The Bulletin

Sponsor the Max Power Challenge!

March 19-21
Max Power Challenge Spring 2010
at Hardkohr Sports & Fitness in York, PA

Sponsorship opportunities are still available for this 3-day weekend event held at Hardkohr Sports & Fitness in beautiful York County. As a USTA-sponsored Middle States tennis tournament, the Max Power Challenge (Part Deux) is open to players from Delaware, New Jersey, and all over Pennsylvania.

When I think of tennis, I think of Andre Agassi's flowing locks held back by a sweat-stained neon pink Nike headband - or more accurately, the flowing locks of his hairpiece held back by a sweat-stained neon pink headband.

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We are pleased to announce the non-profits chosen for this year's Design-O-Rama-Thon!

• Clare House - Provides a caring environment, lifes skills programs, and aftercare support to homeless women and children
• The North Museum - Opens a window to the world of natural history and science to Lancaster's children
• The Threshold Foundation - Creates opportunities for low-income city youth to expand their knowledge base, develop life skills, and contribute to urban sustainability through Dig It!, a socially responsible urban farming enterprise
• Junior Achievement of Central PA - Prepares students in grades K-12 for real world success by educating them about entrepreneurship, work readiness, and financial literacy
• American Home Life International - Recruits international students to experience education, life and home in America
• Lancaster Young Professionals - Provides a forum for young professionals in Lancaster County to serve the community, network, and socialize.

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Roughly 4 weeks from now, on Saturday, December 5, Lancaster's bestest designers, writers, and other creatives will gather together here at the headquarters of Lancaster's premier international design unit and ideatorium for a marathon mashup of creativity and collaboration (and maybe a little coffee).

Come hang with us as we battle the clock and possibly carpal tunnel on behalf of Central Pennsylvania non-profit organizations! Design-O-Rama-Thon is our way of giving thanks to our community and gives us an excuse to hang out with our friends, associates, and frenemies and all work together to bring good design to those who may not normally be able to afford our services (but often need it the most). Plus, it's an excuse to party, as our landlord says.

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Every so often I like to wrassle free of the heavy chains tying me to my desk and get out and about. There's this crazy big yellow thing in the sky that lights everything up (for free! occasionally but not really so much now! I mean the lighting up part not the freeness of it!) and feels nice on my pale pasty skin.

Here are some pics from my last recent escape from Unit HQ -

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At last Friday's Boo's and Brews, Mathew Samuel was kind enough to bring some mug designs he's been working on. He uses some kind of marker that lets him draw straight onto the mug and bake the design on. Pretty awesome. Which took me back to Mug-O-Rama-Thon, which Mathew won last year.

And Mug-O-Rama-Thon means Design-O-Rama-Thon, which is coming up soon! Get ready to give good design to those who do good!

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The lights dimmed, and everyone settled back in their seat, eyes raised to the stars.

Or what should have been the stars. As I quickly found out (again) last night, South Park reality is not really reality reality. Instead of a hypnotic dissertation on constellations convincing me that the planetarium was awesome, there was a 360 degree display of awesomeness. And excellent graphics. That convinced me that the planetarium was seriously awesome.

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Pretty much all I know about the Segway is what I have gleaned from the South Park episode, "The Entity." Judging by the Wikipedia entry, all you have to do to write a South Park episode is pick a minority group to spotlight (by spotlight I mean, make fun of), add a bunch of homophobia as a subplot, throw in a random current event for relevance, and voila. Don't get me wrong, I lurrrvvvve South Park. Well, that particular season at least. But, lather - rinse - repeat, ya know?

So my knowledge of the Segway PT before last Friday could have been less than factual. It was a good thing J and I took a short walk up Queen Street to talk to Bob and Terri Stauffer, "Chief Gliding Officers" of Red Rose SegTours.

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That's what our landlord called it when I tried to explain the Boo's and Brews to him. We figured out that the best critiques come on pieces that people are currently working on, so if you're gonna come you gotta bring something you're in the middle of. Oh, and whatever food and drink you want to share with the others.

