SciFi's new logo

Apparently, SciFi has been trying to rebrand itself. Now, I admit, I don’t watch SciFi at all (or TV, really), so I have no idea if this has been necessary. But I will say this; the logo doesn’t look particularly usable across platforms. Maybe they don’t care about letterheads or business cards, or maybe they’ve got a flattened, monochromatic version for that. I am kind of intrigued by the lights and shadows–it reminds me of those pictures of dawn from outer space, but I have a hard time seeing what they’ve presented here as actually usable. An effective logo is a relatively small graphical representation of the business entity. The company is supposed to be able to splash it everywhere as a sort of placeholder for its corporate info; the consumer should be able to look at it and understand, if only subconsciously, who the company is and what it does. I think the only way this logo works as a logo is as the big block letters alone–but then you miss a lot of the symbolism with the lights and shadows–but with those in, this is too big to use as a logo. Sorry, Syfy, your old logo was better.

As for the name, I’m reminded of a few years ago when Beaner’s, the local coffee chain, wanted to expand and discovered that its name is actually a racist term in California for Mexicans. (I don’t think anyone I talked to had ever heard of this before.) This is a good reason to change the name of a franchise. Since the logo has always been a big “B,” Beaner’s decided to play off that, and renamed itself “Biggby’s.”

There was a public outcry, of course. People don’t like change. We in Michigan were especially frustrated, as most of us had never even heard the term “Beaners” outside the context of coffee. Personally, though, my biggest objection wasn’t that they changed the name–it was that they changed it to something without meaning. The coffee shop hadn’t been founded by a guy named Biggby or anything. Why didn’t they just change it to Big B’s? Was that name already taken? Why use the homonym?

That’s the heart of my problem with Syfy. I understand that they’re moving away from solely broadcasting science fiction shows, but Syfy as a word either says the exact same thing as “Sci Fi” (i.e. “We do science fiction!”), or it says nothing at all. And to a lot of actual fans of the old Sci Fi, I think what the new name conveys is this: “We are a horrible parody of what we used to be.”

On a whim, about a month ago I signed up for “Drawing: The Human Figure” through the MSU Alumni Evening College. Tonight was the first session. It went better than I expected (i.e. I didn’t make a complete idiot of myself). In fact, I’ve already picked up a few tips that should be more broadly applicable.

Continue reading “Negative space”

CUMMINGS, DANIEL SCOTT; age 48; died February 5, 2009, of complications from cancer. Dan was born September 16, 1960, in Athens, GA, to Bradley and Patricia Cummings and was the older of two children. Dan was a minister of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and faithfully served Five Points Community Church as its senior pastor since 1997. He had previously pastored in Hudsonville, MI, for ten years. Dan is survived by his wife, Lonette; a daughter, Sara; and two sons, Benjamin and Bradan; he is further survived by his father, Bradley; brother, Peter; and grandmother, Esther Bouman. Viewing will be held on Sunday, February 8, 2009, at Five Points Community Church, 2 to 5 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. The Funeral Service will be held 11 a.m. Monday at Five Points Community Church, 3411 E. Walton Blvd., Auburn Hills, MI 48326 248-373-1381. Funeral arrangements entrusted to Pixley Funeral Home-Davis Chapel, 3530 Auburn Road in Auburn Hills. Memorials may be made to Five Points Community Church: Dan Cummings Memorial Fund.

Continue reading “Pastor Dan”

Dear Churches of America,

Dear Body of the Living Christ,

My brothers and sisters,

Change has come to America, and we the church had very little to do with it.

Continue reading “Dear Churches of America”

There’s been a lot of hype about how the internet is killing newspapers. Armed with two recent headlines from the Lansing State Journal, I must ask: is this actually a bad thing? I mean, think of the rigorous standards leading to the creation of these two headlines:

5-14 Inches of White Stuff Dumped on Area

“White Stuff”? So, what, cocaine is now falling from the sky? Or feathers? Or manna? Your colloquilisms are forgivable in speech, not the newspaper.

