Two Ways To Prepare Crow

I'll tell ya, it's a hustle out there in the design fields. I have been very busy chasing a few leads on some really fun work which means I have been writing proposals like a goon.

I tend to start a proposal by opening a previous one and looking there to see if there is anything I can salvage and use in the new one. I think I am going to alter this method after what happened yesterday. I had been working and reworking a proposal for a company called MOG. It is an amazing music sharing website. (You should definitely check it out. I am rocking out to it right now as a matter of fact.) They want me to design and fabricate an insane marketing mobile. They are going to have a couple of ladies drive it around the country to campuses and festivals to get the word out about MOG.com. We are talking about a mix between a Burning Man art car and the Oscar Mayer Weiner car. Sounds good right? Here are a couple of graphics they gave to me for inspiration and a car that I find inspirational.


This is MOG's fuzzy friend. The psychodelic earphone on top is MOG's "dot head ear vomit" graphic.



This is a car from a series of fat art cars by Austrian artist Erwin Wurm

I was also working on an RFP (request for proposal) for some mobile task carts for the new Fort Vancouver Regional Library. Can you see where this is headed? I was pressed for time as I had just been informed about the opportunity and the due date for submissions was yesterday at 4:00. So I ran into the library leading with my little packet that contained 4 hard copies and one cd with a .pdf of the proposal on it. It was 3:45 when I finally wiped the sweat off my face.

I left with a nagging feeling that I might have dotted my 't's and crossed my eyes. Something felt thing wrong. That is why I didn't look, much like when I have a gaping wound. Things are only as bad as you think they are.

Last night I sent a copy of a few proposals I have done to my pal Christopher in Baltimore. He wanted to see what one looked like.

Quick but significant sidebar: Christopher and I are old buddies. He is an artist/ballroom dancer/chimney sweep/firefighter/tattooless tattooist. We have always had a lot of fun communicating. We actually thought that our sarcastic banter about the artist/designer struggle might warrant a blog of its own. So we have an indulgent blog together: panspeter.blogspot.com. I don't think it is ready for people to see yet so no matter what! Don't look at it! You will be sorry if you do. You might be better off trying to stuff as many grapes in your mouth as you can.

So I sent Ruppert a few proposals including the MOGmobile one and the library mobile task cart one. In the morning I woke to an email he sent me that goes as follows:

I think you may have blended the two projects in your library proposal.
You mention " the most rad, eyepopping, funky ass, vehicle anybody has ever seen" along with "a low maintenance, highly functional, public use, mobile task station" in one sentence.
I'm trying to picture the expression on Miss Crabapple's face as she tries to visualize this in the children's section.

While I was pillaging the carcass of the MOGmobile proposal I somehow managed to leave the first half of a sentence from the aforementioned and tied it in with the new proposal. The actual sentence was a brutal run-on that was so perfectly out of context it was ridiculous. What are you gunna do, right?

I managed to worm my way back to the library and replace all four cover letters and the cd with new and improved ones. Nobody saw. Phew!

So just now, as I was recounting this blunder the land line rang and the lcd read "Aquent". I have been researching different phone options as my contract is about up, so I have been up to my eyeballs in wireless plans and such. So when I saw Aquent my first thought was that it was a telemarketer. I never answer those calls but for some reason I did today. The poor guy on the line was actually representing a creative talent agency and he had gig for me. I treated him with respect but I was very blunt. He asked if there was a better time for him to call and I said I would prefer it if he would never call again and said goodbye. As soon as I put the phone down I felt that feeling again. I quickly googled Aquent and the fog arose. AAHHHHGGG!!! I had to call right back and explain myself. What a day.