On Thursday, February 28, I will be making a presentation about Identity Crisis! 50 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities Into Successful Brands to students at The Art Institute of Portland. I'll be speaking from noon until about 1:00 p.m. in Room 262 of the facility at 1122 NW Davis St. in Portland, OR.
On its website, Southern Nazarene University has invited students to attend the upcoming presentation by designer Jeff Fisher, author of Identity Crisis!: 50 redesigns that transformed stale identities into successful brands:
Join the SNU Art & Design Department and the American Institute of Graphic Arts to hear Jeff Fisher, noted HOW Magazine (The Graphic Design Community’s Trusted source for Creative Inspiration, Business Advice and Tools of the Trade) conference speaker and author on Thursday, January 24, at 9:00 a.m. in the SNU Art & Design Computer Lab, Fine Arts room 146 on the campus of Southern Nazarene University, 6729 NW 39th in Bethany, OK.
On Thursday, January 24th I will be speaking to members of AIGA Oklahoma in the group's first event of 2008. The presentation will be held at 7:00 p.m. at OPUBCO Communications Group/The Oklahoman, 9000 N. Broadway in Oklahoma City. Admission is $15 for professionals and $5 for students.
In addition to speaking about the book Identity Crisis!: 50 redesigns that transformed stale identities into successful brands, I will be discussing designer self-promotion methods and various aspects of my 30-year career. Books will not be for sale at the event, but I will be happy to sign copies of both Identity Crisis! and, my first book, The Savvy Designer's Guide to Success for those attending.
While in Oklahoma City I will also be visiting the graphic design departments at Southern Nazarene University and Oklahoma Christian University to speak with students, have question/answer sessions and possibly review some portfolios.
I want to thank AIGA Oklahoma President Brian Mays for his efforts in coordinating these appearances - and for the mention on his blog. I'm really looking forward to visiting Oklahoma City.
Last night I had a very successful Identity Crisis! book signing event at St. Johns Booksellers in North Portland. Owners Liz Dorman and Nena Rawdah hosted the fun evening at their store, located at 8622 N. Lombard in the St. Johns neighborhood.
Following the event, I signed numerous copies of Identity Crisis! and the store now has the books available for purchase. Unfortunately, they don't have website ordering. However, you may visit the store in person, email them at info@stjohnsbooks.com, or call (503)283-0032, to place an order or get additional information about the book. As other Portland area bookstores have limited quantities of the volume in stock - or have not yet received orders - St. Johns Booksellers is a great independent bookstore option.
If someone would like a personally inscribed copy, provide the store with the necessary information and I would be happy to stop by and personalize the book before it is shipped out.
For any order over $25 St. Johns Booksellers will ship by USPS media mail for free to Oregon, Washington, and California. (They don't recommend trying media mail for longer distances, because it can take an unreasonably long time and the additional handling is hard on the books.) The UPS ground fee is $6 for the first book, $1.50 for each additional item.
Yesterday afternoon Just Out editor and publisher Marty Davis blogged about my Identity Crisis! book signing being held later in the evening. (Hey, she even called me an "all round good guy.). Ms. Davis came to the event with her camera in hand and took a number of photos.Just Out, the state-wide newsmagazine for the GLBT community, had it's own "identity crisis" two years ago. I was brought in to give the publication an updated and more sophisticated look. Back in 2000 writer Marc Acito wrote a feature story about me for the paper.
I really appreciate the ongoing support of Marty Davis and Just Out.
It was great to see the notice about my Thursday book signing in the O! section of The Sunday Oregonian. It's also posted on the paper's online Literary Calendar.
This morning my neighborhood monthly newspaper, The St. Johns Sentinel, published a reminder about my book signing tomorrow evening (Thursday, November 8th) at the St. Johns Booksellers.
The Identity Crisis! event starts at 7:30 p.m. at the bookstore, located at 8622 N. Lombard in the St. Johns neighborhood - about 15 minutes north of downtown Portland.
