I draw pictures for a living

a little history.

a few years ago a fellow graphic designer lectured me on my lack of self promotion. I had a little down time and agreed to submit a few logos into design competitions. low and behold, some of my work was chosen and acknowledged in respected annuals. cool.

of course the work I labor over and am most proud of never gets chosen. one logo in particular is now in 2 annuals (one being graphis - the gold standard in the design industry.) I consider the piece "ok" and borderline mediocre. whatever. it's subjective.

this summer I got an email from graphis congratulating me for being considered for the Logo Design 7 publication. supposedly the book showcases the best global logos of the past 5 years. holy crap! I was being considered! that was VERY cool!

I mentioned this story to my sisters one night while drinking some wine. (this is what we do. drink wine. we do it well.) I had my laptop with me and showed them this logo that was (for whatever reason) sweeping though the design world. J looked at the screen for a moment. she looked harder and then appeared perplexed. I saw her studying it. that's when it hit me. the typo.

as a designer, you sometimes get too close to your work. letter forms turn into positive and negative shapes that have to be dealt with visually. their "meaning" becomes meaningless. I spelled a word completely wrong in the logo and NOBODY noticed until now. it's been published twice. it's on t-shirts. there's a website. there are business cards floating around. shit!

after pointing out this ridiculous mistake I cried and laughed simultaneously. literally. soooo many people had looked at this so how is it possible nobody caught it?! of course I am responsible but I was floored that it got this far. and why did it take an intoxicated individual to notice the extra letter? interesting.

yesterday I had to return the crappy rental car. because of thanksgiving my car won't be ready until mid to late next week. to help me out, the subaru place was kind enough to give me a loaner for the time being. they are good people over there.

the car is a 2008 impreza with 2700 miles on it. it is actually quite cute except that it's... GOLD! who the hell makes gold cars these days?

the point of my post? the day I got the gold car my typographically incorrect logo won a gold medal. a moment that should have been glorious and joyful was full-on panic and full of dread. I felt like I was caught in a lie. a lie that was snowballing as we speak. who would have thought my design would (or could) get to this level - graphis Logo Design 7.

today was the day to fess up. to come clean. to admit globally that I am a shitty speller (and an even more terrible proofreader.) I called graphis and explained my problem begging them to let me resubmit a "revised," I mean, correct version. I was shaking and sweating out of total embarrassment. the book is in its second round of proofing and they will "see what they can do."

it's a funny thing. I just now got an email reply saying I sent the same exact logo. ummm, no I didn't. this time, you're wrong.