Boarding Pass Redesign

Graphic Designer Tyler Thompson decided that Delta's boarding passes "make you want to scratch your eyes out" and its so true (along with every other airline). Not only are boarding passes just plain ugly, they are also ridiculous to try and read and find information in a hurry. Every time, I have to sit there and study these suckers for a few long seconds to see "shoot, what gate am I at?" or "I need to fill out these immigration forms like whoa and they want my what, flight number?" That requires some research. The color options probably wouldn't be doable on the airport's 70's style printers but these two above I love. They have the flight, gate, seat and zone right there for ya. I think he should totally take these to the airlines.

And thats what graphic designers are meant to do - change lifestyles and lives for the better. Why didn't I think of this?

ICT Airport As My Gallery

So I was walking through the airport recently and was pleasantly surprised to see a second billboard that I designed (at my old job) newly posted and shining for all travelers to see. The photoshoot on the bottom one was interesting. It included cranes, grumpy workers on their lunch break posing, heels climbing ladders, eye gear and lots and lots of yelling. But to top it all off, I was double surprised to see that nothing on my layouts were changed. Score for me! Twice!

The United States of Cookies

How to make a Customs Agent Laugh....
Found this here and thought it was a great way to spice up the awkward couple of seconds with the customs agent. - "I’ve been playing around with stickers. I like them. This is something I made today. I wonder if customs will find it funny. My brother says, they don’t find anything funny, not even cookies. :("
Link found via Notcot.

Dynamic Graphics Magazine

Got myself an interview and designs printed in Dynamic Graphics Magazine. Talks about some of my goofy shenanigans. And above is a sample of a Cessna billboard I did for Wichita. Scroll to the bottom of the web page to read all about it!

Ahead of the Line

Today I ran across this CLEAR card that large airports (so far 18) are starting to use. It's a $128 a year fee and it pretty much allows you to cut to the head of the line at security. Very similar to toll booths. This allows you to not have to arrive at the airport so early. You can come at a decent time, just scan your card, the machine scans your iris and your fingerprints and then someone comes around to do a personal security check.

Is this fair? I don't know. I kind of have mixed feelings about it. I'm sure it's great if you travel by plane twice a month. Heck yeah! But what about the others who are still arriving late to their next flight and aren't lucky enough to cut everyone in line? It might just be me, but I think airport security is much more of a pain in the butt to get through than a toll booth and always a much longer wait. Shoot, build some more security areas - problem solved.

Seven Months To Go

So the tickets for the December 26 Guatemala trip are bought! But of course my procrastination has cost me. Because it is a holiday trip I did expect it to be pricey but $2,456.60 for two people to fly to a country maybe 4 hours from Dallas? Honestly. It crossed my mind to start buying the tickets a few weeks back but what I didn't expect was the rise of gas prices.

At least Andrea is covered with travel insurance and me covered twice over and the planning is done. Not that I think this trip will be risky, I'm actually not worried about it at all. It will be one of the least risky ones I have taken lately.

Anyways, I'm pumped and can't wait to go back for the 3rd time and see the kids. On top of that, I will get to see what New Years is like in Guatemala and show Andrea what the country is like! It's great to have something to look forward to and get me through the rough times of work.

I'm A Trouble Maker

I'm back! Belize was awesome. It was an adventure and I made alot of new friends. I pretty much didn't want to come back. As I was told by many happy go lucky Rastafarian's, it's paradise man.

My sister Andrea and I packed for almost an entire day trying to fit everything we needed into 2 carry-ons. We were going standby on American Airlines. So we dressed in our most comfy business attire and rolled our suitcases down the halls of Mid-Continent Airport like two jetsetters.

This is where my delinquent terrorist self came into play. My sister gets through customs fine with her cool little pass. I put all my crap on the x-ray belt and walk through. BEEP Oops my shoes. Go through again, BEEP "Miss, pull over to the side." Apparently I had one to many 3 ounce liquids for their liking. Now my liquids are all in baggies but that wasn't good enough for them, they had to use their baggy. And of course, it all fits. That is after I had to tell one of the guards that toilet paper is NOT a liquid after he tried stuffing it in the bag. Keep in mind, they let my sister go through with even more liquids than I had. BEEP This is followed by another "Miss, you are on a roll." They decide to dig through my suitcase in search for a weapon. They dig out my harmonica and say "Oh this is a gun clip" and run it through the x-ray all by itself just in case they were tricked and it really wasn't a freakin harmonica. Then they topped it off with handing me some "reading material" aka rule sheet. Is this what our airport security has come to? Old dudes on power trips? Now I've traveled many a times before, but this time I was beyond annoyed.

The old dude on a power trip was followed by our planes computer system failing, a delay of 2+ hours in Dallas for "cleaning", the airport in Belize screwing up my reservations, and lastely they lost track of my luggage on a flight thats 15 minutes long. By then I wasn't the slightest bit surprised.

A week before the trip I booked two seats with Maya Island Air for a Cessna Caravan to take us to Ambergris Caye. But they decided that I was crazy and did not pay with my credit card and that I do not know how to work the internet. HA! So, word to the wise, don't trust their website. Anyways we I had to pay with out of pocket cash (there went my spending money).


Once I was on the flight I had a sense of relief come over me. We were finally getting to our final destination. That and I knew I wasn't going to get sick this time because of my cool new motion sickness patch.

The baggage guys asked if we wanted the co-pilot seat. I let Andrea have the honor. By the time we got to the island we were so dead tired and hungry from being up for 33+ hours without food that we just hit the nearest restaurant and then passed out. The only thing that went smoothly that day was our hotel reservations, thank you God.