Sing a Simple Song- The RoamBuffalo 1/1 Anniversary

The contest: you could be a winner, Mr. DJ know-it-all.

Well there ain't nothing like playoff hockey. Though everytime I leave the room some team scores 2-3 goals in a matter of minutes. There are a lot of teams I don't like, so I just root for the team playing against them. Boo Ottawa!

Hockey in spring has reminded me that it was last year at this time that this RoamBuffalo blog was borne. So on April 17th, we are going celebrate our:
>> 1 Year, 1 Month Anniversary!!

As I write this, there have been 121 posts- not bad. This also means there have been 121 songs referenced as the titles for these post- each post title has been a song title-- or a very clever play on a song title.

So for our 1/1 Anniversary Contest, the 1st person to identify the artists for all these song titles/blog posts will be a winner! Oh yeah! The first person to identity all 121 artist matched with song title by the 21st of this month will win a Where to Roam Tee (your pick). If nobody gets them all, the person who gets the most right (by the 21st) will win. Good luck to you all.

There has been a lot said in these electronic pages about design, art, graphics, fonts, the b-lo, the weather, artists, and, of course, music. Without the music, none of this may have happened. Music and me go way back.

Here is a freebie: Inspiration Information is by Shuggie Otis
Song on YouTube (no video, just CD cover): Shuggie!- click here.

The Act We Act

Speaking to my daughter's class during Career Week about Graphic design.

I just finished speaking to a group of kindergarten to 2nd graders at my daughter's schools about being a "graphic artist." It was a lot of fun.

I started by explaining that graphic arts is around us everyday: at home, at school outside. Then I told them about graphics being on posters, labels, TV, newspapers, books, magazines and computers. A few hands were raised to tell me about relatives that were artists. Cool.

Then the fun began. I explained the use of symbols, color, shapes, letters, numbers, and words to 'tell a story without speaking'. I held up some examples of symbols and got a rousing reaction. I held up a heart and asked them what it was and what it meant. I held up smiley face, a house (home, comfort, safety- very good!!), and other symbols like scissors cutting and a snowflake. They seem to understand that the snowflake meant cold, yet a sun symbol meant hot. Very cool.

Now the fun really began. I explained I was going to hold up some famous symbols or logos as they shouted out the correct answer, getting them all right away (I tried to stay away from fast food, though I mentioned the McDonald's 'M' during my talk):

• Walt Disney logo w/ castle
• Girl Scout logo
• PBS kids (they all knew, smarty-pants kids) logo
  
• Superman logo
• Batman logo
• and the last one that erupted the class in cheers and chaos, the old Sabres logo!

We talked about a few in details. For example how the superman logo is just a letter 's' in a shape, but everyone know what it was.

I talked about what subjects in school helped me to be a good artist: art (obviously), math, science, history, reading, writing and more. "Pay attention in school kids," the teacher really liked that!

"Keep on drawing and save your drawings!," I exclaimed.

Then the (even more) fun part, the Q and A. Many of the kids wanted to know the easiest and hardest part of my job (easiest- getting to draw a lot, hardest part; keeping the people I work for happy), they wanted to know what was the best part of my job- and I said that was getting to learn about different people and different types of companies and jobs everyday. As a graphic artist, you often have to become an expert in something that you knew nothing about the day before!

I got a lot of rambling comments about the Lego logo, Star Wars Legos and Bionicles- they wanted to know how much I knew about those symbols... and a lot of kids told me they love to draw, which I, in turn kept exclaiming "Great! Keep it up."

I was great and I had them laughing and shouting in joy! I think they got it, they like to hear that drawing is good and to 'keep on drawing.' By keeping it brief and showing a lot of pictures, I managed to keep it from getting too rowdy, but 30 or so 5-7 year olds can get kinda nutty on a Friday afternoon at 1:00.

Hey, I often do as well.... it has been along week (as usual).

Twice Inna Lifetime

A Card Carrying Member... the history of my business cards.

I found my first business card the other day. I had designed it when I went into the freelance graphic arts business. So this all started as Wizard Graphics way back in 1987. Since I have a copy of all my biz cards, I thought I would review them...

