It's been awhile since I posted last, but I have an excuse: it's been SUPER busy in WSP-land!

Our regular clients have not let up on work, although there has been a little pressure on budgets -- mostly in reducing photography costs and extravagant printing effects. But we make the most of it and produce some cost-conscious work thats effective. The main point is, it's our busiest year every. Of course, my attitude is to be "a complete design studio in one person" and provide excellent value. It seems our clients understand and appreciate that and are extremely loyal. Thanks to every one of them!

The martial arts association account has really changed in the last year. They've been restructuring, which is a fascinating process in and of itself. Watching true marketing mavens working through their thought processes and being a part of the implementation has been a real education. Part of the process has been to cut costs, so in addition to closing the creative department and outsourcing to me, they've now terminated their long-time editor and turned over editorial management to me as well!

Of course, every art director fantasizes about how to organize the editors better, so I'm happily putting my ideas to work, mainly by hiring some excellent writer/editors and a copyeditor to work on the magazine and member materials as contractors. I hate to say things are going smoothly, but I'm getting copy on time. Let's hope I can keep it up.

So next time you see me, I'll probably be so burned out I'll become a forest ranger or farmer -- something that doesn't involve computers!*

I need to post some new portfolio samples. Lots of interesting work for NAPMA, SOULutions and Alpharetta CVHB, some marketing materials for ForesTech International, and some new ad campaigns for Sandy Springs Tourism and Hospitality. Just need to find the time ... the cobbler's children have no shoes, you know.

* Just kidding!

Later...

Well, I finally went and purchased an upright bass, something I've been wanting to do for a long time. After 36 years of playing electric bass, I decided to become a respectable bassist and learn to play a REAL bass!

Of course, ever the contrarian, I can't buy a regular upright, you know, one of those big bottomed beasts that jazz and orchestra players use. I have to get a "baby" bass - a full-size bass neck and fretboard on a body the size of a cello. Many rock-and-roll players use them amplified for some songs. It's an Ampeg Baby Bass, one of just a few made in the early 60s by Ampeg Corporation, normally known as makers of bass amps, of which I have one of those, too.

I purchased it from the guitar player in the Metro Jazz Group, Buzz, who bought it at a pawn shop, and except for a few bluegrass sessions, stored it in his basement.

A few entreaties to spouse Jackie, who handles the household budget, and a corner of the living room now boasts an occupant other than a sleeping cat.

But now I have to learn to PLAY the thing, which is different enough from electric bass to be a challenge, mostly in the distance you have to move your left hand on the neck to play notes that are within an easy reach of electric. But it's fun to have a new challenge. And the Ampeg is unusual enough to be pleasantly controversial!

The only downside is I now have my electric equipment to move to practice and gigs, and the baby bass. Good thing Jackie is my "head roadie" or I'd never get it out of the house!

Coming to a performance near you soon!

Later...

I've used e-lance.com for years for occasional projects that were of a specialty nature. Most have been successful; the few that haven't been have been design-type jobs where my project was handled to someone other than the portfolio producers, but to a newbie, with predictable results: unusable work.

But for small projects, particularly illustrations, it's a handy way to have access to some good talent and good prices regardless of location.

Recently I had some caricature drawings to be done for the martial arts association of their key officers. Now, you can go to any theme park, and illustrators with this type of style are on every corner. But in commercial work, not so much, especially those that understand a JPEG isn't the best format for offset printing, that a Photoshop file can't be edited by a picky art director, and are inexpensive enough for a typically poor industry association to afford.

So I finally found a guy who had a style I liked: in Romania! No matter, the intertubes provide worldwide access, don't they?

The project started well, but about the time I was expecting roughs, there was no word. A day went by, then another, then several, and still no word from the illustrator.

Finally, I dropped a line to see what' was happening. Took a day or two for the artist to respond that he lived and worked in a small village in the mountains, and his only connection to the outside world, including internet, was a very slow and unreliable telephone wire. And, in fact, that very same wire had been cut by a roadside rockslide and they had to wait several days for the line to be repaired, not to mention the road.

I am very spoiled with my always-on, 12 megabit/second cable modem.

Needless to say, it gave me a new appreciation of the conditions under which many artists try to make a living. A phone outage is a small inconvenience for me -- after all, I have a cell phone -- but a major problem for others.

