Posts filed under 'Design'
Jonathan Schneider is a nice guy. I get the impression he wants to front a bit of a tough guy image, but he can’t help it. He exudes sincerity and, well, maybe not confidence, but definitely persistence and conviction. It isn’t that he is not confident – he’d have to be to travel to Washington DC, meet with top leaders in the campaign finance reform movement and then create an entertaining documentary about it. But he doesn’t exude any cockiness or snotty pretentiousness.
I guess that’s how he convinced me (and all the other folks who pitched in) to get involved with his new documentary “Mr. Schneider Goes to Washington.” I just helped him design and launch his website which serves the dual role of helping him promote the movie and work to change the way we finance politics in this country. See movie clips and learn about “Americans Pissed-off Enough” at LetsGoAPE.com.
Jonathan is a textbook in how to get services donated or offered at a good rate for a good cause. I list some tips in a separate post here on How to Get Cheap or Donated Web Design Services.
And it helps to have a good cause. I’ve long been convinced that corporate money in government is the primary corrupting influence in America. So anything that will help spread the news is high on my list. Will this film make a dent? Who knows, but at least we’ll have a good time trying.
Jonathan goes to Washington, again, this week to screen the film for some participants and press. We continue to build up the website as movie buzz develops with plans for a Blog and more. If you have access to a good Email-Your-Representative database system please let us know!
July 24th, 2007
Jonathan Schneider of LetsGoAPE.com and the new film “Mr. Schneider Goes to Washington” is a textbook case in how to get services donated or offered at a good rate for a good cause. If you are looking for a designer or other service provider to help you out, be like Jonathan. In fact, I think this stuff might help you even when you are paying top dollar for the services.
- Be nice. Yes, you can be confident, convincing or even brilliant. But really, more importantly, be nice, considerate and personable with the people from whom you are asking help. If you seem like someone who is going to be fun and easy to work with, you are more likely to convince someone to take on the job, and take it at a good rate.
- Be persistent, but not pushy. From the start and through your project, keep calling back and touching base in a helpful available way. Hey, you can’t demand anything when you are trying to get something for free. But if you get some commitments for assistance, the person who offers them to you will feel a personal obligation to follow through. Unless you blow it by being an obnoxious terd. Don’t be afraid to clearly say what you need and call with reminders.
- Be organized. The most time consuming part of any project is tracking down documents, troubleshooting problems or managing an onslaught of requests sent in different documents or phone calls. Try to deliver everything in one package AFTER it has been finalized. Don’t wait for your designer to mock something before you proof read it. If you are organized when you first approach someone, they’ll feel more comfortable offering to help or will be able to offer a lower bid.
- Provide helpful criticism. Designers and other professionals are used to working collaboratively with clients. We use that interaction and feedback to produce a better product. We can handle the criticism. But, boy, compliments are nice too. At the same time, try to stay out of the way a little. Designers can produce some of their best, most inspired work on side projects (and paid ones) when they aren’t being nitpicked on petty stuff. Frequently on web and graphic design jobs, so much time is wasted on picking apart minor aspects of designs that the design no longer works in its entirety. And the designer gets burnt out.
- Keep your volunteers up-to-date about the cause. People help because they care. And they care more if they know what you are working on. Personal updates go a lot farther than cheesy mass emails. But don’t waste their valuable time blathering on.
- Get funding if you can. Graphic and web designers don’t earn that much these days and we really need to get paid for our work. A nice custom website runs thousands or even tens of dollars and take a lot of time. If you have a good plan in place to use your website to improve you organization, you can get funding for it.
(Note: this is not an open call for anyone else who wants free design services. I already get flooded with requests and am very busy. If I can offer some advice I’m glad to help. But I would love to talk to you about interesting paid projects. 
I also can provide consulting services to help you organize your project so that you can properly bid it out and push it through to completion. )
July 24th, 2007
With all the speculation about Yahoo’s woes and Google’s recent climbs in the stock market, I wonder if investors are aware Google’s recent crack down on Made-for-Adsense websites. I absolutely support June 1 ban on spammy sites that that exist only to trick people into clicking on their Pay-per-Click ads. But the big news is that Google has turned a blind eye to these sites and finally started cracking down on June 1.
I am a big Google booster – I greatly respect their services and their philosophy and I have a bit of Google stock in my retirement account. I also follow search engine news pretty closely. There has been a lot of reporting on this issue among web publishers, and a lot of annoying whining. Though I’m far from an insider, I think most who pay attention to these issues know Google is going to take an earnings hit by banning these sites.
