Requested Quote for Custom Icons – Real or Scam?

Posted on April 22, 2010 by Leslie Sigal Javorek | 4 Comments

Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Thur. Apr. 22, 2010 10:50 pm

In my e-mail inbox this morning I was surprised to find a letter from a fairly large company in the United Arab Emirate’s state of Dubai expressing interest, based upon the examples they have seen on this blog, in having me provide them with a quote for custom designing a set of icons for one of their software applications. Considering the fact that I have not overtly advertised my availability for providing custom design services (as opposed to numerous other websites and blogs which do actively solicit commercial business) I felt very flattered and pleased. They had sent me a .pdf with approximately 15 different screen shots showing a mocked-up layout with generic icons to give me a rough idea of what they’re looking for as far as the interface, functions & quantity that they’re looking for. I did a little bit of preliminary research on the company itself (just to verify that they actually exist, their services, size, length of existence, locations, and also to get a flavor of their existing style and level of sophistication and professionalism as far as their web presence goes.) The company appears to be fairly large (including numerous locations, with a wide range of services they provide, well-established, and with a very professionally designed website that appears to be striving for a non-stock look to it. Since my research suggested this was indeed a legit request, I spent a good deal of time doing a preliminary analysis of their needs and generating an intake form for them to complete with additional specifications I need from them in order to put together an accurate quote. That done, I attached the form to a cover letter and e-mailed it all to the individual who wrote me using the “reply” button. Thinking I was done with that for a while, I returned my attention to another project I was already working on.

Minutes later, I received one of those aggravating “Postmaster” messages indicating to me that delivery of that e-mail had failed. Normally, such messages include a bit of an explanation such as: “Recipient’s Mailbox is Full” or “Network is down” or “ISP is currently unavailable”. There was no such explanation (nor any other explanation) included in this message though. So I tried to resend it. Again, it was returned as undeliverable. Next, I deleted the attachments which had been included in the original e-mail (from the company) while leaving in my own attachment and attempted to resend it. Once more, it was returned as undeliverable. So I went back to the company’s website to verify the company contact information and did a test by clicking on their generic “Contact Us” link (which had the same ISP as I had been using but was addressed merely to “Info@” rather than to the specific party. That appeared to go through fine when sent directly from their website. So then I tried sending another test message to the info@ address but this time from my desktop e-mail application. That one too went through fine without any delivery problems. I tried one more time to send my response to the specific person – but this time, rather than clicking “Reply” from within the original request, I created a clean new message. And once again, I received the dreaded “Undeliverable” message.

ARRGGGHH!!

So now I’m wondering whether the person who sent me the request simply formatted her personal e-mail address incorrectly or whether some hacker had simply lifted the company’s logo and letterhead, made up a name for an imaginary employee, embedded some kind of either virus or spyware in the .gif file for the company’s logo and sent it to me (and perhaps other graphic designers) for some nefarious purpose. Am I being overly paranoid here? Or have any of you either experienced or heard of some similar scam going around?

For tonight’s freebies, I’m posting Part 2 of my latest series “Neue Melamine”. (With still more to be posted in the coming days) Enjoy!

Free Icons of the Day

The following images are either full or reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save the image(s) of your choice to your desktop. (Unless otherwise noted, downloads are 512px X 512px in .png format). Create Commons license applies (see sidebar for details)

Off With Their Heads!

Posted on April 21, 2010 by Leslie Sigal Javorek | 2 Comments

Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Weds. Apr. 21, 2010 5:30 am

Have you been watching the Showtime® series “The Tudors” at all? Our son, Robby, got us hooked on it, so every night Hubby and I flip on the “On Demand” channel and watch another episode right after dinner. We’re both history buffs but had never really concentrated on this period at all (early to mid-1500’s). I had actually stayed away from it intentionally, convinced that it was just too gruesome and barbaric for me to handle, wimp that I am when it comes to violence. (or more politely put, “pacifist” that I am…). Well, as you all may already know, the reign of King Henry VIII was indeed both gruesome and barbaric. At the same time, the writers, actors, director, producers, etc. that put together this series have succeeded in so fully developing each of the characters in such depth that it transcends the initial revulsion and in turn becomes an incredibly character study of these historic figures.

The Tudor’s television series has stirred up my pre-existing fascination with people who on one hand can give the appearance of great tenderness and caring and passionate beliefs and loyalties yet are in fact, completely self-centered, manipulative, amoral shells who will stop at nothing to get their way no matter how petty the basis for their desires may be and no matter who may be harmed or destroyed as a result. It is bad enough having to deal with one who is a Malignant Narcissist when that person is just a so-called “ordinary” person in your life – but to have such people in charge of your country and your church where they are free to exert such complete, unrestrained power over everyone’s life without any clear earthly consequence (for them), is terrifying. I have a hard time imagining what it feels like inside to be such a person. I could not live with myself if I were to do such cruel and arbitrary things to another human being no matter how much I may dislike a person, but my psychologist tells me that people such as Henry VIII, generally sleep just fine at night because they are convinced that they have done nothing wrong. I’ll take his word for it but it’s just so difficult to truly fathom.