Finally got my roughs, but I've been waiting for four days for the next renderings.

Oh well. The global village at work, I suppose.

Later.

Last March, I took over the creative services department of the National Association of Professional Martial Artists, an industry association based in Clearwater, Florida comprised mainly of folks who teach martial arts in their own schools. Meaning, they closed their in-house department and shipped it all to me!

One of the projects I produce is a monthly magazine: Martial Arts Professional Magazine. When I took it over, the design wasn't bad, but not good, either. I endured for 2008, not really having the time to re-design, but also working with the staff through an editorial review and re-alignment.

So we debuted a new design in March. Much simpler, cleaner, and business-like, which is what an industry publication should look like, not like some newsstand publication.

I've embedded a sample issue of each below for your viewing pleasure. It takes a few moments to load, but the display technology is cool. It's actually lets you "page" through the issue.


NEW DESIGN:




OLD DESIGN

After several years of watching the pool in the backyard (it came with the house) sink at one end, stretching the vinyl liner out of shape and twisting the hardware that holds the line in place, this year, it was time to fix the mess.

First up, Jackie (wife) and our handy-man friend, Jussi (Pronounced: "you-see". He's Finnish. Check our his blog I installed for him.), dug out the old, crumbling concrete and sunken dirt at the shallow end, where rainwater had eroded it. They backfilled and poured some new concrete, and re-routed some drainage channels to keep the erosion from happening again.

Then, as if that wasn't hard enough, they built a 10' x 18' two-level deck at that end! Nice deck!

Then, after measuring the now-empty pool every which way, a new liner was ordered, and arrived last week.

So a few days ago, Jussi came by again and they installed the liner. It's a heavy beast, 16' x 32' and about 8' at the the deep end. So while Abby, Jackie and I each held a corner, Jussi went around a pushed the liner edge into the channel that holds it in place.

Last thing; turn on two water hoses and wait three days for the pool to fill back up. And now it's beautiful again, with clean sparkling water and a line that has no patches or holes.

Too bad I never use it.... but Jackie swims everyday, so it's worth it.

And what was I doing watching most of this activity? Well, I didn't watch all the time. Mostly I was inside working, as always, while they got to play in the sun.

That's OK. I'll have my share of BBQ feasts by the pool this summer. Maybe I'll buy a laptop and sit by the pool and work.

Now, that's a great idea!

Later...

Well, I've become addicted to suspenders! Who would've thunk it?

I gained some weight over the last year due to my diabetes -- insulin causes weight gain that is very difficult to get off. So the pants sizes had to increase. Unfortunately, larger waist sizes are harder to keep up, and require tight belts, which are uncomfortable.

For a while, I tried wearing the pants without a belt, but the combination of a large size, plus the current trend in baggy jeans, meant my pants were constantly threatening to head for the ground.

And while the low-slung jeans look may be fashionable for young people, nobody wants to see my 53-year-old hind end hanging out, scaring small children and causing strong men to weep. So I endured the tight belts.

Until I had in inspiration one day: my old tuxedo suspenders!

Wonder of wonders! They held my pants up, were comfortable, and made a unique fashion statement, since not too many people wear them. They're like bow ties: pleasantly contrary.

So I wore my tux suspenders for a while. But those are boring-- black with grey stripes. Ho hum.

Then Jackie found a suspenders store online and I promptly ordered about $100 worth of these vertical belts!

So now I'm the proud owner of suspenders featuring the following designer "looks":

Bugs Bunny, Alien Hear, Checkered, Musical Notes, Blue Gradient, Braided Leather, and a few others for special occasions.

I'm wearing my Musical Notes braces today, which is appropriate since I have swing band rehearsal tonight.

And my pants stay up!

Later...

Last fall (2008) we took on a new client that is very interesting and turned out to have a lot of interesting work: SOULutions, Inc., of Atlanta. Michael Casteel, the owner, is a minister/therapist/energy healer/life coach who specializes in helping people through trauma in their life through "soul-based therapy."

This is the exact opposite if traditional psychotherapy, which uses cognitive therapy, where you talk, talk, talk about your earliest memories and relationships.

In soul-based healing, the approach is to not reinforce the trauma by talking about it, but release the negative energy through meditation and other "energy-release" techniques. Darndest thing is, it works! Clinical research studies have shown that traditional therapy is not effective for most trauma; soul-based therapy is highly effective.