Former interns drink free! Also, I have received some complaints about the dude-to-ladies ratio. Apparently, there are not enough ladies for Ron "The Man" Lu, so ladies also drink free.

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When we moved out of Plan B a couple years, we were trying to decide between two locations: a comfortable corporate suite with ample parking or what appeared to be a combination storage space / green screen production studio / crack den. Thank goodness we chose the crack den. Otherwise I would never have known the pleasures of Ric's Bread.

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Unitheo is running their Twitter art installation, DorianPark, at Progressive Galleries in Lancaster this First Friday. Check it out!

"We're showing it again this Friday at Progressive Galleries with a new design, which also builds its image in real-time using text and images from Twitter. People can follow the project online at twitter.com/DorianPark -- we're going to incorporate followers' tweets more prominently this time, to focus more locally."

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Some shots from around town. For some reason handmade signs always remind me of basketball games. I don't know why people make signs for games and sporting events. Just seems like a hassle, ya know?

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Group dynamics always fascinate me. Last Friday's Bruise & Booze attendants were unfailingly polite and rather on the shy side. Not so much boozing or bruising. Honestly, I was a little disappointed. Come on, people, it's a give and take! We can't help each other get better if we're not vocal on what needs to be improved and why.

Also, not a lot of estrogen representing. I know there are a number of talented female designers out there, having had several in our office as interns, so come on ladies! We want to hear your voice.

But thanks everyone who came and were kind enough to share their work and share their time (if not their Simon Cowell impression).

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I'm not sure what a distelfink is, but I'm pretty sure I am distelfink-free. Like, 95% sure....ok, maybe 88%. The peeps over at We Are Lancaster want you to know that we're not all quilts and distelfink (yes, I could look it up on the Interwebs but I refuse on general principle). That we're also good music and good food and good people. And no, Lancaster is not limited to the retailers and gallery owners downtown but includes the rich cultures and stories in the sections of town that often go overlooked until some crime is reported there. Which is itself a crime.

Anyway, we appreciate the opportunity that We Are Lancaster gives us ALL to contribute to the conversation about our community.

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It's that time again! Time to share your work, share your passion, and share some drinks with your fellow designers.

Bring some work you want to get critiqued and your fave bevvy / snack! Our doors open at 5pm and close whenever.

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Social media consultant Daniel Klotz and the inimitable Max Power have teamed up to help out our local firefighters. Turns out that volunteer firefighters get free gym memberships but professional firefighters don't. Plus, they don't have any gym equipment in their firehouse so they're all on their own.

Please donate a sawbuck or two to help them buy this power cage (or whatever it's called) so they can stay in shape and keep saving our lives. Thanks!

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Somehow, I'm the only one in the office who drinks coffee. And only half of our interns have been coffee drinkers. So we have a coffeemaker and grinder, but it's usually not worth the effort to haul those out unless we have company. Plus, there's like a mega-jillion coffee shops here in Lancaster.

Which I've never completely understood. There are 4 places to get coffee on our block alone, and within a 2-block radius, there are over 10 coffee shops or cafes where you can buy a cuppa (none of which are Starbucks). Is that normal? Do Lancastrians drink more java than average. Are there really enough coffee drinkers in town to sustain all those places?

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We celebrated the completion of Intern 013's time with us yesterday by working him like a dog and then having him take us out to lunch. It really was an excellent precedent that I think future interns should take note of. You want a great reference or recommendation letter? You know what to do.

We issued sketchbooks to this last batch of interns. Here is what Giff captured in his during his internship:

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We received a very exciting visit from the Infantree boys this morning! They were making their way around Lancaster city on a book drop and were kind enough to leave a few zines with us. The We Are Lancaster website officially launched today - check it out for more images and for more awesome!

Check out Tim's Twitter to see pics of the different drops around town.

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Trying to find a job as a young designer or creative person is tough. Getting a foot in the door and your name out there can be difficult, especially at bigger, more well-known firms that get a flood of resumes every week. We're not that big and we're not that well-known, but we've gotten our fair share of inquiries.

