Build a better business through reciprocity

Call it the Golden Rule, the threefold law of return, Karma...every culture has it's version of Do Unto Others. Running a retail  business offers endless opportunities for beneficial mutual exchange with all kinds of people...vendors, customers, suppliers, staff, delivery people, neighbors, tech support: the question is - what are you going to do with it?

 
 It takes a relationship to make it work. Illustration by Constance Heffron. Happy Days, 1951 Allyn and Bacon

For me, part of the thrill of retail is being able to cultivate relationships. If I'm excited about a piece of art, a product, a service, a website, I want to get to know what, or who, is behind it. My first impulse is to write an email, make a phone call, write a blog post, send a note on facebook or twitter. If I like something I want to tell the world about it. But after a point, I really do need to be supported in kind.

It's been my experience that only a portion of the people I extend myself to bother to respond in kind. Do I understand why? Not really. I guess some people are just not connectors. Do I accept it? Yes. And move along.

I'm not quite snarky enough to tattle on those businesses who don't see generosity as part of their work ethic. The law of threefold return will bite them in the derriere eventually. If I like their products or services enough I might continue to use them, or sell them, but I won't go the extra mile to help publicize them. There's no juice in it.

But those who do... ah, the sweetness of mutual delight and support. Here's to the connectors.

Manufacturers:

Flashbags started in business the same time I did. We are all Burlingtonians. Our kids go to school together. I adore them, personally and professionally. We've always featured each other in promotions and events. Ali and Laura, now just Laura, are the most generous, enthusiastic co-conspirators a business could ask for. Flashbags are the staple of my retail business and I couldn't imagine retail life without them.

 

I was excited about Cardboardesign from the moment I found out about their products. I think I read about them on a design blog when they first started, and was one of their first wholesale accounts. Because I was so in love with their product I started blogging about them. Because their marketing director, David Rosenzweig is such a nice and cool guy, he started emailing me. His daughter even commented on this blog. Did I mention he knows Simon Doonan? (who has never contacted me, ahem...) And recently they quoted me on their new sales brochure. Was I excited? You bet. Does this translate to sales for me..and them? Of course. Why? Because the personal connection, the reciprocity, makes me want to work that much harder for them. [update: sorry to report that Cardboardesign went out of business. sniff...]

Canetti frames are, after Flashbags, my best selling product. It's always easy to sell a product I love so much. But when owner Nancy Halper and I started exchanging chatty emails, when she took the time to research and answer my questions, when she invited me to Linked In,  I knew there was a real person behind the product and that relationship spurred me to be even more excited to sell their beautiful, pure acrylic magnet frames. I'm sure that in the scope of things I'm not that big of an account for them. Au contraire. But Nancy always makes me feel special. At their booth the recent NYC gift show, Canetti featured my store advertising postcard in their frames. Yeah, it's a great card, looks super in their frames, and mentions them on the back. But they didn't have to do it. Again, wow. 

Tech Stuff:

I used to send gallery and shop announcement  email blasts via my website, which was cumbersome. Then I only used facebook, which is good but doesn't have any extra oomph. Then a few months ago I was blog surfing and someone mentioned Mad Mimi email marketing. I regret not remembering which blog, but a couple of days later I googled Mad Mimi, browsed their site, and decided to give them a try.

The MadMimi webpage was inspiring, their testimonials glowing. I decided to give it a try. Heck, I need to promote this store.  At some point while I was designing my first promotion I had a question, even though their design program is super easy to use. I emailed their tech support and ....right away someone was there, live, in real time, answering my questions. Patiently. Nicely. I mean, Hello!!...when does that happen??