Anyway, Michael is a superb therapist, so we're building a complete marketing system for him. Jackie's working on branding, market research and materials, and is helping him with creating and editing professional-quality, non-jargon materials for the various workshops and seminars he conducts. I've created brand graphics, marketing materials and am working on a bunch of websites.

Take a look at the sites and let me know what you thing via the Contact page.

FIRE of Wholeness
MAPSS to Wholeness
Embrace Your Shadow

There's also a WordPress blog, which I didn't design, but have optimized to within an inch of it's life with custom and other plug-ins for SEO purposes. Interesting posts to read.

Michael's Blog

Still to come are his corporate site aimed at selling his services to churches and spiritual living centers, one more program site, and a consumer-oriented site for all of his programs.

It's good to have work!

Later...

I've been experimenting with different types of web sites, one of which being a "people finder" search engine. You type in the name of someone you're looking for, and this specialty search engine reports all those folks with that name it can find on the web.

It's kind of fun to search for your own name, but also good at locating old classmates and co-workers, even family members, who have dropped out of sight.

It's called Acme-People-Search.com. Click HERE to give it a try.

Later...

I've been researching internet marketing very heavily, basically, how to make money on the Internet, and my head is spinning!

We're made a modest amount of money over the years with YourEmployeeHandbook.com, but the income from the site has slowed down, as it is showing it's age. Although I have plans to refurbish the site, it will take some time to think through and do what I want, so, in the meantime, I'm working on some of the other areas I want to move into and try and make a dollar or two, and, initially, at least, supplement client income.

So I've launched my first blog with an eye towards generating some income from commissions selling other folk's products. When I get comfortable with the new methodology of internet income generation, I'll apply what I've learned to the handbook site.

Take a look at the new blog. It's AffiliateReviewBlog.com, and it will review all of the products I've purchase in my quest to become educated — at least, the good ones! Just a couple of posts so far, but I'll add to each week.

Another blog I'm working on will be OnlinePrinterReviewBlog.com, covering printers who sell print services over the Internet. I've used a few of them over the years and they vary wildly in quality, service and price. I think my print background would make it fairly easy to write reviews of them, and offer information on how to best work with online printers, or for that matter, any printer.

Perhaps it will generate enough affiliate commissions to pay for the products I've purchased!

Later...

Another year just slipped in the door and surprised me.

Of course, as always, I was working myself silly, and just didn't look up often enough. It's funny that someone in such a deadline-oriented field (magazine production for the most part), who is constantly monitoring production schedules, should lose track of the year, but that's me.

Looks like I'll be doing the NAPMA account for another year. They seem to be happy, but considering I'm working 6 days a week, they should be! The other accounts are stable, as well. We did pick up a new client/partner, SOULutions, Inc., of Atlanta, which offers alternative therapy services to folks. We're (Jackie and I) are writing and producing their seminar and workshop materials, some books, and other odds and ends. Should be fun.

Bass playing is picking up, with new gigs coming up with the Metro Jazz Club at Aurora. Our debut performance in November was a hit, and they will be sold out for the Valentine's Day thing. Plus, I'm organizing the orchestra for a run of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" at the New London Theatre, a bawdy, old-time type of murder mystery where the audience chooses the villain at the end of the show.

I still haven't put up new design samples. I meant to do that over the holidays, but was busy with NAPMA work. Maybe next week....

All in all, busy as usual, which is a good thing in this economy. But I seem to do well when the economy doesn't -- I think I must offer a good value, or something. Maybe it's my sparkling personality. Or maybe not.

Later...

This week has brought a couple of "copyright Nazis" into my life. These are folks who are so zealous about rooting out copyright violations, they drive everyone crazy.

The first was a fellow I purchased a web site from about a month ago. We've been tussling about the transfer of the domain name to me, when I mentioned, almost in passing, that I wasn't going to be using the domain for the site, but rather just as a landing/re-direct page, and that the real site would be under another domain name. You might have thought I'd just stolen his first born, but his reaction.

Seems he felt the site code was limited to the domain name packaged with it. My position was I bought the site and could put it on any darned domain I wanted, as long as it was a single domain, and I didn't re-sell it, which were my plans. Plus, the terms of sale said nothing preventing using the code on another, single domain.