Here's the rundown of how I handle them:

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I've lived in Philadelphia, North Carolina, and Glasgow and spent the occasional summer in Colorado with my parents, and they're all great places. But nothing beats a Saturday morning drive out to the cornwagon. It's one of the best things about Lancaster.

Also, green peppers are, I don't know, $1.99 / lb at the supermarket? And they always seems so spotty. Another reason to buy fresh / buy local.

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Are you ready to accept the challenge? This August 28, 29, and 30, you can get your Federer on in the first inaugural Max Power Challenge at Bent Creek Country Club.

Any amateur player ranked between 3.0 and 4.5 can sign up for this tennis tournament by visiting the USTA website. The first 50 players receive a free (GO-designed) tournament t-shirt so sign up now!

working on web header images

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No matter how bad things are or how messed up the world seems, watching a plant break free from the ground and rise up day by day seems to make everything a bit better. Not sure if the corn planted by the parking lot is just decorative, but seeing it in the middle of downtown Lancaster makes me happy.

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That drumbeat going boom boom boom inside your ear as you clutch your knees, trying to fill your lungs? That's not the stereo. That sweat dripping in your eye as you bend down to lift that barbell high one last time? That's not irritating. That burning in your legs and lungs? That's not pain.

That's Max Power.

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Overall, we had a blast. I think for the most part people came in a little hesitant or unsure about what they were showing (or at least they were nervous having to stand up before their peers and have their work examined) but they left with a lot of motivation and advice on how to improve their work.

We had a great response so we think we may make this a monthly 2nd Friday thing. So if you missed the first one, mark down August 14th on your calendar now!

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We haven't managed to add a blog to Proto's site yet, so I'll just put some of the stuff we're working on here. Hope you don't mind.

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A few years back we spun off our internship program and all our client services into a separate business. We still do the bulk of the design work, but we have talented young designers provide their ideas and energy on whatever we're up to.

You can see our client work on Proto's website. But the best way to describe the internship would be to have one of our interns do it:

Gifford Rogers, III: I came to Proto with a healthy dose of desperation.

Intern 013's illustrations for ParadoxLabs

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I'm a big nerd. Let's make no mistake here: I am a bespectacled, ironic T-shirt wearing, library card carrying nerd. As part of my nerdiness, I make a point of visiting used bookstores whenever I can. Because they might not have what you need, but they'll probably have something you want.

There are a couple independent / used bookstores here in Lancaster, though they, like everywhere else, are a dying breed. They have to compete with big chains and online sellers like Amazon and eBay in an age where print is pretty much dead and the literacy rate is abysmal. So the odds are stacked against them a bit. This is where good branding and good design might help out.

Let's take a quick look at the 2 bookstores within walking distance of GO HQ:

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How can you become a better designer when all you hear is "the logo should be bigger"?

We're always striving to raise the level of design in the Central PA area. While this normally involves educating the public on the value of what we do, a huge part of it is often overlooked - that is, actually raising the level of design being produced in the area. So we are holding an informal portfolio review at our office this morning. Get your work critiqued, your ego bruised, and your socializing on!

Join us at Unit HQ on Friday afternoon for some ego bruising! RSVP on our Facebook page.

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photography by Russell Frost

I don't know if you've been reading Russell Frost's latest rantings, but the man is up to something. Big Exciting Possibly Cross-Country Somethings, if my memory isn't too fried and my deductive reasoning skills managed to survive being mildly concussed that one time I was at The Citadel.

Check out Russell's photography / marketing blog, www.frostimaging/rant, and his Prius Owners Web site, www.priusownersgroup.com, and stay tuned on the Big Exciting Things to Com.

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The Unit Officially Appeared at last night's chamber mixer held at Dutch Wonderland. It was a good time. The people at Dutch Wonderland and all those providing food and bev know how to put on a party.

Bethany, the park's Marketing Director, was kind enough to clue us in on a delicious treat.