Everyone has seen and despises these Made-for-AdSense websites. They are the bane of the Internet. In a word: Evil. You are searching for some product or service and, instead of getting a vendor or some helpful recommendations, you get a page full of ads. They are a complete waste of time and are often carefully disguised to look like a helpful site. These sites are very profitable for their owners because they don’t supply anything of value to the web surfer. A searcher’s only choice is to click one of the many AdSense links that appear more helpful or click the back button. Good sites with quality content don’t earn as much money because people find what they are looking for and often ignore the ads.
So knowing that these sites are one of the most evil annoying things on the web, wasting many hours of searchers’ time, you would have assumed that Google had banned them a long time ago. I always figured they just had a hard time policing all those tricky scammers. I would even submit complaints against the worst violators to Google to help them track down all the scofflaws.
The real news is that Google was allowing these sites to thrive and just finally banned them on June 1. Moreover, prior to the ban, they issued warnings so that these sites could prepare, and, I assume, get ads from another source. And Google is paying out all revenues earned in this deceptive manner. Instead of just outright banning the sites, they send warnings and give the sites time to comply. It is outrageous. By supporting and encouraging the creation of these sites, Google has created this entire annoying phenomenon, profited from it, and are reluctant to stop it. If this ban is not heavy handed enough to have an impact on Google’s profits, then it is not actually broad enough to stop the spread of spammy sites.
It is not like Google has any problem banning people from their AdSense program. Webmaster boards are filled with people who have had their AdSense accounts disabled and earnings confiscated. I myself have a site that tried AdSense during the first months of the program. I worked at a web design company where everyone was intrigued and loved the program. Based on that experience we recommended it to our clients. And suddenly my site was banned for click fraud. I have no idea why – maybe a co-worker innocently clicked on ads in a way that was connected to my account. I don’t know. I do know there was nothing systematic or malicious. Google won’t give information and the ban is permanent. I was incredibly frustrated by this but always took it as a sign that Google has extremely high quality standards and anything that looks remotely fraudulent would be banned. For some reason Google finds the notion of click-fraud to be a larger threat to their advertising program.
Again, I’m a Google supporter and hate it when I hear people complaining about how Google is solely profit driven. I generally think that Google strives to focus on users and tries to avoid profit chasing and marketing gimmicks. So there are only two reasons I can see that Google has taken so long to ban these sites. 1) It is going to greatly impact their revenue. Search and content ads are THE engine that has fed Google’s growth. It is Google’s main, if not only, revenue source. Or 2) Maybe someone has finally found a way to legally challenge Google on these site bans and they are afraid they’ll be slammed in the courts, especially after they allowed MFA sites to fester for so long.
I’m guessing it is financial. That has to be why Google waited so long to ban these sites and why they are doing it in an incremental manner. They also waited to do it until a time when they are diversifying by offering radio and print ads. It is still disgusting that they let this continue for so long.
Though it may hurt me as a stockholder, I have to wonder aloud how this is going to affect Google’s profits. No mistake – even as a stockholder I don’t care if it hurts profits. I would rather they had banned these sites a long time ago. I really wonder if Wall Street is aware of this big change to Google’s revenue source and what impact it could have. I sure hope that I’m missing something here. I recognize that Google is in a tough spot. But they have been earning money through fraud and deceit and I wish they would move more swiftly to change it.
July 18th, 2007
Ok, I’m a little obsessed with outdoor showers right now. I mentioned a couple of fine showers you can buy from Amazon in a previous post on showering in your backyard. And now this nice little shower design book has come to my attention to help you design and build your own outdoor shower.
I had no idea that outdoor showers are becoming the hot new luxury item. I just know that my significant-other has a soft spot for them because as a kid she would visit their family’s homestead shack out in the Mojave desert and use an outdoor shower. Years later we visited Costanoa, a luxury fake camping resort where you sleep in tent cabins under electric blankets and use shared camp style deluxe bath facilities. The bath house floors are heated with radiant heat and you can shower (in private stalls) under the open sky. And now we are renovating our decrepit bathroom with that style in mind. Most of all I just remember as a kid, some of my favorite times were coming home covered in dirt, mud or sand so that I needed to be hosed off outside. Now I just need the time and energy to build a shower to make it more fun.