My 1st Biz card: Nobody beats the Wiz!
The name Wizard Graphics seems really dumb 20 years later. I was not a Dungeons & Dragons dude and I never particularly like medieval stuff. A lot of people in high school called me 'wiz' as a nickname, though I am almost convinced it had nothing to do with Michael Jackson or Diane Ross. Sporting the tag-line "designs that work magic" and an illustration of a mean looking wizard.... I was ready to take on the world. This card was produced by hand kids, using a typewriter, press type (rub on lettering) and hand-drawn art. The outline border was line/rule tape applied by hand and a ruler... really, nice corners, eh?

My 2nd Biz card: Purple Rain...
My second card dropped the wizard character, but kept the non de plume. This card was done in the early '90s as I was working in the pre-press business. It was a step up design-wise and featured a 2 color design on good, paper company paper with a smooth-ass gradient-- which I had paid to get made by a printer.... no, I didn't just fade from one color to another in Illustrator, this custom screen was made using film. The cards cost me a lot and features bad kerning, which for the life of me, I can't figure out why.

My 3rd Biz card: Smooth Gradient Operator...
My third card was produced all digital and I matched up my own screen gradients in Freehand. It carries my early love of purple from the last card but has a format changed to a risky new layout- vertical! Again including some bizarre kerning decisions, this card was glossy. Ick, there was a time when glossy equaled 'spend some money on these babies!'

My 4th Biz card: Minimalism for You and Me...
The fourth card was for the official start-up business with the name change to OtherWisz. A play off my last name, Wisz, the card was run for free with a batch of something like 8-9 other cards, mostly photographers I had convinced to all get new cards at the same time! This card was apparently when I finally learned to kern type. The OW card had a simple design and matched a website with the same layout having a thin purple line running across the page. This card circa. 1990 signaled a new era in Wisz-fueled design.

Our 5th Biz card: We have a Winner....
Now, with the fifth card, we really were on to something. J. had officially joined the team and we worked hard to build the OtherWisz brand, which consisted of the new logo (our cattle brand) embossed on some great yellow card stock. The card came in a sweet package including (printed for the 1st time of this story) letterhead and matching envelopes! You know we were now official and the collateral won an Addy that year. Flip the card and J. is on the deboss side, well she is 'de boss' ya know.... ha!

Our 6th Biz card: Leaving an Impression!
Which brings us to our 6th and current card. The fancy new OtherWisz card carries the same logo die on extra heavier, really white paper showing the beauty of the logo as it was meant to be: no color -on- no color. The subtle emboss didn't come out in these scans very well, but if you send me your address, I will mail you a card.

This card was also close enough to our last card that we could use the letterhead left over from the first run. The flip side is extra fancy with J. sporting the knockout from a bright yellow full bleed. This card highlights a new tagline "little firm, big solutions" and gets a lot of "ooohhs, embossed" from people... what will be next?

You can click on the cards for larger views >>

Video Bonus: Mike Jackson and Diane Ross in the movie,
The Wiz, singing Ease on Down the road. Classic- click here.

Listed M.I.A.

As I crammed for a 'tomorrow meeting' I listened on the radio as the Sabres last gasped and missed the playoffs... owwwwww.... It is time to end this 11 hour workday, just about 10 hours too long if you ask me- it had highs, it had lows..

The Infamous Top 5
For Thursday (April 3, 2008):

5. Corner store (Lex General Store aka Mike's Place aka The Newspaper Store Where They Have The Ice Cream- as my one daughter calls it) and The Place still closed as Spring arrives.

4. Should have had the burger, not the chicken.

3. Nice weather = Johnny Liquor sightings in the neighborhood are on the rise.

2. Speeding Ticket handed out by the OPP.

1. Sabres bowing out of the race.

I couldn't resist talking more grainy office photos with this here laptop. The images all have a security camera aesthetic that is irresistible at 11:35 PM. This is how my eyes are seeing now! So without further adieu, more OW office shots (click for larger).

Only 6 months or so until hockey training camp.


The coffee corner (the OW water cooler).


More LPs (and 12"s) than your average design corporation!


Blue Monday: My Peter Hook autograph.


The hockey game listening radio (for music too).

We Got Our Own Thang

A clean desk is the sign of a sick mind.

At least that is the often quoted tip given to me by an old boss of mine, Dan Shuder. He is also the guy that told me, "If you are going to hoot with the night owls, you better be able to fly with the eagles in the morning".... or something like that (but that's another story).