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Hi. How's it going? Apologies for being unclear in the previous 2 Bulletin entries.

• I think there is an edge here in Lancaster, which is the images I posted before. They've all been up forever. They're probably not part of any tourism marketing. I'm guessing. Maybe city officials are a lot edgier than I'm giving them credit for. Sorry to anyone who mistook my meaning.
• I don't know what the deal is behind the tinfoil-wrapped horse and buggy. I just think it's funny that that's what is considered edgy here in good ol' Lancaster.
• I don't know what other "guerrilla art" is planned, if any, but I don't think graffiti and stencils tucked away out of sight or any other destruction of property is what the mayor had in mind.
• Graffiti is an act of vandalism. A tinfoil-wrapped jimmyjam that is placed in front of someone's property with what is rumored to be their approval is not.
• I define "guerrilla art" as a rebellious, and probably illicit, form of creative self-expression. So I disagree with what is being defined as "guerrilla" in the text of the letter.
• At this point I'm just talking to myself, so I'll shut up now.

Yesterday's post was about actual "guerrilla art". But thinking about it more, I also have a few responses and questions to the "True Artists" of Lancaster.

Here is the text of their letter:

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"Guerrilla art" I found around town that don't seem to be part of the mayor's plans. Apologies to any who mistook them for such and especially to the artist(s) responsible.

Back in May, the local paper ran a story about a foil-wrapped horse and buggy appearing in front of Mayor Gray's house. The mayor was reportedly "surprised" that he had been "punk'd" by "guerrilla artists." Because Lancaster is full of those crazy artists who like to punk the bespectacled and bow-tied. Or full of crazies who are obsessed with aluminum foil. Then there was a hullabaloo by the "true artists" of Lancaster who believe that "these acts of vandalism will ultimately damage the Lancaster art scene" (but as Tim Hoover points out, do not believe in signing their names).

Not sure that officially sanctioned acts count as vandalism. Now whether officially sanctioned acts still count as "guerrilla" is the real question.

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Like most of us who have grown up in Lancaster, I spend a good deal of time studiously avoiding tourist traps. Not because I have anything against the Amish or quilts or retail outlets (though I do have a huge thing against tourist drivers who feel that going 25 miles an hour on a 55-mph state highway and then pulling an abrupt K-turn without signalling in order to get a second gawk at some Amish family's hanging laundry is acceptable). But I live here, you know?

So I had never had the pleasure of the Kitchen Kettle experience before they became our clients. Stepping into the Jam and Relish Kitchen for the first time was like stepping into a world of pure imagination. Everything in the store was seemingly eatable - that is, edible. 360 degrees of jams, relishes, sauces, and salsas, all available for sampling and savoring.

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The sign went up some weeks ago, a hasty metal bandage in a space too big for its provocative message. No logo or name. Just a description, a declaration that seemed to lambast other cafes for having the audacity to serve city residents anything other than real food.

What was the story here? Were they setting the bar too high or too low with their declaration? And were their hash browns sliced, diced, or shredded? This intrepid (and hungry) Unit member decided to find out.

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This week of GO goodness has been brought to you by Frost Imaging.

In addition to the overwhelming number of printers, architects, and graphic design firms and freelancers here in Lancaster, there are a plethora of photographers snapping their way around the city. One of those guys is Russell Frost, whom we've been fortunate to work with on a few projects.

Important things you should know about Russell:

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The Lancaster Twitterati have again had their rabble roused this past week. Like the last rabble rousing, the latest incident to irk the ire of the social media commentators is questionable branding, in this case the Lancaster General Hospital rebrand.

The new logo:

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A few years back, my friends all started getting married. It was a scary and rather unexpected occurrence. Years of watching television sitcoms had led me to believe that we would spend all our 20s together hanging out in a coffeehouse, cracking jokes at each other's expense, commiserating over miserable dates, and hooking up with our guy friends, "taking breaks" from said guy friends only to really break up after they have a drunken one night stand and end up back as friends, and then mistakenly having babies with our ex-boyfriends but staying strong as single moms because frankly, we're totally over those guys.

