Changethethought

I have to warn you that the blog will probably be very slow over the next two weeks. It pains me to say it but the traffic is higher than it ever has been since the site first launched as a full on blog. Right now there are close to 3,000 people a day stopping by and that just reached that particular threshold this week. So it saddens me to not be able to keep up the pace for two whole weeks but I will be traveling to Brazil for the next two weeks with my wife. She lives in a fairly remote part of northern Brazil called Teresina. You can see a picture of it above. I will have a spotty dial-up connection here and there but that will be about it for the next two weeks. I wish I could lie and say I will feel bad that I am not pumping out the latest news for you when I am on the beach for 4 days in Fortaleza but I won’t. I am going to give my self at least that long to collect myself and kind of get my focus back.

This year has been the hardest working year of my entire life. That is no exaggeration. This blog has really turned into a part time, if not sometimes full time job but it is something I have wanted to do for a very long time and it has been really exciting to see so many people coming here for inspiration. I don’t think a lot of people realize how hard it can be to run something like this and since about 95% of the posts come directly from me, it has been a tremendous amount of work. I believe in art and design though and I also believe in inspiring people and helping give artists, designers, photographers and anyone in between a place where they can show their work to an interested audience. That was something that really helped me forward my career in the past and I wanted to give that back.

So please bare with me for the next couple of weeks while I soak up a little long needed sun and finally spend some quality time with the woman who has supported me and all my crazy ideas for the last 10 years.

On the Changethethought news front, I have printed 10 of the posters from the print section in series of 100 per design. They are all A3 sized and printed on 100lb true white stock. The color reproduction really blew my mind. I was so excited when I got them back. They really look amazing. They are every bit as vivid and rich in person as they are on the website. I was really stunned. My printer really pulled out all the stops for me and did a great job. The posters include the ‘We Not Me, Buckminster Fuller and Pure Energy’ designs that a lot of people seem to like. They should be in the Changethethought Merchline store the week after next.

Lastly, I also printed 2,000 of the Obama Commemorative posters. Yep, 2,000. It cost me a damned fortune but I think it was worth it. I haven’t had time to photograph them properly yet but they are stunning. I took them out of the packaging and immediately sold 8 of them to my coworkers right there on the spot. If I can actually sell all of them, I would like to give somewhere around 10,000 dollars or so back to the Obama campaign. Maybe even more. I haven’t figured out the math yet. The posters are printed on 80lb Mohawk Felt White paper. There is a texture to the paper that really absorbed the color and they printed really rich and deep. I was really excited. The crazy thing is that when you stack them all they stand about waist high and weigh something like 300-400 pounds. I have no clue how the hell I am going to get them shipped to Merchline. I plan on signing and numbering every single one. Chances are I will never print another run but who knows. I will number them in succession as I print them though.

So when I get home, I gotta crack into those bad boys and start signing away. Then figure out how the hell you ship 400lbs worth of posters over 2,000 miles. Ah the things we do in the creative business. I really felt like there was a need for a more austere and serious Obama poster though. I wanted people to have something that kind of memorialized him and was symbolic of his place in history and his accomplishments. If your for him or not, he really is a special case and I think it’s important to create something that lets people remember this moment in history.

So thank you for reading and thank you for sending emails and thank you for supporting me. I promise you as soon as I am back in the states I will turn it back on again full throttle and keep pouring out every good tidbit of design that I can find to keep your gears turning. For all my bloggers on the site here, if you can keep it rolling for me over the next couple of weeks. Thank you to my fellow bloggers on the site as well. I really appreciate your effort sincerely.

written by Christopher | tags: Brazil, Changethethought, Ctt News, Teresina, vacation

There is new work posted to both my print and illustration sections. Some of which is actual client work the other is experimentation. I try to keep creating things that are different and challenge my skillsets and keep me fresh. That is an ongoing challenge in this field especially when things get stagnant and unchallenging at the day job. It is a struggle to stay relevant in this field. It takes work everyday. I remain committed to the cause.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, Ctt News, Illustration, Print, Work

Well, this one goes out to all the readers in the United States. I am currently in San Antonio, Texas visiting some old college friends of my wife and I. They recently had a baby who is absolutely adorable and has boundless energy. I don’t think I have ever been around a baby so little who has such a lust for life. She barely sleeps and is constantly smiling and ready to go. She is already making all kinds of sounds and even standing by pulling herself up on the sofa. All of that is happening while she is only 7 months old. I think she is going to be some kind of a child genius. It doesn’t surprise me though since my friend is working on his P.H.D. at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