Beware– I’ve found that you may need a permit to build an outdoor shower. My plumber warned me that in Santa Monica (where we have a lot of very good strict building requirements) it is technically illegal to build a shower without proper drainage and permits. I need to find more info, but this action by the City Council points out that outdoor showers are really supposed to be used for recreational purposes like if there is a pool or sauna. But it shouldn’t serve as the primary shower for a granny flat. Who knew it was so complicated to hose off in your own yard? You have to admit though, it is important to keep untreated water out of our ocean! It is contaminated enough. So get your permits!
Anyway, this shower design book has received some nice reviews and I’ve got to order mine.
July 17th, 2007
No comment.
Oh, crap, I can’t help myself. I have to comment. There are a lot of Donald Sterling ads that run in the paper every week and I just can’t discuss every one. But this is nuts. (See the Donald Sterling Graphic Design Foundation if you haven’t yet, and join our cause.)
I know my criticisms of Donald T. Sterling Corporation have all been graphic design related, but I have to take a little spin through the content of this ad. (I’ll comment on the design too, if you can bear wading through some actual substantive issues.)
For many years I worked as a counselor, activist and program manager in homeless services. (I had always been involved in art and design on the side and eventually switched to doing design full time.)
Honestly, I don’t know the full background story behind Mr. Sterling’s homeless service center. Judging by a quick spin around the net, nobody else does either. I generally bristle when people who are not a part of the homeless or social service community step in and try to fix everything. There are many plans and proposals that have been developed and ignored. And in these plans there are a couple of findings that are very clear. The number one thing we need is permanent housing, preferably with support services. Sure it is nice to have another service center, but these centers just become warehouses (or concentration camps) unless there is a place for people to go. And another important issue is that we need many decentralized locations for services. Every community has homeless people and people from every community become homeless. Sending everyone downtown is not a great solution.
But really, my biggest complaint about large facilities like the one proposed is that they can be hell for people. Imagine checking in to a great big facility like this — would you be scared? What if you were not at your best because of your health, mental health or just the troubling circumstances of being homeless? And the very existence of these places is often used as a justification for police sweeps and harassment.
Ok, enough ill-informed whining and criticism. I actually commend Donald Sterling for putting his money and reputation on the line and for trying to do something for Los Angeles. I hope he addresses all of the concerns that the community may have regarding a facility like this so that it will fill a real practical need. And I know he has some hard work ahead. He’s at least trying to do something great and he deserves our support.
Which brings us to his horrible ads in the LA Times again! Assuming this service center and his intentions are all well placed, how is this ad going to help him? He boldly tells us “The Homeless Need Your Help.” It is not clear but it looks like Sterling is posing as the homeless person who requires the help, or I guess he is just posing as the person who is bringing us the news (with a smile on his face). And then the ad describes the plans. What can you do if you want to help? You can write a letter and snail mail it to the address listed. Or maybe that’s how to request services. It is not really clear because the text is just a jumble of incomplete sentences. The only thing that is clear from the ad — from the giant Donald Sterling head to the giant “Sterling Homeless Center” on the building” — is that this homeless service center is really all about one thing: Donald T. Sterling.
Ok, this is not just a design issue. The ad is less ugly than most of the ads running lately. But it is just a poorly executed PR move. If he was actually paying someone to do the ads, maybe he or his people would proof read them and consider if they were actually promoting him and his cause. Even if these ads are free to him, they are hurting him (and everyone who looks at them) more than they are helping.
June 12th, 2007
Really!? Yea, we’re surprised too. It seems that Donald T. Sterling Graphic Design Foundation is striking a chord with many Angelinos who have been plagued by the gawd awful ads in the Los Angeles Times and elsewhere.
It looks bleak (did you see the self serving ads in which the Salvation Army is supposedly congratulating Sterling, but obviously rendered in the evil DTS style?). But we haven’t given up yet! Since we first started this campaign we’ve received widespread support and this site has served as a place for others to vent and share information. We’ve received reports that the ads are free to Sterling because the Times gets ad at Clippers basketball games. And we hear that DTS Corp insist on the crappy look of the ads. Supposedly designers at the Times actually dread getting the assignment. (Yes, the shocking news is that real designers may be involved here.) It is clear from the frequent sloppiness of the layout, the designers have given up hope.
So now that we have more momentum than ever, what will it really take to get these ads to change? Can the Los Angeles Times stand up for its integrity? Can the designers at the Times speak up or at least try to make the ads look nicer? Or, really, can’t Donald Sterling realize that his ads that proclaim to offer “most beautiful apartments in the world” actually send the message “tacky, poorly managed apartments brought to you by a megalomaniac?”