It turns out that TV lied to me.

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"Be inspired."

It's probably not the first thing you think of when you picture Lancaster or when you book a room in a hotel. But it's what the Lancaster Arts Hotel seeks to do with every guest that stays under its roof.

We have been fortunate enough to have the Arts Hotel as a client for a few years now. Our collaboration with them began when they came to us with a logo, an empty warehouse under renovation, a love for Lancaster, and a willingness to not only do something different but be different.

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In celebration of GO's fifth anniversary, we've refreshed the design of the site. Let's take one last look at the design that served us faithfully for the last 2.5 years

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In these troubled economic times, companies are reaching out and touching people. Bad touch, not good touch. Every day I am constantly interrupted by one cold call after another. Usually, someone named "Evelyn" from the far side of Kolkata is asking us to confirm our business listing in some obscure online directory we've never heard of or "Bobby" from Mumbai wants us to consider buying a bulk mailer for our (non-existent) bulk mailing needs.

Last week, the highlight of the many, many cold calls we received was from Marty, a DJ from a local radio station.

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The local interwebs are in an uproar about the signage on the new Downtown Visitors Center / old Heritage Museum. The new signs evoke a color palette reminiscent of a certain purveyor of sugary fried dough.

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The lure of coffee and light refreshments drew me out of my jammies yesterday morning and down to Clipper Magazine Stadium. Down to the DID/JSID retail meeting, where announcements were announced and questions were queried and coffee was drunk by those in attendance. This is what I learned:

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When I sat down, Oprah was waiting for me.

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Things were going so well between us. I was ready to let bygones be bygones. Y'know, fresh start and everything. And then this happened.

You and your fellow weather people called for a "light dusting" yesterday, a sprinkling of snow that would not impact our daily travels. I am sad to inform the interwebs that my daily travel was indeed impacted.

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Happy Groundhog Day! I almost forgot what a momentous day this was for marmotic prognostication. Sadly, the rosy glow behind my window shades this morning means that we have another 6 weeks of winter ahead. I'm sure that most of you out there on the interwebs don't need a (stuffed) groundhog to tell you that, but hey, Doug Allen needs all the help he can get.

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I realized some time yesterday afternoon that I never really ended or signed off from my liveblogging on Saturday. Rest assured that we have stopped working and that our wonderful volunteers have, we hope, managed to get some well-deserved rest on Sunday.

We're tidying up the files and will send them out to the respective nonprofits soon. Nick will also be updating our Design-O-Rama-Thon site some time this week, so check out all the finished work and photos from the day of the event!

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Do you smell it? Do you? It's the smell of 3 Boxes O' Joe and my second cup of the day. And all that can only mean one thing - our Second Annual Design-O-Rama-Thon, presented by our graphic design studio, Proto! As is my annual tradition, I am live-blogging today's event. So here we go.....

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Hello interwebs! Are you excited? I'm excited. On Monday we began part one of our 24-hour (out of 144) pseudo-marathon mashup of design and do-goodery.

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Hello interwebs! We are currently accepting applications from Central Pennsylvania area not-for-profits for Design-O-Rama-Thon 08, Idea 002 from the new, improved GO LLC, an imaginarium and Progress Administration. DORT is currently being hosted by Proto, Idea 001 from the international design unit known as GO. (More on that in another blog entry.)

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Proto is hosting the second annual Design-O-Rama-Thon on Saturday, December 6, at its headquarters in downtown Lancaster, PA. The event is a marathon mash-up of graphic design and do-goodery where local designers donate their time and creative skills to area not-for-profits. Proto is currently seeking volunteers for the day of the event and accepting applications for Design-O-Rama-Thon projects from local 501(c)3's.

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Hellooooooooooo, interwebs! More specifically, helloooooo the part of the interwebs that are graphic designers in the southcentral PA area who like to get their do-goodery on! We are gearing up for our Second Annual Design-O-Rama-Thon and wanted to give you all a heads up if you wanted to volunteer your creative services. Details and dates are still tentative but we will let you know when we know.