It’s always good to get away and see old friends. I rarely get personal on this blog and sometimes I think I should more often because that is what people like. I have been really stressed out lately trying to figure out how to earn more income for my wife and I since she is really ready to have a child. I want to be able to provide for her and my baby when the time comes and it has just been hard to earn enough in this field to do so. The United States has become a lot tougher place in the last 10 years for younger couples and the future doesn’t always look so bright either. It’s a hard time right now I think for everyone. I would love it if I did well enough that my wife could stay home for a year and take care of our baby but I just don’t and that weighs heavy on me. It’s hard not to get down and be a little angry sometimes and when that happens I sometimes bite the hand that feeds me and then make it even worse for myself.

So, I am trying a lot of new things in the future to try to get the ball rolling more for myself. Hopefully some of those things will pan out. It’s been a crazy year so far with this blog and in my own personal work. I never thought it would attract the attention that it has but I am just getting started. I really want to start doing interviews this year with other people in the creative industry and starting to add some new content to the site that will make it a lot more resourceful and meaningful for people.

Happy 4th everyone and if you have the chance to, take some time for yourself or to spend with your family. I’ll try to keep posting a few things here and there while I am on the road and I will be back in the saddle again fulltime come Monday.

written by Christopher | tags: 4th of July, Changethethought, Ctt News, Personal

I just put yet another new poster in the print section. More more more.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, Ctt News, Posters, Print

I created yet one more pack of free posters as a creative alternative to the existing posters. This set comes with a version at 8.5 x 11 so it is even more ‘at home’ printer friendly. It is also available in both 11×17 and 24×36. In all honesty these were created because I was experimenting with a new style of vector illustration and a poster came out of that experimentation. I thought I might as well offer it up to anyone who might like to use it to promote Obama. I created this at the same time as the commemoritive poster but decided to go with the look and feel for the commemoritive poster versus this style. It’s a bit more of a characatur than previous images. The image does translate well from a distance though.

As always you can download all of the files in the Obama section and use at your discression (so long as you do not intend to sell them).

I am in the process of gathering price quotes for the printing of the large scale commemoritive poster, so it should be available for sale within the next 3 weeks.

written by Christopher | tags: Barack Obama, Changethethought, Ctt News, Free Obama Posters

I decided just before Obama won the nomination for the Democratic party that I wanted to do a commemorative poster for him. I felt like what has been missing lately with a lot of the work that has been done out there for him is something a little more ageless and less trendy. I thought a lot of older voters would appreciate having something they could hang on their wall as well. So I set out to try and create something that would bridge that divide a little bit and appeal to both young and old. I wanted the image to almost appear as a giant commemorative stamp. At least that was how I saw it in my head. I realized that his logo worked with the same composition as I had done earlier for the poster I created commemorating Buckminster Fuller. So, I decided to stick with that design and potentially do a series of these.

I will be printing this poster sometime in the next few weeks before the DNC and it will be available for purchase in my Merchline Storefront when it is off the press. Once the cost of production is paid for through the sales, whatever profit is accrued by the posters will be donated directly to Obama’s campaign. The poster is very large measuring in at 24 by 36 inches (2 feet by 3 feet). It just about destroyed my computer as the actual 300 dpi Photoshop file was nearing 3 gigs. I have been whittling away at it for about 2 weeks off an on now and I am finally satisfied with the result. The poster will be printed on crisp white 100lb stock paper to preserve the highlight effect on Obama’s face. I also used the official Obama typeface as well since it has become such a known part of his propaganda, and I felt it was important to make sure that was in this poster.

I will write another entry announcing when the poster will be available for sale. Stay tuned. As always you can see the poster along with a closer detail in the PRINT section with the rest of my print work.

YOU CAN NOW PURCHASE ONE HERE.

written by Christopher | tags: Barack Obama, Changethethought, DNC, Obama Poster

Alright, so the fateful time has finally drawn near where it is time to actually print some of the posters I have created over the last several months. I have my quotes in for the first 7 posters. All of the posters (minus the Iso Series posters commemorating the isometric paper system) will be printed on A3 size paper. A3 is pretty close to 11×17. All of the posters will be printed on 100lb stock paper, some on white others on natural tone. Since they aren’t really large posters, they will be fairly inexpensive. The cost per poster will probably be in the 15-20 dollar range and I will be able to ship overseas, which makes it a pretty good deal if you are not subjugated to the sinking dollar like we are here in the states.

