Cowboy Jeffie gets a Woody

Well, I already have several Woodys - from the movie Toy Story that is. I have my favorite talking Woody in my home studio. A small bendable Woody sits atop the armoire in my living room, waving to all visitors who notice (you can see him in the lower right hand corner of the photo in this bLog-oMotives post). There's an assortment of Toy Story toys around my house. In fact, there's quite a bit of cowboy memorabilia in my home - due to a life-long fascination with all things "cowboy." Yep, that's me as a young cowpoke in the photo on the right.

My most recent Woody acquisition arrived in my PO Box in the form of a copy of the two-disk 10th anniversary edition of Toy Story that I won from one of my favorite book publishing companies, Chronicle Books. Oh, how I'd love to do a book with them someday. I've always enjoyed their design books and their San Francisco store is my idea of heaven. So, it's only natural that I'm an avid reader of the Chronicle Books blog and subscriber to the email newsletter.

Late last year, through the blog and newsletter they introduced the book To Infinity and Beyond!: The Story of Pixar Animation Studios, by Karen Paik. As part of the promotion a contest was held via the Chronicle Books newsletter. Readers were asked to submit their answer to the question: "Which Pixar character do you identify with most and why?" My response was:

I've always identified with Woody from "Toy Story." As a tall skinny kid I always wanted to be a cowboy - and seeing Woody in the movie took me right back to my childhood. I even had a little kid's cowboy birthday party thrown for me when I turned 40. My friends, who call me Cowboy Jeff, all brought me cowboy toys as gifts - including a talking Woody and many other "Toy Story" gifts for my collection of cowboy memorabilia.

Not long ago I received an email from Lisa Anne Logan, of Chronicle Books, letting me know that I was one of the contest winners and my prize would soon be on its way. The latest release of Toy Story could not have been more appropriate for me.

You know, I think this is the third time I've won a Chronicle Books prize. Last time it was an autographed copy of talk-show host Craig Fegurson's debut novel Between the Bridge and the River.

You might want to visit the Chronicle Books website, sign up for their newsletter to learn about special sales and contests, and check out their blog.

© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

Toot! Toot!*: Jeff Fisher LogoMotivesfeatured in Creatively Self-Employed

Jeff Fisher, the Engineer of Creative Identity for the design firm Jeff Fisher LogoMotives, is featured in the recently released book Creatively Self-Employed: How Writers and Artists Deal with Career Ups and Downs, by writer Kristen Fischer. In the book, more than 65 creative types - writers, designers, painters, illustrators and others - speak out about dealing with rejection, coping with loneliness and building strong businesses. Any creative professional, either starting an new business venture or looking to give their existing efforts an infusion of inspiration, will find the volume a valuable resource.

The author says she included Fisher as "a Creative Profile in a chapter about support, and also to discuss how to stay physically healthy - and what can happen when we don't."

Jeff Fisher has worked independently as a graphic designer, specializing in logo design, for all but three years since moving to Portland, Oregon in 1980. Since then he has received over 500 regional, national and international design awards for his logo design efforts, and his work is featured in over 80 books about logos, the business of design, and small business marketing. He shared many of his own business experiences in his initial book, The Savvy Designer's Guide to Success, which was released in 2004. A second book, Identity Crisis!, is currently in production and will be on bookstore shelves in the fall of 2007.

Other "creative types" featured in the book include "real world" industry friends Ilise Benun, Von Glitschka, Cat Morley - founder of Designers Who Blog, and Neil Tortorella. The experiences of cyber acquaintances Art Javid, Kristen King (also a recent client), Calvin Lee, Chris Tomlinson, and Tamar Wallace are also highlighted.

Kristen Fischer is a New Jersey copywriter with a wide range of print and Web copywriting experience. More information about the author, and her first book, is available at her Creatively Self-Employed website

Creatively Self-Employed is available through online booksellers such as Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.

Note: Photo courtesy of Kristen Fischer

(*If I don't "toot!" my own horn, no one else will.)

© 2007 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

'The ditch between white trashand trailer trash is called hope'

"My momma always used to say, 'The ditch between white trash and trailer trash is called hope.'"

So reads a line from the book Crumbs of Love: And That's All You're Ever Going To Get, by Donnie (the pseudonym of my friend and long-time Portland client Don Horn). I want to congratulate Horn for writing and publishing his memoir, which publisher iUniverse describes as "an unforgettable story of love, betrayal, and one father’s need to always be in control."

Don Horn, a playwright and theatrical producer, has been a friend and client since I met him opening night of his first play nearly 17 years ago. Over those years I've designed over 100 logos for his triangle productions! theatre company, in addition to posters, ads, playbills, T-shirts, an occasional prop and more. I even designed a paper doll book called Dressin' With Divine for the company. A decade ago, he trusted me enough to allow me the opportunity to spend a summer directing the play Party!, with its cast of a gaggle of nude men (including Peter Paige who went on to fame as Emmett on Queer as Folk.). He has always been a great friend and for about six years we've had a Thursday morning theraputic "koffee klatch" with several others. Horn also played host for the wedding of my partner and I at his theater in 2004.