But then there was a bigger bonus - besides my amazing and amazingly easy to design promotion. At  the Mad Mimi site they have a gallery of some of their clients and I decided my goal was to get into that gallery. They've got cool stuff there - great clients. I emailed and got a really sweet response from Gary, CEO and Founder.  We chatted about this and that...he lives in my old Brooklyn neighborhood..and yes, they loved my promotion and put it on their site. So...not only did I get super tech support, get to design and send a gorgeous email promotion, which my customers loved, but also they put me on their website. Again, sure, my promo was great... but that's the thing. They didn't have to. But they - Gary, Dean and the others on the team,  understand reciprocity, they are nice, down to earth folks running a savvy business. Part of their savviness is in their genuine customer relations. 

 

If you've ever tried to get tech support from web or blog providers, you know just how frustrating this can be, and how likely you are to get the response, "we got your question and will be back with you soon" and then you wait and wait - and wait - until you get an answer that confounds you even more. Not mentioning any names typepad.

Some tech support makes me want to gnash my teeth and tear out my hair, which makes my happiness with MadMimi  even more impressive. 

Link some Love:

Love what someone's doing, selling, writing, designing? Send them some link love. Why not? Tweet them, it costs you nothing, and the goodwill you get back is astounding. Or post a link on Facebook. I'm new to the tweet world, an old hand at Facebook, and here's what I think: you can build community through links, tweets and retweets.

A while back, book designer and blogger Ian Shimkoviak tweeted a post of mine. I only knew because I followed the trail on sitemeter when I noticed a bump in readership. Then I wrote about him in my recent post on book covers. Then he tweeted that. And it was picked up by a couple of his followers. Again...wow. Today I tweeted MadMimi. They tweeted me. And tomorrow??? Maybe I'll tweet you. Or you'll tweet me.

Community

What it boils down to for me is more than the golden rule: in my mission statement I say that Pine Street Art Works is in business to build community  through retail. I am a fierce advocate for local neighborhood community building, but,  in addition, in this cyber age, neighborhood can be anywhere and everywhere. We build it one email, one tweet, one link at a time. Share the love.

War and men's clothing: Hart Schaffner & Marx, 1917

In 1917 American clothing manufacturer Hart Schaffner & Marx was making military uniforms in addition to their stylish everyday and sporting clothing. In this brochure, they sell the idea that military design translates to everyday and sporting wear. Not a new idea, but one that has lasted.

 
Hart Schaffner & Marx style book,  1917, Cover. PSAW ephemera collections

 

 
Hart Schaffner & Marx, Style Book For Men and Young Men. 1917.

 

 

 
Hart Schaffner & Marx. Style Book

"Insist on all Wool. It is more important than ever to be careful what you get in clothes. Woolen fabrics give longer service, fit better and hold their shape; they are cheapened if mixed with cotton"

 

 
Hart Schaffner & Marx 1917.

"We make officers' uniforms of all wool cloths, many different weights and weaves"

Notice that they do not make uniforms for the enlisted men. Nor do they show the officers in combat. That probably wouldn't sell much merchandise for them.

 
Hart Shaffner & Marx 1917

"You'd expect clothes this fall to have the military touch in the models; they have. In suits and overcoats, you'll find it evident; gives a new vigor and snap that most men will like."

 

 
Hart Schaffner & Marx 1917

"Economy is one of the war-cries. The best economy is not in cheaper quality, but in better. "

 

 
Hart Schaffner& Marx 1917

"Sport and military models are too good to be confined to sports or the military. They're for any time or place. Most men look well in them; young men especially"

 

This snazzy little advertising brochure features illustrations by two different artists. Although JC Leyendecker became famous for his HS&M ads, as did Edward Penfield, I don't think this is their work.

 Two quiz questions:

1) who illustrated the HS&M brochure?

2) Who knows the source of this often repeated but rarely cited quotation from Diana Vreeland:

"Uniforms are the sportswear of the 19th Century"

And I don't actually know the answers, so include your references.

The Pudding's spoiled. Jell-O saves the day in the early 20th Century kitchen.

 

Daniel, the wonderful new intern here at Pine Street Art Works, has been busy scanning my rawther large collection of vintage Jell-O recipe books. Here, from an undated  early 20th Century book, are some illustrations of how terribly wrong things can go in the kitchen. Jell-O is here to save the day!