The question is, and I am having trouble with this myself so I am asking you, which ones do I print first? I will only be doing 7 at first and depending on how well the first series goes, I will be printing more in the fall. Which posters would you buy? Which posters do you like? Let me know with your comments or send me an email. I will be printing the ‘We Not Me’ poster for sure because there has been a really high volume of emails requesting that particular poster. Outside of that, they are all fair game. Please help me decide. I value your opinion as readers and you, after all, are my audience. If you frequent the blog often and enjoy the work I do, now is your chance to help determine what you would like to own for yourself. If you need a memory refresher, the posters are all listed in the PRINT section of the website.

Thank you so much in advance for reading the blog and supporting the site.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, Ctt News, Posters, Print

I wanted to officially put out a notice that I am currently seeking new opportunities. I realize immediately that sounds vague, so let me explain. I am currently looking for several things. I am seeking representation artistically. I would like to gain representation to help me better access freelance projects for both my design and illustration work. With that said I am also actively seeking freelance work at this time. I want to emphasize that the work on this website, all filed under the ‘WORK’ section and subsections was all created by me (Christopher Cox) individually and no one else. So, if you feel you may have a project suitable for me but would like to see my capabilities you can find a good cross section of my work in the work section of the site. I have no real discernable style but consider myself a bit of a renaissance man in that regard. I feel comfortable working in whatever style best suits the unique considerations of the project. If you would like to see something more in a specific style I would be happy to send samples, if available, that are not currently on the site. I am fully capable in creating motion boards, digital illustration, typography, branding, logo development, design for apparel (t-shirt art), posters, comps for websites and providing concepts for television commercials. I am willing and happy to work for or with clients both in the United States and overseas.

In the very near future, because the site is growing so rapidly in audience and content, I will most likely have to move the site to a new host and server. So I am seeking hosting sponsorship along with potential advertising on and for the site. If you or anyone you know are interested in this please contact me.

In the near future I will be printing several posters and I am also looking for good printers for that project as well. I will be printing both digitally on heavy stock paper and screen printing. So for those of you that have been requesting posters, there will be several available before the summer is out.

If you would like to contact me regarding representation, a creative project, or are interested in advertising on the site please contact me via the contact section. Thank you so much for your support and for visiting the site. It’s been a fascinating sociological experiment and it has been great sharing with and engaging with you all on a daily basis. It has been a real growing experience and it will continue to be. Changethethought is only just beginning.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, Ctt News, Seeking Opportunity

I have created one last round of free downloadable vector-format posters for the Obama presidential campaign. I created these myself because of some of the recent problems and allegations that have been swarming around Obama. I still feel very strongly that he is the most viable candidate for president in 2008. It has angered me to see him being accused of being an elitist. Barack Obama is a self-made man of the people and he is very much for the people.

Again, these posters are completely free and were created deliberately as vector art so they would be small in file size making them ideal for fast distribution through email. They are available in both 11 x 17 format and large scale poster size at 24 x 36. The 11 x 17 posters are ideal for home printing on tabloid size paper and should be fairly inexpensive to print in large quantities. The small file size should allow you to email them directly to Kinko’s if you would like to print a run for your local Obama campaign group.

I created this new series to be much more aggressive in tone and convey more of Obama’s strength and determination. The last series was meant to help communicate Obama’s humanity and his qualities as the ‘thinking-man’s candidate’ which I feel he is.

Once more, if you do not like the style of these posters or feel they can be improved or translated into your native language, I encourage you to download them and do so. I have made the raw Illustrator files completely available so you are welcome to alter them in any way you see fit. The previous post announcing the alterations of the already existing posters also contains a long list of other places on the web where you can download Obama posters. Those posters and mine should give you several options suiting many tastes for posters to distribute at little to no cost.

As always you can download all of the posters I have created in the Obama section of the website.

written by Christopher | tags: Barack Obama, Changethethought, Free Obama Posters, Obama Campaign

I decided to make some alterations to the first round of Obama posters. I realized that the Obama ‘O’ was decreasing the legibility of the posters so I changed it using it more as an ‘O’ and less as a symbol. If you plan on using them for the upcoming super Tuesday then please redownload the posters. They have all been updated. Just trying to get everything ready for this Tuesday. It’s an important day for Obama.

