“Work?!”

~ Maynard G. Krebs

LIFE:  Many of the musicians or artists I know have one or more “day jobs.” Those are the jobs that pay most of the bills, put the food on the table, buy health insurance and let them make some art or play some songs. My day job, besides taking care of Kathy, is graphic design. Lehndorff Design started out as just me. I’ve done freelance design and illustration since… not sure, but probably the early 70s. Kathy joined the “firm” in 1998 and worked until it became difficult. I won’t go through the whole history, but I’ve done a little bit of everything. Logos and Signs. Compact discs and even a few cassettes. Business cards and letterheads. Newsletters and book covers. Many brochures; and a few annual reports. Lots of advertising. Small websites. And lots of what we call production: where the design is really done and I just finish it. Or I fix it and make it work better; and send a computer file to the printer. In the past I avoided copywriting. I didn’t feel I wrote well or fast enough. But one or two clients hired me on the basis of my cover letter, not the design. So, you never know.

I am a certified introvert. I enjoy doing the work. Drawing pictures; using fonts; picking colors. What’s not to like. Finding work for my clients is great. But, finding new clients for myself is not my strength. My latest excuse to myself has been, “Well Pete, you could call some businesses. There have to be some that want a designer they may never have to meet. One that can’t leave home. Think of it as a niche.” And then I start remembering how much I much I look forward to getting telemarketing calls. Not.

Now that the aide situation is getting better, I probably could venture out. It would do me a lot of good to go to a meeting. Or two. Three? I have been lucky through the years to have clients that stuck with me for a long time. Slowly but surely, some of the old clients went through changes. Work that was getting jobbed out to local freelancers comes back in-house. They have computers and want more control. A business gets sold, or moves. A marketing director gets married or moves. A company executive hires his favorite ad agency. They will do all of it – even the small stuff that I do. I still feel grateful; I just need to evolve and diversify. It all makes sense. It’s all part of business life.

I redesigned my design website to make updating easier. That doesn’t mean it is updated – just that it isn’t like a root canal updating it. I went back and forth about a slogan. I ended up with: Graphics that Sing. In reality it could be Graphics for a song.

For websites like mine, I work with WordPress.org software and adapt their templates. I have had pretty good luck, so far. Other designer friends prefer other systems. This theme is called Arcade. It pins the menus to the top of the page. That way, as you scroll down and admire all the nifty design work you have a way to get out of there. The phone version is okay but the menu disappears. In case you haven’t fallen asleep yet, the WordPress theme for this blog and music site is called Tiny Forge.

I’m about as finished as I’ll be with Project “man-cave” as Pat, our aide, calls it. There was a spider infested closet under a stairway. I converted it into a desk/cubby/micro office. I put wainscoting on the walls and ceiling and a desk top with a keyboard slide. It’s the new headquarters for Lehndorff Design. Kathy’s bed is only a few feet away, so I can take care of her. I use my old Macbook with an external keyboard and mouse. I hung my monitor from the sloped ceiling. When I start doing music again, the Macbook will go with me, upstairs.

I still need to figure out storage for files and things that are not digital. I wish I could digitize everything, but it’s not going to happen. The medical records and receipts alone are ridiculous. There is a lot of inconvenient space underneath the desk. I might put rollers on some file boxes. Then I can use Marty’s leash to pull them out. There is space to hide some stuff and supplies behind the monitor. Sometimes I keep the computer back there too.

I’ll actually grovel for work in other posts. I have to get back to work. I have a monthly project for Butler Hospital that I am working on. Marty wants attention. And Kathy needs to be checked. In the meanwhile it would be a huge help to us if you could look at my work and forward it to anyone that could use what I do.