After I posed negative feedback on ebay, he really flipped. But after a few exchanges, his were heated, mine were not, we came to an agreement. I paid $30 for another license, and he can go back to peddling web sites for $20.00.

The other instance was a photographer in Montana who spotted the watermarked photo in the Aug/Sep issue of Martial Arts Professional, a magazine I produce. A mistake left the comp image in place -- I had purchased the real image a days before. Another mistake by the printer cause the page not to be replaced. Oh oh.

So she spotted this issue and sent a blistering email to the president of NAPMA, who forwarded to me. Sheesh! So I responded with the whole story, then took her to task for not offering the courtesy of asking "what's up" first, before attacking.

This morning I found a apology email in my inbox, and we had a nice exchange about the problems photographers have with rights not being properly purchased.

Thank goodness I always buy the rights!

I'm tired after dealing with such initially unreasonable people and working through to a solution, so I think I'll go veg in front of the TV.

Later...

Today I was reminded about just how far the printing and graphics industry has progressed since I started working in it 35 years ago.

The process of creating and producing something - a magazine, brochure, ad, etc. - is still long and arduous, with many steps involved in the entire creative and production process. But back then, the printing process was just as tedious.

Paste-ups had to be photographed, taped into masking sheets, burned to plates, and printed. Schedules were extended, and mistakes were costly to fix. It was normal to send off the art for a magazine to the printer and wait two weeks to get back color proofs - then wait another two weeks for it to be printed, bound, and delivered.

It's a little different these days.

Last night I transmitted 96 pages of the martial arts magazine I produce to the printer. With a fast internet connection, it took 30 minutes to send several hundred megabytes of files.

This morning, the pages were ready to be viewed online, which took me about 30 minutes. A hard proof will be ready tomorrow, we'll be on press Friday, and ready to mail next week.

Wow.

And that's not even the fastest turn. I transmitted another magazine, just 16 pages, at 11:30 this morning, and just signed off on the online proofs - it 12:30!

Double wow!

Although it's a little disconcerting to work on a project for weeks and have the printer turn it around in hours, it is very cool, and certainly helps move projects along a lot faster than when I started up in the 70s.

Technology is just amazing, and I love working with it, except I can't my darned DVI KVM switch to properly adjust the video for the G4 server when switched from the G5, and the wide SCSI connector in my DAT DDS drive doesn't fit the SCSI adapted in my computer.

Gosh - I've learned a new language, too!

Later...

Well, today is my birthday -- July 30 -- and I hit the big "53". I know it doesn't have a good ring to it, but that's what it is. As of today, I've been in the field of graphic design over 35 years, and a bass player for as long as well. I'm not at all certain which one is more important to me...

I remember when I was 17 and a senior in high school, my buddies and I would play a game, trying to visualize how old we would be in the year 2000, and what each of us would be doing. Thinking I'd be 45 was outside of my imagination, and I had no idea what I'd be doing. Would I be alive? Dead? Who knew?

So I'm waaaay past that marker now, and officially into my second half-century by three years. So far, so good. Stable career, fulfilling hobby, great relationship with my wife and best friend of 32 years, and a daughter that's following in my creative footsteps as a video game designer, if not my exact career.

I have lots of good things planned for the coming years: more bass playing, more self-publishing along the lines of Your Employee Handbook, and more good times with the family. Plus, there's grandchildren to look forward to -- eventually....

Still, I wish the years just wouldn't go by quite so fast.

Later...

It's been a fairly busy couple of months, with the new clients, especially NAPMA (the Karate guys). I've been working hard to re-design virtually every piece of material that goes out, from Dan Kennedy-style newsletters to a slick magazine. It's been fun, and I'm learning a bushel-full about high-level marketing by guys who know what they're doing. It will come in handy when promoting our own projects. Take a look at the magazine web site: Martial Arts Professional Magazine Online.

And I'm doing work for Alpharetta Convention and Visitors Bureau, replacing the Douglasville CVB when they ran out of money. Interesting work with a very brand-aware bunch of people. Nice folks, and a pleasure to work for. Awesome Alpharetta

On the music scene, I dropped one of the swing bands I was playing in and exchanged it for a new band, the Metro Jazz Club. A bunch of very good musicians. We've already had a few high-profile gigs, and just landed the spot of house band for the Aurora Theater in Lawrenceville. We'll be doing some swing nights, cabaret gigs, and other things for them. Should also result in a few private and corporate gigs. If you have a chance, browse on over to the MetroJazzClub.com web site. Admire the bass playing -- that's me! And the logo, with I designed. The rest of the band is good, too, by the way.

