$LAYYYTER
AnasAbdin
No title available
blake kathryn
@theartofmadeline
Claire Keane
we're not kids anymore.
d e v o n
Mike Driver
Keni
No title available
2025 on Tumblr: Trends That Defined the Year
Kaledo Art
todays bird
No title available
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
祝日 / Permanent Vacation
pixel skylines
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
I'd rather be in outer space 🛸
seen from Malaysia
seen from Spain
seen from Syria
seen from Brazil
seen from Tunisia
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Venezuela
seen from Ecuador
seen from Argentina
seen from Malaysia
seen from Argentina
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
@bretmorgan
Building a Technology & Entrepreneurial Community
On October 17th, 2014, I had the honor to speak with Dr. Bob Lucky from Bell Labs and Dr. Donald Sebastian of NJIT's NJ Innovation Institute on the past, present, and future of technology and entrepreneurship in Monmouth County, NJ for the MODC at Gibbs Hall at Fort Monmouth.
In my talk, I discussed a bit about Cowerks, Jersey Shore Tech, and Asbury Agile as well as what we have planned in the future. See the full video below.
Cowerks Brings Leaders from Indiegogo, Monmouth Univeristy, & the Local Development Community to Asbury Park for a Series of Business Workshops
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 20th, 2014 Media Contact: team [at] cowerking.com
ASBURY PARK, NJ: Cowerks, Asbury Park’s own technology and coworking space rents private offices, communal desk space, as well as conference rooms to start ups, freelancers, and other entrepreneurs looking to build upon their resources, and grow in their industry through interacting and collaboration with like minded creatives.
On Saturday April 26th, Cowerks will host the following workshops:
Crowdfunding 101: How to Run a Successful Campaign
John Vaskis, Lead Engineer for Vertical Gaming Lead at Indiegogo will provide an overview of key concepts of crowdfunding. Participants will leave with the tools and tips they need to implement or improve their ability to raise capital and market their projects.
Introduction To Web Design: HTML 101
Taught by Rupa DasGupta, an artist, graphic designer and front end developer on staff for Monmouth University, this class will take you through the very basics of HTML & CSS. Students will build their very own website and leave with a solid foundation for further growth.
Building Killer Websites with Drupal (Intro to Site Building)
This intro course is for anyone who wants to start making websites with Drupal including web designers, web developers, marketing professionals, and business owners. Instructor Sean Walsh of the Crowd Communications Group, will provide an introduction to Drupal 7, a discussion of best practices, and a walkthrough of how to build, manage, and enhance a site. The goal of this workshop is to provide participants with the basic tools and tips they need to build a Drupal 7 website.
For tickets and additional information on the workshops, including prerequisites, please visit http://cowerks.eventbrite.com
Asbury Fresh Public Market
Asbury Fresh Public Market
New public market brings fresh foods, produce, and locally made goods to city residents year round.
With great pride, Asbury Fresh is happy to announce our newest endeavour - The Asbury Fresh Public Market. Located at the corner of Main Street and Second Ave, this 4000 square foot converted warehouse will be home to about a dozen permanent food and craft vendors, an event space, and a brewery. Our vision is to bring the feeling and flavors of places such as Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia and Chelsea Market in New York City to Asbury Park.
We are currently seeking a variety of artisan food and craft entrepreneurs to join us as permanent residents of the market, which is set to open later this spring. If you are interested in becoming a vendor, contact us at [email protected] and we would be happy to schedule a walk through of the space and share our vision with you in greater detail.
Asbury Fresh, downtown Asbury Park’s local artisan market, will also return to Kennedy Park for it’s third installment this June - stay tuned for more information at http://asburyfresh.com or email [email protected] to join the email list.
Thoughts On Our Forefathers, Civil Liberties, and Edward Snowden
We would like to believe that the world is a much different place than it was some 230 odd years ago when our founders were fighting both with both the pen and the musket for our inalienable rights.
We have taken for granted the freedom and liberty we have been given by documents such as the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and what once was considered an experiment is now an extreme point of contention any time it is the least bit infringed upon.
In the past weeks we have seen Edward Snowden, an ex-defense contractor for Booz Allen Hamilton come forward and expose some information that confirms what many of us have know for quite some time; that all of us are in some way, shape, or form, are assessed for risk, documented, and cataloged by this great nation we canonize as “the land of the free and home of the brave”.