Years ago I read the rough draft of Horn's memoir. The man has led an incredibly fascinating life. I really look forward to reading the book in its final form.

Crumbs of Love is available in book form from Amazon and from iUniverse as an Adobe eBook download.

© 2007 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

Portfolios by the book?

While enjoying my first espresso drink this morning, my local television news got my attention with a story about the changing face of book publishing. Recently I've heard good things about the self-publishing company Lulu.com. My friend/client Don Horn will be releasing his autobiography later this month, and writer Kristen Fischer will publish her book Creatively Self-Employed (with yours truly as a contributor), through the resources of iUniverse. I've also seen photo gift books produced by friends through the sites of Apple, Kodak and other sources. However, I'd never heard of the publishing venture Blurb.com until this morning.

The news blurb about Blurb.com piqued my interest and I went to the site. My immediate thought was: What a great portfolio resource for graphic designers. A designer (or design firm) could cost-effectively create a book of their work, with text explanations, and present a concise, professional- looking volume to prospective employers or potential clients. With the quick turn-around in custom publishing, the books could also be used as high-quality, finished project presentations. Softcover prices start at $18.95 for a 40-page, 8x10 4-color book with the same 80# coated, semi-matte paper and professional print quality Blurb delivers in its hardcover books. What I liked most about Blurb was the amount of creative control it gives the individual producing a book.

In flipping through the catalog of recently published books, I didn't see any current examples of graphic design book efforts. I did see many volumes of photography, a published MFA exhibition volume, a book of drawing and ceramics, and an architect's portfolio. Why not graphic design portfolios?

A customer first downloads Blurb.com's BookSmart™ software beta - in PC or Mac format - and the book creation process may begin. Blurb makes it easy to create a professionally designed book, using simple dragging and dropping of photos and auto-flowing text. Features have also been added to help people better market their books in Blurb’s Bookstore. Along with showing larger cover images in the Bookstore, Blurb customers can now elect to show prospective book buyers the first 15 pages of their books via a view-only PDF file with the Book Preview feature. Blurb’s new tagging tools allow users to categorize and tag their books for more exposure. Blurb even offers their own book How to make a book for $14.95 (which includes a $10 off Blurb coupon for future use). The instruction book is also available for PDF download.

Currently Blurb books printed using BookSmart do not have an ISBN number and therefore can’t be sold in bookstores or through other online book selling sites. However, there are plans in the works to offer a service that will help authors obtain their own ISBN numbers in the future.

The easily-navigated Blurb website provides a great deal of information. In fact, I have probably spent a good hour checking out things on the site so far this morning. There is also the Blurberati Blog, which appears to be a valuable additional resource for those considering using the publishing service.

Of course, your own book of photos, art, poetry or writing would make a great holiday gift for others. You had better get your ass in gear - the publishing deadline for delivery by December 22nd is December 11th.

(Note: For a review of Blurb and other self-publishing resources check out Macworld's "Beyond Apple's photo books.")

© 2006 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives.

An initial "WOW!" for WOWIO

Design industry pal Kristin Ellison recently left her position as acquisitions editor at Rockport Publishers to become an editor at the new online freebie book source WOWIO. WOWIO went live as a resource for downloading free books a couple weeks ago. I received an email from Ellison earlier today suggesting I visit WOWIO and register, because the four original issues of Critique: The Magazine of Graphic Design Thinking had been posted in PDF format for downloading. She mentioned that more issues would be coming in the future.

I didn't need to be told twice.

A brief look at the site found classic fiction, articles and essays, historical nonfiction, comics and graphic novels among the first offerings on the site. Readers acquire ebooks via the WOWIO Web site by setting up an account, searching for the desired items and adding them to a shopping cart for checkout. I went through the relatively painless registration process and "ordered" the free Critique downloads. Within a few minutes I received an email containing a link to download the material and I was soon browsing through the issues on my PowerBook.

So, what's the catch? I don't think there is one. WOWIO makes a profit by selling advertising space in the book downloads. Advertisers place ads with WOWIO through corporate accounts with the company. Advertising campaigns are composed of full-page, full-color advertisements and a detailed profile of the target audiences. Advertisers create campaigns by targeting specific demographic groups and placing messages in ebooks ordered by customers who match the profile.

WOWIO is certainly in its infancy - but it's definitely worth an early look as a potential resource for great reading material. I know I'll be returning to check out future postings.

Trademarked logo is courtesy of WOWIO

© 2006 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives