see what else is going on at the same time, so you don't clash or put undue pressure on people at their busiest time.

It's even more important to do plans now, in this economic climate where people now have to be and do more for less. It really isn't efficient to be doing so much toing and froing. It usually means things are missed and people make more mistakes and everyone is stressed. After all we are only human, there is only so much we can manage.

Eventually the dog gets tired of bringing the ball back!

A little argy-bargy on the side

One term that I am quite attached to is argy-bargy. This has come from me trying to say RGB (Red, Green and Blue) too quickly, and ever since I cannot stop myself from saying it, even though I have to explain it every time. I like it because it makes me smile inside.

Blue January

2011-01-26T13:37:00.001Z

I've been pretty busy this month, at work and at home.

The year ahead

There are lots of changes afoot at work with all the council budget work and my team are working harder than ever. Communication is very important when morale is low, due to cuts and other changes, and workloads are heavy and getting heavier.
I'm also preparing to go freelance properly this year. I have set up my business bank account, registered with the Tax man, and started to create samples of wedding invites and been updating my website so that it looks more like business site than a hobby site.

I will be offering design of logos and stationery, as well as services, such as photo editing, website content updating for individuals and small businesses. I will be setting fixed prices per job, as I think this is easier for my target audience and for me to work out.

The bad news

This month hasn't been a great start to the year for many reasons, not to mention that we've hardly had a day where it hasn't rained. In fact the view outside has been about as interesting as this wall picture.

My website address

My website address rachelnpepper.co.uk expired this month and due to an error when I originally set it up in 2007, I never received an email to renew it before it expired. When I tried to renew, it got very complicated. You see there are three companies involved.
I bought it through microsoft small business, who have actually been quite helpful with detailed instructions of how to fix the problem! They are only a reseller though and can't help now it has expired. The registrar's, Melbourne IT however have not. They took two days to send an automated reply and a further two days to just send me a link and no actual personal reply. Microsoft support reply the same day with the detailed instructions. One thing they neglected to mention though, which could have saved me a lot of time and effort, was the fact that it would cost me 150 dollars to renew! I could also renew direct from Nominet for 80 dollars! The original registration was free.

To rub salt into this money wound, is the fact buying a new domain name from Microsoft small business is only £7.99 a year for a dot com or £10.99 for two years and a dot co dot uk. So I had a choice to make renew and pay a fortune or wait 90 days for it to become available again while using the free address or set up again from scratch with a new domain name. This third option is what I've done, I've saved my website locally. Bought a new name, rachelnpepper.com This time I've set it up properly so I won't have the same problem next year. Unfortunately this means I've lost all the link building and my website is relatively lost again. I'm hoping as it's not too different that people who were looking for it, will be able to find it quickly.

Sparky

My brother had to put his dog, Sparky down. A lovely friendly golden lab that was a good friend to him after my dad and brother died. Still he had a good run, fourteen years. Pepper learnt how to play ball and how to rip things up from Sparky. Sparky really enjoyed ripping things up and we never managed to find a toy he couldn't destroy.

Uncle Joe

My nan's sister uncle Joe gave up his fight of various illnesses. He was good man and an artist. He liked to paint and was quite an extravert character. Quite the fighter, he survived several ops to fix his legs, despite being allergic to most anaesthetics. He ended up only having about an inch of actual bone left in one leg. He really didn't have a very good end to his life, it was prolonged and very painful. But I guess he wanted to live otherwise he wouldn't have fought so hard. He hated being left out and always wanted to know what was going on. I made the above for him on his 80th birthday last year.

Positive thinking

In some ways it was good that the above happened. I do believe everything happens for a reason. It reminds me of my favourite quote "It's all good". It's from the series Dark Angel, the episode called Prodigy where Max saves the day in a hostage situation.

(The three of them arrive outside the hotel just in time to see soldiers taking away Dr. Tanaka’s body. Who has just been thrown off a roof.)

ORIGINAL CINDY: See that? Now don’t even try telling me that it’s all good.

HERBAL: All the time.
...
ORIGINAL CINDY: No, that is evil, straight up.

HERBAL: Yes, it’s evil.

SKETCHY: Wait. So if it’s all good, all the time, and you acknowledge that what just happened is evil... well, aren’t you sort of saying evil is good?

HERBAL: Yes, now you overstand. You have to forgive evil, all right? But love in spite of evil.

ORIGINAL CINDY: You need to put down the spliff, because it is clouding your mind.

SKETCHY: Now, I’m going to have to more or less agree with Original Cindy on this one, Herbal. And I ain’t no stranger to stoner logic. The guy looked pretty damn dead.

(Later after Max has saved the day and the boy...)

ORIGINAL CINDY: Max! You okay, shugga?

MAX: I just kept my head down and let the mens fight it out. It’s all good.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Yeah, it’s all good.

SKETCHY: All the time.

HERBAL: All the time.

Here's hoping that we get all the crap at the beginning of the year and then it's onward and upward, rather than down and down. I'm optimistic.

New Years Resolutions 2011

2011-01-03T16:25:00.000Z

So it's that time of year again. This year after last year's complete inability to achieve my resolutions, I am not making any new resolutions but carrying them over instead.

I actually managed to go backward on some, but I don't see this as a failure. More as an opportunity to reevaluate how I am going to achieve them. I did make progress on a few.

Main goals

not be late for appointments. — Better but sporadic.
finish something I have started before starting something new. — also slightly better, but the chore idea didn't work at all.

Secondary goals:

Go to karate at least once a week and try to go twice — this one I managed and it's really paying off.
To write to this blog at least once a fortnight — almost, if you average it out, I did manage it, and did write at least once a month. Interesting to see that the months I wrote less in were the months I was really busy at work.
Improve my turnaround of ambigram designs — I think this is better, but only marginally.
Get more exercise — if I'm honest this has got much worse depite the extra karate.
Drink more water — this one definitely got worse and the minus temperates we've had haven't helped with keeping hydrated, this one really need to focus on.
Practice a karate kata at least one a day — hardly ever happened!
Try to keep up with my friends more than just on facebook — possibly a slight improvement
Go to bed earlier and get up earlier — This has gone backwards, really need to crack on with this one.

For this year I think 4, 5 and 8 need to be my main goals.

Remember, you can treat each day as a new day to start your resolutions. I say start on a day you feel good and don't worry if you don't get there. There is always next year and the year after, just don't give up!

Good Luck!!

Ambigrams are magic

2010-12-22T21:33:00.000Z

Every time I do a new piece of work, I aim to do something better than what I have created before. It doesn't have to to be a big leap, just a bit better. I think this approach is paying off. It is something I've learnt from practicing karate. Focus on improving a little all the time.

These three ambigrams are just that, better than before. The spacing between letters is better and they are truer to the original typeface.

Magic

I decided to do this one, because of Harry Potter. Yes really. I settled on just the word magic. Ambigrams are like magic. People who see them say so and think it's really clever. It's interesting to note that in the description of the word magic, part of the definition is optical illusion. Dating from 18 century.

For this I have used the i and c which are joined together already in the typeface to make the m. They are unchanged apart from the dot, which I duplicated and rotated to make the star, and makes it look magical! The G/A is just the G modified. I removed the decender and straightened out the curve to make it look more like an A.

Jonathan

I was having trouble with this one, it eluded me for quite sometime. When I found a solution in my sketches, I couldn't find a typeface that would make it work. The A/t combination was bothering me quite a lot. The uppercase and lowercase just wouldn't work together into easy reading. I was going to go back to the drawing board, when I hit on inspiration. Why not use an art deco style where all the crossbars are high or low in the letter and offset the two. I think it works perfectly.

The J/n I added the curve of the A and extended the top bar to go the width of the name. This makes it look even more architectural. The a/o is the O made much smaller and outlined to give it the same thickness as the other letters, and a tail added to make a when reversed. There is no lowercase in this typeface. The N becomes an H naturally when reversed. The t is created from the A by just deleting one leg.

The name Jonathan means gift from god and most people would imagine Jonathan's to be strong, resourceful and handsome. So the style is quite fitting.

Matt Tram

This was a request through my Zazzle store over a year ago, and although I don't think the requester is still around I have still gone ahead and done this, just in case. They did ask for it in a style similar to my gemini ambigram, but I think this handwritten style suits it much better. I did try several typefaces to make it similar to the gemini one, but they just didn't look as personal as this one. This has a wonderful signature feel to it, like an artist would use.

Strange that I should complete this at the same time as Jonathan, as Matt also means gift from god.

I haven't actually done very much to this at all. m and a are joined by their tails, which is why they look so far apart, but I think this adds to the handwritten feel and makes it look more authentic. r was combined with the tail of the a and the T added to it. First and last T is just two combined and on all the Ts the bar is extended using an em dash to keep the line looking similar.

Carlie is an Angel, Ambigrams are Cool

2010-12-01T15:08:00.000Z

Angel into Carlie

This request for Carlie into Angel was to celebrate the life of a dear friend to the client who has passed on. Since I know how important these things are, I wanted to make this really good and clear. The client had seen what I had wrote about Sara being elegant just like her and wanted something similar. She had tried other websites with the generators but the designs all looked chunky. This is where a more personal service like mine comes into its own.

Initially I wanted to have a capital A but it really wasn't working, so I went back to the more obvious lowercase a/e combination. Usually I try to do each letter to its direct opposite but I had already seen that the li would work nicely for the n and I would have more luck changing the G into an R.This meant the letters were offset and I could do the other a/e combination in exactly the same way as the first set. This makes for a nice balanced and consistent look. Some ambigramists think that you should try to do a word either all in capitals or lowercase. I agree with this up to a point, but I know that the more shape you give to a word the easier it is to read.

The C into L always works nicely. The extra swirl on the G/R helps to make the letters more readable and gives a nice centre point. It was created from the Q in the font I've used for this.

Ambigrams are Cool

I did this a few months ago and never got round to blogging about it. It was really quite a simple one, blend the C and L. This one even joins up nicely as a pattern. I've put it on a tie in my Zazzle store.

A large party followed a small ceremony

2010-11-24T17:30:00.000Z

My Mum's wedding and following party went really well. Here is the finished design of my mum's wedding invites. To protect their privacy, their names have been deleted.

Because the ceremony was only a small affair, only about 8 invites were needed, so I did a full cut out of the star edges. Rather than just a curve which is on my template. On the inside flaps are the star sign symbols and constellations of the couple. You might have read carried away to the stars where I wrote about these.

I picked a paper that is 100gsm and slightly sparkly. It fits inside a standard CD envelope and the placecards are three along the top, to save wasting the remaining paper. The blue was chosen because the groom supports Chelsea.

The Hotel did the menus and she didn't bother with any printed order of service.

The party

A month after the ceremony Mum had a much larger party for about 50 people. She was going to have invites for this based on the ones above, but finally decided to go for something completely different. This design was to be autumnal, in the fuller years of life. Mum specifically wanted autumn leaves. Initially I had a problem with this. I was finding it very difficult to design something celebratory, signifying a new and blossoming relationship, with dead and dying leaves!

To get past this I took a look at what other people had done for autumn wedding designs, it seems to be a popular idea. To do something different from the search results, I went for a very simple confetti maple leaf design in a backward c shape, and a photo of the happy couple also blowing in the wind. My Mum loved it.

It was done using the maple leave brush in photoshop and then sprayed in the curve, using bright colours. When I put the text on I had to delete a few for readability.

I have recreated a version of the design in my Zazzle store, and to my surprise it has one an award for that day, of being Today's best.

Ambigrams of Sarah Louise, Ashley and Javien

2010-10-12T15:26:00.000+01:00

Sarah Louise

Extra curl added to the S to make the e. S joined to the i to make an A without a crossbar. R slightly altered to look more u like. Foot added to an o to make an a and one leg removed from the H and crossbar moved up a bit more, it was already high. Which makes the L. I would have liked to find a more obvious solution for this H/L combination.

I really like this font Desdemona for ambigrams, it's quite a different style to most ambigrams and has a really clean look. It quite suits the name meaning with letters looking a bit sword like.

Sarah means Princess. Old Testament name - wife of the patriarch Abraham. Source
Louise means Renowned in battle. Source
So Sarah Louise means Princess renowned in battle. A strong name I think.

Ashley

I wanted to do this one in the same style as Javien as they were requested by the same person. This meant finding a font that would work for both combinations. As Javien was relatively easy I concentrated on finding one that would work for Ashley first. I've created it on a slant to help draw the eye for better readability.

I have used the y with the crossbar from an A. Added a tail to the s to make it more e like and then taken the crossbar from the H and combined with two ls.

Ashley started off as place names then as a surname and was made popular after a character in the film 'Gone With the Wind'. Can mean from the ash tree field. Source 1 Source 2

Javien

This one was relatively easy. Just combined the n to the J. Used the e as both the e and a. Combined two vs and added the dot from the i. It would also work for Javier if you used the r instead of the n with the J.

Javien means son of Japheth. Source

Coincidence?

2010-09-17T19:41:00.000+01:00

Some background

As you know if you read my blog, I create ambigrams. This came from reading about John Langdon who created the ambigrams for the Dan Brown books. The Dan Brown book Angels and Demons is written on the subject of symbology and and a group called a Illuminati, which is a secret society.

Some facts

My partner bought the house we live in from brand new and it is in a driveway with two others. We are the only three houses on this postcode.
We have received a large a4 envelope addressed to a Helen Sweeney, 2 The Canter - Then our address. we know of no Helen in the village and no address that begins 2 The Canter in the village. So I opened it.

Inside the envelope was a brochure for Letchworth's The Shop at Freemasons' Hall. Freemasons' are largely considered to be a secret society and have many decorative symbols. These range from their main square and compasses and the all seeing eye to including many religious, scientific, heraldic and astrological symbols.

Is it coincidence?

I have an overactive imagination, and this has sent my mind in many directions, for what is probably just a database error.
What do you think?

Small changes make a big impact

2010-09-15T12:19:00.000+01:00

Last week I went with the a few members of my team to visit a couple of branch libraries. This is a service we offer staff, where we go and give a fresh pair of eyes (in this case four pairs) look at the library, and see if we can suggest some small changes that don't cost anything or use effective existing practices used elsewhere in the county. It is quite similar in approach to the programs like Hotel Inspector and Duncan Bannatyne's Seaside rescue programs.

It is a good way of promoting our team and the services we can provide for them.

What we look at

I look at all the signage, posters and leaflets, and usually make a list of ones that need updating or remade following branding standards. Our merchandising officer looks at what is on sale and how it can be better displayed, positioned and promoted. Our marketing officer looks at all the services on offer and how we can better promote them.