Over the next few weeks and months without doubt there are going to be many opinions on both sides of the fence as to what is a better course of action. Should we be a nation that is safe but knowingly monitor information at the expense of the privacy of it’s citizens or uphold the principles set forth by the Fourth Amendment at the risk of another terrorist attack.
To this point, I find it wise to recall the words of one of our greatest forefathers and a personal hero of mine, Ben Franklin, “Those who would give up Essential Liberty, to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety".
Even the free-est of nations still have an underlying mechanism of control required to maintain some semblance of authority. This conjecture is what makes us a nation of laws versus a dictatorship, an anarchist society or other oppressive regime. Fault does not lie in the inherit system but mainly in the individuals responsible for the governance of said system. Communism, socialism, and democracy all have their “on-paper” benefits until human nature is injected into the equation.
Since Tim Berners-Lee founded the World Wide Web and made what we call the “internet” mainstream, there has been an increasing government interest in this new way of communication. Fortunately enough, for the better part of 20 years, the government has been pretty good at letting this technology evolve outside the confines of law or control and as a result a new economy has been built.
We are at a point where, for a multitude of reasons, that the powers that be are looking to capitalize on this new industry. Whether it be finding ways to streamline interstate commerce to benefit state coffers, limit dissenters and freedom of speech, or leverage the immense data stores many household names such as Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, and other have created, our government wants a piece of the action.
In previous generations the government, via legislation, economic sanctions, firepower, or a combination of the three, has always found a way to achieve its means. I believe we are at one of those crossroads where the government is making an attempt to seize control of the Internet but for the first time since the American Revolution, we the people, are in a position to fight back.
The average person serving in the current 113th congress is 57 years old. The average age of a senator currently serving is 62 years. Many of these leaders have a hard time using commonplace technology such as email, smartphones, and social media, yet are the decision makers when it comes to regulating these services.
Our governing body on both a federal and state level is so completely out of touch with the technological reality we live in that they will never be able to be ahead of the curve.
Many of these career politicians are more concerned with re-election at the expense of being a true visionary, and far too often, many spend their careers in public service ensuring legislation is put in place to minimize the chance of their backers being disrupted by any sort of innovation. To this point, while our leaders may command legislation, press, and money, they are slow to adapt and this always needs to be remembered in moments of disillusionment.
The marvel of the Internet is that is truly is a global force for change and it exists outside of any governing body or agenda. In countries such as China where content is censored, you’ll find VPNs and Facebook as commonplace as Coca-Cola, despite what the PRC might publicize. When oppressive regimes face protests and civil dissonance the traditional media outlets are circumvented and replaced by Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, and Vine.
The true power of the Internet is it’s inherent decentralization and the power it brings to communication and free speech. We control it’s future and any nation that believes otherwise is in for a rude awakening.
As Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends [i.e., securing inherent and inalienable rights, with powers derived from the consent of the governed], it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”
There will be many battles of its control in the coming months and years, and in any battle there will be victories, losses, heroic moments and betrayals. Edward Snowden’s story is still unfolding, and regardless of the outcome, I consider his actions of the same heroic caliber as any of our forefathers.
Cowerks University To Host ‘Evolution of a Local Brand’ with Rook Coffee Co-Founder Holly Migliaccio
Cowerks University To Host ‘Evolution of a Local Brand’ with Rook Coffee Co-Founder Holly Migliaccio
New Jersey Based Coffee Business Quickly Becoming a Shore Institution
ASBURY PARK, NJ: On Wednesday, June 26 Cowerks University will host Holly Migliaccio, co-founder and owner of New Jersey-based Rook Coffee Roasters. Rook Coffee is a visionary coffee company with four coffee bars in Monmouth County, NJ, a roastery and distribution center, a cold brew bottling business and an online retail business. Holly will be talking about how she evolved the Rook brand into what is now becoming a shore institution, and the challenges associated with growth.
Holly Migliaccio was born and raised in Monmouth County. After spending several years experiencing the city life between New York and San Francisco, she returned to her Jersey roots and settled back in Monmouth County in 2008.
Holly spent the first part of her career working the fast-paced world of the Internet for top companies such as Yahoo! and TheLadders.com. Holding various management positions over seven years in sales, marketing, operations and training, she built a well-rounded set of business skills that would eventually prepare her for her own entrepreneurial venture.
In 2008, Holly took a leap of faith and resigned from her corporate career to spend three months traveling throughout Southeast Asia with only a backpack. Upon returning to the states, Holly and longtime childhood friend, Shawn Kingsley, decided to open a business based on a shared passion...coffee.
“I’ve always been impressed how they run their brick and mortar operation very much like a startup. I’m excited to hear Holly speak at Cowerks and learn a bit about their past and where they're going as a company,” commented Bret Morgan, co-founder of Cowerks and organizer of Cowerks University. "Cowerks University’s goal is to provide a community resource for small business, entrepreneurs and technology enthusiasts to learn, network, and grow their companies,” said Morgan.
The event will begin at 7:30 p.m. and is free to attend. There is limited seating. For more information and to RSVP please go here. Cowerks is located at 619 Lake Ave., 3rd Floor, Asbury Park, NJ.
###
Upcoming Events at Cowerks:
6/18/13
Cowerks University w/ SorinRandLLP: "Financing"
7PM at Cowerks 619 Lake Ave Third Floor
http://www.meetup.com/Jersey-Shore-Tech/events/107961902/
Come learn from Dave Sorin, founding partner at SorinRand LLP about how to raise capital and financing for your small business or start-up
6/14/13
Summer Tech & Entrepreneur Social at Jersey Shore
6:30PM at the Berkeley Bar
http://www.meetup.com/Jersey-Shore-Tech/events/114685722/ - $8
We spend a lot of time hearing demo's, speakers and learning. Let's mix it up - this meetup is to welcome summer, have a drink, and meet some new people. Bring biz cards and a smile.
Come hangout down the shore at Asbury Park's Dauphin Grill at the Berkeley Hotel. Casual attire welcome. Drink specials include $3 selected craft beers, $5 Sobieski Vodka drinks.
Free working for the day of the event Asbury's Park's coworking space, Cowerks, with your ticket.
6/21/13
Jersey Shore Tech Meetup #33 With Greg Besner, CFO of Second Market
7PM at Cowerks 619 Lake Ave Third Floor FREE
http://www.meetup.com/Jersey-Shore-Tech/events/118053512/
Greg has been the Founder and CEO of two successful companies in addition to serving as President, COO and CFO for several successful venture-backed companies. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at New York University teaching a class called “Ready, Fire, Aim”.
6/22/13
Hacking Asbury
7PM at Cowerks 619 Lake Ave Third Floor
More info/tickets at http://hackingasbury.com $25
Official press release - http://dspt.ch/FY2f1lwoRe1v#hackingasburypressrelease
‘Hacking Asbury’ Event To Bring Creative and Tech Community Together
Hackathon-style mini-conference slated for June 22 at Cowerks in Asbury Park
ASBURY PARK, NJ: Bring any project you want, laptop or just your sketch pad, and come hack all day long. Hacking Asbury is an event open to just about anyone-- designers, developers, business owners, and artists who have a project to work on. Attendees can share ideas, learn from others, or just come to work. The event will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 22 at Cowerks (located at 619 Lake Ave in Asbury Park.)
"Hacking Asbury is a natural extension of what we've been building with Cowerks and Asbury Agile,” said Bret Morgan, co-organizer of Hacking Asbury and co-founder of Cowerks. “It's more than a conference and more than a hackathon - it's a community event for people to come out and hear some great speakers, sit with some outstanding mentors, or build something cool to show the community. Throw in some food and beer and it's pretty much a summer BBQ for hackers, builders, & entrepreneurs."
The day will feature speakers and pros in a variety of fields who will be available to discuss analytics, user research, SEO, databases, app testing, marketing, legal, UX, IA, crowdsourcing, and more. During lunch the floor will be open to anyone wishing to discuss their project and take field questions from the attendees. Attendees can receive feedback on their hacking project, open source library, or MVP. At the day's end Cowerks will open up the doors to the patio area, bring in some food and drinks, and kick back to relax for a summer BBQ.
"Bret and I started Jersey Shore Tech hack nights with the intention of bringing together those hackers who want to work on side projects, learn new things, or just talk shop. It's been a great environment for sharing of ideas, getting feedback on your project, and growing your network,” said Morgan’s event organizing partner Kevin Fricovsky. Fricovsky is also a lead organizer of the annual web conference Asbury Agile and of the Jersey Shore Tech Meetup group.
A special Jersey Shore Tech meetup is open to attendees on Friday, June 21st, the evening before Hacking Asbury, along with a kick off event afterwards. Tickets are $25; $10 for students. Space is limited. Tickets can be purchased at hackingasbury.com.
Local Farmer’s Market Returns To Asbury Park This June
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: jeanne [at] bandsonabudget.com
Local Farmer’s Market Returns To Asbury Park This June Asbury Fresh to offer local produce and artisan goods in Kennedy Park
May 2nd, 2013: Asbury Fresh was born in the Spring of 2012 out of a simple desire to bring fresh, local produce to downtown Asbury Park. The market will be returning in full bloom on Sunday afternoons this June. Asbury Fresh is open to and will include local produce vendors, purveyors of artisan goods, crafts, as well as nutritional counselors and other creative, sustainable companies.
“We believe that Asbury deserves a market that will nurture our sense of community, provide our neighborhood and those around us with fresh, local produce, so come and join our family!” said lead organizer Bret Morgan. Morgan is a co-founder of Bands on a Budget and Cowerks, both based in downtown Asbury Park.
Co-organizing the weekly market is Michelle Zarella, a resident of Asbury Park and employee at Bands on a Budget.com. Zarella said traveling has given her a lot of exposure to other farmer and artisan markets. “We are really excited to recreate something like that where we live and work. Asbury Park is a great area, full of conscientious and open minded people, and we hope that Asbury Fresh will be the perfect setting for our community to come out and interact with each other, as well our local farmers and artists.”
Vending and sponsorship opportunities are now available for interested produce farmers, crafters, and businesses. Vending opportunities are available by the week, month, or season. 2013 vendor pricing is as follows: weekly $25, monthly (4 visits) $80, seasonal (12 weeks) $200. As a bonus, seasonal vendors will receive featured spots on the official website and press related materials.
The market will kick off on June 25th and will take place every Sunday from 12 pm to 6 pm at Kennedy Park (located next to Ivan & Andy’s on Cookman Ave.) For more information please visit asburyfresh.com. Interested vendors and sponsors, please email team [at] asburyfresh.com
My Thoughts on 'Equal Protection'
When I was in high school I happened to be on a class trip to Washington DC one day. There was a march for gay rights on the capitol and an unnamed student with us started screaming really hateful things at the protesters. I'll spare you the explicatives, but I walked up to him and kissed him in front of everyone just to provoke him.
I was 16 years old and completely naive to the real world but even then I knew that there were certain inalienable rights citizens of our country are constitutionally granted to - the freedom to choose their sexual orientation as well as their husband or wife being one of them.
Whether you agree, disagree, or are completely indifferent, we are obligated to practice what we preach. If we truly claim to be a society free of inequality, then we need to accept the fact that a man or woman has the free will to choose their husband or wife...
TLDR; Help us continue to build great resources for entrepreneurs & tech enthusiasts here in Asbury Park & the Jersey Shore by visiting http://igg.me/cowerks and making a contribution.
A Hacker’s Reflections on Coworking, Technology, & Entrepreneurship in Asbury Park and the Jersey Shore.
The Early Days (2008 - 2010)
It’s been two and a half years since Danny Croak and I started Cowerks and we're just weeks away from the big move to our new offices. It’s been a huge undertaking, starting when we signed the lease on 619 Lake Avenue last June. We are on the eve of opening the new location and I want to reflect a bit on the budding technology and entrepreneurial eco-system that has sprung up in and around Asbury Park and the Jersey Shore.
The origins of Cowerks started way back in 2008 when my father shared with me an article on coworking as a “new” kind of office paradigm and suggested that we open up a space in Asbury Park. At the time Danny Croak and I were running BandsOnABudget.com out of a small 400 sq/ft office space we happened to share with another company. I saw the value in a community of “like minded” people but we were still in a lease and not quite ready to make the leap. Nonetheless, the seed was planted.
Fast forward to the winter of 2010. Our lease was expiring in a few months and we had outgrown our space at 626 Mattison Avenue. We were looking to upsize but were a little hesitant to take on too much space too quickly. It was around this time I dusted off a google doc with some notes I had put together for starting a coworking space here at the Jersey Shore. I shared the ideas with Danny and in our typical fashion, over a few beers it snowballed from a few key points to a solid business model with financials and a plan.
The hunt was on - over the next few months we checked out every available piece of commercial real estate in downtown Asbury Park, but whenever we ran the financials on a particular location, it became clear that we didn’t have a viable business model in that particular space.
After a few months of frustration the entire idea of coworking at the Jersey Shore was almost mothballed until the tenant in the space next to our existing office tipped us off that he was vacating exactly at the time we were planning a move. This space, located at 630 Mattison Ave, was about double the size of our existing office and when we ran the numbers, we soon realized that we had a viable business model for Cowerks.