 

Her pudding burnt.

 
Her pie went wrong, too. Nothing goes wrong with Jell-O

 
A corner in a busy Jell-O workroom.

 

 
In the big shipping room.

 
The Jell-O girl, always ready to serve you.

 
The Jell-O girl, Elizabeth King.

 
The Pudding's spoiled. Why didn't I use Jell-O?

 

 

Judging a book by its cover: covers + blogs about book cover design

Yes! I do judge a book by its cover. So do you, probably. Most of my readers are pretty design savvy so you know you are critical, but even those of you who are not are still having a subjective response to the books you chose. Sure, we chose our books by author, by title, by subject or by a review we liked. These days, who is going to buy a book just for its brilliant cover?  Yes, I see some hands rising. But what if we are wandering around the bookstore? Or reading a review with a picture of the cover? What catches our eye? More importantly, what thrills us? What demands our attention? The cover.

  

Ian Shimkoviak: book  design. I love this!  The images are from The Human Body, by Cyril Bibby and Ian T Morrison. Puffin Picture book No. 102. Shimkoviak found the image here at SeeSaw. No worries, he's been generous on twitter and Facebook,  and I don't own the image anyway.

There are books I will pass by in the store simply because the covers are bad. They offend my eye. They do not thrill. Sure, for my favorite authors I'm willing to forgive almost anything just for the pleasure of the read, but a bad cover diminishes the thrill, and will likely kill random bookstore sales.

Authors have little or no control over the visual packaging of their books. It's not their fault if the design department of their publishing house has bad taste. But I do blame the houses for hiring  designers who crank out...visual garbage. Such a shame.

That said, there are so many brilliant book designers and so many ways to enjoy their work,  on the books themselves and through their websites and design blogs.  Book design is a good enough paying gig not only for the designers but for the artists and photographers whose work they often feature. Here are some  book covers featuring work by artists who have shown at Pine Street Art Works, or who are related in some way.

First, a photo by Cara Barer, whose work is always available at Pine Street Art Works. What can I say? Cara's work is stunning. Nicely featured here, with no distractions. Image relates  to the book topic  in an almost metaphysical way. Although it is a book of theory, the cover itself is lyrical.

 
The Late Age Of Print. Photo by Cara Barer. Design by David Drummond. Columbia University Press.

Next, Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel. Alison's original ink drawings from her comic series, Dykes To Watch Out For, are available here at PSAW.

 
Fun Home, Alison Bechdel. Illustration by Bechdel.

Next, a photo by me, Liza Cowan, for Laurie Essig's Queer In Russia: A Story of Sex, Self,and The Other.  I took this picture in Moscow in 1994.  The publisher made it blue and photoshopped it so that the figure of the author stands out. I'm satisfied with the cover, which I didn't design, although I would have right - justified  the subtitle and changed the line spacing to make it closer together. Would have made the Q smaller too, since it's huger than the head, but still, I'm proud of it. Not so pleased that they never paid me, but I was new to the field, and didn't understand that cover photos actually pay quite well. They said it would be good publicity for me. Hah. Fool me once.

  

 
  Queer In Russia: A Story of sex, self, and the other. Laurie Essig author. Photo by Liza Cowan. Duke University Press.

Next: American Photobooth by Nakki Goranin. Nakki exhibited images from this book at PSAW in March 2008. We look forward to exhibiting images from her next book on Tintypes. In this cover images sell the book. Anything but a simple title would diminish their power. 

 
American Photobooth, Nakki Goranin. WW Norton, publisher.

Next, Connie Imboden, Reflections, 25 Years Of Photographs. Another photography book, the image is left to speak for itself, which it does eloquently. Connie showed her work at Pine Street Art Works in September 2007.

  

 
Connie Imboden, Reflections, 25 Years Of Photography. Insight Editions, 2009

Next, Alix Dobkin's My Red Blood. Alix will be doing a book signing here at Pine Street Art Works in May. This cover uses an old snapshot of Alix in her girl with a guitar folkie phase. I saw the original mock up for this cover with a very different typeface, and it was weak. With this the title in bold caps, right justified, the cover becomes a symbol of strength, played against the sweetness of the muted rainbow tinted image. I would have made the subtitle shorter (not the designer's job) used upper and lower case of the same font family as the title. I don't really like the juxaposition of the two typefaces, but on the whole, the cover works well for me. In case you are interested, Alix writes about me in the last chapter. 

 
My Red Blood, Alix Dobkin. Alyson Books, 2009.

 

If you are interested in book cover design here are some great resources. Enjoy!

blogs and websites about book design.

Caustic Cover Critic

Book By It's Cover

premiere de couverture

book covers anonymous

The Book Design Review

Faceout books

Book Cover Archive

Jacket Mechanical

Readerville Journal

covering photography

some designers:

My Book Covers: Megan Wilson

Good is dead: Chip Kidd

Helen Yentus

Elsa Chiao

Beyond The Covers: Ian Shimkoviak

Chin-Yee Lai

Everyday design goodness:

Design Observer

 

Giambattista Bodoni + a list of typography blogs

Today is the birthday of one of the old masters of typography, Giambattista Bodoni.

Book by Bodoni. Source

Bodoni (1740-1813) was an Italian engraver, publisher, printer and typographer of high repute remembered for designing a typeface which is now called Bodoni. Giambattista Bodoni achieved an unprecedented level of technical refinement, allowing him to faithfully reproduce letterforms with very thin "hairlines", standing in sharp contrast to the thicker lines constituting the main stems of the characters.

His printing reflected an aesthetic of plain, unadorned style, combined with purity of materials. This style attracted many admirers and imitators, surpassing the popularity of French typographers such as Philippe Grandjean and Pierre Simon Fournier. Bodoni was appointed printer to the court of Parma in 1768. Important folio editions by Bodoni are works by Horace (1791), Vergil (1793), and Homer (1808). The Bodoni Museum, named for the artisan, was opened in Parma in 1963.  source  

 
Adopt a Bodoni Alphabet to restore the full set of more than 600 Bodoni alphabets, their punches and  matrices. The Bodoni Museum, Parma, Italy.

 
via typeophile.com 

I'm not an expert on typography, but I am passionate about it. I have such strong and subjective responses to typefaces that I once asked a business to stop sharing retail space with me because I couldn't bear the typeface they used on their sign. I'm sure my reputation will never be totally repaired, but I just couldn't stand it.

This blog is set in Palatino. Bodoni is not available from typepad.  Bodoni is not necessarily my favorite family of typefaces, but it's way up there in the pantheon, particularly in the larger sizes where you can really appreciate the difference between the thick and thin lines.

If you are interested in reading more about typography here is a collection of blogs and websites devoted to the field. It is not complete, of course, but a good beginning:

The History Of Visual Communications- The Masters Of Typography

I love typography

Typographica

The Ministry Of Type

Typo

Print: Design For Curious Minds

Cooper Union Typography

The Type Directors Club

For The Love Of Type

Typefoundry

Typeophile

Easily Amused

and check out this post on Design Observer

PS: the font sizes of the site links do not reflect on their importance. I'm just having trouble with the Typepad software allowing me to change font sizes. In this, of all posts!

Zina Rachevsky and the Vanderbilt heir's lavender hi-jinks

For you Zina Rachevsky fans - and you are legion: here's a wacky story from Confidential Magazine, July 1956. It's not really so much about Zina, but she is the connecting factor between two men, who may or may not have been involved with each other as well as with her.

 
Confidential Magazine, July 1956

Scandal and intrigue, with our Zina caught in the middle of two suitors, one gay, the other straight.