We all look at the visual appeal of the library, generally this means walking around as if we were customers. It's simple and something even the staff can do. You can do it for any business, and it should be done fairly regularly. Anything that is not our area, such as a health and safety, building maintenance or stock issues, we can feed back to other central teams. This can be good things as well, like one of the libraries had some really nice book displays and lots of face forward on the shelves. I have relayed back to our Reader Development Team, who are always looking for examples of good practice.

Clutter

All buildings/workplaces suffer from clutter, an overload of stuff. Just stuff. Take a look around your own workplace and unless you are the most zen person or have major OCD you will find a lot of stuff that just isn't necessary. Until you make a point of looking, you will not really notice it or just live with it.

This is particularly difficult for Library staff, because by their nature, everything is useful. We have to convince them that less is more. It is easier to see and easier to find things.

At nearly every library we visit, there is an overload of leaflets, duplicate posters on every wall and surface.
Most of the time we can reduce these by half. It's about being selective and prioritising.

Is it really necessary to have leaflets for something in Folkestone, when you are located in Dartford. You certainly won't need lots. This kind of leaflet could be put in a folder.

Putting your own services first

One of the libraries we visited last week was only one room. It had four noticeboards full of posters, the counter was full of leaflets, one of the bookshelves had the top full of leaflets and then they had a table and a spninner full of leaflets. How many of these were advertising our own services - less than 10%! In many cases we provide this space free of charge as well.

One of the noticeboards and one whole side of the counter was covered in Adult Education course leaflets and posters. And they also had a cardboard display stand full of the course brochures. They were not charging for the display area either. Anyone would have thought they were doing the courses in the Library. Actually the nearest centre was in the main town a few miles away.

Now Adult Education is part of KCC and our directorate, Communities, so we do have to support them, but we do not have to give over to all their requests. Personally I think they were taking advantage of our staff. They are prolific with their advertising and in this case overwhelming this one room library.

What we did

After walking around the library inside and outside and making some notes and coming up with some ideas, we put them to the staff and discussed. Then we asked what they wanted to go ahead and try, while we were there as extra pairs of hands.

Firstly we took down any out of date publicity and weeded through the leaflets to see if they were still current. It's surprising how often this is overlooked, but to be fair the staff don't often know or aren't told. Then we brought all the leaflets together in one place to decide what was most relevant for the library's customer base. Then we reduced them further by deciding what could be put in a reference folder.

This meant we could get rid of a large spinner and move a table to a place where it could actually be used by customers instead of being covered in leaflets and causing an access obstruction to the computers. The counter became less cluttered and the main place to have leaflets.

I took a list of the locally made signage to redo to match the rest of the library and took down any posters that needed updating and a few leaflets that needed branding or amalgamating.

Our merchandising officer, brought all of the items for sale in the library together and rearranged them into a more unified display.

We suggested that some of the bookstock was relocated to create more space. Initially the local staff were resistant, but with a little convincing and help from their line manager we got them to try it. This was good because it meant we could remove a spinner by moving the books and create space for the table mentioned above.

My early ambigram names

2010-09-12T22:21:00.000+01:00

I've been making changes to my static ambigram webpages. I've grouped all the names in alphabetical order, so customers can quickly see if their name is there. I'm planning on making high resolution JPG, PNG and EPS downloads available to buy. Not sure sure what to charge yet but I'm thinking around £30 to £50. This is based on researching other ambigram website prices. The free design service will still be available, but I will only provide small versions for any new requests from December. You can also use the small versions for free and non-profit purposes.

As part of this process I've simplified the pages with all the images linking to the blog post that describes the process I when through. This makes it easier to see them all together and means I am not duplicating information in two places.

This left me with some short descriptions of some early creations. I've padded these out below. Read why I started creating this facinating wordart.

About 2005-2006

Rachel

This is one of my earliest creations. Well of course I would try my own name first. I didn't find the more fitting solution rotating the a/e, that I would use now. But then it does make this one quite different and I think it gives it something extra — no I am making that up, I just want it to be special because it's my name.

Rachel means innocent lamb. Hmmm.

Glynis

Not too sure about this one created for my mum. the extra loops on the G were created from parts of other letters. It's a little chaotic, but then so is she, and she has since told me that she quite likes that fact.

Glynis means = elaboration of the Welsh word glyn meaning "valley" from Behind the Name

Karen

This really suits my friend as she is a very strong character. K is created from an adjusted n mirrored and joined with a couple of decorative lines. Using a decorative block of her favourite colour, I tried to make the n look easier to read. I have since seen some very nice different solutions for the K/n combination.

Karen means 'loving, charitable' in Welsh. My friend is definitely this.

Sara

I am really pleased with the way this one turned out, it looks very elegant and creative, much like the person I created it for. I cut one side of the A off and merged it with the S and r. The extra swirl that underlines and overlines is half of ~ character very stretched.

Sara means princess.

Phil

For my brother. The original sketch has footballs for the P, but they didn't work so well once vectored. I used a typeface with slightly separated elements, so it was easy to split the H and add to the i. The dot from the i enlarged makes the inside of the P. The outside is just a circle cut in half.

Phil means one who loves horses or "friend of horses". Derived from Greek elements "philos" (friend) and "hippos" (horse)

Completed about 2005-2008

Gary

This one was particularly difficult to make readable. I settled on cutting the bottom of a g off to make the y and attaching part of the r to an a.

Gary means one who rules with the spear.

Gill

A colleague at work. I haven't shown it to her as yet. Probably because I'm not to happy with the L, it looks too much like a b. i is created by using L and reducing the length in the middle.

Gill means of the bright promise/one who is trustworthy.

Completed 2008-2009

Kai

A challenge from a Facebook ambigram group wall post, who was told it couldn't be done. I have to admit the i and K are quite a problem. I have used both sides and the negative space of the K to create the i.

Someone else called Kai has created a better solution to this name, but in a very different style to mine.

This was her comment "I think your ambigram looks really stylish, and the A is nicely done, I just never like using lines that don't represent a letter, like the vertical line after the i, but I suppose that's just my taste."

Kai means forgiveness in Japanese

Nigel

For one of my Karate instructors. This was quite a tricky one. I made a great deal of customisation of each letter for this one, so it's really not my best work.

Nigel means the best or champion or "cloud".

Pepper

This looked easy, but I really had trouble finding a solution for the P/R combination.
I worked on this one on and off from 2005 completed May 2009.

Dogs are usually named Pepper who are spotty or black.

All name meanings, unless stated, come from Quick Baby Names

Aiden/Conner ambigram

2010-08-30T14:08:00.000+01:00

This ambigram was very difficult, with one name shorter than the other and some difficult letter combinations. It took three pages of sketches before I found anything I thought I could work with. The first problem was to decide which letters would be the best to combine two to one. Normally this would be the i but since this was in the shorter name, that wasn't an option. Every letter had to be modified to fit it's rotated letter, so it's not ideal. I am quite pleased with the result though.

I think the combination looks best when they are put together as it makes the A and d less prominent when rotated into the er and stops the n looking like a p.

The person I created it for was after a design that said wow to him and was going to have it as a tattoo. They are his sons names. He is a naval officer and I can just imagine this reading down from shoulder to elbow. Unfortunately I don't know if he is going to go with it or not. The only reply was a very nice thankyou.

I wonder sometimes if I should add more to my designs, such as flourishes and other embellishments, since so many people like them for tattoos. But then this would detract from the readability and simplicity that I have. The customer can always ask their tattoo artist to add these things I'm sure if they are true artists, they will be able to find something suitable to match.

#Karate: Getting your wiggle on

2010-08-25T23:32:00.000+01:00

So I was sitting in my car on the way home from my latest Karate lesson pushing my hands into the steering wheel but not just pushing from my arms. Instead I was just dropping my shoulders and curving my back. It's just a small movement but it is very strong.

During the lesson we focussed on three of our katas, Empi Waza, Sanshin and Tencho. They all have similar stances and similar ways of generating movement. The above movement was the second thing we looked at. I have have to say it is far easier to find sitting in the car than in the sanshin stance, you have less to think about.

The first thing we looked at was our stance and how to find the right position that was comfortable but still effective. This will be different for every single person but will look a certain way for everyone. In this stance you have to push downward to get energy from the floor and extend upward and outward but still staying relaxed. It sounds hard and I can assure you it really is. This is why I've titled this post getting your wiggle on, because to find these positions you literally wiggle about until it feels right. By right I mean strong but relaxed, tensed and sprung but not so tense you can't move.

After that we put it all together, well tried anyway. This is the essence of learning our style of karate every single position has a tonne of thought put into it and although we weren't moving around very fast, we were probably exercising more muscles than going to the gym. I certainly felt just as exhausted as if I had done pairs work all lesson.

You'll probably only find these positions once or twice in every session you practice them. There are no shortcuts (unless you are exceptionally naturally gifted), just practice, practice and practice.

Alice ambigram and last two zodiac signs

2010-08-11T23:27:00.002+01:00

Sometimes a design for an ambigram just hits you. Mostly it takes plenty of sketches before you even come close to making it work. I follow a friend of mine's blog called Understanding Alice (a good blog to read if you like poetry, food, faith, being green or anything to do with youthwork). So I have been thinking about one for her for a while. But I hadn't started any sketching and today the solution just presented itself to me. I picked this style of type because it reminds me of Alice in Wonderland.

This one for Alice needed just a little modification. I've used the lowercase c for the l and just stretched the plain end a little. For the a/e i've used the lowercase a and just shortened the stroke at the top to make it a bit more e shaped. Alice means a truthful and morally stong person.

Last two Zodiac signs

I finally got round to doing these last two symbols, that I started way back in May. I nearly finished them at the end of that month but got stuck on Gemini and Virgo. This was because they had to be people symbols and this is not my strong point. However I have now completed them and I'm quite pleased with the results.

This means I now have a full collection of zodiac symbols both in colour and black and white. I am happy for people to use these for non-profit purposes. Just let me know what you have used them for in the comments below. The full set can be found on Flickr, Facebook or Picasa.

Another 4 name ambigrams

2010-07-31T13:44:00.001+01:00

Em and Emma

These are ones that everyone can try. just pick a script style where the m looks the same both ways and then flip first two letters to make the second two. The lady I designed these for is a friend of a friend who is going to use as a logo for her handmade jewellery. She is going to trace the Em one onto black card with a silver pen. It is really good for her as her name is Emma and her surname begins with M. Emma means embracing everything.

Rhenn/Ryann

This is a perceptual shift ambigram and reads both names without rotation, just a refocus of your eyes. I think I should have spent more time looking for the right typeface because although it works I think it could be much better. Still this is my first real attempt at a perceptual shift style. Ryann means little king and couldn't find a meaning for Rhenn.

Monique

This has got to be one of my favourite creations so far. It was a fairly simple solution in the end. The M makes ue and the Q makes the o. Then join the ns together and add a dot for the i. My client said "I love it!! Thank you sooo much!! It’s awesome! :D" Monique means advisor.

A fairytale holiday

2010-07-28T21:06:00.000+01:00

I've recently been away for a well deserved two weeks travelling in Europe.

It started with a poster which I have had on my wall at work for over three years, of the fairytale castle Neuschwanstein (pronounced nosh wine stein) in Bavaria. It is the castle that Walt Disney copied for Sleeping Beauty and the two disney parks. I've been told that parts of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was filmed there.

We decided to drive. I set a route that took us through the Channel Tunnel to France, up to Brussels in Belgium, across to Luxembourg. Where we stayed for the night. Then dropping down Germany to the southern part called Bavaria. Where we stayed for eight days. For the return journey; a tiny bit of Austria, the whole of Liechtenstein, with an overnight stay in Basel, Switzerland. For the home stretch a stop in Dijon, France and then two nights in a Eurodisney park hotel, Paris, France. The less said about that hotel the better — seriously don't stay there.

Brussels: Iron, blistering barnacles!

The Atomium

Even if you don't go up this, it is still a sight to see. Quite expensive at 11 euros, we didn't go up. It contains several exhibitions in each sphere and a restaurant at the top. Most of them are scientific in nature.

It's a massive structure at 102 metres high in the shape of an iron crystal enlarged 165 billion times. atomium.be

Hergé Museum

Tintin and Snowy are national heroes in Belgium and this Museum all about the creator Hergé is wonderful. If you are a designer I recommend you visit this museum or at the very least read up on Hergé.

The museum is beautiful on it's own, when you finally find it. They are still building the area which is a university town. It is very modern and minimalist with sharp architectural angles and a very interesting route through the building starting on the top floor. Any graphic designer would be in heaven here, without reading about Hergé who was actually much more and quite ahead of his time.

Tintin and Snowy are childhood favourites of mine and I avidly read all of the books.

Luxembourg: What to see

This is a tiny country and we were told there was nothing here. Unfortunately we only had time to have a quick drive around. From what we saw there are quite a few historical buildings set in cobbled streets.

I did read up about a mass of tunnels under the town that used to be lived in as if they were above ground.

Ulm, Germany: Giant Münster tower

We stopped here to stretch our legs and take a look at the Münster (the Cathedral) and Rathaus (Town Hall).

The cathedral has the highest church tower in the world.

The town hall is highly decorated with paint on the outside and a clock depicting the signs of the zodiac.

The whole town is situated on the river Danube.

Bavaria: A fairytale land

Being in Bavaria is like being in a fairytale. There are lots of gothic buildings, baroque churches and it seems like a castle on every hill top. Their churches, shops and town halls are all painted with bright colours and important buildings have very detailed architecture painted on them. Because of this you feel like something is going to be filmed or has been filmed here. Indeed the Brothers Grimm who collected and published many fairytales came from Germany.

It was here staying at the foot of the austrian alps, just around the corner from the castle I originally came to see. As you can see our view was beautiful overlooking one of the many lakes in the area.

Castles

Neuschwanstein was created by King Ludwig II who had no real power over Bavaria. He was fascinated with the operas of Wagner and many painted scenes in the castle are based on these.

There is another castle right near Neuschwanstein called Hohenschwangau. I actually prefer this one, it's much less over the top inside and to me more castle looking. It also looks more impressive from the the ticket office for both in the valley below. Probably because it is much nearer. Both castles were rebuilt from ruins.

Ludwig's father created Hohenschwangau. Ludwig grew up and spent much of his time in this castle. He never managed to finish his own castle. Hohenschwangau means high place of swans.

Inside both castles the walls have paintings directly painted on the walls of scenes from legends. You have to walk up to the castles from the ticket office or take a horse and carriage. We didn't take the horses on principle. They looked hot, tired and thirsty in the 33 degree heat. You also have to take a tour to go around the castle and no photos are allowed.

Füssen

Interestingly the patron saint of the area we were staying in is St George — yes the same one England has as it's patron, the one who killed the dragon! I'm sure there are more than a few Brits who aren't happy about this.