Later...

P.S. I notice the Portfolio images aren't working correctly. I use a cool little flash object to open them in a neat way. You're supposed to be able to see multiple pages, but it's not showing anything but the first page. I'll find some time, I guess, to debug. Also need to add work from the new clients.

Since starting up with my new client, NAPMA, I've learned a great deal about direct-response marketing, Dan Kennedy-style. What's surprising to me, though, as a graphic designer, is the utter irrelevance of good design to effective results.

Looking at some of the direct response materials my client uses, which include direct mail, space ads, websites, e-mail blasts, etc., I am struck my how "ugly" they look. Poor layout and organization, the most simple fonts available, ichy colors.

But you know, the darned things work! They sell product and services like crazy.

Am I out of a job? I don't think so.

These pieces have a place -- to attract customers to listen to the message. But interestingly, although this client uses many of these ugly pieces, when it comes to the products offered to their members and customers, my services come in handy.

I add the "professional touch" to the information being sent out: reports, ad campaigns members can use -- even a monthly magazine. All done to the normal standards of professional design.

So I look at it like this:

Prospects like to get the "raw" information -- not filtered through "pretty" design, but something that looks like it's hot off the press and filled with really urgent information.

But when they pay for the product -- be it information or a tangible, they -- customers, or former prospects, want it to look as if someone put some thought into it and that it is a quality product.

Doesn't have to be top-of-the-line design -- just professional looking and confidence inspiring.

So I've gotten back in touch with my inner "grunge" designer and can use Times Roman with the best of them now. But there will always be a need for the "pretty" design.

Even after 35 years in the business, lessons are learned!

Later...

In 35 years in the graphics/marketing/advertising/publishing business, I've discovered that it's always "feast or famine". That is, you're either crazy busy or crazy bored. The first nine months of last year were insane with work and deadlines. It was "feast" time.

Then I gave up a major account (it was consuming 80% of my time but only contributed 40% of my income -- long story), and things got real slow.

It was mostly my fault. I neglected to keep my client base properly diffused, and relied too much on just a few clients. So I had no prospects to work, and frankly, not a lot of enthusiasm for rebuilding a graphic design practice. So it was "famine" time.

I thought for a while of just giving up freelancing and finding a job, but here in Atlanta, design jobs don't pay very well. So I thought I'd temp for other companies, but those don't pay well either, and were interfering with the few clients I had left. Still "famine" time! Bummer. Perhaps it was time to just bail out of graphics altogether.

But then I contacted an old client to see what additional work I could drum up, and lo and behold, it looks like I'll be handling the entire creative services function for an industry association he purchased recently, including a magazine, promo materials and other goodies. "Feast" again, indeed!

It's still a dependence on one client, but this one has been with me for about seven years and I feel he's pretty stable. I really do better with fewer larger clients rather than lots of little ones -- it enables me to really get into their business and do my best creative work.

So I'm looking forward to this period of "feast". It'll be a lot of work, but that's OK. However, in the meantime, Jackie will (hopefully) be continuing to develop our own content, like the employee handbook, for us to fall on in the "famine" times.

At least, that's the plan.

So I'm off to a performance of "Godspell" I'm playing in for a local community group. Then, Monday morning, it's time to dive into production planning for the new account.

Later.

My experience with digital production started way back in 1988, with a copy of version 1 of PageMaker. I soon switched to QuarkXpress, version 2, to be able to output phototype galleys. For nearly 20 years, Quark has been my friend and constant companion, each day helping me make a living in graphics. We had a good relationship.

But over the years, my friend became very high-maintenance. Cranky and creaky, it complained about too much code bloat, and took forever to do the tasks once accomplished very quickly. The cost of minor upgrades went up and up. But I stuck with my friend. I knew its quirks, had written and purchased many custom extensions to help with production, and generally considered it to be worth an investment of patience.