Also, a few people have contacted us through this web site about volunteering in the past year. I lost all those e-mails/names when my hard drive died, so if you could please contact us again, we'd appreciate it. Thanks!

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The Stop. Look. Listen. blog on Lancaster Online is the latest in a long history of newspaper love for the international design unit. Slow but surely we are conquering the interwebs!

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And if anyone should know about that which bucks, it's Ron Lu. Last night, members of the Unit made an appearance at the Creative House of Lancaster's Pecha Kucha night to wow the audience with their verbal wizardry. We dropped it like it was hot. Because it was hot.

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I wish I could take credit for that genius of a sentence, but it was these guys.

Also, Lancaster has more surveillance cameras than any other city in Pennsylvania. "Sixty cameras, watched 14 hours a day by the nonprofit entity, routinely help police and emergency personnel break up fights, respond to accidents and fires and apprehend fleeing suspects." I am not sure whether I feel violated about being surveilled or indignant that there are 10 hours of the day where no is watching.

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...seems to be paved with good intentions - crumbling, sinkhole-prone, pothole-riddled good intentions. It surely is not paved with quality asphalt, as anyone who has made the daily commute into the city can tell you. Funnily enough, going out of the city (the potholes, er, streets are one way around here) is not so bad. Actually, I'm not faulting the city (that much); the swinging temperatures this winter that have most likely exacerbated the pothole problem aren't really under their control.

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Hello, Interwebs! We are coming to you live from the one and only Inaugural Marathon Mash Up of Design and Do-Goodery"!

I thought I may try to live blog our day and let all you cybertribes know what's going on here at GO Headquarters. I had planned on starting from the very beginning of the day, but apparently I only move at quarter-speed on four hours of sleep, so it's taken me this long (11ish) to get rolling. That and my typing rate is slowed significantly by the sleep-deprived/caffeine-boosted jitters I've got going on. But let's move on to the main event....

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The boys are meeting with our last Design-O-Rama client of the day, and as the dust settles (not literally, after our thoughtful landlord provided us with a wonderful cleaning crew), allow me to recount the day's electro-stats for you, our loyal readers.

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The clock is ticking away! Well, it would be ticking if we had splurged on that huge beast of a chronograph when we went to IKEA. At any rate, the seconds are slipping away and we are in serious training. We've been practicing the whole sleeve rolling up (buttoned and unbuttoned, thick sleeves, thin sleeves, layered sleeves,etc) thing and while there have been a few injuries (who knew about repetitive stress?), we think we've got it down. Today we've got some prep work to do, a little housekeeping (ok, a lot), and some crazy carb loading.

Stress Level: Yellow (Elevated) - Accelerated speech patterns, obsessive to-do listmaking, increased caffeine consumption.

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Design-O-Rama-Thon madness has taken over GO Headquarters! Here is the latest update.

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'Tis the season for giving. Some creative firms have designathons to give back to their communities. Some hold designoramas. GO, the international design unit in downtown Lancaster, believes in going the whole hog. On November 27 and 29, GO will host its first ever Design-O-Rama-Thon, a pro bono marathon design session to benefit not-for-profit organizations in Central Pennsylvania.

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Members of the Unit will be making a guest appearance at 405 Jazz in Harrisburg this evening. If you miss the Unit tonight, you can catch us out and about on First Friday. We'll be hitting the Infantree's gallery opening among other spots.

Things I Learned Today:

• Downtown Lancaster needs more public restrooms, especially if it wants to be a credible tourist destination.
• Zap & Co do not sell lava lamps.
• Some of us here at the GO, LLC like to openly scoff at ridiculous comments while others of us prefer to fall back on the Ironic Sneer (is it a sneer? is it a smile? what could it be?).
• My resolve to cold turkey the coffee lasts exactly 72 hours. O sweet, sweet caffeinated nectar, how I've missed you!

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