We had lots of warning comments from friends about going to Germany after England was beaten by them in the football. Luckily the Germans don't appear to feel the same way about the English, although we did get more than a few looks at the GB plated brand new BMW we were driving! Some people even stopped in the middle of the road we were trying to get down to stare at the car.

Munich

Munich has an interesting mix of old and new. There is masses to see here and everything really demands a day visit. We went to BMW Welt (world) and the Nymphenburg Palace.

german efficiency we were expecting! The buildings are huge and they have their own bridge across the road to their museum.

This was mainly my man's day. I thought the museum would only be one room or floor, not three floors. One of the few parts of the museum I would have been interested in the advertising and design room was closed for refurbishment!

There were however a couple of interesting things there. One is when they are designing they look at things right down to a tenth of a millimetre! That's right 1 tenth of a millimetre for something as big as a car.

The other is, some of the main explanation that their logo was designed because of their history of designing aeroplane engines as part of why it looks why it does, is actually a myth. Their advertising department introduced this explanation several years after the logo was designed. It was actually more to do with the local flag colours of blue and white.

Palace Nymphenburg was massive and much like the two castles above. Highly decorated and many paintings and sculptures designed from legends.

It took us the whole day in 33 degree C heat to walk around. This is the ceiling of the main hall.

Lindau

This little island on Lake Constance has so many historical buildings, some dating back to I think I remember correctly to 800AD. Although we did find one marked 600AD, possibly — we didn't understand the german printed on the wall.

This building was my favourite as someone has decided this tower is similar to the one in the fairytale Rapunzel and decorated it accordingly.

Austria: Not much to see up this end

There really isn't.

We popped over the border and it looks pretty much the same as where we were staying. More lakes and alps but from the other side.

Liechtenstein: The smallest country

It really is we drove the whole length from top to bottom in less than an hour. We did stop to take a look at the ruling prince's castle.

We even walked up to a door before we realised it wasn't open to the public. You can probably see the whole of the country from up here.

Basel: Cultural capital of Switzerland

Another small country we did the width in half a day. We entered by way of Heidi land!

We spent the night here after a walk and dinner in the town centre. It's very similar to places like Edinburgh and Winchester. It has a fantastic deep red town hall and lots of historical buildings.

Situated on the Rhine, they have a strange custom, which is apparently the thing to do if you are tourist. Which is to jump in and let the current drag you downstream. You can just about see a few people in this photo. Looked too dangerous to us with those fast currents.

France: Where's the magic potion

This is one of my least favourite countries in the world and the French as a race (not individuals) I find rude and arrogant. My opinion hasn't changed even though the people we dealt with were all very pleasant. Out of all the countries we drove through, these were the roads my guy had to be most careful driving on. They don't indicate and are extremely impatient. We did however come to the conclusion after watching a poor girl almost climb out her car window to feed the road toll machine, that it probably isn't their fault. All of their designs and systems seem to be incredibly complicated and difficult to understand, even for the locals.

Apart from the towns this part of France was incredibly boring. The landscape is mostly endless flat fields of yellow as far as the eye can see. The most exciting thing on this part of the drive was to suddenly realise some of these fields of yellow were actually all sunflowers.

Dijon

We had to take a break half way there. I had chosen Dijon which had some nice old buildings in. It was very quiet as all the shops were shut for Bastille Day. If we'd gone to the tourist office first we could have toured the town on segways.

Eurodisney, Paris

I'm not really much of a fan of Disney, but the pink sleeping beauty castle was based on the castle that I based the whole holiday around. Sleeping beauty incidentally was one of the stories that the Grimm Brothers had collected. I shall skim over the the facts of Walt Disney being a chauvinist bigot and communist (witch) hunter. Plus the fact that many tales the Grimm Brothers collected were promoted by the Nazis and later recreated by Walt Disney with sugar coating. Wonder if this is where the inspiration for Disney's song 'a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down…' came from.

As you can see they are pretty similar.

I have to say if you want to go to a Disney Park do save up for the Florida one, which has much more and a nicer, cleaner atmosphere where you won't feel quite so ripped off money wise.

The highlights for us were the Star Wars Star Tour ride, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril ride and seeing Pluto and Goofy running away from their autograph hunters.

Parc Asterix, Paris

Now Asterix and Dogmatix like Tintin were also among my favourite childhood books. So I was really looking forward to this. Despite everything being in french I much preferred this theme park, for a start it wasn't so busy and you could get on the rides much quicker. The characters have much more personality with lots of mischief. Their merchandise was pretty cool too with, real armour and weapons on sale in one shop and real stone masonry in another as well as all the character products.

An added bonus is that they have dolphins there, one of my favourite animals after dogs of course.
The only disappointment was that they had a whole set of merchandise designed purely in pink for girls — honestly pink hammers and armour, ugh.

Space Hop and Discovery

2010-06-09T15:57:00.001+01:00

This year our libraries and archive centres have a focus on science.

Space Hop

There is the space hop summer reading challenge that is run through the summer holidays for children. An excellent national campaign that encourages children to read just six books through their summer holidays. They get rewarded with stickers and a medal at the end. I don't usually have to do very much in the way of artwork for this, as our reader development team buy in lots of publicity material.

The graphic illustrations were created Tom Percival who creates the Skulduggery Pleasant images. Which seems an odd choice for a pre-teen campaign. I like most of the graphics though, just not sure why there are meerkats. I'm thinking it might be because meerkats suddenly became popular after the compare the market/meerkat adverts on tv. I heard or read somewhere that the meerkat website had more hits than the car insurance side.

Like last year's Quest Seekers, there is a fab interactive website with games, missions and author details.
www.spacehop.org.uk

Frank Cottrell Boyce
I recently met this author as part of the Framed activities and he helped us promote Space Hop at the end of his finale event, with a some fab ad libbing of his own books. One of called Cosmic he wrote with research from real astronauts, and the NASA reading group read. (I think I've remembered this right)

On the subject of NASA
Looks like NASA's website has had a makeover, since I was last there, Much more modern and up to date. Shame they didn't look at the logo to. David Airey found a nice unofficial redesign of their logo.

Discovery

Archives in Science, Technology & Medicine
This is the archives awareness campaign for this year, something our libraries and archives are having events to celebrate. It's main aim is to get people interested in our countries historic archives. There are a wealth of treasured documents available to look at.

The libraries in our Canterbury district are doing vote for your favourite local scientist. They have put together a list of 22 scientists from the past with their links to Canterbury. Most of them were born or studied in the Canterbury area.

The staff have put a lot of effort and research into this. I was quite dissappointed that I wasn't able to get their publicity done earlier. The staff did do a lot of the preparation, so in the end all I had to do was give their work a tidy up and some identity. I used our purple project strip to do this — connect with Discovery 2010. It's amazing how much you can get away with creating publicity in word. It's not a program I prefer to work in and I certainly wouldn't if they were getting masses produced.

To keep the biographical sheets looking consistent, I modified the text style sheets within word. For those of you who don't know these are: they styles that say heading 1, 2, 3, normal etc. It's good to use these if you are creating document where lot's of paragraphs have to have the same formatting. Once you have set them up it's actually quicker to set your text.

Beatrix Potter
Sadly there are no women in Canterbury's list.

One of my favourite women in this area of scientific discovery, would be Beatrix Potter. She was one of the first to suggest that lichens were a symbiotic relationship between fungi and algae. She stood for women's rights, and was an excellent artist and storyteller. Not to mention saving much of the Lake District. She also had a springer spaniel called Spot.

Her Peter Rabbit character became the first licenced character. Our libraries are selling Beatrix Potter merchandise.

Just two Zodiac symbols left

2010-05-24T15:09:00.001+01:00

Following on from my previous post Carried away to the stars I've nearly done all of the zodiac symbols. I just have two left to design — Gemini and Virgo. Not quite sure how to do these two. Faces and people are always pretty hard. then there is the added complication of Virgo the Virgin! Really not sure how to show this.

Here are the next six.

Carried away to the stars

2010-05-03T19:46:00.002+01:00

My mum is getting married. This has a myriad of emotions for her (and my brother and me). This is because my Dad and my other brother died in a car accident in 1997. She wants the day to be special but not to betray what she feels for my dad and brother.

She asked me to design her wedding stationery. We had just checked out a possible venue together which would be using the star room. So she was quite keen to use stars, and we quickly moved on to astrology (a personal obsession of mine) and constellations. For style she wanted something completely untraditional and modern looking. This is to contrast with her first wedding, which was the big white do with all the trimmings. She mentioned art deco, which I never thought was her kind of style. (It's one of my favourites though).

So now I have to be careful not to get carried away, because she wants understated, special but not better than the first.

Too late

I've already got carried away though. I have collated all of my astrology information into a page for each star sign, which will contain an art deco symbol (I've only done four so far), the constellation, colours, planets, flowers, gemstones, trees and plants and even music keys.

Even my partner got inspired and started creating stars in blender. Here are his first ideas.

Mum has picked the last one, and the colours will probably be Chelsea blue and peach. this will be a focal point on the front of the invitation.

My star sign constellations

I started researching constellations of star signs. I didn't expect them to be so varied. Constellations are open to interpretation. This is mostly because they are 2D (dimensional) and space is 3, 4 or even 5D. So these days constellations have as much to do with astronomy as astrology. Not to mention the fact that star signs are now out of sync with their original months. They also look different depending on which part of the world you are.

I came to the conclusion that I should go with the earliest versions of the constellations that I could find, as these would be more accurate to astrology. Ideally I would have liked the medieval or greek versions, but I settled on ones in a book. The book was my brother's (the one that died) published in 1979. So I feel like he's contributed. It's written with real research and authenticated by scientists.

Aries

Taurus

Gemini

Cancer

Leo

Virgo

Libra

Scorpio

Sagittarius

Capricorn

Aquarius

Pisces

Art Deco

Art deco is mainly based on geometric shapes and is less curvy than Art Nouveau, although this is included in the period of Art Deco of the twenties. Read more at Wikipedia. It is quite a minimilist style so will give a more modern feel to the invites.

This is quite appropriate as the groom is a scaffolder, so the geometric shapes go quite well. The venue is styled from the twenties era where people brought back lots of chinese and egyptian artefacts.

For the invite and the placecards, I did a few sketches with lines and zigzags. I settled on three basic lines with a curve in the corner. In my head I had ideas for a couple of person specific art deco/nouveau square or circular type blocks. In the end I have settled on zodiac symbols.

This is what I have so far. I tried not to get carried away on these, but I couldn't resist doing my own as well as the bride and grooms. Using Illustrator, I started with basic ellipses and rectangles and kept everything fairly symetrical. Just a few tweaks here and there to give each one a bit of character.

Easy photo compression

2010-04-28T17:25:00.001+01:00

This is a quick tutorial for beginners using Windows and have Office loaded. Easy enough for my Mum to understand!

So you need to compress images for websites, and have to use your existing software. Then this is the tutorial for you.

Step 1

In file explorer (right click start or double left click my computer icon) make a copy of the images and place in a separate folder. Do this because once they are compressed, the quality will be reduced and you won't be able to get it back.

Then right click on one of the photos and choose open with Microsoft Office Picture manager.

Step 2

Under the picture menu choose compress images and a box will appear on the right.

Choose web pages and then ok. Do this for each image.

Step 3

Close and choose save

For the brave

If you feel like experimenting, there are quite a few options to alter the images too. Such as crop and colour correction.

Finally got to Virgo ambigram

2010-03-21T16:18:00.001Z

Ok so I cheated a little on this one, but I think it is offset enough to work. The VO combination was pretty much horrible in every way I tried, so making it part of the underline was a much nicer result.

Moochie and Zoe ambigrams

2010-03-14T15:50:00.002Z

Moochie

This ambigram represents a move on in my ability. I've started looking at two to one letter combinations to find solutions. It means the solutions I am coming up with look much clearer and less altered from the typeface. Previously I came across them by accident, now I am deliberately looking for them. The h just about works and the second o makes a nice centre focus.

Moochie is a pet name a term of endearment. Often used by parents or to name cats or dogs. Moochie also has the less attractive meaning of beggar.

Zoe

This was a relatively easy ambigram. All I had to do was find a crossed Z that looked like an E.

I thought the O looked like an egg so I coloured it pale blue like most common bird eggs. It's actually appropriate considering Zoe means indicates life.

Based on Quick Baby Names research, most people would imagine a person with the name Zoe to be: Pretty and artistic. Well-loved.

No such thing as Fail

2010-03-12T13:01:00.000Z

#FAIL

On twitter there is this hashtag. It has been bothering me for while. It seems to be very trendy and people even use it against themselves. I don't understand it at all, why beat yourself up or others by pointing out mistakes in this way. It's just mean and makes people feel like we need to be perfect all the time.

You cannot fail!

I don't believe in the word fail. We are all only human, not perfect and therefore will make mistakes. This is a normal part of learning. Sometimes you learn more from your mistakes. I like to think of it as not achieving the required standard.

Always in the middle

There will always be someone better than you and always someone worse. The best we can do is strive to be better and not beat ourselves up for not getting to the required standard. All you have to do is try again, eventually you will get where you want to be.

Ooh rustic oak!

2010-03-10T17:30:00.000Z

Simple but highly effective bus ad

I was driving back from the dentist and saw an ad on the back of a bus that said just that, and I thought what a cool idea. Not too much text easy to read quickly as the bus went round the corner. For me I didn't even need to read the next line, which shows how good a second line it is and how strong their brand is.

Twitter style radio ad

Then just a few minutes later I heard their radio ad on local radio. Lots of comments in twitter/word of mouth style, each comment saying Ooh rustic oak in it somewhere. Excellent! One brand now completely reinforced in my mind. I love joined up advertising. I hope they keep whoever does their publicity work because they are fabulous.

Little bit of history

For those who don't live in Kent, Lincoln is a well known furniture warehouse. Read more on their website Lincoln Furniture Warehouse.

They had a good location on the river on the one way system in maidstone, so painted their warehouse bright yellow which made them really easy to see.

Then they co-ordinated their advertising to work across different media, billboards, newspapers, buses and radio. All of the different ads focused on the big yellow building

#Karate: Structure

2010-03-06T19:25:00.000Z

Structure is the most important part of karate without it you have nothing for the rest of it.

If it is out by only a small fraction, then that amplifies like ripples in a pond magnifying your error and making everything crumble.

I spent most of the lesson today working on one small part of my kata seishan, getting the structure right. When I have that I can work on flow and power.

Joe Ambigram

2010-02-28T17:15:00.001Z

I adore this new ambigram I've created, mostly because I didn't have to do anything to it. The E is just the J rotated and the O looks good either way round.