But the relationship began to sour about 18 months ago, with the release of version 6. Slow and overly complicated, trying to do too much in one program, it was buggy and unstable with old and new documents alike. Few of my painstakingly-collected production scripts worked. It's age was showing.

Finally, I gave up and retired Quark to the pasture and converted old documents and produced new ones in InDesign. What a refreshing change! Easy and intuitive to use, lots and lots of control, stable and forgiving. Wow! And when it does crash, it politely makes a recovery copy to open when you re-start the program. Amazing! So now I work exclusively in InDesign.

Except yesterday when I needed to revise a booklet originally done in Quark, and I didn't want to re-do the work in InDesign. Sheesh, what a pain in the rear end! The program is angry with me for not using it in some time and crashed multiple times, when it wasn't sulking and taking ten minutes to open a small file.

I finally got through the revisions and painfully made a PDF file (a one-step process in ID), but what an ordeal! No wonder the majority of designers are switching.

It's hard to say goodbye to old friends, but after yesterday's experience, I'm glad to say "good riddence."

Daughter Abby and I too a field trip to the art supply store yesterday. She's a first-year student at the Art Institute of Atlanta, studying video game design. Many of her courses are basic art courses, which require lots of art supplies.

Of source, being an "art geek" myself, I should call the art supply store the "art toy store", since looking around in one is like being inside the world's largest toy store -- for artists.

There's gadgets and gizmos galore, most of which will only appeal to artists. Like 70 kinds of paper, 100 kinds of pencils, charcoals and drawing pigments lined up in orderly ranks. Projectors, airbrushes, easels, etc. All guaranteed to turn a poor art director's head. Being completely digital, I've forgotten the joys of "hands-on" art!

Abby had a great time spending some of her Christmas gift card on neat supplies, some of which she may actually use in class! It was fun to find cool discoveries among the shelves and marvel at the ingenuity of the manufacturers.

We'll be back to that store, I'm sure. I know I will, to pick up some calligraphy supplies, something I haven't done since I was my daughter's age. It's time for me to get my fingers off the keyboard and make into the ink!

Later...

It's Monday, the last one of 2007, and I'm sure glad that year is over!

Not really a bad year, but the last week has been interesting. First, last Saturday, just before Christmas, all our communication services went out -- Internet, email, phones, TV -- the works! And remained out for five days....

We hadn't realized how dependent we'd become on the Internet.

Turns out it was a power problem with the power cabling coming into the house; our ground was bad. So Georgia Power came out and installed a temporary transformed to convert the two-phase power we had into the needed three-phase. Our cable modem was acting up by taking power over the ground and sending it out to the street, thereby frying Comcast's electronics. The service guy had never seen a cable connection post smoking before! Heh. Only in my life!

So the power is fixed temporarily, as they need to come out and install a brand new power line. And the modem is fixed, so we have web and email back, plus the phones! All is well.

Although I'm thinking about switching the phones back to AT&T rather than have everything coming through one wire.

After worrying about not having enough work to do this winter, now I seem to have more than I need!

After asking clients and vendors I've worked with for references for temp work I was planning, one good soul revealed he had just purchased another company and would I be interested in helping to refresh the design of 14 years worth of ad slicks, posters, postcard, and other promotional items.

Would I? You bet!

So now I have about 100 CDs to copy into my system and start sorting through. Yay! It's work, it pays well, and it will pay quickly, so I have no problem if it's not the vaunted "high-end" work. It's all good.

Back to copying.

Later...

The happiness just keeps on coming.

I heard from a fellow who wanted to place an ad on my employee handbook blog HR News and Tools, that I started as a place for interesting articles I find while researching material for Your Employee Handbook, which Jackie and I have published for almost ten years.

Just some simple links, easy as pie to code with various stories on the site. And even better, he wanted some ads for Feline Follies, our other content site. Cool!

Hope they work for him. And while it's not a huge amount of money, it pays our hosting bill for a few months, and it's given us renewed motivation to keep putting up and expanding the content on both sites.

Later...

Happy, happy days are here again!

After almost a full year without any kind of health insurance, and 25 years with no life insurance, my esteemed wife, Jackie, was able to get me signed up for a health insurance policy, a couple of small life insurance policies, and an AD&D policy that pays in the event of my death -- a quasi-life insurance policy.

Have I mentioned happy days!

