Newski and Dustin Nickerson Trading Cards

My friend Aaron’s favorite band is a band called Newski. Newski was on tour and playing a show in Homer, NY with Better Than Ezra. I intended to buy tickets to the show and Aaron said that Brett would sign anything. From that I thought it would be fun to create a trading card and have Brett sign a unique Brett Newski trading card. Aaron and I talked about the idea and it grew to trading cards for the entire band. Aaron provided the photographs used for the cards and the bullet points for the back. I provided the graphic design. These cards appear blurry but that is because I had to scale images of the cards up for readability here. They are crisp and clean in the print file.

Newski webpage

Dustin Nickerson is a comedian that I discovered after I heard about him on a podcast with Kellen Erskine, another comedian. I searched Dustin’s comedy on YouTube and found his specials “Runs in the Family” and “Overwhelmed”. Dustin is very funny and he is going to be performing at a comedy club in Buffalo NY about three hours from where I live. I hope to go there and have him sign a Dustin Nickerson trading card!

I am going to print these cards out on card stock using the color printers at the library tomorrow and hopefully they will come out great!

Registered Trademark #4130042 is a logo that I designed.

History
A few years ago my wife and I were at the grocery store when we ran into Greg VanAlstine, who had recently launched his new business A Buyer Of Gold and Silver . My wife was working at WTVH, the Channel 5 television station at the time, and their conversation had quickly turned to the topic of advertising. Greg was interested in running more television ads. After we said our goodbyes, I said to my wife “I should have told him that I do some graphic design work”.

She gave me Greg’s phone number and I told him about my capabilities and asked him if he might be interested in working on some projects together. Greg said “yes” and the process that is currently the registered trademark number 4130042 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office began.

Design

The design of this logo was fun. Greg and I initially came up with an idea and I created multiple options for him to choose from and from his choice we worked diligently to refine the logo to what it is today. There are some current changes that are being amended to the trademark registration and the changes in the logo have coincided with the changes in Greg’s business as it has grown and prospered. Greg is in a tough business. There is a lot of competition and reputation is key. Greg had been in the business for over four years, offers fair prices and a quality customer experience. He also has gained several repeat customers over the years.

Benefits for A Buyer of Gold and Silver
Having a logo that is a registered trademark has two immediate benefits for Greg.
First, the registered trademark symbol shows that Greg runs a professional company. Secondly, it shows that A Buyer of Gold and Silver is planning on sticking around for a while. In the gold and silver industry, where there are so many people that just want to get your items and then cut and run, demonstrating stability and professionalism is absolutely key.

Benefits for Me
Well lets be honest, It looks really awesome to state that I designed a logo that is a registered trademark on my resume. It will be a lot easier to get other logo design work, now that I have this accomplishment.

More
You can see some of the other designs that I have done by checking out my Graphic Design page . And if your interested or know someone who might be interested please contact me.