I created this for a relative who had his 80th birthday party yesterday. I wanted a type style that looked a bit arty and gave a historical look. Joe used to do a lot of watercolour paintings of landscapes. Unfortunately he is unable to do very much these days and is on several different pills every day. Luckily he still has his sense of humor and a good family support structure. His wife told me that she has terrible trouble finding a male 80th candle holder.

Joe means God will add and is a derivitive of Joseph. A biblical name most well known as the son of Rachel and Jacob. Central character of the Technicolour dream coat.

Amira ambigram

2010-02-26T13:22:00.001Z

Initially I thought this would be fairly easy, but every time the r was dissappearing and turning into an n.

Commission for a tattoo. I think this has a nice quirky feel to it. Although it does look a little regal.

Amira means princess; treetop, proverb, or sheaf of corn. I didn't do this kind of research before, so for ambigrams I haven't started I will be.

Guess my products

2010-02-06T12:45:00.004Z

I generally wake up to the music I want and the news I need. For breakfast I have my scrumptious cereal knitted by nanas with filtered to make it purer milk. That matters but not as much as the long life. Along with the tastiest cup of tea monkey style.

After I'm dressed, I make my packed lunch, usually a sandwich made with bread as good today as it ever was with freshly churned british butter, it's spreadable. Add to that two pieces of good food, the right way. Just before leave for work I use the only toothpaste clinincally proven to provide 12-hour anti-bacterial protection.

Then I drive the power of dreams to work where I connect with books, information and people, to name a few. I work for the communities section of a council putting Kent first.
I use the ultimate toolkit for today's designer (actually version 3) to create publicity for our events and publicity.

Back at home, more tasty tea whilst watching we used to be friends a long time ago. Won't be long before I've seen them all and have to go back to the Enterprise or Voyager. Although running out of those too!

Going down the garden eating worms

2010-02-03T11:07:00.000Z

What?

I had a teacher at primary school, one of the best I think. This teacher then became a writer, he even tested one of his stories on us. It was called Lightning Lucy. You might have heard of him his name is Jeremy Strong.

This was the teacher that introduced my school to rounds. A round is singing the same verses over and over whilst another group sings the same verses but slightly after. This is where the worms come in. We used to sing a round similar to this. Although I'm sure we had fat hairy ones.

Everybody hates me!

Nobody likes (loves) me,

I'm going outside to eat some worms.

Chorus (Repeat after each verse):

Long, slim slimy ones,

Short, fat juicy ones,

Itsy, bitsy, fuzzy, wuzzy worms.

It was to help us understand that everyone feels like this sometimes. I'm pretty glad those days are over. Having Mr Strong as teacher was a big shining light to a better world.

Feel like eating worms again

Using social media feels like being back at school with how many followers and who is most popular. We all want to be that, popular for the right reasons and have lots of followers.

It's a shame there is such a focus on this. I find it quite depressing sometimes. But there is hope there are people out there like Mr Strong shining bright lights and most importantly being themselves.

These people don't worry about popularity so much, but about quality connections and work more on a business basis. They don't want you to follow them if you actually don't care about what they say or share.

The FAIL brigade

These people are the worst, they live to make fun of mistakes, to make you look bad. These people have a hashtag #fail on twitter. If we were still at school we would call them bullies.

I have been subject to this and it bugged me for days. The reason it bugged me was that the mistake was only for a couple of days and the person who did it to me didn't even tell me, just spouted it off to his followers. There was no thought to how damaging it could be. I am just getting started online really and have a lot to learn about web code. This person instead of posting a fail tag could have helped me out, being web designer already he would have known the solution. I've deliberately not given his details because I don't want to decend to that level.

I have I admit already participated in pointing out poor websites, when I was very new to this and I am ashamed. I promise now not to do it again.

In a conference once the speaker said it was easy to compliment people, but I don't agree. I think it far easier to put people down and point put their mistakes. It's also easy to join in with the crowd, do what everyone else is doing.

There is good reason why bad news travels fast. If you have a bad experience you are far more likely to tell everyone you know. If you have a good experience you are less likely to say anything. Any business knows this as fact.

With social media the news can travel even faster. So we should be careful how we behave online.

Standing Out

It is hard to stand out. If you did it at school you became a target, unless you were lucky enough to be the person who was the most popular.

With social media it is actually a requirement to stand out, be different. In fact the more unusual you are the more interesting and popular you seem to become.

I find this hard, fears from past ridicule, hold me back. Even though I left school nearly a couple of decades ago.

My friend tells me "I am the bravest person she knows", so armed with that I am going to dare to be different!

Blue Monday

2010-01-23T20:41:00.000Z

There seems to be some confusion about when this actually is. Many news stories saying it was Monday just gone. The Daily Mail for one!

Blue Monday is supposed to be the unhappiest day of the year. Personally I don't see how one date can be the same for everyone when we are all so different. It was calculated using various factors such as debt after christmas and failing resolutions. Calculation explanation.

Libraries are sure it is next Monday 25 January and are planning to do things to cheer people up.
Really we should do this every day, if we can. BlueMonday.org

There is a blog that is already doing this, it makes me smile most days. Bits of wisdom

This site I sent to a friend who loves cats, when I first saw it I thought it was hilarious. Gorgeous

#Karate: Pyramids and Circles

2010-01-17T11:14:00.000Z

Today we looked at pyramids versus circles.

Different shapes are made for different circumstances.

Pyramids

In our wazas we make side on pyramid shapes to point towards an attacker. This means all the strength is at the base of the pyramid which equates to our stance and the point is our fists. It is very hard to push against a shape like this. Of course it's only strong if you have your stance correct.

Circles

To look at circles we used the seishan stance which is wide. (So it is really more of an oval.) The heel of the front foot lines up with the toe of the rear foot. Front leg is bent and back leg is nearly straight. To move forward you make a inside circular motion with your foot within the circle you have already created with your stance.

As my sensei puts it 'like washing the floor with your foot'.

If you have it right and you ask someone to push against you while you move the force will go up from your feet rather than down and will be a lot less effort. This move is particularly satisfying for a light person (such as me) to do against someone much stronger and heavier.

Designers belittled, government criticised

2010-01-13T18:36:00.001Z

I have just read via @neilbennett The Times & a Tory belittle designers (again) Design Assembly lets rip a corking reply and while I generally agree with the designers side, in this case I think a major point has been missed — When is it appropriate to commission a commercial designer instead of your in-house people?

The article quotes

The disclosure comes as part of an investigation by The Times exposing how ministers across Whitehall routinely pay top commercial design firms to “conceptualise” and “update” simple logos, often for failing schemes and minor agencies. Projects cost tens of thousands of pounds — yet one department admitted that it could produce logos in-house for £648.

I am a designer working in-house and although my title is only desktop publisher and I work using adobe creative suite. I fully admit that I am not a logo designer and when it came to Libraries branding I was asked to do it. I said no to that and they needed designers with more expertise. Our connect brand was what they came up with. In this way I support commercial designers and why it shouldn't be done in-house.

But…

The NHS60 logo was commissioned by the Department of Health through the Central Office of Information (COI) “to raise awareness of the 60th anniversary of the NHS” last year. A creative director and senior designer took ten days designing the number 60 next to the usual NHS emblem, charging £6,000 a digit.

This specific example I believe should have been done in-house, saving tax-payers money. Sure what would have been done may not be as good as the commercial designers may have come up with, but it would have been serviceable. Consider the project it's an anniversary logo. It will only last a year and then it will be gone pretty much forever. Plus if you are not using your in-house staff for this kind of short term project, the question then becomes what are you using them for?

It is clear to me that it boils down to poor judgement and not consulting with the staff they already have. For the design staff who work in-house they need to be clear what their level of expertise is and they should be working with any design firms brought in. After all they are probably already working with any existing brands in the company already. Plus they can learn a lot if the right company is chosen.

Of course they could still ask their support officers to do it in word

The Tory MP Greg Hands said: “Surely adding two digits doesn’t need to be outsourced at all. Civil servants can do this themselves. Modern graphic design packages surely allow anyone with an average brain to design something as good as, or better than, what we see in front of us here.”

If you've seen some of the word produced logos I've seen, you would never do this. Rarely will the logo stay simple and clean.

I think this is the fundamental point of this argument and the main point is not belittling the designers but saying our tax money could be better spent. I'm all for using commercial design companies to update government logos if they are long term, but for the short term projects they should definitely use their in-house staff.

One town reading one book all at the same time

2010-01-11T14:27:00.002Z

The project

This was the project I was working on before christmas. Working under the title of Folkestone Reads and part of a project called Folkestone Forward. The book is called Framed.

The aim is to get one town reading the same book and talking about it all at the same time.

The book

The book was chosen because it was easy to read and had a community feel. More info. The cover is very orange and quite striking. The contrast of the lime green is a little difficult though.

My part

I produced A1 and A4 posters, evaluation postcards, pop-up banners and stickers to go in the giveaway books. We obtained permission from the publisher to use the graphics on the book cover individually. This was a great help. We removed the author name as it ws far too large and dominating, we were promoting the book not the author.

Originally I did all the layouts using our libraries branding, but we were told by management not to. Initially I had a big problem with this, being the person that has to enforce its use. I don't see why we should pay for branding and then not use it. However, because it is a partnership project and Libraries branding is a style not a logo we could get away with just having KCC branding under the Folkestone Forward project.

We decided to carry the frame and the orange as common elements throughout all the promotional items.

Who are we

I am the designer and I worked with the Reader Development Team which consists of one manager and two officers. The rest of my team (Communications and Public Involvement) were drafted in to help with marketing and promotion, that is two marketing officers (1 job-share role), one merchandising officer and our manager had some involvement.

Month headers

2010-01-06T13:41:00.001Z

A set of headers one for each month. Copyright free for non-commercial use.

Who for originally and how

I originally created them for Clitonville Library (last year) for their Baby Bounce and Rhyme dates. Printed on A3 on an inkjet and laminated so they could swap and change for each new date. I created them all in photoshop using layers and some basic filters.

The text has dropshadow and bevel and emboss with contour layer effects applied.
The image texture has been converted to black and white and transparency applied. The colour is flat on its own layer behind.
Images on the right have been taken from free photo sources and have dropshadow layer effect applied. Excess background was deleted to give a clean look.

The numbers were done by my colleague who got her grandchildren to hold the numbers in different poses while she took photos. This was my idea.

New Year Resolutions

2009-12-31T17:08:00.000Z

So the palava of christmas is now over and the new year is due.

If you are not thinking about what you are doing this evening, you may well be thinking about what your New Year resolutions are going to be.

I like to set some every year, but I like to think of them as goals to reach rather than something to achieve straight away. Most years I have a resolution to carry over to the New Year, some I discard. It took me six years to stop biting my fingernails!

This year I only had two.

One to not be late for appointments.
I have mostly managed to do this at work but it is only about 50% for family and friends. So I will be spending another year trying to achieve this. It is something I really want because I hate it when other people are late. I have no right to moan about it as I am one of the worst culprits.

Two was to finish something I have started before starting something new.
This applies at home, I have got it sorted at work. Those things I really want to do I leave as a reward for doing the mundane things at work.
I don't have much enthusiam for doing it at home though. So I've decided to change it slightly for 2010.
I am going to do one daily chore before I do something new or that I want to do. This doesn't include cooking.

These are my primary resolutions the ones I am really going to focus on.

These are my secondary goals:

Go to karate at least once a week and try to go twice
This is because I am at such a level now once a week is not enough to improve and only works to keep my hand in.
To write to this blog at least once a fortnight
To do this I am scrapping my fun blog called Oubee Doo and will merge it with this one, which will give me more incentive to write regularly. I'm also going to add some more personal posts of this type for a bit of variety and brand focus.
Improve my turnaround of ambigram designs
I know many people follow me for these. I have several sketchs ready to be converted.
Get more exercise
I need to be fitter so I am not really tired after karate and walking Pepper. It's really good for my mental health too.
Drink more water
I seem to have this resolution every year. I think I do achieve it every year but I still need more hydration.
Practice a karate kata at least one a day
This should be easier than it seems to be. It will help with no 4 and they take less than 5 mins each even if I do them really slowly and techniquely.
Try to keep up with my friends more than just on facebook
I am currently rubbish at this, so even a slight improvement would be good.
Go to bed earlier and get up earlier
I can't see this ever happening, I'm such a night owl

I don't think January is really the best time to start resolutions. In fact if you are a party person you will probably be up all night and hung over in the morning. The last thing you will want to do is start and stick to resolutions.

Many people get really depressed in January there is even a day called Blue Monday which is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year. I think spring would be a better time to start when everyone starts to feel hopeful again and all new flowers and new animals are being born.

Kent Libraries will be trying to lighten up Blue Monday with uplifting messages in books and our buildings from staff and customers. You can go and leave a message on a postit note. I follow a blog called Bits of Wisdom which is full of these kinds of messages.

KISS becomes a focus on Stupid

2009-11-30T20:58:00.001Z

Last week I had two sessions of branding training. In preparation for this I decided to revamp my presentation because the last time I did this training, I just read out the bullet points on each slide, and felt decidedly silly. I could have just let them read it.

As it was just for two small groups of staff (less than 20) I didn't test it! I wish I had as both groups decided to go off on a tangent because of one word.

Training Overview

The presentation covers how our branding is supposed to work.

why we have it
the core concept of our brand
the visual elements of our brand
what images we can use: photos with people
logo placement
language: tone, active, and plain english
writing consistency

This is followed by a practical session, where they create their own posters using branded templates.

My presentation

I was spurred on by an article on the BBC celebrating 25 years of Powerpoint. An article I have since been forwarding to all my colleagues who send me presentations to tidy up or add photos to. It is well worth a read.

Here are a few before and after screen shots of the revamp. I stripped out all the words as that is what I talk about. I only have eight slides in total.

Stupid focus

Now library staff are brilliant individuals even within a group of 6-7. So when they all got distracted by focus on one word, I really had to think about a solution.

This was the slide (before and after). I used the phrase common in design circles.

The whole conversation was redirected from talking about language too talking about…

Who is stupid?

My answer was "we are" meaning me as well.

We all put too much into our words and our layouts and it is not necessary.

Now I quite liked the fact it was so hard hitting, but I had made a fatal mistake. I hadn't considered my target audience.

One comment was "I really don't think we should be calling our staff stupid".

Now the phrase is meant to be light-hearted and easy to remember. But it won't work if your target audience, start thinking on a tangent about whether they are stupid or not.

My solution

I was in two minds about this. I really liked it as it was and I thought it needed to be hard-hitting. It did help reinforce the point of considering your target audience and what words you choose do matter. On the practical side however, I needed the staff to remain focused on the training and not one single word they found upsetting. So I have changed it to Keep It Super Simple. It is a compromise and I don't think it is as strong, but it will save me wasting a lot of time.