I've been unable to get insurance since the COBRA expired on Jackie's policy through her last employer due to some nasty pre-existing conditions. Every insurance company she called for 18 months said, literally, "We don't insure sick people."

What changed? Well, we re-joined the Printing Industries Association of Georgia. They had a benefits trust which merged with the national organization, and voila, a full-fledged, full-coverage insurance program was born! No pre-existing conditions in the HMO plan, all my doctors are included, and prescriptions are covered (all $1,500/month worth!).

Yay!

So if you're in a printing-related job, join the PIAG. It's well worth the money!

Later...

Some folks have asked about my blogname, "GraphicBass," wondering if I'm identifying with a graphically-designed fish.

Um, no. I catch grooves, not fish.

I'm a long-time bass guitar player, starting at age 17 and continuing now for 35 years. I've played in all sorts of bands, from rock (classic and alternative), to country, to jazz groups. I've even enjoyed a stint in a backup band for an Elvis impersonator. Great fun!

Now, I'm playing in a community band of 60-some musicians. Plus, I play regularly in a swing band configured as a 19-member big band, and am a substitute player for three others.

Too bad I don't get paid for any of this work, except occasional gas money and maybe dinner at a gig. But it's fun and relaxing and keeps the blood pressure down.

Keep an eye out. You may see me at a gig sometime!

Later...

It's been a little strange this year. Usually, I'm slammed to the wall with end of the year project work: publications that must be printed by the new year. But this year, since I did not renew a major contract this summer, it's strangely calm. I'll actually be able to take off for the holidays.

On the other hand, new project work is coming in, although at a little slower rate than I'd like. So I decided to hook up with a creative temporary agency for some fill-in work.

I signed up with The Creative Group, which is part of Robert Half International, the giant recruitment firm. They will send me out on design assignments in print and web, but were particularly interested in my web skills. I'm looking for ward to my first assignment, but it'll be interesting to juggle those with my deadline-oriented projects. No problem!

The fun thing about it is that I have access to their training website, which is chock full of tutorials about everything under the sun. They have online or downloadable course in Flash, which I've wanted to learn, but have been intimidated by the steep (self) learning curve. And, they have course in CSS! I really need that!

Too cool! So instead of working this Thanksgiving, I'll probably be taking in a CSS course.

Except for a movie or two we want to see. And Thanksgiving dinner. And swing band rehearsal.

I hope I have some time for work.

Later...

OK, so I pledged to convert this site to "pure" CSS layout, meaning no table code.

OK, so I had a bit of success with the home page, although it took two days to figure out how to do it and make it work.

OK, so when I started on the content pages, I couldn't get the darned columns to line up side-by-side.

OK, so when I researched the problem, my head started to spin with the adjustments needed to make the thing work with Internet Explorer.

OK, so I put the darned thing aside and it can stay table-based for a while.

OK, anyone know a good class on coding CSS for layout?

Please???

After much knashing of teeth and clenching of jaw, I've decided to embrace the present and teach myself tableless web layout using CSS. I've used tables all these years, and am getting tired of the endless code required to position elements on the screen, with the accompanying difficulty of updates and maintenance.

Technically, this is known as separating content from presentation. Presentation, that is, layout geometry and type formatting is handled by a single file, with a bare minimum of code in the HTML document itself. The rest is content. Better for the search engines, and better for the poor sap coming along after me to update the pages.

So I started converting youremployeehandbook.com, which I am redesigning. But then I figured, what better place to learn than on my own site, this one here?

So I have successfully (I think) converted the home page to CSS layout. A file full of tables and TDs and TRs, to three DIVs. Took a whole lot of trial and error, but it looks ok so far. Using GoLive is nice, as I can play with the various CSS settings in an interactive manner and see what setting changes what element in what way. Very cool. (Too bad GoLive has been discontinued by Adobe and I have to learn Dreamweaver. I think I'd rather hand-code everything than make that switch!)

Don't bother looking at the source code. I haven't uploaded the page yet, but will do so this weekend after I test it in a bunch of browsers to see what surprises are waiting.

So next up is making a template for the rest of the site. It's just one more way to keep me up late at night thinking about something technical. Sigh....

Later...

I've reluctantly decided to join the ranks of those who use Instant Messaging.