Horse Put Down After Carriage Hit By Car

This one doesn’t sound that bad. It’s concise, right? But the problem with this one is the rhetoric–this puts the HORSE’s death as the most important component of the accident–the only thing that made the event newsworthy, in fact. Which it may very well be; I think most accidents are reported as news only if there’s a death involved. But this headline puts the animal component above the human component. A horse’s life is not more important than a human’s.

So, really, newspapers, if you want to survive the digital age, stop making headlines that read like they’ve come off Twitter.

I’m learning!

I created this image in Illustrator, using this tutorial as a guide. Not bad, considering it’s the first thing I’ve ever done in Illustrator, unless you count me using it to trace images to create my banners.

I spent maybe an hour creating this image to be a background for a powerpoint presentation. I’m kinda proud of how it turned out. It’s also interesting to realize just how comfortable I’m getting with photoshop.

I like Moby, and enjoy reading his blog except for when he’s being political, as he has been for the last, oh, nine months or so–he’s extremely liberal, to the extent of (and, in some ways, beyond) “OH EM GEE APOKYLIPS” if McCain wins. (Which is the great thing about believing in God–He’s in control either way!) I just had to laugh at today’s post, though. I know he’s just being facetious when he suggests giving right-wing fundamentalists Oklahoma to found their own sovereign nation, but, really? Are you going to push the Cherokees out again in order to do so? Because your idea totally isn’t a return to Manifest Destiny and Indian Removal in the first place!

Honestly, I think I’m more surprised he didn’t suggest giving away Alaska instead.

Last weekend I volunteered as a conference associate for Meaningful Play. In general, it was a positive experience for attendees–personally, I heard several rave reviews. And honestly, as one of the registration desk people, things could have gone a lot worse. I am, however, generating a running list of things I’d do if I ever hosted a conference:

• I admit, customized laptop bags are pretty sweet. But several people commented that they get free laptop bags at every conference they attend. Suggestion: Customized reusable grocery bags. You’ll be promoting environmentalism while also giving attendees something they’ll feel good about using again!
• On the subject of customizable materials, sure, it’s pretty sweet to have the conference and year on, say, laptop bags, lanyards, or pens. But that limits their lifespan to that particular event. If it’s a recurring event, the best thing to do would be to just use the name of the conference. Otherwise, use the logo of the originating group (in this case, Michigan State University).
• By the end of the conference, we had pillaged at least two dozen laptop bags for the program inside. People lose them, or just want the program, etc. Make sure you have a few dozen spare programs on hand.
• VIP presenters were supposed to get a laser pointer. Unfortunately, the only indicator was a tiny “vip” on their nametag. It made it incredibly hard to remember to hand the laser pointers out. All graphic indicators should be blatantly obvious.
• If you know you’re going to offer t-shirts, why not ask for sizes on the registration form? The default conference size mode is to order lots of large and X-large shirts and fewer small, medium, and XX-large. This alienates men on the fringe of sizes (S, M, and XXL) and pretty much every woman conference attender. HINT: a woman who normally wears WOMEN’s S shirts who is left with the choice between a MEN’s L or XL shirt will not actually WEAR your shirt. Ever. For real. Thus, you’ve just wasted a shirt! This is especially true for your conference volunteers–you should have a relatively easy time tracking them down and making sure they get their correct shirt size.

These, again, are just some preliminary ideas. So–what am I forgetting?

I just saw a Facebook ad for “custom term papers” (not linked, but you can find 212,000 results by googling that term). Basically, you hand them your research and they churn out an actual report. And they’ll even write your Master’s thesis for you!

My goodness, people. This is why writing centers and editors exist. Let me give anyone who wants to use a site like that a hint: academic writing is about clarity and organization. If you can explain your research to these people, you can save yourself $20/page and write minimally your own first draft. I won’t deny the need for corporate professional writers… but it strikes me as unethical to pay someone for a paper that you’ll then get graded on. It’s called “credit where credit is due.” Seriously. Learn it before you enter the corporate world.