I thought that the book event might allow me to meet some of the Portland design community with whom I've had online connections, including a couple contributors to the book, but have never met in person. One of those individuals I hoped to see at the St. Johns Booksellers is Samuel John Klein, designer and blogger of The ZehnKatzen Times. Several times he's been nice enough to post entries about me or my work. He's done it again, with a mention of the November 8th event. Unfortunately, he will be working that evening.
This is getting ridiculous. I guess we just need to make plans to get together for coffee at some point when I get back to the States.
Thanks for promoting the book and the book signing!
St. Johns Booksellers, the neighborhood bookstore of North Portland graphic designer and author Jeff Fisher, will be the location of a presentation and book signing for his new book, Identity Crisis!: 50 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities Into Successful Brands, on Thursday, November 8th at 7:30 p.m. Bookstore owners Liz Dorman and Nena Rawdah will host the event in their store, located at 8622 N. Lombard in the St. Johns neighborhood - about 15 minutes north of downtown Portland.
St. Johns Booksellers is a full-service, independent neighborhood bookstore offering new and used books. The store is one of only two U.S. bookstores featured in the 2008 Unique Bookstores calendar published by the International Booksellers Federation.
Anyone having questions about the Identity Crisis! book signing event is encouraged to contact the store at 503.283.0032, Tuesdays through Sunday.
Check out independent bookstores in your local area through Book Sense, and contact them to see if they have Identity Crisis! available.
I do love bookstores - especially an inviting small, independent operation. Seldom can I walk by any bookstore without going in and getting lost in the selections available. If one is on the horizon, as we walk in just about any city in the world, my partner Ed will actually try to create a diversion to keep me from seeing the bookseller.With my previous book, The Savvy Designer's Guide to Success, I had a lot of fun stopping by and volunteering to sign copies on the store's shelves. Even the large chain bookstores were very pleased to have me do so.
Last weekend, my friend Mike told me about our friend Chuck's relationship with an independent bookstore - and he suggested I might also want to establish such a cooperative venture. Those wanting copies of Chuck's books can order them through the bookstore and then he will go in to sign the books on a somewhat regular basis. With the number of books I signed with Savvy Designer, it might be wise to set up such a situation for Identity Crisis!.
For some time now, North Portland friends and clients have hinted that I needed to visit the fairly recent business community addition of St. Johns Booksellers. I think I was avoiding an introduction to the place due to concerns about my book-buying addiction. In the past, for a period of five years, I'd lived four blocks from Powell's City of Books and it was detrimental to my finances and book storage abilities. A new bookstore could be dangerous for me.
Earlier this week, I saw an ad in The St. Johns Sentinel announcing the second anniversary of St. Johns Booksellers. I couldn't believe a bookstore had been in my neighborhood for two years and I had not visited. This needed to remedied immediately.
The St. Johns Booksellers (located at 8622 North Lombard, Portland, OR 97203) is a great little store. It carries new and used books, and the variety ranges from local authors to children's books, to poetry and more. Chuck's latest book, Rant, was prominently displayed when I walked in the door. I introduced myself to the two women working in the place and learned they were the owners, Liz Dorman and Nena Rawdah. The two met years ago when both worked at Powell's and we seemed to immediately hit it off. I told them I was a previously published author who had a new book coming out in the fall. They said they would be very interested in hosting a signing, or some type of workshop event, to announce the release of my book to the Portland market - and they would serve cake! I mentioned that I'd be very interested in also coming in to sign ordered books on a regular basis - but the details will need to be ironed out in the future.
I appreciate the fact that the St. Johns Booksellers is affiliated with the BookSense organization. Whenever I'm in another city I always check BookSense for listing of stores I may wish to visit.
So, it looks like I'll have a book signing at St. Johns Booksellers in the fall. I'll post announcements of future signings, or speaking engagements, on the Identity Crisis! blog. I'll keep blog readers posted about the possibility of ordering personally signed volumes, too.
Until then, if you're in the neighborhood, I suggest you stop by the St. Johns Booksellers and say "hi!" to Liz and Nena.
