Print, Print and more Print!

Vinyl Banner designed by Madcow Designs
Outside vinyl with grommits for ease of use to hang

Over the years, I have designed for and printed on a lot of different types of mediums. And whereas some designers will carve out a niche for themselves in a certain print field, I like to leave my studio open to the ability to handle just about anything a client approaches me about.

But, because Graphic Design seems to be such an elusive profession to describe, sometimes when a person approaches me and says "well, what else can you do?" I'm not sure how to answer. A fellow designer and good friend of mine, Nicola Black, likes to say "If it can be printed, than I can more than likely design it"

And honestly, that is a perfect answer. I have created designs for items that range from your typical print ad to specialty stickers to temperature sensitve water bottle labels to vinyl floor decals. In fact, I've come full circle from being a glass decaler while in college to designing the decals that are now being used.

The list of printed items is incredible and some of the more common items that I have worked on include:
Ads (both printed and online)
Fliers
Posters
Postcards
Rack Cards
Billboards
Catalogs
Brochures
Business Cards
Spec Sheets
Stickers
TShirts
Banners
CD packaging
Menus
Invites (and boy does that cover a lot from weddings and baby showers to birthdays and Corportate events!)
Greeting Cards
Price Guides
Direct mail
POPs
Pocket Folders
Magazines

Whew...I could go on, but I think you get the point. So, if there is a special project you'd like to discuss, just contact me! I would love to work with you.

Dr. Sketchy South Jersey T Shirt
Design by Madcow Designs

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Work and Life

Originally I started writing this blog entry and it was going to be all about creativity.

I trashed it.

It wasn't creative enough.

While I was writing it though I was having a hard time getting my thoughts in line. I would start talking about how creativity is so stifled in adults and why that is and it would always lead back to where I was in my life. That wasn't suppose to be the point. I was trying to figure out why adults aren't allowed to be creative, but as children we are. I wasn't trying to make a commentary on design work...really I wasn't. It wasn't even about design at all, just creativity and how we are suppose to live our lives as adults.

And that got me thinking...my birthday is coming up...and the ol' question "is this where you thought you were going to be at this age" was broached.

uh...is I dunno a good answer??? Seriously and honestly I didn't think I would live to 30 so, now that I am past that age everything is a bonus:) Not that I was going to take my life by the big 3-0 or anything like that...I just didn't see myself at that age. I had no dreams or aspirations. Up until I was about 18 I really didn't have anything to look forward too. I had a great family don't get me wrong, but outside of that, I couldn't anticipate my future.

And I liked to drag race cars....which can be dangerous, so I just saw myself going up in a ball of flames in front of an adoring crowd...just me and my MC...racer x racer x...

But, maybe that outlook is why I became an artist. Or maybe its because you can be an artist without anyone around...or maybe its because of the two. But, the mundane question of are you where you want to be, made me think of why I be what I be.

I went back over the piece I was originally writing and something that I have realized long ago, but have been ignoring, resurfaced.

Whereas I sit at this box all day and create work for people, I don't really do anything creative for myself. What happened to the days of doodling or coloring? I've always been envious of people in art classes, but now I look around and I realize I'm envious of children.

Hey, I'm not saying I want to 8 again. NO THANK YOU. I hated the social ramifications of my childhood. Or that I want a child...thats a whole blog unto itself. But, I look at children and I see that they are allowed to look at the world in wonder, not distaste. They can take in their surroundings in amazement and joy and let their imaginations run wild. If they want to put a purple line on a piece of paper and call it a flower, they do. And they are applauded for it.

Why, as adults, does that purple line now have to mean something? Along the journey of life, when did someone make that purple line a line in the sand that we are forced to cross in order to be an adult????

And when someone wants us to cross that line back again and open our imaginations, we are told to think outside the box. Well, maybe we shouldn't be putting ourselves in boxes in the first place.

So, even though this blog did partly turn into my dissertation on creativity, it is really 2-fold. I be what I be because that is who I am. I am creative. I've been fighting off adulthood for years! There is still that wonder and awe inside of me. Every now and again it gets out, but someone or something always ridicules it back into place. Seriously, I wear a fake wedding ring so people will stop telling me to grow up and get married. How ridiculous is that???

I could go on, but I will give you a break from reading now. I am so long-winded...what the hell? Is that from working alone or is it a family gene?

Anyway, I have decided to do something about this bottled up wonder. Well, not quite. I figured by my b-day I will figure something out. I want to take the next year of my life and see how I can devote a portion of this time to the creativity and wonder stuck inside. Maybe its as simple as coloring in a coloring book everyday, or taking 5 minutes to doodle a day.

I'm not sure, but stick around and see what happens.

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Its Like Thunder...Lightening...

being a freelancer can be frightening....you have to knock, knock, knock on wood...

and cross your fingers, and say your prayers, and offer sacrifices to the IT gods, and, well, you get my point.

So, you think you know what fear is, do you? Really? Do you?

After last night, I not only know what it sounds like, I know what it smells like and it smells like..sniff sniff...like...sniff sniff...BURNING ELECTRONICS!

Around 5pm last night a thunderstorm rolled in. Not one to take a chance with said storm, I shut down early, but still decided to work. Paper work, book research, that kind of thing because you see, a Freelancer's work is really never done.