Often a design studio is a cornucopia of things, posters, gadgets, clippings, artwork, ads, postcards and such. The walls and shelves are pilled with things- inspiration! Ever since I was little, I have always attached things to my walls, mostly posters (ah... Farrah in her red bathing suit....). But it advanced to drawings, magazine photos, snapshots, labels and anything flat that inspired me, or just things I liked, applied with scotch tape. I remember my dad coming home from work and flipping out when he found I had stapled an entire wall in my room (in his house) with things, meticulously (spent all day) arranged things. He made me meticulously take it all down the same night!

As a designer and an artist I always found inspiration in the walls of stuff vs. the blank wall. I love the DJ booth of the Old Pink covered in stickers. The last job I had (employed by someone else) had me in a small office with no windows and blank, light blue walls. Well the first think I did was bring some stuff from home: some photos, little toys, plastic characters and posters. My boss thought I was a little nuts, but I had to have things on the wall. The blank canvas cried for stuff!! My office was so boring!!

Our current office has quite a bit of stuff around and I find it fun and stimulating. Others may find it messy and distracting. The more wall space, the more stuff we need. Things to look at often inspires me, and it gets me thinking of other things. I often take snapshots of the office space to use for the stories I write here, so I thought I would add a few more to give you a good idea of the cornucopia of stuff that surrounds me. There is lots of room for more stuff.

Here is a link to an article on Behance magazine about designers and their workspaces- click here.

OtherWisz Office (click for larger):


Old Mac and books, samples, swatches...


The Bat Phone really works, kids!


The files aren't always in the cabinets.


Not the actual Stanley Cup.

Blu Bayoo

An era gone by: the year 2001.

I found these 2 vintage video clips that my DJ parther and I had made to promote our deja blu Friday night gigs at Blu, a sushi/club on Main Street in Buffalo, NY. It was like finding old Super 8 movies in the family attic, but 2008-style.

We had an early (2001) digital camera that could capture Quicktime video clips and and we filmed these between periods of a Sabres playoff game we were watching at Faherty's on Elmwood. We emailed these out in the Summer of 2001, to entice the masses to come on down to groove with us. We had a semi regular gig at Blu and we marketed it fiercely with nights of flyering, hanging posters and email blitzs.

As I was moving the dejablu website to a new server I stumbled across these. I thought to myself, these need to be on YouTube for all to enjoy.

The first one is is the classic titled deja blu.. on the run staring DJ Scotty. the second is Indian Food: "No indian food, but we like Indian food..." starring me and my rockin' sweater vest. Enjoy.

>> deja blu... on the run video clip: click here.
>> deja blu indian food video clip: click here.

Neon Bible

Tommy, can you hear me?

I love book design, love packaging design. Here is an article in Graphics.com about some really innovative and just-plain-cool book designs. In each case, the designer has interacted with the subject matter. The subject mater has driven the design solution.

I really like the book of photos that were buried and then un-earthed with dirt and decay and the AGI: New Voice, which was bound with a synthetic ear (see images at the right). This will stand out on the book shelf! Huh? I also like the All Men Are Brothers, a project that features interviews and the work of 108 leading contemporary graphic designers.

This article references a new book about books called Book-Art: Innovation in Book Design by Charlotte River available from RotoVison. Some of the books are great, some are not.

Very cool- check it out the article here

BONUS BEATS (for Good Friday): The cool Neon Bible video by Arcade Fire. They play the song in an elevator complete with ripping pages sound effects!
>> Click here for You Tube video.

After 10 hours of straight sleep, I have overcome the burnout; I live to design once again... at least until the Sabs take on the Leafs tonight, eh? Then I'll have to take a break.

Big in Japan

Another week of non-stop graphics a.k.a too busy to blog.

As Thursday reaches its end (for the ordinary workday, at least), I look forward to not working this weekend. As usual, when Thursday rolls around, I have already worked 4 days and most likely 4 nights. I try to get in here at least 3-4 hours a night to prepare for the next day (gotta keep the employees busy), work in peace (all by my lonesome) and do the things that just don't seem to get done during the daylight hours.