"One night in Rome in 1953, a handsome young member of the exclusive Vanderbilt clan with international fame as a Romeo left his suite at the American Palace Hotel and tiptoed across the hall to another apartment. Once inside, he felt his way to the darkened bedroom and then slipped quietly into one of the twin beds.But a moment later there was pandemonium. With a roar of surprise, the blond Vanderbilt heir, Peter Howard, sat bold upright in the bed and snapped on a light. He stared incredulously for a moment at Princess Zina Rachevsky, the delectable dish beside him. the he leaped out of the bed covered only by comfusion and almost collided with a dark-haired Adonis who'd been slumbering in a twin bed across the room."

Turns out that Peter was actually after Liam. Peter and Zina had been engaged but theirs had been a platonic affair. Peter, of course, was gay.  Liam was Zina's new lover.

 
Confidential Magazine, July 1956

"... Peter had really hoped to share a pillow with Liam, but since Liam and Zina had switched sacks that night, the Vanderbilt clans gay deceiver had found curves when he had expected to find Liam..."

Peter had arrived in Rome a few weeks earlier to catch up with his ex (and platonic) fiancee Zina, who was staying in Rome with her new lover. The three palled around for a while

"After a few weeks of innocent fun with his playmates, Peter suggested a flying trip across the Mediterranean to Tunisa to catch the apperance of his sepia friend Hazel Scott at the Tunis Municipal Theater. Zina bowed out but she suggested that Liam keep Peter company on the jaunt. Liam agreed to go when Peter assured him it would be an all-expensed-paid vacation.

The fun-bent pair shepherded Hazel Scott around Tunis's late-hour spots for several nights when her chores at the keyboard were finished..."

Hazel Scott with Charles Mingus backup, 1956.

Hazel Scott, Peter's "Sepia friend" was quite a phenomenon. Jazz pianist extraordinaire, "the darling of Cafe Society, "she had had a brilliant career with live performances, sound recordings  and in Hollywood films until she was blacklisted and moved to Europe.  She had been married to New York City congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr..   The video above was one year before her rendezvous with Peter Howard and Liam Baker. Zina, alas, was not with them, but it's a fascinating detour.

After their trip to Tunesia Peter and Liam went off to El D'Jem, where more hijinks ensued. Boy chases boy, boy avoids boy, boy threatens to leave other boy without money stranded in the desert, boy gives in and etc etc. What really happened we do not know. But the two of them made it back to Rome, and that's when, according to the Confidential story, Peter snuck into the Zina and Liam's room, hoping to hop into bed with Liam. Again. Or not.

 

Confidential Magazine 1956

  

After climbing into the wrong bed, Peter Howard suggested a marriage Blanche with Zina, "without asking her to give up Liam" They declined. And left for Paris. Peter soon persued Christine Jorgensen, but apparently she wasn't interested either.

Maybe some of you Zina fans and friends who were around her those days will be so kind as to write and fill in some details.

Biography of Hazel Scott by Karen Chilton

Maltex Building Renovation 2010

For four years I have been staring out the window of Pine Street Art Works at what was surely the ugliest section of a building in the city of Burlington, VT : the pink cinder block wing of the Maltex Building.

The Maltex building itself is one of the handsomest buildings in town, so it was particularly irksome. It looked like a big pink band aid. I've groused  about it nonstop, so when renovation started on it a couple of months ago, I was delighted.

 

Maltex Building, Burlington, VT,  wing renovation. Feb. 2010.  Photo Liza Cowan

I'll take corrugated metal and wood over pink cinder block any day. I'm not in love with it - I wish it were better integrated with the  19th Century brick building, but at this point, it's so much better than the band-aid that I'm happy. I'm sure it was a challenge turning a cinder block box into anything aesthetically pleasing.

We here in Burlington's South End are proud of our industrial history,  and love the architecture left by those industries. Many of the buildings have been retrofitted, gone green and are re-purposed for retail, offices, artist's studios, and light manufacturing. Our neighbor,  Dealer.Com, will be moving their annex into this new space soon.

