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I must be brief today -- there is much to be done. Earlier this week it was decided where this story would take us, and next week we will see where that long road leads. My hopes are for a modern epic. As for today -- I'm just glad I was able to work a good Zune joke in.

--nv--

Today's strip was written in conjunction with Monday's strip, and is part two of a longer story arch that is developing. This is important to point out because I have received no less than five offers of borrowed or loaned computers to put me up in the meantime. In fact I have to say the amount of support being offered up during this technological crisis is nothing short of heartwarming.

Thank you.

And I swear this computer is not based on the one you offered me.

update: for the young'uns.

The sudden and unexpected death of my computer this weekend was, knock on wood, the last insult added to an injury-filled 2008. Late Friday the computer froze up just like in the old days, and I thought nothing of it, restarting to continue developing my new website. Only she never came back up. Ever. The weak sound of the fan and dim, dim light on the front of my iMac G5 (made before you got those fancy iMac G5's with the built-in iSight) was the only sign of life, like the weak breath and low pulse of a coma patient. The logic board had died, and I was 6 months out of my AppleCare extended warranty, which had served me well in the past. The cost of replacing the logic board, similar in nature to giving our imaginary coma patient a new brain, was said to be $1,100.00, which, despite rumors, I do not have laying around in a pile on my bed.

So the plan -- if you could call it that -- is to cobble together that amount of scratch and buy a new computer. My iMac was only 3 1/2 years old, too soon by my standards, but it had shown signs of a weak constitution before. The detriment to my freewheeling freelance lifestyle has yet to be fully appreciated, but I'll wager it's somewhere in the 'mildly catastrophic' area. For now I have begun to migrate to my wife's computer, an older, slower eMac with less than 1/3 the hard drive and an out-of-date OS that won't let me install Dreamweaver.

2009 might start off with a pretty tough January, but despite everything I have nothing but hope for a better year ahead.

2008 was a hard, hard year for designers, throughout which I often thought "what is AIGA doing for me?" For an organization devoted to supporting the design profession, as a designer I was not feeling a lot of support. Well this week I saw that Ric Grefe actually answered that very question and had some good advice to give at the proper AIGA site. That article linked me to the aforementioned Shel Perkins story, which I stopped reading after he gave explicit instructions on how to separate an employee's livelihood from their life.  Taking the "live" out of "livelihood" -- that's a joke I should have written into the comic right there.

Based on a true story from an alternate universe where we didn't wait for Mr. Heller to leave before using his hotel room to the full extent of our abilities.

Whew! Finally back from Chicago and only one strip in the hole.

Donovan here: Nate sends his best as I sit in the Eleven19 Corporate HQ in Omaha posting his comic which he literally phoned in revisions for, while he takes the podcast on the road solo for the 23rd episode that will launch next week. I keep forgetting not everyone has laptops. His comments:

Today we find intrepid friend of the site, Stew- er, Drew Davies, designer extraordinaire, going to make war with the Medusa of our time, the Florida Election Commission. Two full elections and eight grusomely long years later, and I feel the task at hand may still be too great for our champion. If finding more info about topics that are relevant to your life is your thing, I'm sure you could find out more about Design for Democracy's efforts here.

Hope everyone enjoys the improvisational nature of today's comic. Don't let anyone tell you I don't take deadlines seriously. Alas, I am away from my desk in the windy city this week, and this rough style may persist for a few days yet. But we do have a great podcast lined up while I'm here, so tune in next Thursday for that hotness.

--nv--

Today's comic is a brief continuation of Monday's epic. Sorry for the short post -- I have many exciting things to be done this day. Enjoy.

One thing I know I cannot do is bring up the subject of Rock Posters without having my ass handed to me by whomever might be walking by at the time. I'm perfectly willing to accept them as an art form, but as a designer who seeks communicative truth, I find them, as whole, wanting.

Yesterday I journeyed to Concordia University, site of this interview and that interview, to review student projects. Not in the standard sense of looking-over-portfolios-and-making-people-cry, but in the sense of broader, more globally-conscious research initiatives. I felt a bit out of my league, that is, until the students actually started showing design work and soliciting for feedback. Then I would say my element was achieved.

I don't have a lot to say about today's strip, aside from letting you know that it based off an actual conversation between me and my wife -- and she wrote the funny bits.

Happy December! For notes on John Gabriel's Greater Internet Dickwad Theory, check here.

On the last podcast we talked about how to leverage the Adobe student/faculty/staff educational discount to your professional advantage, a practice they seem to encourage now. The ins and outs of this policy are many and varied, but suffice it to say if you are not a student, faculty, or staff, you may need to find some back-alley means to upgrade your softer wares.

Tackle the two issues in today's strip in any order you choose: Companies who never update their websites, and companies with websites whose sell-copy is unhealthily focused. My third and final "real job" began at place where a website like this one seemed to exist, with copy that actually outright refused to explain the inner workings or details of the company to instead fawn over the supposed new client reading the page. Thankfully, more than a year later, that website has been updated.

Capping off what must surely be the most vulgar week in 1PT.Rule history comes this gem, further exploring the inter-office dynamics between our pair of intrepid designers. Don't forget there's an intern in there somewhere, too. 

There's been a whole world of discussion as to whether graphic designers constitute "Rock Stars" and while my original intent was to let the comic speak for itself, I found I might actually have a tiny bit to say about the matter.

The world of people who listen to music is much, much larger than the world of people who know and appreciate graphic design. But mistaking the size of the available audience as the sole determining factor of fame to a fanbase is a failing argument. It isn't the size of the group, it's the size of their collective fervor ("collective" being the key word here. If I were the only megafan with a basement shrine dedicated to Drew Davies, instead of Donovan and I, well, that would just be creepy). If you have the capacity to get excited about something, and other people share that capacity and excitement, then you have enough right there to make rock stars. So, yes. Graphic Designers can be Rock Stars, but only to people in our comparatively small world. 

I would call today's comic the stunning conclusion, if in fact I were perfectly aware that most readers knew I was telling a cohesive story this week (the titles of each were renamed and numbered ex-post-facto). In fact, now that it has been completed, I would wholeheartedly recommend that you experience the entire trilogy from the beginning.

Hidden motivations revealed at last? It was pointed out to me last night by a friend that it may not be inherently clear that today's strip is Part Two of a Three Part Epic Saga. Part One can be viewed here, Part Three can be seen in this very space Friday morning.