I used AIM some years ago, and decided it was a distraction, what with beeps and pops and doors opening and closing all the time. I respond to e-mail almost instantly, and it seemed that having to respond to AIM instantly as well was getting in the way of actually getting some work done.

But, I need to be a little more accessible, and instant messaging seems to be a help to many folks I've talked to. So I'm dipping a toe back into the water to see how it goes, and signed up for Yahoo Instant Messaging. My screenname is "GraphicBass". So if e-mail is just not fast enough, feel free to "IM me"! You can also reach me through my gmail account at graphicbass AT gmail DOT com.

I can't promise to respond, since I may forget to start up the application, but I'll do my best to create a habit of starting it after a restart.

Later...

Color is very important, especially in print, where the correct color balance of a photograph i essential to communicating the meaning of the photo. Bad color distracts and interferes with absorbing the subject matter, and just plain looks bad.

Accordingly, I spend a lot of time on color correcting and retouching photos for print and web. One of the projects I do regularly is Georgia Generations magazine and Michigan Generations magazine, geared towards folks who provide care for elderly or disabled people. Both have sections with regional news, and I often receive poorly exposed digital photos which require extensive correction, which I'm happy to do. Takes a lot of hours, as you might expect, but the quality results are worth the effort.

So I'm generally unhappy when a printer screws up the color!

Our printer for that project protested me being on press checks, as I insisted they actually match the color on the press sheet to the color on the proof. They said I took up too much time. I pointed out that if they matched the press proof, there would be no problem and no extra time spent. They eventually refused to allow any more press checks, with me or the publisher in attendance, without a payment of an additional $500.

Now, I've been buying printing for 30 years and press-checking for most of that time. I can inspect a press sheet and instruct a pressman in what to change within minutes, very concious that paper is rolling through that press at the rate of 20,000 copies an hours. So I've learned to identify the problem quickly, communicate it effectively, and get the job rolling.

This printer, apparently having bid the job low, was determined to cut costs, time and paper, in any way possible, so...no more press checks. They said they would absolutely match the color on the proof and I shouldn't worry about it.

Well, since then, out of six issues, two have had significant color problems. Mostly too much yellow. Uggh.

So I'll be going out this week to match a printed issue against the digital proof we signed and "discuss" the issue, again. This time, the client and I have agreed to insist on a press sheet check. When they get a sheet off the press they consider "final" color, I'll be there to look at it and agree or not agree. Should be a good compromise that continues to save my client money yet provides for a quality job.

We'll see.

Later...

SEO has been running through my mind lately, search engine optimization, that is.That's the process of fine-tuning a web site so that web searchers can find it more easily. To do this, the site must be made attractive to search engines, which tend to like organized, well-coded sites with lots of relevant copy.

So I've been working on the Atlanta Metro Travel Association's Web site. It's a very nicely done site, coded well in the Etomite CMS, but there's still a lot of holes to fill.

For one, no keywords were embedded into various element tags, and were haphazard through the copy. The keywords in the META tags were not the ones used by web searchers. So although the site is well indexed in the search engines, there's not a lot of relevant keywords in the copy.

My task: find out which keywords folks use, then embed them everywhere. Whew! What a task. Some parts are very interesting, but others are tedious. But it's almost done, and hopefully, the web site will show up higher in the rankings on the user's search terms. All I can say is, "thank goodness for Google Analytics!"

And in the meantime, I've gotten a good look at Etomite, which I've been meaning to do. As much as I love the PostNuke CMS, there are things it can't do easily that Etomite handles easily. I used to "nuke" sites from static to dynamic; now, I think I'll try and "mite" a site.

Doesn't quite have the same ring to it, does it?

Later...

I'm in the middle of re-redesigning and re-launching wells-smith.com, a badly-needed renovation.

Like the cobbler's children who are always in need of new shoes, my web site that is supposed to showcase my work has languished, untouched, for about six years. Shame on me! Very embarassing when folks visit and comment to me, "Well, nice site, but you haven't updated it in a while, have you?"

So now it's got a new look, a little more "design-ey", and some new code. The portfolio page is something I'm pleased with, using Javascript layer technology and Flash to open thumbnails of samples in a new larger window, with a cool animation. No, I didn't write the script, but I'm very good at finding little programming gems like that.

Hopefully, I'll stay motivated to keep the sample page up to date and write some news occasionally. Wish me luck!

Later...