I see old projects...

Over the years I've sent many projects off to publishers following design submissions requests and have heard absolutely nothing afterwards. Usually that means my work was not selected for inclusion in the book being produced. On several occasions I have later been surprised to be flipping through a book in a store and come across examples of my design work - sometimes in books for which I never submitted work at all and no permission to publish was granted.

The other day I was at my favorite bookstore, Powell's City of Books, checking out the selections on the design section shelves. I came across several volumes from the Japanese publisher PIE Books, including the 2003 release Environment/Welfare-related Graphics. The book is a collection of noteworthy local and international corporate advertising and organization promotional campaigns based on environmental and social themes. I remembered being asked to submit design pieces for the book, but had never heard from the editor if anything had been accepted.

Having not previously seen the book, I pulled it from the shelf and casually skimmed through the pages - and there was a page of my work for Oregon Depart- ment of Environmental Quality from 1999.

The multi-piece DEQ project was for the state agency's Vehicle Inspection Program. Working in association my friend Marcia Danab, a DEQ staffer I always referred to as "The Particulate Princess," I designed an identity for the program, the multi-page booklet "A Driver's Guide to Clean Air" (in both English and Spanish), the tabloid publication "Clean Air Tips" given to those visiting the inspection stations, the Clean Air icon, a tabloid-sized insert for kids called "The D.E.Quizette" and other printed materials for the program. The "Quizette" was two pages of games and quizzes, featuring clean air topics, for parents to play with their kids while waiting for the completion of vehicle inspections. I also executed all the illustrations used in the pieces.

It was great to see the project get some international recognition in the book. However, it would have been nice to have been given a timely "heads up" of its inclusion so both the client and I could have promoted the hell out of the fact when the book was released over three years ago.

A wide variety of my work is in over 80 graphic design books to date. Being published in books from China, Korea, Japan, Spain, Singapore, and the U.S. has become a great marketing and promotion tool for design efforts.

© 2006 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives