Why I was about to join the NAPW and decided not to

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A few weeks ago I was about to join the NAPW (National Association of Professional Women). I went through the process of signing up on their website for further information. Then, my gut instinct told me there had to be some kind of fee involved. I didn’t see anything on the site that would lead me to believe this was so.

That is why I went down to the Terms and Conditions in the footer. Sure. Hidden among the legalese was a yearly loyalty fee of $99. Hell, I’d still have gone for it if it brought value to me.

That’s when I read down and saw this…

NAPW expressly reserves the right to use all information members provide in association with their basic profile – including name, address, job title and other biographical and contact information – as NAPW sees fit. This may include the sale or lease of NAPW’s membership list, which includes all or some of this type of information.

The woman following up with my email sounded surprised when I told her, and then said they are reputable companies that NAPW partners with. I’m sorry, but no one I know will be allowed to buy my information if I have a say in it.

It’s no wonder NAPW made the Terms and Conditions a giant image so it won’t be searchable on the web. Well NAPW, Google is going to search me!

NAPW – you get a giant PASS!

LogoLounge 7

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Recently the work I did for OrderMade (logo) was selected for publication in LogoLounge 7 which will debut in July, 2012. While yes, I do love the logo, I was actually surprised that other pieces weren’t selected (such as Alfa Electronics, which won a bronze ADDY this year). This logo was also submitted to the logo ADDY awards, but wasn’t chosen.

Motorcycle Illustration

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This illustration was done to be integrated into a logo design I had already made for the client’s motorsports company. The illustration is of a chopper bike.

DTPT Website

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This website design follows through the branding style I developed. The site was developed in Joomla and it features a quiz section, shopping cart, SSL, and off-site Authorize.Net integration for payment processing. The registration integrates with MailChimp so the client can tailor birthday month reminders to a segment of people.

Sinclair Community College – Waste of an education

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No, I’ve never gone there. I went to SAA. So why, do you ask, am I saying it’s a waste?  Because they have a commercial art program, yet they are advertising a workforce development seminar on DIY design (@SinclairWFD).  Yes that’s right.  They are teaching people how to design for clients in their commercial art program, and then clients how to design for themselves.  Do they have no faith in their own program?  Do they put them in that lowest of regard?

The class states the following:

You don’t have to be a graphic artist to create exciting collateral materials.  Learn the tips, tricks, and techniques for designing simple, yet engaging, documents and more in this half-day course.  Discover how to use Word to create a flyer, newsletter, or special event registrations, as well as how to use PowerPoint for signs, storyboards and certificates.  Incorporate graphics, special formatting, and simple color design to wow your audience.  By the end of the course you will be able to understand the design capability of each product and how they can meet your needs.

This is a down-right joke and a slap in the face to all designers (and, their art program).

If you want to look like you care about your brand and how you present yourself to others you don’t do it yourself (unless you are a real designer, of course!).

Word is not a layout program. It’s a processing program. It’s not designed to be used for press-quality printing (pray-tell, how do you apply bleed in Word?). Unless you are really good buddies with your printer, you are going to be getting a hefty bill for refitting your layout into something they can actually use. PowerPoint for signs? Really? It doesn’t even support native vector. Even if you want to go the “office printer” route, last time I checked you can’t print off a sign (or have anything that bleeds, unless you print larger and spend hours cutting).

Do they also discuss in your little seminar, the proper DPI and color models required for proper press printing? Doubtful.

You can’t learn design overnight.

Why even have any commercial art programs if they are marketing a workshop so people do it themselves (and rather poorly).

For the cost of the seminar ($125) you could hire me and it would be done right.  With how much the printer would charge to fix the layout issues I might actually be cheaper!

I should also mention that @SinclairWFD also follows the Dayton Creative Syndicate. What a joke.