pop. pour. sip. Graphic Design

Sunday, May 2, 2021

Follow Me Camera... Down the Road of Success...

One could say I'm just hyped up-

I believe that I'm not! I have been very (after being rarely for the passed 6 months) busy... straight occupied with new stuff, new requests for not only Graphic Design, but event coordination and some other creative stuff that I do oh so well (I wouldn't lie about these things:) I'll tell you another time. Its been a relief as well because I came up against some personal problems that set me back for approx. 45 days at the end of 2020.

I was down, had creator's block of sorts, and was -in the wise words of Southern folks- crying over spilled milk. I could have lost my wherewithal for good, but God say "NO."

New Juice...

Here are two versions of the five branding options I created for my new compeer -Vegan food expert Kandance of Kandi Treats. Look and take pleasure:

She had a one already, which is what the bottom is referenced from. The fruit items were farther apart, there was no kale leaf, and the gradients were added for illusive depth.

The top I made as a challenge to me to design an ornate word-mark. I imagined Kandance have packaged foods in Bonte Sante in Hyde Park, Chicago (you know, where the snooty people go). I wanted it to be able to draw that type of in-crowd. There's beets, carrots, oranges, acai berries, bananas + all made to order by Ms. Pierre. And yes it took a long time.

It was nice fun. Here's some videos from the day we consulted and she fixed us fonio and oyster mushroom. Fonio is super filling and flavorful; never had it before then: I WAS GOBSMACKED.

Thursday, January 14, 2021

Bumper Stickers, Facebook, Tales of Lost Profit- One 2020 Wrench In The Wheel

Elect Sanity Holographic Bumper Stickers

So...

Story really goes that I created (AND COPYRIGHTED) this design in 2014. It was a midterm election year. Things were starting to get loco on the political frontier of the U and S, and I was feeling crafty : ) I designed three versions, printing one, but didn't go about seriously selling the sticker until 2020.

Elect-Sanity.com Bumper Sticker in Holographic Silver

So...

I went about reprinting the sticker, this time twice as holographic silver and blue (with accents!), setup an e-commerce website, and paid, PAID Instagram for ads to promote the sticker for a week. THIS SHOULD HAVE WORKED. Yet, Facebook (IG) assumed my site was a hack or something, took my money but didn't lead viewers to the elect-sanity.com website!!! Instead, the first 6,000+ onloookers were directed to a blank page or back to Instagram. I was given no notice of their suspicions about the site at all.. I discovered the redirect while viewing the ad on my other IG accounts.

I tried in so many many ways to contact Facebook about the error on their part, but this oh so very ethical corporation has a very active and unhelpful contact method to avoid direct customer service -to paying customers.

Deflated and over-minded by Friendly Corp., I retreated the project to a drawer in the living room. I didn't have a lot more money to spare on marketing, and I had already spent $1000 +/- on the stickers. Pinterest was given a try will a great deal of pins but no purchases. I ended up making a few via the 1300 AD and before that manner with word-of-mouth.

So... Long story short, these stickers are still around and available your favorite car, truck, boat, or RV... Just click on the pics to go straight to a purchase link. And if you do, I will send them with hugs and kisses.

P.S.

I am not a supporter of the current standards of social media, and that’s possibly another reason why it failed to go as planned. Maybe if I would have been able to pay someone to do this, it would have been big. I’ll never know, but it’ll be here on my page forever and forever.

Try Again.

“ If at first you don’t succeed/
you can dust it off and try again/
dust yourself off and try again
try again”

How many of you know where these lyrics come from??? If you don’t, take this.

I admit to not caring enough about my blog portfolio. To the point of severe time-neglect. It’s not that I don’t like it, or didn’t want to do more, or wasn’t very happy with my work and the feedback from friends & clients… Just that being grown is hard, and I was working all the time (designing, teaching, Uber-ring even (never no more)) instead of being what I should have been - in business.

To a degree, I’ve been intrigued and somewhat good at business: I have skills and can talk the talk. But my financial business acumen was not there. When I was a munchkin, they just never taught us in school. The other times I was tapping on the door of entrepreneurial-ship, I was flatly discouraged because I was direct competition and didn’t have enough keen to know that. As an adult, after a career move that gave me mad skills but could have caused me my life (this is literal); in addition, almost made me crazy, I went about this the wrong way. How?

1. I went to COLLEGE-

Everything people tell you about college is true. Unless you are into nepotism, a degree won’t get you a good job, then or now. Social Media is going to make it worse, please believe me.

2. Bad relationships-
Sad but just a fact. Your partner isn’t your partner if he or she is jealous of you. Believe what you see the first time; let that sh*t go. Add the word “friend” to this observation as need be.

3. Family Deaths-
After my Aunt Florita died in 2017, my father Rickey Pierre passed away that following October. It was too much, along with the other top sections above stated. I think I cried every straight day for about a month.

4. NOT ENOUGH MONEY-
The metaphor is true, you must pay to tourney on this real world board of Chess and Monopoly. And back then, I could barely get a car loan, let alone a business one.

Yet, it’s all good because I am still here and back to my blog to give you all panchromatic realness. Changes have come to set me into better patterns, and I have the capital and knowledge to succeed. -I will do that.

I will be back to post some more; my 2018 thru 2020 compilation. Leave some feedback, shall you? Why, thank you then… Alright.

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Medina Sunrise Business Card and Art Poster

Flame if I say so myself. My buddy Medina needed some new cards, and she wanted them vibrant, distinguishable, and funky. Basically reflective of who she is.

I did a litany of things in Adobe PS 5 to make this, can't remember it all. I am totally crushing on the Grain effect right now (since 2016, so maybe it's a love affair, hehehe). I think it came good. I'd love some FEEDBACK... I see y'all creeping on my blog-n-stuff, looking but not showing love. What up with that? I can take all critiques, + and -.

Peace.