I have nothing against Donald Sterling (except for this ad thing). And I don’t know how well his apartments are managed or anything about his alleged bigotry or sex scandals. And honestly I’ve been disgusted by comments I’ve seen about him that sound anti-Semitic and just stupid. But I do know this: his ads are ugly, they make him look bad and I’m sick of looking at them! There are a few suggesions for how you can do your part here.
(Thanks Los Angeles Magazine!)
Oh, here’s the blurb from the mag:
From Los Angeles Magazine, June 2007
“Buzz Cut”
by Lesley Bargar
Website of the month: Hoping to ease the suffering of layout-conscious Angelinos, the offbeat online magazine Quixo has launched the Donald T. Sterling Graphic Design Foundation, which urges the Clippers owner and real estate mogul to employ a professional artist for his ubiquitous L.A. Times advertisements. The Quixo folks complain, “The ads don’t follow even the most basic principles of graphic design.” So far, Sterling hasn’t budged. Visit quixo.com to do your part.
May 21st, 2007
Ok, here’s a little experiment. You can get your free Creepy comic (as seen on our quixo home page) for your blog, myspace, whatever. What the heck, let’s see how this goes.
Oh, the comic remains copywrite Quixo Design and can’t be used for commercial purposes, printed or sold without permission. This is a limited edition, no warranty, no promises, beta release. If I get slammed, I’ll stop distributing the link code (so get em while they last). But hopefully it will just be fun for everyone.
Stick this code whereever you like to stick code and let me know how it works out (REMOVE the ‘x’ in ‘xsrc’ so that it reads ’src=…’):
<iframe xsrc="http://www.quixo.com/windmills/creepy.htm" mce_src="http://www.quixo.com/windmills/creepy.htm" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" style="width:210px; height:300px" marginwidth="0"></iframe>
May 14th, 2007
What do you mean you don’t get it? He’s creepy, he dresses sharp and he’s got a throbbing helium-filled heart. Fun, right? And you can play with him. Pick your heart’s mood, make Creepy squat and a couple other things. Creepy was inspired by a song by Tin Hat Trio, sung by Tom Waits.
& (on Amazon)
.
Creepy’s on the quixo homepage at the moment. And, for a limited time, you can have a copy of Creepy for your blog, mypage or whatever. Here is the code and instructions.
(When I first started Quixo.com it was a repository for my wacky crude animated Flash comics. Hopefully this will be the first of many more!)
May 14th, 2007
We’ve just posted a couple of updates on our campaign to stop Donald Sterling Corporation’s ugly full page ads in the LA Times.
So far the campaign has been an enormous success. Like-minded people from around Los Angeles have been finding comfort in knowing that they are not alone in their suffering. Bunches of LA blogs have taken up the cause, including LosAnjealous, Blogging LA, Franklin Avenue and LA Observed .
As a result, new details are coming to light. According to our sources — random people posting comments here and elsewhere– Donald Sterling Corp does not pay for their millions worth of ads in the Los Angeles Times. They got them through a trade for advertising at Clippers basketball games. This explains a lot. The Times has no power to control the quality of the ads and DTS Corp just doesn’t value the ads. We propose that the Times make their banners at Clippers games into eysores to pressure DTS to fix their ugly ads.
In other news, last weekend we were startled to see a new DTS ad layout in the Sunday paper. It almost looked like they were trying a little harder. The ad had a nice dark blue color in the background with a subtle gradient. There were even margins and the design elements appeared to be lined up intentionally. The new gold 3-D logo thing was pretty gaudy, but at least it looked like they were trying. Still, any hope that we were making progress was destroyed when the next page revealed an ad in the old style, rendered even more sloppily than ever.
Oh well. We’ll struggle on. I’m sure someone at Donald T. Sterling Corporation has taken notice of our campaign here. Hopefully even more pressure is mounting because, since they don’t seem to have their own website, people looking to do business with them find us. I’m betting right now they are already working on an ugly-ass website. At least with a website we won’t need a campaign, people have a choice whether to visit it or not….
March 8th, 2007
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Well, no duh. Make the coffee into a thermal pot so it doesn’t burn. Man, do I hate burnt coffee. And my got-it-on-sale-because-it-is-bright-yellow coffee maker has to be turned off after the first cup is poured or all is lost. Cold coffee is just a tiny bit better than burnt coffee…. Get Al Gore on it — it will save electricity too. This 