Still going strong

Web Design Five Cents is five months old, and still going strong through a lot of changes. We have moved to Eugene, Oregon and I now have a booth at the Saturday Market.

It is so beautiful in the summer to be in the square downtown under the pine trees with a cool breeze. It is like a small fair, with live music and food booths. Beautiful crafts for sale. Meeting some very interesting people. I send out a thanks to the Saturday Market board for allowing me to participate.

Day One at Barton Creek Farmers Market

Saturday was a blast! I met very many people and they made me feel comfortable with what I was doing. Many thanks to my wife, Anna, without whom I could not have started this venture. She originally heard an article on NPR about John Morefield who started Architecture 5 cents in Seattle. So, also, thank you John, and thank you Salila Travers for giving me permission to set up at the Barton Creek Farmers Market.

The day was cloudy and it was sprinkling a little bit, but it didn't matter.

The first people that came up to me said, "You can't really do a website for five cents, can you?"

And of course, they knew I couldn't. I said the nickel is for answering a question. As it turned out, the woman did need a website to feature her handmade jewelry. So I may have a possible client and I haven't even been set up yet for five minutes.

One interesting thing is that I really enjoyed answering simple questions for people, knowing well that there would be no further interaction. It was fun just helping.

I told one woman all she needed was a blog and she could do that free and by herself. There was a guy who wanted to put video on his website and I told him there is a link below YouTube videos that he can put into the HTML of his website and show the video from there.

People were willing to give me their contact information, and I think I will get at least one client out of that first day at Barton Creek Farmers Market.

Anyway, I'm out there and I'm having fun!

For quite a few years I was working for a large metropolitan newspaper as a graphic designer. It was a good job, but the box always seemed a bit small. I created banner ads and websites. Mostly ads. I'm glad I have a larger canvas now.

When I was a child, I always loved laying under the stars and watching for meteors. Talk about a big canvas. Now, every year I try to catch the Perseid Meteor Shower around August 11.

The evening of the meteor shower a couple of years ago, my four year old son, Ian, said he wanted to wish on a shooting star. I don't know where he got that idea. I don't remember mentioning it. I'm sure one of his great daycare teachers told him. He said, "We could wish for chickens."

When it got dark we laid down on a Mexican blanket in the back yard. It was too early to see any shooting stars, but he's too young to wait until 2:00 a.m. We laid there for about a half an hour and got eaten up by mosquitoes.

He said, "I'm going to wish for dragons. I want to ride on one." And, speaking of the all-knowing wisdom of the shooting star, he said, "If it says no, I'm going to wish for a farm."

We didn't see any shooting stars, but it was okay with us. Ian seems to be content with the prospect that some day he'll see a shooting star.

I'm a web designer. I bridge the worlds of creativity and commerce. I try to focus on the objective of the campaign, while at the same time emphasizing creativity and taste.

I try to tap into my subconscious mind in order to get ideas. It is all stuff I've seen and heard, filtered through the depths. I have to stay connected to the child in me to stay inspired.

My son, now six years old, says he wants to be an artist, like his daddy. He's really good. I often set up an easel and let him go wild. I'll post some of his stuff later. But now, hearing him say that, gives me an even greater responsibility to be a real artist; a living example.

Hopefully next year he'll want to be an astronaut or a doctor or something.