The moral of the story

Take my own advice:
Remember your target audience and get someone else to read it for you.

When someone else reads your work they can give you a different perspective of how it will be received. As well as spotting spelling and grammar mistakes.

Love reading check out these websites

2009-11-15T19:06:00.002Z

LibraryThing

The world's largest book club. Catalogue the books you've read and share reviews.

Bookcrossing

Book recycling. When you've finished your book leave it somewhere and post it's location here. Find books near you and pick up for free.

BookMooch

Logo artwork courtesy of BookMooch.com

dictionary.co.uk defines "mooch" as: "to obtain something without paying for it, or to borrow something without intending to return it"
Can't bear to bin your books then give them away and get books you haven't read in return.

Whichbook

A fun way to choose books if you are at a loss of what to read. Choose by how you want to feel!

Reader2Reader

Just share book reviews. Has a nice simple layout and a page where you can bin books you were disappointed with.

GeektheLibrary

Where being geek is cool. This site supports libraries and is trying to show whatever you are interested in the library will have something on it. Worth a look just for the fab layout and photos.

FantasticFiction

You have to forgive this website for it's slightly scary design because it's usuability is great. Fast and lots of info too, including prices in UK and USA. Search your favourite author.

Free your walls of poster clutter

2009-10-29T23:17:00.000Z

Poster clutter plagues the walls of many non-profit and small businesses, such as libraries, doctors surgeries, dentists and similar.

It's great that you are helping each other out and promoting each other. But we need to be more selective if our space is limited.

There is usually a nice big notice board, that gets filled up and pretty soon the walls and windows become covered too. It won't be long till every vertical suface is covered.

Unless you have a waiting room or are a museum, people are highly unlikely to stand and read everything on your walls. There are only a few people who will do this in waiting rooms and museums.

It doesn't have to be this way!

You can keep it tidy with walls and windows looking clean.

Just ask yourself these questions:

Is it in date or up-to-date?

Obvious, but often overlooked.

Is it well produced?

In this day and age, handwritten posters should be unacceptable. With computer access (free in Kent) in most libraries, there is no excuse. The poster also shouldn't be tatty, with torn edges. There are very few exceptions to these rules.

Is it relevant to your customers?

For example: Is it worth having information to an attraction several miles away when all your customers are local. If it is not easy to get to, from your location, then it's not really helping anyone.

Do you have more than one poster displaying the same information?

Less is more. People are more likely to look if there is less to look at. Just because you were sent four posters doesn't mean you have to display them all in one building, and definitely not all on one noticeboard. You send them back if they are not needed and help the originators hit some green targets.

If you produced the posters yourself, is there a way of combining some of them? Simplify the message and direct customers to staff, a telephone number and or a website.

Do you have a poster policy? Are you applying the criteria?

Libraries for example have to give priority to local and community information. We cannot display political material. Our advertising/service information comes first. You should give priority to your own information or start charging an advertising rate.

The above will help you cut down, but what if you still can't fit it all on?

Can it wait, till something else comes down?

Staggering when you display something is a good system. You can even use rotation, to keep people interested.

Does it have to be up all the time?

Consider investing in another noticeboard if you have room for all your mandatory notices and posters. Some information could be removed and kept only on your website. You could get some clip frames if you don't have enough for a whole new noticeboard. Although 3 posters on one board evenly spaced would give them prominence.

You can say no!

Not nastily, of course, but just because someone asked doesn't mean you have to say yes.

This should all help reduce the amount of things you need to display.

Tick here to opt in/out

2009-10-24T14:04:00.001+01:00

When making forms, there is usually the tick box(es) at the end asking whether you are interested in follow up emails or phone calls. Most of these are for marketing purposes.

I'm always of the opinion, that it should be opt in rather than opt out. But since I have been commenting on blogs the area has become a little gray. I am starting to think that maybe it should be done on a case by case basis. The only problem with this is that you have to read carefully all the time. Sometimes the wording can be a little difficult, and easy to misread, especially when it is usually in a smaller typesize.

If everyone adopted the standard of opt in tick boxes only. You can look for the specific one you are after.
I appreciate that this would make it much harder for advertisers and marketing people, but if we were really interested we would sign up, for those notifications, newsletters or follow up emails. It's no secret that everyone hates spam. This kind of contact is better if people actually request it.

Many sites are automatically opting you in to all sorts of things. Facebook for example has everything automatically ticked and your profile is open for everyone to see. This can cause problems with your privacy, and getting loads of unnecessary notification emails. Yammer is similar again you get loads of notification emails and follow people the company has decided you need to follow, even if those people never say anything.

Then there is the added complication of not being able to change those options or unsubscribe. It is something that is often forgotten.

6 clean dog themed designers

2009-10-21T21:21:00.000+01:00

Dogs are used all the time in advertising and many designers have one or two. So I thought I would find some completely dog mad designers, who've based their whole design theme and brand using dogs. Apart from me, that is.

I've picked six sites that all have nice clean easy to read layouts.

Good Dog Creative

I am following Eric on Twitter, he links to inspiring and general ideas about web design and development.

I really like the two tone colours, and lovely clear layout. I'm just not sure about the handwritten type. I think it is dragging the whole design down.

http://www.gooddogcreative.com/

2 Dogs Design

Jill is a freelance web designer with a passion for creating Zen-Cart e-commerce stores and unique Wordpress sites. She has some gorgeous dog characters in her navigation menu and her logo contains two dog bones. Despite what she says her designs are cute!
http://www.2dogsdesign.com/

Wild Dog Design

No dog pix to see, except on the team page. I really like the way the header and colours change for each page. They pride themselves on being experts in delivering a consistent brand across multimedia.
http://www.wilddogdesign.co.uk/

HTML Dog

This looks like a resource as good as or better than W3 Schools. Nice layout and fast loading pages. In addition to writing and maintaining the HTML Dog web site, Patrick has contributed to the awesome A List Apart and CSS Zen Garden, and is an active, well renowned member of the web design community.
http://www.htmldog.com/

Cow Dog Design

I just love the title of this website. Pepper's favourite toy is a cow that moos. This is really why I chose it, I'm not that keen on the design, it doesn't quite work for me. But it is still nice and uncluttered, and their portfolio looks good. They specialise in web identities, eg what is the difference between a cow and a dog? (you and your competition).
http://www.cowdogdesign.com/

The Dog Yard (Red Dog Blog)

Claims to be where SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) meets design. They design websites with SEO and W3 standards as a priority. A content management company. Their blog header design below is much nicer than their website. Red Dog is actually white and called Yardley. They have a dog web list.
http://blog.red-dog.com/

My Nancy Ambigram maybe used as a logo

2009-10-19T23:59:00.001+01:00

WOW! That's a good one! I really like it! Indeed, I would like to use it as my logo. :D
How nice of you, that you do this for free for people, and it's really wonderful!
Thank you very, very, very much for making this fascinating ambigram for me!
Kind regards,
Nancy

Nancy is a photographer and requested an ambigram to possibly be used as her logo too. This is her website Nancy Ploeger. Her photos are great. I really like this one of the singer from Within Temptation. If you've heard her sing, you know why she has her hand on her stomach.

After taking a look around her website, to get a feel of what type of design and style she likes, I decided to use a similar typeface for her ambigram. I had already got a good idea of what it would look like, from a few sketches which came to me straight away.

This made it one of those jobs, I wanted to work on immediately. It is the type of job, that if I get one at work, I will save it to do after finishing a job I really don't want to do. Like a reward. Really helps get rid of the hard jobs.

As you can see from the comment above, Nancy was pleased, so much so, that I have received another ambigram request from her mother, Monique.

So that Nancy can use this as a logo, I am not uploading to Zazzle to sell on t-shirts. Along with the normal high resolution JPEG, I provided her with an EPS (encapsulated postscipt) file. So she can edit the colours with a design program such as Illustrator or Inkscape. I do offer this to all commissions, if requested.

Update

Nancy hasn't as yet used as her logo, but I did complete her mother's Monique ambigram, which John Langdon (widely credited as starting the ambigram craze) has complimented.

More than one way to skin a cat!

2009-10-18T20:14:00.002+01:00

It's been a while since I wrote my last post. It's because I have been working quite hard on learning HTML and CSS. (For those who don't know: HTML = hypertext markup language and CSS = cascading style sheets.)

I decided I wasn't getting very far very fast. In fact no further than being able to change colours and styles of text. I kept forgetting what code meant what.

So I've now liberated my website from the Office Live Small Business wyswig software (what you see is what you get - well sometimes anyway). If you have no clue how to code or use design software, the program is ideal. It's easy to use and looks mostly ok, it optimises your images as you upload, so you always have a fast loading site. I'm still using them to host, mainly because it is free, until next year. Even then it will still be one of the cheapest around, for hosting and providing a custom domain name. I don't really want to pay for my hobby/learning site. Although I could start charging for my ambigrams to finance it.

But I can now do what I want with the code. The bits I understand anyway. Hopefully now I can do this, I will start learning quicker.

Backing up my website

In preparation for going to code, I had to back up every single page of my website. This is easy, you just go to file and save as and choose HTML. Either one will do. If you choose HTML only it won't save any of the images and you will need to re import them into the web folders. Worth doing regularly.

Tidying up the code to CSS

My first job was to strip out all of the Font tags and any text styles that had been put in manually. Office Live Small Business doesn't support text style sheets. Which is a major problem for consistency with headings. In fact every single time I had made a change to the text to get it looking the same, it had added some more. It was like working in Word but harder. So there were many, many unneccessary tags, which could be simplified to a single CSS style sheet.

Style sheets are brilliant. Most programs already have them for text, even word. I use them all the time in my adobe software. They may take a little time to set up, but they save time in the long run. It means you can set up the colours, size and typestyle all in one place, say for all the headings. Then if you decided they are too big or too small, or need to be black or another colour, you can just change those elements once in the style sheet and every single heading in your document will change. Much quicker than doing it one at a time.

I have been dying to use them. Now I have text that behaves and looks the way I want it too. I'm sure if I've set them up correctly, but for now they are doing what I want them to do.

I have been using W3Schools Online mostly to decipher the code and find out where I'm going wrong. There are many ways of doing the same thing.

Going wider, larger and with less glare

While I was doing this, I decided to go slightly wider in my design. From 740px to 980px. This is because the 15 inch monitor are not the standard size any more. I wanted more space to lay things out too.
As part of my clear and readable brand I decided to go with much larger text. I don't regret it at all, even though many designers think that smaller text is better for everything. I think it is only better for fitting everything in, not for easy reading.

Read these two articles for more info. Easy-to-read-Standard and Relative Readability.
To combat screen glare of stark white and black, I have changed my colours to pale yellow and dark grey. this is starting to become common practice. I decided to tone down my very in your face purple to a much more subtle lilac. I'm not sure I like the pastel look, but it is much less overpowering and not so distracting.

Matching my blog

Once I had changed all that, I decided I wanted my blog to match. This has proved more problematic. Blogger has it's own set of codes and some things don't do what you would expect from the code explanations, mentioned at the W3Schools site.

Fortunately there is a lot of help out there, including ready made templates you can just copy and paste over the top of your existing code. Check out my friends template at Understanding Alice, this is a really nice style and suits her blog very well.

Being a designer, I wanted something I had mostly done myself. So I went through quite a lot of the different standard templates, trying out different things. In the end I have settled on the minima template as most advice given is based on this template.

I have gone through most of the template and matched all the colours to my website. I have removed all of the uppercase text. Part of my readabilty ethos. Uppercase is much harder for people to read, there are no shapes to the words.

There were two things I specifically wanted to do to the layout. One was to have my gadgets in two columns, so you don't have to scroll too far, once you have finished reading my article. The other was to have my comments in the comment section highlighted as different.

I found out how to do 3 columns at the cutest blog on the block and how to do the author comment highlighting at Blogger Buster. Both are easy to follow. Although I did have to do some tweaking to get the author comments to work. This was mostly because I did already have some of it set up previously, and a missing dot causing me strife.

It hardly resembles the original template at all now.

Spelling and punctuation are even more important

Now my spelling and punctuation are usually pretty sound, but if you spell something wrong or leave an element of coding punctuation, it just won't work. There are some places, where as an englishwoman I have to spell it wrong, such as colour vs color and centre vs center. This has caused many headaches, until I realised.

What's next?

Next I want to set up master pages so that I don't have to change the header and footer code on each page. Similar to style sheets. I would like to get rid of all the tables too, but that will probably have to wait. I've read this is not really the way things are done anymore. I do have to sort a couple of my pages, where I've deleted too many tags and now not all my page is showing.

So far I am pleased with my progress. What do you think?

Update

Still haven't managed to get rid of tables in my website but I have fixed some of the problems. My colour scheme has changed slightly — no green now.

Understanding Alice and blogger have also made changes. Understanding Alice is using a different template with tabs. Blogger has made quite a few changes to how it works including using picasa albums. So i am not in the process of moving all Pepper's photos into one album, which means updating my posts, so I don't have them in two places.

Heart, Luigi and Laurien Ambigrams

2009-10-03T10:49:00.007+01:00

Three new ambigrams
It's taken a couple of months to find solutions to the name ambigrams Luigi and Laurien.

Laurien

I had a huge amount of trouble with the L/N combination in Laurien. It's not as readable as I would like, the a is a little hard to see and the ie are a bit squashed, but overall it works. Laurien was pleased she said "I love it".

Laurien means Lauren is a French girl name meaning "crowned with laurel." The Latin root means "the bay, or laurel plant."from wiki name

Luigi

The U/G combination in Luigi was very difficult but the L and Is were easy. I am really pleased with the result, it's so easy to read.

Heart

While I've been working on wedding invites for my brother I've been thinking about romantic words that could be made into ambigrams. I really like this one it is pretty.

I've done heart specifically to sell on items in my zazzle shop. It's pretty so I'm hoping it will be popular like the zodiac signs. Although no one has bought anything yet. Maybe christmas will be the right time for my ambigram gifts. Here's hoping.

Are you really a BLACK belt designer?

2009-09-16T15:44:00.003+01:00

If designers could pass grades, the same way as students of Karate are given belts, what level would you be?

In my karate club we have a martial arts saying:

The Art is both a Science and an Art
Knowledge of the Art is the Science
Doing of the Art is the Art

This saying can be applied to design or anything studied. Our club is not one of those that make you a black belt in six years. We actually have to prove we know the physical, metal and spiritual aspects of each level before we can move up. Everything is tailored to how we learn and the rate we learn. Some people can progress faster than others. We've had black belts transfer to our club to find that they are only at the same level as one of our green or blue belts.

Here is my list, where do you think you are?

White belt — complete beginner
Armed with plenty of enthusiasm, preconceived ideas of what it is all about. Possibly some knowledge of the program. Idealist view of things. No idea of the depth involved to reach higher levels.