We launched in June of 2010 to very little fanfare and our ideas of having a vibrant coworking community seemed more like pipe dreams. BandsOnABudget.com was profitable enough to carry the operational costs but we knew that we needed to do something to attract talent to the space.
The idea of the Jersey Shore Web Developers meetup started as a lead generator for Cowerks - we figured that if we could build a community to hang out in the space we’d be able to attract a few talented individuals to work here. The first Jersey Shore Web Developers meetup was held in August 2010 with about ten attendees. One of those individuals happened to be Kevin Fricovsky, a designer and developer who coincidentally was trying to run a creative meetup of his own in Red Bank. Kevin would soon come on board as a co-organizer of Jersey Shore Web Developers as well as become co-founder for Asbury Agile.
The Rise of Jersey Shore Tech
The first six months of Jersey Shore Web Developers was slow - the busy months had 15 people and the slower, 2 or 3. In true start-up fashion, we were too stubborn to quit so we plowed through that first winter and our numbers started growing by the spring of 2011. It was at this point that Chris Ackermann approached Kevin and myself about a tech meetup he had recently started and suggested a possible collaboration. We ended up bringing Chris on as a co-organizer as well and merged the two groups under the umbrella of the Jersey Shore Tech Meetup.
Since the merger, our meetup has grown into a vibrant community of 500 members, making it one of the larger tech meet ups in the state of New Jersey. Each month's event is attended by close to fifty entrepreneurs and technology enthusiasts from all over Monmouth and Ocean counties and most months boast a waiting list.
We've also been able to spawn off satellite workshops & events such as Cowerks University, the Jersey Shore Entrepreneurs & Investors meetup, a 5 week entrepreneurs bootcamp, hack nights, monthly art shows with live music, as well as Asbury Agile, NJ's first and only Web Developers conference. We also host the NJ Wordpress, Jersey Shore Facebook Developers, & NJ Hadoop Meetups.
We were also fortunate enough, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, to raise over $100,000 for the Red Cross in just seven days via our Cowerks Restore the Shore campaign by turning our space into a fulfillment center that sent out over 4000 packages over 2 weekends.
Tech and Entrepreneurship is alive and well here in Asbury Park!
...and it's about to get a lot bigger.
Over the past 9 months we've built what we feel is going to be a community hub for tech and entrepreneurship here at the Jersey Shore.
Our new space boasts four private offices, a conference room, common space to accommodate about a dozen freelancers, contractors, and other "one-(wo)man" shows. Did I mention that there's a huge walk out balcony overlooking Lake Wesley and Ocean Grove?
Aside from the amenities, we plan to expand upon the events we've been hosting. We plan to partner with additional service providers, as we've been doing with startup law firm SorinRand and IncubateNYC, to bring quality, "real world" advice through workshops, bootcamps, and breakout sessions.
Further down the pipeline we plan to partner with local high schools to offer students access to technology classes as well as mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs. I sincerely feel that what we've been building is going to help pave the way for the next generation of entrepreneurs right here in our backyard.
We Must All Hang Together, or Assuredly We Shall All Hang Separately -Ben Franklin
What we are building is bigger than any one individual or business and that is evident in the community that has grown over these past 2 1/2 years. With that being said, it's time for you, as a valuable member of this community, to step up and get involved.
We've decided to launch a crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo to help fund our vision at http://igg.me/cowerks. We've created levels of participation starting as low as $20 and made sure you'll get some cool schwag to show off for your contribution.
We've tried to keep all of our events either low, or in most cases, no-cost and feel that the value to the community has been immense. You no longer have to travel to NYC or attend a conference costing hundreds, or even thousands of dollars, to have access to the insight and experiences of some of the industries best and brightest. No more sitting on a train for 2 hours just to network for 45 minutes with other entrepreneurs.
As we continue to expand our content offerings we have every intention of keeping things either low or no cost in the interest of building a vibrant network and resource for the community.
If you can share in this vision I hope you'd consider contributing and help fuel the fire of entrepreneurship here in our backyard.
Thank you for your support,
Bret Morgan http://igg.me/cowerks bret [at] cowerking [dot] com
TLDR; Help us continue to build great resources for entrepreneurs & tech enthusiasts here in Asbury Park & the Jersey Shore by visiting http://igg.me/cowerks and making a contribution.