Again, if you don’t like the posters, you are free to download and alter them however you would like as the raw Illustrator files are available to do so. If you don’t even want to do that but want to support Obama, I encourage you to make your own materials and distribute them on your website. Or, if you would like, you are welcome to email them to me along with your email and website and I will upload them to my website where people can download them.

As an alternative to my posters I have gathered some links for you all to download other free posters in support of Obama:
Several free posters are available at Tom Fox
Download an 8.5×11 black and white version of Shepard Fairey’s Poster here
There are a bunch of posters at Go Tell Mama, I’m for Obama
There is a nice series at Hyperakt
Another free poster at Steam Crow
There is a big list of them here

So, with all of those and mine there should be a little something there to suit everyone’s taste. Consider yourself prepared. I am going to leave the buttons for now since something like 5,000 or more of them have been made already. I may change them this week, I will notify you if I do. I have just worked so hard on all of these, it has really eaten into my time at home with my family. I consider it a small price to pay though if it helps raise awareness of Obama.

written by Christopher | tags: Barack Obama, Changethethought, Free Obama Posters, Obama Campaign

I made another small series of free downloadable Obama posters this week. I will most likely do one more short series with an image of Obama and then be finished. Again, I made these to function as a FREE resource to people interested in printing their own posters at little expense via Kinkos or their home printer or whatever way they can for that matter. I felt it was important that, as opposed to having pay $70 to $200 dollars for a piece of art that was really nonfunctional, it might be more useful to people to just have some clean attractive signage readily available to them so they could show their support for Obama.

I don’t care if you don’t like the font, or you are annoyed by the slanted ‘A’ characters in the last round of posters, or think the simple vector art I created looks too much like Shepard Fairey or whoever else out there in our world of a billion designers that makes simple vector portraits of people. I created them the way I did out of functionality. They are all very small in file size making them easy to download and email (even the vector portrait posters at 24×36), include space for writing for usage as meeting announcements etc., translate easily into black and white, and portray quick easily digestible iconic imagery that was meant to embody the spirit of political propaganda.

If you don’t like the posters, don’t download and use them. If you do, or you want to use the vector art in them to make your own posters, that is exactly what they are for. If you don’t like how I created them, use the existing graphics and improve upon them and then make your posters available for free so people have an alternative. I am all for that.

Obama is one of the first politicians in a quarter of a century who isn’t just speaking to the people, he is speaking for the people. He is a thinking man who wants to elevate this country to a higher plane and re-engage the U.S. with the rest of the world. His message is one of community. In the spirit of that message, and if you are in fact an Obama supporter, I encourage you to create your own imagery to support Obama in whatever way you see fit. Create imagery and give it away for free to help spread his message and help him get elected. It may be one of the most important things you do in a long time as a designer. Think activity not apathy. Move, shake, do something. Our country has been divided by greedy men with shameful motives. We need to reunite as a republic and start working together to take our country back and make it a place for the people and by the people instead of somewhere only for the ‘rich’ people. Any small way you can contribute like making posters, shirts, buttons, etc. is valid. Small contributions can add up into a tidal wave that drowns out the special interests that are crushing us as working class Americans.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, Free Obama Posters, Obama, Politics

I created two more Changethethought ‘message’ posters last week. I wanted to try to create something timeless, yet stylish that looks as though it could either be current or could have been created years back. The font is entirely custom. It is a variant of the font I created for the Barack Obama posters that some people loved and others hated. I have since refined the font greatly to make it my own.

These posters will most likely be silkscreened on heavy paper, natural tone stock for the chocolate poster and white for the lime poster. I have been receiving a lot of emails lately requesting posters. I have not printed any officially yet but there should be some available near the end of this summer. I will let everyone know when they are in the storefront.

It’s been great just working with pure typography again lately. I almost forgot how much I love type. I have a new image series in the works however and that will be on the site sometime in the next few weeks. Lots of things going on. Stay tuned.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, Ctt News, Posters, Print

Well, I pulled a fast one and deleted a poster I created yesterday because I just didn’t like how it came out. This is another one I had been working on, off and on for a while. I finished it up to my satisfaction today and thought I would give it a post. You can view it along with all the other posters in the print section. As I said in the post I deleted, I have also put a bunch of my past type treatments in the type section as well.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, Ctt News, Posters, Print

The very kind and true purveyor of all things creative, Matthew Newton interviewed me this week for his ‘Made You Look’ column. It is a pretty long interview actually because anyone who knows me knows that I can be a bit of a rambler once you pull my string. He did a great job at getting across my personality though and I was able to answer some pretty fundamental questions about my ethos and established philosophy. I really appreciated him asking me to interview and please visit, not just to read my interview, but to support Matthew and his website because he is building a great interview archive there. Even if you are not a fan of my work, I can guarantee he has interviewed someone that you are interested in and would like to find out more about.