Red belt — the basics
Can make the shapes, and put things in the right areas, but not looking very co-ordinated. Will use force rather than technique. Learning names of different things. Finding the right distances, spatial awareness. Tendency to over complicate.

Yellow belt — starting to work with other people
Learning to avoid certain situations and learning from those already on the path. Putting together some basic combinations. There is a lot of drop out at this level. People find out their expectations and reality don't match.

Orange belt — working with more complicated combinations
Able to add more elements. Still a tendency to over complicate and clumsy looking. Starting to get the distancing right. Trying out new combinations is a bit hit and miss. Basics should be fairly embedded now, even if not always correctly aligned.

Green belt — seeing how basics work in combinations
Understanding of the basics and how to make combinations work together. A certain amount of balance has been achieved. Everything is looking tighter and more aligned. Reference lines are embedded although sometimes untidy. Working with other people is more natural and less clunky. Intent is more visible.

Blue belt — refining the basics and free-styling
This is section two where the style changes completely, becomes softened but clearer. Able to deal effectively with incoming attacks and avoiding most of the pain. Defence is automatic but often a little off. Able to cross-over different techniques with adequate results. A lot of people drop out at this stage because the focus has completely changed.

Purple belt — working with flow and sensitivity
Mistakes are generally only noticed by higher levels. Able to pass on knowledge to lower levels with confidence. Work has developed a certain flow and style. Own shortcuts have appeared, some are beneficial and some are lazy. Behind the scenes things are done which improve flexibility and punch. There is much more to and fro with interaction. The look should be above average.

Brown belt (1) — analyse structure to understand applications
Looking at own way of working and finding ways to improve. Awareness of own strengths and weaknesses. Understanding why things are done in a certain way. Looking into history of the art and finding explanations of the science. Work now is dynamic and has visible energy. Many people give up at this stage because it gets too hard to improve.

Brown belt (2) — starting to teach and refining everything have learnt so far
Going back over the basics and refining knowledge. Making everything tidier and adding depth seen and unseen. Teaches others authoritatively and with respect. Able to pull off difficult pieces with room to breathe. Modest but confident in own ability. Can be direct but gentle.

Brown belt (3) — being consistent and knowing when to break the rules
Everything looks sharp and intent is clear. Able to decide when can and can't break the rules. Consistently turns out good work. Ability to point out specific technical problems in others work. Able to see where techniques and applications can be used.

BLACK belt — teacher able to explain possible applications and self-improve

Most people consider you an expert now. You are well known within your circles. Able to teach at a qualified level. Able to self-teach and develop own skills further. Work looks effortless and seems to simple at first glance.

So where do you think you are?

As far as print design goes I think I am around Purple belt level. I know where I want to go and what I want to do but don't necessarily have the know how. I can pass on some of my knowledge to lower levels and do things behind the scenes that make documents more flexible.

When it comes to web design however, I think I am way down at Yellow belt. I know very little coding and I'm finding it hard to learn. I get frustrated that I can't do things the way I would for print design.

In logo design, I think I am going for my green belt. I still over complicate designs, but I am getting them to look tighter with more impact.

My ambigram designs are at brown belt level, even though I only do rotational ones, I think my designs are consistent and easy to read.

Karate, I am at Brown 2 as you can see from the photo, if you were wondering.

Dogs a brand's best friend

2009-08-26T21:28:00.025+01:00

The Real Thing Produ..
Watch the ad...

We love our dogs and many designers have them. So it's not surprising that they are often used in adverts. Some brands that use dogs as part of their brand are very successful for things that are not actually directly related to dogs. they have been used for toilet tissue, insurance, music, paint and council services. I thought I would put a list together. I won't be including brands for dogs, such as dog foods and dog charities.

The above ad for Andrex is great it states in a secondary subtle way they were first, note the nodding and robot dogs.

Churchill
These ads are so cheesy.

MORE TH>N
Originally launched with the now famous 'Where's Lucky?' adverts. In 2006 a new 'strapline' was introduced. Which is a shame as I really liked Lucky.

hmv
I've always liked this logo. It's not used very prominently though.

Directgov
I really like the way the head of the dog is the direction in the D. For government brand/advertising this is up there with Frank for me.

Directgov Help after..
Watch the ad...

Ford Fiesta
Stupid dogbot, I loved these. You could even get active messenger icons.

Harveys
Always has this dog in the ads somewhere.

Dulux
I grew up with paint ads with this dog.

Woolworths
Not really successful, as they went under soon after. they are still online, but they have changed their brand again.

Dogtired

2009-08-20T20:03:00.001+01:00

I've been really busy lately. At Work. At Home. At Play. This month has been particularly full.

At Work

It's the time of year when there are lots of events coming up and everyone takes holiday, making deadlines tight or awkward. I've got the last week of August off, so only two days left for some deadlines, argg! Plus I've had a sudden influx of signage requests. I delegated those to my support officer. I've had visits to Libraries to look at their visual appeal. Training staff to use the branded templates.

We are trying out Yammer.com as a business and I am one of the few people who understand it. I've also been trying a website my excellent new line manager (she used to work for Wonderful — isn't that such a cool name for a creative agency) sent me. It's called conceptfeedback.com I really like it. It's great for designers who work alone. Brilliant for me, staff always like what I do but they don't know how much better we could be. I'm trying it on three leaflets at the moment. You get feedback from other designers and they have reputation points on how good their advice is. I think it is good for amateurs too. The only down side is that you have to comment 5 times on other people's ideas before you can post anything. Although this does mean you will get comments.

At Home

I've just accepted an offer on the sale of my house. So I have been doing paperwork for the solicitors and making sure all my service payments are correct. They aren't. The gas and electric owe me money and I should be getting free council tax.

Today I went round and cleared some of the last bits of furniture and did some major pruning in the garden. This was after I dropped pepper at the vets for blood tests and sorting out his teeth. I have to take him back tomorrow as well to check he is ok after the anaesthetic. I had to take him last week for his three monthly check.

My brother is getting married next year and I've designed a logo for him and his fiancee, and started work on a save the date card.

What do think? They love it.

At Play

I went to the karate grading this month too. The Dan grades were impressed with my renkai and kata up to naihanchi, but then it all went to pot. I was exhausted afterwards with a couple of nasty bruises.

All my weekends have had a family thing to go to, either mine or my partners.

The result

So, because of all the above, I've had loads to catch up with on online and haven't felt like looking at the screen when I got home. Today is the first day I've wanted to do online things. Two more days of work, then a holiday we haven't planned!

For those waiting on ambigrams

2009-08-19T20:47:00.003+01:00

If you've been waiting for a new ambigram, I am working on them and I have got designs for Laurien, Luigi and Amira. In the meantime I have completed one for Leo.

I also have been working on a design for brilliant. I am just having trouble getting a typeface that works for each design. I might have to go back to the drawing board.

As for leo, for such a short word, it really wouldn't work happily. There are others around but I think they are too merged to be readable. I think mine works, but I'm not 100% happy with it.

Managing my time

2009-07-15T18:57:00.013+01:00

Self-promotion warning: This post contains links to various sites I'm signed in with.

At home
With only Wednesdays, weekends and evenings to devote to this blog, Oubee Doo, pepper's blog and videos, my website, designing ambigrams, and anything else I want to do. I'm finding it hard to focus on one thing. This is my personal time after all. This month is extra hard as it is my turn to do the cooking and cleaning. So that cuts my free time down a lot.

Sitting down to write a decent blog is low on my motivation, reading is high. I guess it would be higher if I had more followers. (That's not a complaint, I'd rather have a few decent followers than loads of pretenders. I keep blocking the rubbish ones on twitter.) It's not that I get writer's block, it's more like I can't settle on a topic to write about. I'm alright once I get going and I tend to spend an hour on each one. Hopefully I've already managed to do the research, bookmarking links in Stumbleupon.

I want to write something well researched with links and photos. Trouble is I get so distracted by reading the blogs and tweets I'm following, somehow I seem to lose many hours, just surfing. Today for instance, I checked out the links on my twitter feed, which was about 15 sites from say 50 tweets, read a few blog posts and made one comment. Before I knew it, it was gone lunchtime! I was starving.

I am trying, on my day off to do a blog here and a comment or two somewhere else. I won't just comment for the sake of linking, I have to actually say something relevant. So of course this takes more than a few minutes. After all my comments may be there a while, and with websites like Backtype, people can find everything you've said and where.

Then there are things I've let slip, that I've actually recommended on this blog to do. Mostly because I have few followers and it's quick to rectify, or it would be if I hadn't let it slip, now it is a task to add to the list. It doesn't help that blogger's preview isn't necessarily what gets published. I need to go through my posts and tidy them up.

I have a few things in place to save time. I use Twitterfeed to feed this and Oubee Doo to my twitter account — rachelnpepper and Tweetdeck to manage Twitter and Facebook. I can post to both at the same time or just one, it's also easier to tweet, reply and retweet from there as it includes the website shortening and automatic fill in. Stumbleupon is great for research, as you hopefully get only the good sites, on your chosen topic. I have the toolbar installed so I can give an instant thumbs up and bookmark it for later. I've just found a nice app to feed my blog to Facebook too. I have a public fanpage attached to my hopefully personal profile.

At work
I was having a similar problem at work, not with blogs or tweets, but with emails and work prioritisation. It had got out of hand as I was quiet in May and June. It is all in control again now.

I have several systems to keep me organised, but they only work if you use them.

Organising emails
I keep on top of my emails by dealing with all the ones that can be answered straight away, printing out any jobs (sorry not very eco, but the physical paper helps me keep track), and moving info to a read folder for filing later. If I get a reply to an email I've sent then I delete the sent item. My deleted items are deleted when I exit outlook.

Prioritising work
The printed jobs I then prioritise, by date required, and then date received. Then they are put into trays for this month, next month and non-urgent. My colleague or me can do everything in the right order and we meet all the very tight deadlines usually. Then I have trays on my desk, active, pending active and pending dormant. The active tray is for things that I need to work on. Pending active is for things that I have worked and I am waiting for a reply. Pending dormant is as above but for the things that are hanging around for longer than two weeks. If they are in there too long I will file them. I also have an at print tray and a filing pile.

Phew that turned into a long post, more like two hours.

What are your best organising tips or time saving processes?

Great MS Paint Art

2009-07-11T11:15:00.011+01:00

Muzzy.NET Proof that you can be artistic with the most basic program. The above artist has been subject to much derision and joke links. I think this is unfair. The quote they have put as their strapline sums it up nicely.

"Bad smith blames the iron, bad artist blames the software"

Porche Cayman Some people have taken to creating videos just to prove the point. Still people don't believe them. Matilda's Journal It is hard to say just from the two images above that they were created in MS paint. This next link is obviously created in MS paint, but it has a style that works. There is a certain style that is associated with MS paint, but when it is done well I think it gives a beneficial identity to the artist. Pixel Art This artist has much praise and derogatory comments. It does seem unfair that someone gets so much flack or praise just because of their tool of choice. The praise/flack should be about their ability not the tool they use. While I am in awe of anyone using MS paint, this is mostly because I find it far too hard to do the things I want to do in it. Some of the comments this person has, shows how much complete ignorance is out there. Particularly in relation to vector graphics, I'm pretty sure MS paint doesn't have this option. Just because something is done in MS paint, doesn't mean it is awful. And just because something is great doesn't mean it was done in Photoshop. I have seen some truly hideous stuff created in Photoshop. I would generally advise, you use the most appropriate tool for the job. This is sensible, but if you know a program well there is no reason why you can't create great things in it.

Snobbery

2009-07-05T21:59:00.005+01:00

Within the design profession (and indeed other professions) there is a certain amount of snobbery. It is those people who think they know better than others and look down on people just because they don't use certain products. There are comments like "you must work on a Mac" "use adobe photoshop; InDesign…" (etc used to be Quark) or you aren't a designer. Then there are things like; desktop publisher doesn't equal graphic designer. This is quite frankly a load of rubbish. I've always said that "if you think you know it all, then clearly you don't know anything". There are a great many designers out there who think they are better than the rest. In some cases this is true and their arrogance is justified. But in most it is not. Sometimes it is accidental like using jargon, you forget that people may be as good or if not better than you. I work with a lot of staff who design posters and I have to critique and correct them. Tact is not a strong point of mine, so I quite often write down exactly what I think and then reword it completely. I mean they are trying and they have usually put a lot of effort into their work. It doesn't matter that I could have done it quicker or better, they have made the effort. Rather than tell them this, I tell them where they can improve and where things don't fit our guidelines. They all have it in them to come up with something great. Just last week two members of staff, sourced some fantastic photos for their posters. I made a point of mentioning that first. This is my point really. You can produce great stuff without, a Mac, photoshop, InDesign and you don't have to have gone to college or be a graphic designer. Sure it helps, but in the end they are just tools and titles. There are a lot of so called graphic designers who I would consider just desktop publishers. In some cases I do more graphic design than they do. I am following these three designers because they aren't arrogant and don't look down on those of us that don't know: David Airey Vivien with her Inspiration Bits Jacob Cass These three certainly know their stuff, but are still willing to help, whilst still improving themselves. I am following some others, but I have yet to decide whether they are worth it. I'm now thinking of hunting for some great work, that hasn't been done in well known programs or by professionals.

Creating my logo

2009-06-30T22:56:00.010+01:00

I spent a lot of time thinking about an exciting name to use for my website. I was trying to think of something really clever and interesting that would show my creativity and interests. The thing is someone had usually already thought of it and started using it. Well I couldn't have something that was already out there, that's not original. I then tried to go about it from a logo/character angle. This was just as problematic. My man then asked the questions I would normally ask my clients — "What are you using your website for?" "Why don't you keep it simple?" And there was my answer, my email and personal sites were already rachelnpepper, a name that is always available and completely unique. Then he said "you can make a simple silhouette as your logo" Just perfect. I think promoting yourself has to be one of the hardest things to do. So after getting the website name sorted, time to design the logo. My man then took photos of pepper and me. In photoshop I cut the backgrounds out. I wanted a circular logo, mostly because I think logos should fit in a square. But I had also read somewhere once that circular logos have a certain longevity. I used a circle marquee and filled with black on a separate layer. To see the silhouettes I just needed to highlight the white in the photo and remove the white around the circle from the selection, invert and fill with a colour, on another layer of course. From this I decided to use a combination of the second two images. The me with my knee up and Pepper from the other image, as these gave better looking silhouettes. Then I decided I needed to be on the left to match the order of rachelnpepper, so I flipped the entire image. After that it was into illustrator for tracing into a vector image. I tried to simplify as much of the edges as possible without losing definition. I traced me and pepper as separate elements for future use. I had already decided on colour; black for the circle to contrast against most light backgrounds and purple for the silhouette. I just had to get the contrast right. Purple is currently my favourite colour. A perfect blend of red and blue, which is considered spiritual, mysterious and a little daring. Having the silhouette in colour gives me the option to change when I get fed up with purple; and I do go through phases of this. But that is for another post.