About 30 minutes after shutdown, the storm was pretty rocking, when all of a sudden I saw a sudden burst of light that was so intense that all I could think of was the flash that appears before a nuclear bomb goes off. This flash was followed by a loud explosion..which just so happened to be a transformer in my office absorbing all the lightening-goodness into itself, then exploding into little balls of melted plastic. I guess with the intention to share all this goodness with me and my office mates.

As if the explosion and hail of molten plastic wasn't enough fun, the alarm, CO2 detector and fire alarm now decided to join in the cacophony of joyous sounds filing my office. While I am trying to calm my office mates down (for those of you wondering, their names are Bela and Dozer..hard workers they are!) I smell the lovely scent of electronics on fire...in my office.

Ahhhh...bask in the feeling of panic...let it envelope you...let it run from your toes to your fingers....grip you chest in an unrelenting feeling of utter hopelessness and knot your stomach up to the point where you don't think you will ever stand up straight again!

The first thought that ran through my mind was what got hit? That was followed by, how much is it going to cost to fix it, how long will I be down and what did I lose in the process?????????????????? Not something that you want to contemplate at 6 in the evening when you are looking at a fast approaching deadline for a client.

When it comes right down to it, I am an army of one. Yes, I can call on others to give me hand here and there with things like IT work (Hi Todd!) And I have a great network of designers to turn too for help and manpower, but last night it was me and me alone. This is the moment that all freelancers must prepare for...yet, I don't think many even take into consideration.

Freelance isn't all pj's and flexible hours. In the last week I have had to pay for my second quarter taxes, my health insurance, my lawyer fees and misc office expenses. And after that I still have to figure out how to put aside some money for retirement..or emergencies. Plus on top of all that, freelancers still have to find clients, and keep existing ones happy, keep on top of trends and find ways to stand out from the sea of computer users who think they are designers just because they were able to bittorrent photoshop and own a font other than Helvetica.

I'm not saying I don't enjoy what I do or that I'm not learning a lot by being an army of one. That isn't my intention here. I want my freelance friends to learn by what happened to me to be prepared and I want my non-freelancer friends to understand that just because I sit in my own office with my "office mates" doesn't mean that my day isn't any less harder than yours. And I want my clients to learn that your work is important to me and because of that, I try my hardest to provide you with the attention that your job deserves. And even when I am out of sight out of mind, I am still working on ways to make sure that nothing gets in the way of the service I provide.

So, what is the outcome of the whole thunderstorm you say??? Well, because I invested the funds in a very nice UPS backup and an external drive that backs up and then gets disconnected from the computer, my machines seem to be safe!

Grant it, I'm sure I could have a better system than I do, but with the funds I had available to me, I think it did just fine last night.

I lost a TV, my office phone and answering machine, my modem, my alarm panel and my electric fence. All in all not bad when you compare it to the time, money and aggravation it could have been.

Can't you just hear the Godsmack music playing in the background?

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A Passion Rekindled

Ever since I was very little I have wanted to work with glass. Hot, molten, malleable glass.

This is all because of my father; one of my best friends, not to mention an awesome dad! He is a big reason of why I am who I am. Ask anyone who has met him. My sense of humor, my attitude, my independence, my obsession with cars, my big feet are all because of my dad.

For the last 48 years he has been a glass worker at a scientific glass manufacturer. He rolls joints and blows glass...hardy har har. I have been fascinated since I can remember with his job. I can watch him work for hours. I absolutely ADORE the smell of the fires and aquadag. I even got a job with him for several years as I attended college. I would have loved for nothing more than to just have staid there, working amongst the glittering shards. But that was not to be.

My dad never saw his job as anything but a means to an end. It put clothes on his children and sent us to good schools. He cried at my sister’s college graduation because she was the first EVER in his family to make it that far. He made the owner of the factory promise that he would not let me work there for a living. So I had to move on.

Consequently, my dad never saw what he did as creative. He never wanted to teach me his job. He wanted better for me. Honestly, I think he was somewhat embarrassed by what he did. It was a hot, smelly job. His hands are permanently stained by the chemicals he uses.

BUT, I think I’m turning him around.

Now that he is past retirement age, and has received some recognition from respected glass workers in all fields, he has come to realize that this isn’t such a bad thing. We’ve been talking a lot lately of me learning the glass trade, but in an art sense and not a job sense. He seems more open to this now and has even talked of teaching me some tricks if I buy my own torches. This is something very special to me.

There are 2 things in my life that I have wanted to do with my father while I had the chance. Rebuild my car and learn glass working. Recently he suffered a heart attack, and that made me realize that you can’t put your dreams off for too long. He was there the day I fired up my car with its new engine, and now I want him here to get me started on something that has consumed me my whole life.

Wow, what a long and rambling post to get around to what I wanted to say....

Last week, I went and made a paperweight. What a glorious feeling! They had to practically throw me out, I did not want to leave. I know this is something that I need to further delve into. There are many facets of glass working and I want to try them all. Who knows, maybe I will find a field for me! Glass blowing? Flame work? A combination?

I don’t know, but I walked away from the class with a renewed feeling that I haven’t had since college days when I had time to sit and draw and create and try new things. I want to be there now, learning, working, creating. I can’t explain the feeling I had doing this. And every time I look at my creation I feel that feeling all over again.

I could go on, but I think you have the idea I’m trying to convey. The passion for glass work has been rekindled, and I need to see where it takes me.

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