DK's m..a..d.. d..o..-i..n..g..s........

[bsmith]

Wolf Blitzer is the host of a news cast on CNN called the situation room.

[DKShrimporium]

Originally Posted by bsmith

Wolf Blitzer is the host of a news cast on CNN called the situation room.

I guess that explains it... I don't watch TV basically at all, and we don't get cable. I sat myself down one day and realized I was paying more and more money each month to watch shorter and shorter bits of crappier and crappier programs (y'know, as we channel surf during commercials, and by the time we get back to the original program it's already the next round of commercials) in between more and longer commercials, and gradually spending more and more hours of my lifespan doing so, and I says to meself, "Self, this is a stupid waste of lifespan and money, to pay to watch commercials..."

I pulled the plug, got out of the box, and never looked back.

*********

So, instead, I do super dweeby things, like this:

I spent the winter doing mineral profile studies and research, and closed in on my Magic Juice recipe which was launched with the new improved Water Factory. The shreemps seem to be diggin' it, I can say... more data on that in a few weeks, but I can tell from observation already that there is good stuff happenin' in that water, now.

This weekend, I calculated the per dose cost of Mosura Mineral Plus, Fluval Shrimp Mineral Supplement, and DK's Magic Shreemp Juice (DKMSJ). Not even including the cost of shipping, and assuming a standard dose of bringing water from GH zero to GH 5 (in German degrees of hardness, that is) in a 20 gallon volume of water, I calculated:

Mosura Mineral Plus: $1-2 per dose (depends on the pH of your water, and how sloppy their quality control was in making your batch)
Fluval Shrimp Mineral Supplement: $1.50 per dose
DKMSJ: one cent per dose ($0.01)

So go ahead... spend your lifespan toiling, to earn the money to pay your cable bill and for designer products...

...or get sporting, and become a Mad Scientist!

Doing your homework pays off and uses your brain, doesn't rot it!!!

(all images borrowed from Google)

[shrimpnmoss]

LMAO @ last post...genie juice. You should just bottle up some of that magic...and help the rest of us non-mad-scientist put the other two out to pasture....We need some magic I tell ya...

[jeffvmd]

I love the packaging on DKMSJ.
When can we get some??

[DKShrimporium]

$200 prize - logo design contest for DK's Shrimporium


So, after walking the tanks this morning, thinking about posting a picture of popcorn, because that's what's happening with DKMSJ infusions, right now, I decided it simply isn't fitting to share a name with a guy named Wolf. Ugh.

*****************

I've decided to dump "situation room" and embrace DK's Shrimporium.

*****************

I need a good logo: colorful, simple, classy, elegant, maybe some humor or hyperbole, are the buzzwords. Maybe something tuned toward Ye Olde Tyme visually.

I am looking for sleek graphic art, not photographic art. I'm looking for visual simplicity not complexity. I do not tend to like visuals that run toward floral or scroll-y or gradient. I do tend to like bold, simple graphics and colors, levity, and either mystery or humor.

First, I'm going to print it out in color and laminate an 8x10 sign for the Shrimporium door, to greet me every time I enter the Magical World.

Second, if I like it enough, I will use it for all things DK shrimp-y.

So I'm offering $200 credit, good for 24 months from issue, to the winning design artist. I get all the rights to the design, when you submit it, if it is chosen as the winner. I'm only going to choose a winner if I like it well enough to use for my doings, but I know there is a lot of talent and creativity out there, so I'm throwing it out to y'all.

I will begin to evaluate for the winner in 3 weeks' time, and will continue to evaluate until I've selected a winner. I may not select a winner, if none of the designs accomplishes my goals - this will not mean the designs submitted aren't stellar and creative and unbelievably talented, it just means I'm looking for the right statement in visual form, and I'll know it when I see it. It has to have message, and personality, and clarity.

Since design is a matter of taste, and I will NOT comment on any of the designs until I announce a winner, post your design here in this thread as entry (or, if you prefer to keep it private, you may email me a prelim jpg file to the email in my sig below - I will only send confirmation email that it has been received, generically, to stay fair - remember to tell me who you are at TPT if you use email), and if you are winner I'll need a high res graphics file from which to do printouts and such when I use the graphic. You can enter as many times as you want. You will be rewarded the certificate for $200 credit upon agreement that I own all rights to the chosen design and submittal of a high res file suitable for my purposes (i.e. layered and useable in Photoshop or GIMP, in case I want to tweak the font or text or something).

OK, so here's the deal with DK. She could sit right down and draw her own logo in five minutes. Her problem is she needs it in electronic form, to manipulate - a layered graphics file. Because she's gonna do different, coo-el things with it. So y'all can submit hand drawn entries, but if you win you will have to split the prize with someone who can turn your entry into the form I need, OK?