Gemini and Cancer ambigrams completed

2009-06-28T21:54:00.007+01:00

Gemini

Not too many changes from the original letters here. Just a swirly addition on gemini to the g/i, which is an uppercase I upsidedown to make the g other letters are not altered.

Cancer

In cancer r is blended with c and bottom removed and c/n combined with parts deleted and then rotated slightly.

My step by step ambigram process

Write word in uppercase and lowercase both ways round

Look for easy letter pairs e/a no need to change these

Sketch ideas for other letter pairs

When happy with letter pairs put together as a word

If not happy go back to 3

Open illustrator or similar vector graphic program

Type words in upper and lower case and upsidedown too

Go through font collection looking for typeface with characters similar to your final sketch

This is where it can change drastically from your sketch. Create outlines of the letters and ungroup.

Combine letter pairs retaining as much of the original as possible

You may have to go back to 8 at this point some combinations just don't work

When you are happy put half the letters of the word together and copy

Rotate and place

This is important save if you haven't already done so leave the room for 5/10 minutes

When you come back you should be able to read it straight away. If you can congratulations you've finished, if not back to a earlier stage.

Finally get someone else to look at it.

Another Zodiac sign: Taurus. New name: Dean

2009-06-21T20:15:00.007+01:00

Progressing on the zodiac signs and another name added.

Dean

The name Dean was not to hard, with the e/a already sorted, no effort required there. N/D combination was much harder. The serif typeface makes it really clear.

Taurus

I encountered a small problem with my drawing for Taurus. Where I had been combining the letters I managed to leave one out in the final solution. This was my second attempt and I have to say I am very pleased with it. The first version was not really readable and in a style I didn't like that much.

Zodiac

The ambigram for zodiac is only readable because the first three letters lead you to work out the rest of the word. Not too happy with the c.

Why I don't have a photo

2009-06-18T22:13:00.008+01:00

There is a trend to make yourself more approachable and personable by having a full profile and a photo of yourself, accessible somewhere on your website, preferably on the front page.

This seems very strange to me. Why does this make you better at doing your job?
As a fan of equal rights (not the so far over the other side kind), I think this is wrong. It is also at odds with the way that people have to do interviews and be non-discriminatory in selection. But here we are on public websites, encouraging directors and top level managers, freelancers etc to tell all about themselves, to promote better business relationships.

I may be making a big mistake, but I strongly believe, that people do not need to know what I look like and what my interests are, for me to be able to do a good job. My work should speak for itself and show what level I'm at. This is partly because people jump to all the wrong stereotypes when they see me. When I say I practice karate and like rock music, or when I say I can't stand shopping and the colour pink they look very surprised.

There are many well-known actors, who are very good but not particularly nice people. The same with politicians, nobody would say Winston Churchill did a bad job, but as a person he had many disagreeable personality traits.

It's a well-known fact that popular and good-looking people are considered to be better at things, when this is clearly not true.

I read an article recently about blind people being prejudiced in the looks department. "You don't have to be blind to be shallow" I was shocked, I was sure that this group of people would be immune. It just shows how important being in the in-crowd is to people.

I was prompted to write this after reading imitation-vs-differentiation on David Airey's site. It made me assess what I have been creating online and why. I've found that I am guilty of imitating in some areas, my logo pages for example are similar to many other sites talking about logos. Not surprising then that I am not happy with them. It is extremely hard to go against the flow, to stand out. You have to have a huge amount of confidence to stick to your ideas. You risk ridicule and isolation.

So this area of not having a photo, is me going against the flow and against all the website expert advice. But in a way it actually shows my personality, as I am quite a private person and I hate having my photo taken.

Another reason not to have it on my pages, I don't want to look at myself while I am updating. Some people find it a bit disturbing too to have someone looking at them all the time they are reading.

What is so bad about comic sans?

2009-06-18T21:10:00.006+01:00

Designers hate it and people love it

Even the designer who created it doesn't like it. Read about why it was created here

If so many people like it, why is it so bad?

Surely if something is this popular it is good in terms of advertising and giving people what they want. The simplest answer is that it is common. Pretty much every designer has said at some point they hate it. So I am not going to bother telling you why it is so bad. Check out the following link.

ban comic sans

Instead I am just going to say what my own feelings on the matter are. I don't use it, even though I personally don't hate it. It's a good readable typestyle.

The main reason I don't use it, is as I have stated above, that it is common. I don't want my work to look like everyone elses. I will admit that I have fallen into this trap of thinking "oh that is fine", it works well for that. I recently found out that a font I used to represent handwriting is very common. Still we live and learn and in the context of my audience and client, they were perfectly happy.

People have told me that they like it because it's easy to read. It speaks to children. It's friendly. All these comments are valid and the sort of thing a designer would say to their client if they were trying to sell it.(Designers please don't shout I know you wouldn't try!)

It's true it is easy to read and many dyslexic websites recommend it, especially as it is available on most computers.

Unfortunately, children and dyslexics feel like they are being spoken down to, much like using graffiti to engage teenagers. They actually prefer something more professional looking, particularly in big blocks of text.

As for using it for adults, this is completely inappropriate, I do not want to talk down to my target audience just because it is friendly.

In my current role I see an awful lot of poster and documents created using comic sans, and although my heart sinks at the sight, there is usually something much worse that needs addressing first.

Sections all in capitals
Poor contrast in colour choices
Busy images under text

Luckily I can just fall back on our branding without having to give any explanation of why they should not use comic sans or any of the above.

So again, I ask… what is so bad about comic sans?

There are worse things

Aries Bing Evette

2009-06-13T14:38:00.012+01:00

Three new ambigrams

Aries

I decided I had to do all the zodiac signs, as I have quite a big interest in astrology. I have several designs on paper. I just need to work them up in illustrator. watch this space.

Bing

When I saw the new search engine for microsoft, I just had to do bing. It is almost a natural ambigram and will work in pretty much any serif or script style. A good one to start with if you want to have a go.

Evette

Evette was request through my website. I found that I was unable to sketch ideas for this as I don't know gothic letter shapes that well and I had to jump straight into illustrator. I am pleased with the result and so is the client, but I don't think I will take on gothic requests again.

There is a website called Wow Tattoos who specialise in this style and they also have a very cool generator as well as a designer. Their prices are very reasonable too. I have to say if I was charging it would be more expensive.

Get permission

2009-06-12T14:05:00.003+01:00

Here is a reason why checking copyright is so important.
Shocked family
The photo posted on a family blog was used on a large billboard advert.

I can see why the ad designer wanted to use this, it is a great photo.

Apparently nobody asked the family — model rights, and nobody asked the photographer — copyright. This means the family and/or photographer are well within their rights to sue the ad agency and the company who the ad is for.

If this had been just taken by the family a simple email to them asking their permission would have got round it, and in many cases people are quite happy to give permission for this kind of use. However, it is a different story when there is a photographer involved, they would probably need some kind of royalty payment.

My design on someone's foot

2009-06-06T18:06:00.010+01:00

It's amazing to think that my design is going to be worn by someone every day. I feel honoured that they think my work is that good.

See her comments on my earlier blog, Absolutely stunning.

It's not that I think my work is bad, just that a tattoo is permanent and cannot be removed. (Unless you have loads of money.) So sensible people will take care over what they have as a tattoo.

My client was sensible, the two names are of her daughters. The tattoo is positioned on her foot, where she can decide whether to show or not.

Maybe I am getting too excited over this and those people who create tattoo designs every day, think this is nothing special. But, being someone who would never have one, I think it is a big deal.

It's all very well get your designs onto t-shirts and out on posters and leaflets, they will just come and go with the fashions. With a tattoo however, that person has to live with it for the rest of their lives and will be showing it to pretty much everyone they know.

Mind you I did get just as excited over all of my firsts. My first properly printed document. My first bus advert and even more when I actually saw it on the bus out and about. Just this week I got excited because I could see some of my signage in a photo in the paper, even though the article was about the location rather than my work.

Going off red

2009-05-27T21:28:00.003+01:00

Red used to be my favourite colour, bright and vibrant, the colour of my star sign. But I am going off it!

It's something I thought would never happen.

There are several reasons for this. The biggest is an association from being ill on a plane, whilst wearing red. I always thought it brought me luck. Not that time.

My company's branding is red, so I see it all the time.

Red is very difficult to get right on the screen, it often ends up looking brown.

The tints of red are pretty sickly colours; a washed out orange, or various pinks (my least favourite colour).

It's well known that colours elicit feelings, it's strange that colours so close together can bring such opposing emotions.

My Zazzle

2009-05-22T22:40:00.006+01:00

I have opened a store on Zazzle.com
It's very basic and easy. I can put my designs on t-shirts, mugs, keyrings, badges, stickers and even a skateboard.

See my products here rachelnpepper shop

At the moment I have really only put my ambigrams on items, but I am getting lots of ideas for other things.

The way it works is Zazzle produce the product and deal with all the payment and shipping and I receive a royalty which is added to the price of the product. This is great I can get my designs out there at no cost to myself and also make a little bit of money to boot. If it goes well then I can think about actually going into business for myself.

You can see some of my products at the foot of this blog.

It's also got me thinking about designing some more generic kinds of ambigrams. I have a list of words and I am going to concentrate on making sure there isn't out there already before I try and do it myself.

The solution for the Rebel ambigram was easy, finding typeface that wasn't a script and a bit edgy was much harder.

Copyright

2009-05-17T20:41:00.006+01:00

I have been looking around the internet to see if my ideas of words have already been done as an ambigram, and I am shocked at how many breaches of copyright of John Langdon's Ambigrams there are.

I know copyright is a complex subject, but it shouldn't just be ignored.
People seem to think it is ok to use images from the internet without permission.

It isn't.

There is a good simple description of copyright on the deviant art website here.
The simplest answer is don't, just don't use other people's work. If you really want/need to, please get permission in writing first.

I don't know why I am so surprised, people are always asking me

"Why can't we just take images from the internet?"

My usual answer is

"The internet is just like a book, and subject to the same copyright laws".

Just because it is freely available, doesn't mean you can just use it for your own purposes.
It is stealing plain and simple.

There are websites around that let you use their images. Most ask you credit them. My own ambigrams I am happy for people to use, as long as they don't make money from it. After all I should be the one making money from them, they are my creations.

Angels & Demons

2009-05-14T22:29:00.004+01:00

Angels & Demons is out at the cinema today. In it are ambigrams created by John Langdon. Most people come to ambigrams from the Dan Brown books. So I am expecting an increase of interest. Although I will probably have to wait until the Christian fever dies down.

I think the problem is that Dan Brown drew on existing research and conspiracy theories.

The film promises to be all action. The book is pretty fast paced itself and quite a short read, so I should imagine, they wouldn't have to leave much out. I think this story is much better than the Da Vinci code.

You can see more at these two websites

John Langdon and Angels & Demons

Library Zoo

2009-05-09T22:36:00.005+01:00

A Kenyan Camel library
Ethiopian Donkey library
Dogs in libraries
Literary cats
Literary Cat in Kent

The Kenyan National Library Service have found a solution to reaching their nomadic customers, a Camel Library. Obvious really, camels are the best way to travel in the desert. There are 9 camels in all and they visit 12 sites in a 4 day week. The schools that the children go to are already seeing the results.

A similar story in ethiopia, this time from a charity. again children have no access to books except at school and parents are more likely to buy food than books. The donkey no only brings books to the children but also teaches them to respect donkeys which are often ill-treated there.

Children get excited to read to dogs. They listen without judging and wag their tails. Therapy dogs are now being taken to libraries and bookshops. This would be cool in our libraries.

Cats are common in libraries often adopting them as their second home. We have one called Fidel at our Deal Library. He is very popular with the customers and seems to be a bit of an art critic.

Ambigram is absolutely stunning!

2009-05-06T16:36:00.007+01:00

I have created some more ambigrams. One for Pepper my dog, and one commission through my website. My customer was thrilled and gave me this comment.

"Wow – words fail me, that is exactly what I was looking for. Absolutely stunning!"

Pepper

Pepper I have been working on for a while. I really wanted this one, being my dog's name. It's not a particularly hard one, there are several solutions, but it took me while to decide which one I liked best.

Robyn/Carys

The commission was a real challenge and something I haven't tried before. Two names, Robyn and Carys in a script typeface. One name turning into the other when rotated.

I tried several different ways of combining the opposite letters, doodling in front of the TV. The letter combinations do not lend themselves easily to the ambigram treatment. R-S, O-Y, B-R, Y-A and N-C.
I like puzzles, so this really kept my interest.

Robyn Meaning = bright fame
Carys Meaning = love

Wordart why?

2009-05-02T20:32:00.007+01:00

Note: not my work.

Here are some reasons why:

It’s fun

I wanted to make them stand out

They are all different events.

Here are some reasons why not:

It’s horrible

None of them stand out

There are better ways of showing separate events

Wordart might be fun to play with, but in general most effects are over the top and mark you as a complete amateur.

If you really want to use it, it is best to use only one style at a time.

When you try and make everything stand out, nothing stands out. It is better to give things equal status or a ranking.

For the above example I would avoid it altogether, especially as the final document was printed in black and white. These events would be better as a list or in a calendar format. They could be bulleted or done in two styles alternated.

Pepper's favourite TV

2009-04-30T19:32:00.010+01:00

My dog, Pepper likes to watch TV. His favourites are cartoons, films with animals in and adverts. Adverts catch his attention the most.

His all time favourites are both what you would expect and what you wouldn’t expect.

Obviously he likes all the ones with cats or dogs in. He really likes the new Barclays ad with the pigs running about in the garden and then the dog figurine rounding them up.

His absolute favourite though, are the Abbey adverts. I think it is the colours, red and white and then the animals in them really stand out.

One you wouldn’t expect is the Fit for life adverts, the colours and shapes facinate him. When the the people turn into the letters at the end he looks at me as if to say you can’t do that.