So at a point like right now (exactly 5:23 PM) on Thursday-- I am feeling burnt out. Maybe I ought to be better-- not packing so much into the first 4 days of the week... spread it out some more? I even got in here a bit Sunday night (2 hours), so I was prepared for a Monday meeting... so I think I may have reached the end of the line. Man, I hate working Sundays. I used to work Sunday mornings in my college job at the Sheridan Family Restaurant, but that was Sunday morning, and I was done by 3:00 PM...

I still have to work tomorrow (Friday) during the day. But it is Good Friday (as all you good catholics out there know...), so a lot of companies will not be working full shifts, especially in Buffalo where a lot of those old Poles, Italians and Irish celebrate a holy afternoon. So it is kinda like a 1/2 day around here, so maybe cut out early... we'll see how that works out.

Unfortunately owning our own business means a lot of extra hours, so who's complaining-- it is so rewarding! Seriously, if we got the work, I can't complain, it's a good thing. Beats working at BK! It just gets a bit tiring sometimes. Maybe I can get a quick 5 minute nap before I go in the house for dinner. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz........

Window Sill

Hands tied.

The blessing and the unfortunate thing about graphic design is it has been tied to the use of the computer. Of course to be able to really design, you have to be able to do it without the computer. But there is no way in hell, you could be a practicing graphic designer and not use a computer. If you can't send an email, you are hopelessly unattached to society today. Or so it would seem....

I spend the better part of today on the phone with my internet service provider, swapping cables, turning computers and modems and routers on and off and on and off, etc. etc. There has been 0% thing designed by me personally today, all part of the job. I used to have a modem in my house and I remember why the internet used to suck before it got fast! ! ! Anyway, I am going to draw something on paper tonight, with a pencil, and live to fight technology another day... tomorrow.

The attached photo is not a made up still life, this is really what my desk looked like- Cat5 and phone lines all over, scraps of paper with scribbled notes >> Click to enlarge >>

Skin I'm In

Saturday Nite: & still snowing....
click for larger views....

Snow Blind

It has been snowing since Yesterday morning- over 24 hours!

We shovel and shovel and an hour later, it has piled up again. It not so bad- it is Buffalo- and we expect a lot of snow, even in March and sometimes even April. It makes everything look clean and white again and it slows down the day to a crawl.

It is Saturday, so I think there is going to be a lot of stay-at-home-watching-movies going on in this town today. The Sabres play tonight in sunny Carolina, so it is good night to hunker down. But..... there is something about snowstorms that brings out the adventurer in me. I want to go out and 4-wheel drive around town, and there isn't an official driving ban-- so lets bundle up and explore!

In the past J. and I have:

• Drove out to buy a TV (a special we couldn't resist) during a driving ban.
• Spend all afternoon in a old-man's bar (pre-kids), drinking beer, playing the jukebox and shooting darts.
• Take the dogs for a walk in desolate, ghost town-downtown (when we were early loft dwellers).
• Stayed in and read all the books, magazines, pamphlets in the house.
• Watched Bill Murray's Groundhog Day movie (several times in a row) increasing the movies circle of time theme
  

Mais Que Nada

He's up, he's down.

Often wracked with a sense of 'not good enough,' I think designers are constantly in a state of personal reflection. Since all designs are problem solving, and seen in terms of 'what looks good', or 'what works better'... that same examination, or microscope can often be turned inward, on ourselves.

If a designer knows he/or she is good, are they doing their job? Or do they have to be constantly challenging themselves and pushing themselves, reflecting on themselves and their work... to be 'good.'

A day like yesterday, where everything seemed wrong, incomplete, or just not designed good enough, made me wonder: Should I throw away 20 years of designing in the recycling bin and look for another line of work..... The classic suffering artist never thinks their work is good, never gets public acceptance until long after they are gone. But I think graphic design has a greater sense of urgency, with work that is viewed by many eyes, especially in website design where the audience is literally the entire globe. So I push and push and keep forging ahead.

Today things seem to be going better, the problems are getting solved and the client loves the designs. The thought now is to either sit back and enjoy today's 'ups' and revel in the joy, or do I stop, reflect and push farther and harder still? In the old days, the 'boys' in the ad dept. would all go out for happy hour (or a long lunch) and drink several scotches, pat ourselves on the back and go to work the next day with a splitting headache.

I don't think that is going to work for today, though. But I did go to Record Theatre last night and bought a handful of 45s, that seems to help some.