The logo/graphic must incorporate the text DK's Shrimporium and arixa.com somewhere in the design, prominently. (Yeah, if you go to that address there is basically nothing there, but I do own the domain to use someday.)

I reserve the right to tweak the winning design to fit my needs.

The winner and winning design, if selected, will be posted here when it happens.

Have at it, folks.

I dare y'all.

[asukawashere]

Originally Posted by greenisgood

Personal Assistants !!

I think we need some examples of said fine art posted herein.

I shall thus refer you to my website's gallery (which I totally need to update with more work, but that's beside the point). Imagine: shrimp imagery all over every wall of your house...

Originally Posted by aelysa

Does the situation room include a large flat screen of a stream flowing? Now that would be sweet.

Nah, what it needs is an Aquavision. See, I got me a cheap (i.e. free) couch and deposited it in front of one of my tank racks, stuck a little coffee table in front of it, and voila! Aquavision: serving all your aquatic couch potato needs :P

[aelysa]

What's your favorite two colors?

[DKShrimporium]

Originally Posted by aelysa

What's your favorite two colors?

Short answer: blue, and red

Long answer: for the purposes of the logo, which, in my mind, should reflect stylized biology or natural habitat (I can't help but keep getting flashes of a weird sort of combo of the Olde Tyme Turn-of-the-Century and Stylized Japanese Aquatic Art such as this), the colors would major in blue, non-olive-y greens, reds, blacks and whites. (The Olde Tyme reflects the actual wording "Shrimporium" which derives from an old time term, and the Japanese Stylized Art reflects the origin of the development of this hobby, for the most part - Asian, at least, are the origin of many of our shrimp species - and, I happen to like this clean visual graphic style and color palette they tend to use.) Splashes of yellow or orange ok, but not heavy toward these. Avoidance of muddy or olive-y colors or yellow/golden/olive undertones. My avatar is actually a pretty good primer of my thinking: I used an actual photograph and derivatized it into a gif with websafe colors, altering the greens a bit toward forest and emerald from their natural more golden/muddy undertones. There's a bit of humor built into the avatar, in my mind, as the oversized shrimp tail reminds me of whale-watching photos - sort of a visual paradox if you know DWARF shrimp. There is a bit of suggested movement and mystery to the graphic, as the tail is slanted and seeming to move off the frame. And yet, anyone who knows dwarf freshwater shrimp knows within a fraction of a second what that graphic is - a crystal red shrimp tail.

Here are some gestalts:

Olde Tyme General Store
Barbershop quartet - top hats, striped suits, banjos, black shoes with white saddles
Old time bicycle with Charlie Chaplin on top
Monty Python-esque scene of Moby Dick with a shrimp instead of a Whale
Graphics of koi on ceramic pieces such as vases
Stylized Chinese Paper cut art, simplified

[shrimpnmoss]

Nice contest.

[aelysa]

DK.
You so crazy
Come on! I asked you what your fav colors were and it degenerated into a whale tail! You've been using that acrylic bonder stuff again haven't you... *Looks stern*

[DKShrimporium]

Originally Posted by aelysa

DK.
You so crazy
Come on! I asked you what your fav colors were and it degenerated into a whale tail! You've been using that acrylic bonder stuff again haven't you... *Looks stern*

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhh?

[aelysa]

Originally Posted by greenisgood

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhh?

Oh, nevermind
<--- Gets to working.

Squirrel had really hard time reconciling Stylized Chinese Paper cut art, simplified with Old time bicycle with Charlie Chaplin on top. Ended up with showgirl shrimp tramp stamp.

Edit: totally made something uncolorful, scrolly, and floral

[DKShrimporium]

If I have an altered state of consciousness, it's not because of fumes, but rather poison ivy, which one of the Germans apparently brought to me, after skunk hunting next door in the wilds. I have half a leg blistered up, right now, so if I'm a bit loopy, that must be why....

[shrimpnmoss]

Aelysa, that logo is really really nice....*puts away my crayons*....but I don't know if DK breeds Sulawesi Shrimps...you might just have to give the store credit to me....

Skunk hunting?....call me weird but I actually like the smell of skunks....hummmm.......

[speedie408]

Originally Posted by shrimpnmoss

Aelysa, that logo is really really nice....*puts away my crayons*....but I don't know if DK breeds Sulawesi Shrimps...you might just have to give the store credit to me....

Skunk hunting?....call me weird but I actually like the smell of skunks....hummmm.......

You must be a smoker of the "good stuff"

I agree, that's a pretty SICK tramp stamp!