Well, despite all of horrors of King Henry VIII’s reign, which this series portrays just as much of the gore as is necessary without glorifying it or making it a focal point, I do highly recommend watching “The Tudor’s”. On top of the depth of the production, the actors are all well cast and excellent, the costumes are incredible, the lighting and set-design very authentic, and I just love the theme music.

As for this early morning’s offering of images for use as icons or clip art, there is no Tudor tie-in (sorry, maybe I'll do that sometime in the future). What I do have for you though is an updated version of one of my older icon series (created in 2004), that was entitled “Melamine”. The original is still available through a link on my Scrapblog. This updated version, “Neue Melamine” is not only larger (512×512 px vs 128×128) but has a few other enhancements to the images as well. For those who think that anything with the look of plastic or 3D-gloss is out-dated and undesirable – you probably won’t be happy with this set. Personally, I still like the look as it is very easy for my old chemo-ravaged eyes to decipher at a quick glance. So for those of you who appreciate this aspect, Enjoy!

Free Icons of the Day

The following images are either full or reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save the image(s) of your choice to your desktop. (Unless otherwise noted, downloads are 512px X 512px in .png format). As always, usage of any of the images offered on this blog are free for your personal use while subject to the limitations of my Creative Commons Non-Commercial – Attribution – No Derivatives – Share Alike- 3.0 license. (See sidebar for details)

“NEUE MELAMINE” —- TO BE CONTINUED… —-

“Escher Sketch” Redux

Posted on October 23, 2009 by Leslie Sigal Javorek | Leave a comment

Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Fri, Oct 23, 2009 12:09 am

Back around 1986 when I was playing around with my beloved Mac-Plus (that I had just upgraded to have 4 whole MB of ram!) and a 2400 baud modem (think of “Inch Worm” to get an idea of that connection speed), I came across a website that had some monochrome desktop pictures that could be downloaded for free. This was one of my very first encounters with the generosity of the early software and digital graphics pioneers. Not only were they offering the fruit of their labors for free to anyone stumbling upon their site but they would share with you their tricks and techniques, brainstorm with you on a new concept of your own, and introduce you to others with similar interests who may be of help. While I grew up in a family of extremely successful entrepreneurs going back several generations and consider myself to be a deeply ingrained capitalist at heart, my parents also taught me by example, how important it is to share your knowledge and skills as well as the fruits of your labors with those first starting out and hungry to learn and with those who simply have no where else to turn. So while the sentiment of the early freeware-shareware movement wasn’t foreign to me personally, it was a bit of an anomaly among the rest of the Me Generation when, according to the media, “everyone” was out for themselves and “Greed is Good” was their motto. I think this is one of the major reasons that I am proud to be a Geek. If it were not for this generous community, I would never have had the opportunity to learn as much as I have over the years nor have been encouraged to try my hand at skills that others outside of that online community told me were beyond my ability and that it was ridiculous to even try.

So, back to that first website I mentioned. It was one of those hosted by CompuServe(one of the earliest portals for us mere mortals with personal computers and not mainframes) and there was a desktop picture I came across that I thought was the most creative, clever concepts ever that was an Art Parody which merged the work of M.C. Escher and the popular toy by Ohio Art, the Etch-A-Sketch. While it was executed quite expertly, because of the state of the technology I owned at that time (limited to 2-bit graphics) it was incredibly crude compared to what can be done these days with 32 or even 64-bit graphics and millions of colors. Unfortunately, I cannot recall who had originated the concept of the “Escher-Sketch” to give him or her their proper due (if any of you knows, please put it in a comment to this post!). In honor of that anonymous wizard, I’ve created an updated version which makes a perfect backdrop for my Chiquita Series of icons. So without further ado, here’s tonight’s late night snack,..

Free Clip-Art / Icons of the Day

The following images are either full or reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save the image(s) of your choice to your desktop. (Unless otherwise noted, downloads are 512px X 512px in .png format). As always, usage of any of the images offered in the “Free Clip-Art / Icons of the Day” section are free for your personal use, subject to the limitations of my Creative Commons Non-Commercial – Attribution – No Derivatives – Share Alike- 3.0 license. (See sidebar for Terms of Use) For commercial or any other use, please contact me for directly.

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