 

 

Renovation on wing of Maltex Building, Burlington, VT.  February, 2010.  Photo Liza Cowan

Built in 1870, the Maltex Building was the factory headquarters of the Malted Cereal Company, later known as Maltex, which produced cereal and other malted products through the early 1970s. The company was famous for its maple-flavored cereal called Maypo. The building was built by William J. Van Patten, president of the company and a prominent citizen who also served as mayor of Burlington and a state senator. Van Patten was a seriously busy man:(note that in addition to Malted Cereal Company and all the others, he was also a partner at Wells Richardson & Co.

Mr. Van Patten came to Burlington in 1864 and was in the retail drug trade with A. C. Spear for four years. In 1868, he became connected with the wholesale drug house of Henry and Company. In 1872 he became a partner in the firm of Wells, Richardson & Co., later being made secretary and still later, treasurer of that company.
Mr. Van Patten held many offices of importance in the city having been president of the Champlain Manufacturing company; president of the Malted Cereals Co., director of the Queen City Cotton Co., and president of the Burlington Building and Loan Association.
He was actively interested in the municipal affairs of the city having been mayor in 1894-5. In 1906 he was state senator from Chittenden county. He had been from 1903 to 1911, chairman of the Board of Park Commissioners; chairman of the board of cemetery commissioners from 1898-1911; a trustee of the Fletcher Free Library and of the Mary Fletcher Hospital; president of the Forestry Association of Vermont for two years. He had long been a member of the First Congregational Church. He had been president of the Y.M.C.A., and a director of it for years. He had been a president of the United Society Christian Endeavor for four years; director of the National Brotherhood of Congregational church and World's Christian Endeavor Union. He was president of the Burlington Commercial Club for two years; a member of the Algonquin Club; of the Vermont Fish and Game League; Vermont Society, Sons of the American Revolution and the Society of Colonial Wars in Vermont.
In recent years he had been actively engaged in the Malted Cereals company of which he was president and manager."      Source

Pine Street, Burlington, looking North, 1913. Maltex Building on the left. UVM collections. Across the street is the building that was the AE Whiting Company and now houses Pine Street Art Works (flanked by Fresh Market and Speeder & Earl's)

 

 

Maltex Building. Circa 1950. You can see the "band aid" wing on the right.

Blotter, giveaway from Maltex. Pine Street Art Works ephemera collections

At its peak, Maltex was producing up to 300 cases of cereal a day, and was a desirable place of employment at the turn of the century. Employees were treated well and had access to affordable lunches and other benefits rarely granted to employees of that era. Later, Maltex was acquired by another company and the building became home to other industries. Then in 1984, a federal grant helped to transform it into a thriving business haven filled with historic high-ceilinged office space and light manufacturing facilities. Maltex Building Website

 

Maltex cereal special insert. Pine Street Art Works ephemera collections

 

Maltex is most famous for Maypo, the maple flavored hot cereal. In 1956 the Maltex company was bought out by Heublein,Inc. and the new owners needed business losses to offset gains. They hired Faith and John Hubley (creators of Mr. Magoo and zillions of other amazing animated cartoons ) to do their TV ads. Faith Hubely writes:

"They didn't want it to be successful, which is why they hired us. They were a liquor company; they made mixers for drinks or something like that. Maybe vodka. I don't remember, but whatever it was, they bought the Maypo company to offset their profits. So they asked us to make an anti-commercial, where the child hates the product. I don't think that's ever happened before. It's like Christmas in July, and it's just terribly funny. So we finished it and gave it to them, and we were well-paid. We had a contract you wouldn't believe. We owned everything, we had all the rights, and, because we had used our son [Mark], they couldn't do any advertising without our permission. So the damn thing takes off, and they are fit to be tied! They had to keep making more. They tried to make the product taste better: It was a healthy cereal, and they wanted to add sugar coating. It was unstoppable. So much for advertising. When people try to make things to sell, it ain't necessarily so. But if you make something out of truth..."

source