Ooo my first follower

2009-04-27T23:16:00.009+01:00

It’s very exciting I have my first follower and my first comment. I was wondering if anyone was reading this. I am not by nature a very patient person, so although I’ve only been blogging for a month, I was already thinking about stopping. But I found this blog, which states it can take a year or longer for a blog or website to get out there into people’s radar. Hubspot's beginner advice

This is good because I seem to have a lot to say to no one in particular. I suppose I should put my marketing head on and target my audience, but I’m not really sure who it is I want to reach. I know I have a unique point of view, being somewhere in between the amateur/beginner designers and the graphic designers.
The Hubspot website has some very useful advice for web beginners like me. I shall be using it to find out:

how to build strong links back to my website and blog

what kind of mix of articles to write here

what my rating is as a website, with their very useful website grader tool

some dos and don’ts of blogging

how to base each of my web pages around a keyword

I have scored 50 on the website grader tool, which I think is pretty good considering my visitor level is mostly me. The most interesting point to me, was the readability score. Which states it is secondary/high school level. I think that’s very acceptable, especially as I am going with the tag line; clear and readable are my priorities.

Samsung ambigram

2009-04-17T23:16:00.012+01:00

I decided to create this ambigram after trying several times to unsuccessfully open my mini laptop. I understand that they have put it that way to advertise from the other side, but it is really annoying to have the logo upsidedown to open the laptop!

I have used a similar typeface to theirs and kept the A without the central bar.

It was quite difficult to get this to work in a readable format. Ideally I wanted it to be a straight line, but in order to make it readable I had to make the first/last letter bigger.

The AM is a still a little difficult to see at first glance. After a short while you can spot it. Overall I am quite pleased with the result.

A rethink on Pepper's page

2009-04-15T22:22:00.008+01:00

I recently decided, I didn’t like Pepper being the links manager, or having lots of links on my website that I would have to check regularly. So I have removed most of them. I am going to see if I can get his rotating head working in Go Live and pad his page out a bit more.

It is interesting working in Go Live with no real knowledge of how to use it.
I recreated my family page using it.

His page was originally created in Frontpage. Frontpage is fairly easy, with some very short instructions I could do quite alot.

Go Live in comparison is much harder to understand. Naively I thought I could transfer my knowledge from Illustrator and InDesign. This was not to be.

In the end I chose a template in Go Live for product lists and transferred everything over. Even the javascript came over, of which I’m glad because this was written for me.

I am probably going to leave all my links in Stumbleupon, or maybe put a list here on blogger. I haven’t decided yet. I guess it depends on what I want to share more widely.

The L!BRARY initiative

2009-04-11T10:14:00.014+01:00

KCC are working really hard to modernise their 60s/70s libraries. They are now lighter and brighter, with better signage and less clutter. It’s a big job and the only way to do it properly is to get architects involved.

We are not the only ones to come to this conclusion. New York school libraries have been given a major makeover. Pentagram the design company even created a logo to tie everything together. See the links below.

pentagram.com

www.robinhood.org

www.mediabistro.com/unbeige (Thanks to David Airey for the links)

I really like this quote

“One of the librarians pointed out that the lights on the murals were on a separate switch, and that every night when she closed up, she always turned that light off last”

It shows that the staff feel uplifted too and have a renewed enthusiasm. Something we have seen in our refurbished libraries, they are nicer places to work in.

The logo is good because it is simple and effectively points out, how much more can be found in libraries these days. Although it is considered corny and so done in the design world, I don’t think this actually matters. The target audience are school kids who probably haven’t seen that many similar logos yet.

Libraries logo'lution

2009-04-09T23:03:00.022+01:00

Kent Libraries have had logos in the past. None of them worked as well as our current branding style. This is because there was no one enforcing it’s use or a consistent style.
I’ve put together as far as I can work out a history of Kent Libraries logos.

From 1980

Just the words Kent County Library in various typestyles and sizes.

From 1985–1988

This logo was used with varying typestyles.

From 1989–1997

KCC introduced a standard logo with different directorate names underneath. (Pictured first) Libraries didn’t appear to start using theirs until 1991. It seems they had a different logo they were using instead.

From 1998–1999

The directorates were rearranged and Arts & Libraries became Education & Libraries.

I started working for Libraries in 1999.

From 2000 to now

The logo was revised to have no directorate names and be reversed out of a red or black block. The invicta horse was given a more masculine look and redesigned to look more like the original horse on the coat of arms. There was a house style and colour for the four main sections of KCC initially. This was soon abandoned because having all education documents in one colour for example became very confusing for schools.

From 2006 to now

Libraries had their connect with branding developed. See this post for more info. connect branding

Ten proofreading tips

2009-04-08T22:30:00.012+01:00

Do an auto spellcheck and a grammar check. Most programs have this.
Check your headings and body text separately. Errors in headings are often missed because they are read with the main text.
Read it backwards. You can pick up duplicate words this way.
Take a break. You are more likely to see errors after a break.
Have standard formats for numbers, dates and times.
Get someone else to read it. Preferably someone with no involvement, they will read it as brand new and are more likely to spot things.
Read it several times looking for different things. Eg spelling, standard formats, grammar, understandability.
Keep your sentences an paragraphs short. This makes it easier to read.
Don’t trust the spellcheck and grammar check. Some words will remain because they are spelt correctly. The grammar solution may not be what you want. Rephrase your own way.
Finally, read it again! You can never proofread too much.

connect

2009-04-06T22:53:00.012+01:00

Kent Libraries brand was developed in 2006 by the London design company Limehouse, now merged with Engage Communications. I was asked to design the logo but I said no. I consider myself to be only a beginner at logo design. While I am happy to do logos for projects and small parts of the library service, a whole service identity is a completely different matter.

They gave us two choices based on their research. One was a logo that was quite childlike with the words explore, discover and imagine. The other is the connect branding style we currently use. It was designed to work in harmony with the council logo. I worked with them to make sure they stuck to the existing KCC guidelines.

The whole idea of connect is that Libraries connect people to pretty much everything.

It’s taken some time to convince the staff of the benefits, but in the last year or so it’s really started to make a difference. The days of word art posters have (mostly) been replaced by a standard professional look. It is really easy to spot a Kent Library poster out in the community.

The other areas our branding has addressed is the language we used and the need to put absolute all the details on a poster. The language has been the hardest thing to change. Many of our staff have worked in Libraries for a long time and old habits die hard. They were so used to writing formally and in a passive conversationalist way. The language now is minimalist and active.

To help staff in creating their own posters, I created several sets of word templates, and go out and do practical layout training. Basically all they have to do is find one good photographic image, preferably with people in; think of one engaging statement and then add the basic details. The staff can still come to me for any or all of their publicity, but with 100 libraries this might be a bit much. We have a photographic library, which consists of photos of our customers, so they have plenty to choose from.

Quote smart and, dash and dot less

2009-04-04T23:08:00.018+01:00

Smart quotes, dashes and dots. These are things that are not always noticeable, but like good fixtures and fittings in a house they add to the overall effect.

As I am new to website design and know very little code, I am reliant on the websites I use. Unfortunately they rarely support the proper characters. In word and adobe software they can be entered on the keyboard and get changed automatically, if you have your preferences set.

Here on blogger, I have read you can change the CSS, so these changes are automatic. This is something I don’t understand yet. I have found the html code at the excellent website A List Apart, so I am manually entering all the changes at the moment. It does take some time but I feel pleased and just a little smug when I’m done.

Here are the most common and most reliable html codes taken from A List Apart:

Apostrophe ’ use &#8217 (' this is a foot mark)
Smart quotes “ ” use &#8220 and &#8221 (" this is an inch mark)
Em dash (change in sentence) — use &#8212
En Dash (from to dash) – use &#8211
Hyphen - use for words such as re-enter and co-operate
Ellipses … use &#8230 (... these are just full stops)

Notice the size difference of the dashes and space between the dots in the ellipses. I personally hate dashes and ellipses and do my best to not use them at all. People who work in the council love them. It looks like morse code. They are often not necessary, and quite often a comma, colon or full stop will do the job better.

The website mentioned above is well worth a visit. It covers all manner of typography and web design issues. It is easy to read. Probably because they make all these little changes.

So good I've put my name on it

2009-04-02T22:52:00.016+01:00

Personal Signature o..
Watch the ad...

So I have just seen another ad, where they think their product is so good they’ve put their name on it. One of the latest advertising gimmicks. This one is slightly different, Kellogg’s have brought back an ad saying they did it 100 years ago. Personal-Signature-on-Kelloggs-Cereal

Running this ad kind of ruins all the others. A clever move.

This does however bring up another issue. Aren’t logos a way of putting your name on it? Isn’t everything branded these days?

A better line might be ‘so good we don’t need to put our name on it’. There are many logos that are so well branded now they have dropped their name. Shell, Nike and WWF are so recognisable, you don’t need the words to know who they are.

This was the thought I had behind my own logo, recognisable without words. In my own circle it has been noticed, even though, I’ve only really had it for a year.

Reading is the best stress relief

2009-03-31T23:03:00.011+01:00

New research shows that reading is the best stress reliever. Just six minutes of reading can reduce your stress levels by two thirds.

Reading-can-help-reduce-stress

This is great news for Libraries. We already have a books can help scheme, where doctors prescribe self help books. Now we know all reading is good for you scientifically.

The frog is something I designed to go on a frisbee, as a give away at the Kent County Show. His name is Alexander. He has been so successful that I am creating more characters, one for each district. Watch this space.

Pepper

2009-03-29T17:19:00.012+01:00

Pepper is my springer spaniel. Originally he had a prime spot on the front page of my website, but it wasn’t easy to do what I wanted on the Microsoft pages. This year I decided to refocus the site completely and make it mainly a portfolio of my work, so Pepper has taken a back seat. As I wanted to keep the website name/brand, I have put Pepper in charge of managing my links and found a site that is much better suited to him.

There is a link on the top right of this blog. The site is Uniteddogs and it’s a great social networking site for dog owners. They also have a sister site for cats. If you have cats and dogs you can link the two together. You can write as if you are your dog talking and the other dogs reply as dogs. Great fun… for me anyway – not sure Pepper would agree!

You can upload photos, videos (via URL link, eg You Tube) and write a diary blog. The design quite easy to navigate too. You can use your facebook login to register so that’s one less password to remember. And they have an updating widget that can go on your facebook pages or your websites to link back.

So to go with this I now have a You Tube account. (Using my google account another way to cut down the amount of passwords to remember.) This site I am finding much harder to navigate and understand. At least on my own channel I’ve stripped out most boxes and customised all the colours to match this blog and my website. There is code to link back for each video and code for your channel.

Update

I'm not updating my Uniteddogs account any more and have asked them to close it. It was taking up too much time.

Ten hidden costs of photocopying in-house

2009-03-26T23:16:00.011Z

It’s not free, you or your company pay for the copier, the electricity and the paper
The print quality is not good enough for advertising and gets worse the more you use it
It will take a lot of staff time
Pages are often printed at a slight angle and information gets chopped at the edges
If you do fliers this way, you then have to slice them by hand a few at a time
You will usually have only one weight of paper 80gsm
Your customers will think you are cheap
They often jam and make your stress levels rise
Other people will need to use the copier, more stress
Often they are in a small room with poor ventilation, think of your health and the noise!

Why put yourself through all this, just take it to your local copy shop. They can run it off in an hour on good quality paper and cut it for you. They will look good, work better and your customers will think you are professional.

Personally, if it’s under 50, I print on the printer and if it’s over 50 it goes to the copy unit. Of course if it's over 500 then it’s to the printers. Lucky for me my copy unit and print section are altogether, so they decide which machine my job is best run on.

So many logos

2009-03-24T22:22:00.005Z

Working for the council, means working in partnership, which means lots of logos.
I like simple round or square logos with not much detail. Unfortunately a lot of the logos I have to use are very detailed or horizontally long. This makes it very difficult to fit on the bottom of poster. Sometimes I spend more time rearranging logos, than laying out the rest of the poster.
Libraries have four logos of their own, not to mention different sections of the council. At least I don’t have to use all our logos at the same time. Just today I had five logos on one and six on another.
Most designers will fix this by making them much smaller, than their guidelines allow. I don’t have that luxury.

The importance of proofreading

2009-03-23T21:28:00.007Z

You can never proofread enough.
Always proofread your work, and better yet get someone else to read it.

The best person to read your document is someone who has had nothing to do with the content.

I am really lucky to have a proofreader that used to teach university english. He is brilliant and picks up practically everything. But as brilliant as he is and the customer also checking, mistakes still slip through. So why bother? You might ask. Well you actually want your material to be read and read easily.

A document that is full of errors is difficult to read and the reader starts to focus on the errors instead of the content.

Extracting images from Word Documents

2009-03-22T19:11:00.006Z

Working with Libraries staff I often get sent images in word documents. Often it is easier to use this image, than trying to explain why you need the file as a jpeg.

A quick way of extracting the image is to save the file as an html page. If they haven’t compressed the image, in the html folder there should be two of the image. One the size it is in the document and one which is the original file, usually a jpeg. This is usually better quality than doing a copy and paste into a new photoshop document or a print screen. It is also quicker especially if they have put lots of images in the document.

When the images are supplied in a word document, it means you can find out where they got them. The web hyperlink is embedded too. You can then find out if it is copyrighted and email the website for permission and ask for a better quality image. This can incur a cost depending on your purpose. It’s sometimes quicker than going back to your customer.

Hand drawn ads

2009-03-21T20:07:00.010Z

A new advertising trend has emerged, it is the use of hand drawn elements in your ads. I personally think they are very difficult to get right and often make the ad look really cheap and homemade.

It’s the follow on from the You Tube style ads (Just because an idea is good doesn’t mean it has to look homemade). We are not all the same and we don’t all like the same thing. People are always interested in the next new thing, so why do adverts start to follow the same trends?
I know why I preach it all the time, you must target your audience or you will reach no one. Still it doesn’t mean that the latest trend will work for your product. I personally store these ideas and styles up until they are appropriate and relevant. But and this is a big but, if I can’t do that style then I’ll ditch it.

Having said that, there are times when you have no choice, it is what your customer wants. At least you can say you tried to warn them. Then again your perception could be completely wrong and your customer is right on the nose.

So although I hate being a fashion follower it is necessary.

Pink - it's everywhere

2009-03-20T19:17:00.009Z

Girly Pink and the purply pink have been in fashion for so long. It seems to be everywhere you look. Just this week I went to get a Mother’s day card, and I was faced with a sea of pink. Pink cards, pink wrapping paper, pink slippers, nightwear, beauty packs etc. It was bad enough as a kid with everything being Barbie pink, but to have it shoved down your throat as an adult too.

Even gadgets are not immune, you can get them in black, silver or pink. Should you want any other colour you’ll probably be out of luck.

Why is that if you are female you must like pink?
I hate it, so much that I managed to stop my mum and friends from liking it when I was a teen. Fortunately I'm not so zealous now or this post would be totally hypocritical, and I wouldn’t be able to do my job properly.

In my work’s branding we have two shades of pink. One representing people and one information which obviously have to be used fairly regularly. From a designer point of view I understand the striking value of pink particularly against black.

But there is hope…
lime green is slowly winning the battle!
It’s fresh and bright and eco.