Thank you again Matt. You can read the interview here.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, Ctt News, Made You Look, Matthew Newton

Well, there has been some debate and backlash over the poster I created for Buckminster Fuller sharing some similarities to the work of Scott Hansen AKA ISO50. Scott’s work has always been a huge influence on me and my work. A lot of his imagery has been burned into my memory and I think is buried pretty deeply in my subconscious. A user left a comment today linking to the poster above comparing it to my own and I admit there are definitely some similarities. The embarrassing thing is, I hadn’t even seen that particular poster by ISO50 in quite a while.

I had an idea already in my mind of how I wanted to lay the Fuller poster out beforehand and I didn’t really know where I got the idea. It was just in my head. I used the strong diagonal lines as well to give the poster a forward direction to kind of help communicate the ‘progress’ Fuller stood for and also emphasize his upward gaze.

I have always liked the way Scott annotates his posters as well and I have started trying to do something similar on some of my recent posters by kind of signing off on them and numbering them in some way. It wasn’t until I saw the poster Hansen had done that I realized how close I was getting to the way he had done it on some of his own posters.

So, I am going to answer the call and do something totally different. I will pull the poster down and do an entirely new one sometime this week or later this week. When I am finished I will post the new one and you can have at it and see what you think. I am going to use the same vector image of Fuller along with the same colorway. I’ll just do a totally different layout. Then you can fire away and see what you think.

I just wanted to address this directly and nip it in the bud. I thought that would be the best way to handle it. I didn’t want to leave it out there for people to stew upon. I know how angry designers can get over things like this.

written by Christopher | tags: Buckminster Fuller, Changethethought, Ctt News, Iso50

I have decided to produce more posters for the Obama campaign. It is the least I can do to help provide more resources for fellow supporters. This time I would like to produce posters as per some of your requests. Please tell me if there is anything missing that would be helpful. Leave me comments or email me via the contact section and let me know what you would like the posters to say, in English or any other language. Obama needs support more now than ever and I want to do all I can to help provide materials for his campaign. Please let me know what you want them to say and what sizes you want me to produce them in. I will do a few more image-based posters and several more type and message based posters. I will start later this week and try to have some new posters later next week or the following.

Please do leave a comment and tell me what you think is needed or what you are your campaign organizer need specifically. There has been a lack of comments on my blog so far and it kind of bugs me. I really need your input and feedback on this one.

written by Christopher | tags: Barack Obama, Changethethought, Obama Campaign

I bet you didn’t think it was possible for me to create even more posters did you? Well, think again. There are yet even more in the PRINT section of the site and I am adding one at the rate of about one a week to every two weeks. I will be gathering price quotes later this month on printing and should have some in the store late this summer. I am looking into metallics, varnishes and potentially fluorescents. Should be a little something to love for every design nerd. Don’t take offense to that statement by the way, I am probably the biggest one of all. I have been experimenting with all manner of illustration style and typography. I am trying to really take one each poster individually and do something unique for each. There is a little more Brazilian love in there too since the love of my life is Brazilian. I will be going there again later this summer as well. I am ready now. I could really use a vacation.

There will also be a digital downloads section in my storefront later this year that will offer up, for a very low price, bundles of the vector art I have amassed and categorized over the last decade. I am also planning on offering up store space to my other bloggers, so there may be some of their tees, posters etc. available in the store later this year as well.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, Ctt News, Posters, Print

One of our very own Editors, who you will notice, ever-so-often writing a little something here or there on the site is Rob AKA | Lifterbaron. Rob is an extremely talented young man with a bright future ahead of him who is located in the central design-mecca of Minneapolis. He just put a little more work up at his site. He is currently scouting either fulltime or freelance opportunities in Minneapolis. Have a browse through some of the new work at his site, and if you are in the market for a few good men, send him an email. Expect to see his bio in the about section of the site soon where you will be able to read more about him and his many talents.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, Graphic Design, Lifter Baron, Minneapolis