Did you miss Asbury Agile 2012? No worries - we've got a 3 minute recap of the event. We have something special happening here in Asbury Park, NJ & the Jersey Shore - help us spread the message...
The OPF (Other People First) Principle of Business
Last night Russ Kelly, a local angel investor, spoke at our Jersey Shore Entrepreneurs and Investors meetup at Cowerks. One of the principals he touched on during his presentation was the concept of putting other people first (OPF) in business. This notion particularly resonated with me as I am a firm believer that it takes a village to raise a child (or a band or business).
Russ Kelly, 1/2013 Speaking at Cowerks
Over the years I have realized that most individuals will fall into two categories- those who ask "How can you help me?" and others who ask "How can I help you?".
Although, semantically, it's just a few pronoun switches, there is a HUGE distinction, and I try and surround myself with those who fall into the latter and I generally run from the prior.
We're all busy people - we have families, companies, bands, and extracurricular activities should we even have a few moments of downtime. Generally, we sleep too little, hurry too much, and would just love to have a few extra hours tacked on to the day to take care of all the "important" things in our lives.
How are we ever supposed to help <insert random person> find an investor for their start-up or make a call so <insert band name> gets to open up for <insert bigger band name> when we really need that big break ourselves?
Both bands and businesses thrive in "scenes", or communities. I firmly believe communities are ONLY successful when there is a culture of "we" versus "I".
Look no further than the NYC and San Francisco tech "scenes" where industries such as hotel rentals, livery, and financial services are being taken down, often enough, by a few kids in their 20's with an idea. All of these ideas would still exist in a vacuum were it not for the community of investors, early adopters, and mentors to put OPF and help.
The same can be said about music scenes. I spent a great deal of the early 2000's in North Jersey running an all ages music club in an area with a VERY active scene. Breakout bands such as My Chemical Romance, Thursday, & The Gaslight Anthem all came from this community. It's interesting to point out that many members of these groups played in smaller, mostly unheard of bands, prior to their success. They were also very active in the music scene and usually could be found at every show talking to people and networking. This local community of bands, venues, labels, and fans were an incubator for them and, I argue, contributed directly to their success.
Sick of it All, 11/2005 at Bloomfield Ave Cafe.
The next time you find yourself in a situation where someone needs your assistance, I urge you to bring awareness to this opportunity to put OPF. Instead of immediately brushing this person's request aside, take a few moments to consider, how can I help them?
Putting OPF doesn't have you be anything super time consuming or ground-breaking, maybe it's as simple as sending an email introduction to a local angel group or bringing this person to a show, meet-up, or event where they can expand their network.
Maybe, just maybe, they'll put OPF and pay it forward when their REALLY big band needs a supporting act for next year's European tour.
My take on the new Cowerks logo.
Gregory Edgerton of Humble Humans, Danny Croak, and myself we're sitting around Cowerks yesterday afternoon working on new designs for the next iteration of BandsOnABudget.com. Deviating on a tangent, we started discussing the new Cowerks office space, currently nearing it's completion.
We're at the point where we needed to decide what type of signage the new building will have and, more importantly, do we use this as an opportunity to refresh the now 2 1/2 year old Cowerks logo.
I was a big fan of Joe Lifrieri at HugsForMonsters's original design for the Cowerks logo but two of our biggest challenges over the past few years has been:
1) Having a lack of a proper stacked version of the logo.
2) The number of colors make it difficult to keep down costs on shirts and other "screen printed" items.
Moving forward with a new design, I was concerned with maintaining some sort of brand consistency and didn't want to scrap the original logo in it's entirety. For that reason we opted to stick with the original font, "League Gothic", as well as the sprocket.
We paired back on the number of colors for the new iteration but in a way that allows us a certain degree of flexibility for what that color can actually be. We initially opted for a derivative of the red in the original Cowerks logo but it presents itself well in black as well as other colors of the spectrum.
Gregory, steered the direction towards using a "stacked" logo vs. a "rectangular" one, not only for readability, but because they're a bit more versatile when using then for promotion on print materials. They also hold their own a bit more along side others, i.e. next to sponsor logos.
I think Humble Humans did a wonderful job with our direction and, all in all, Sunday at Cowerks turned out to be quite a productive day, albeit for different reasons than we initially were hoping for. I think the new logo maintains enough of the old to keep things familiar, but is clean, concise, and fresh to take us into the next few years.
Look for this new logo over the next few weeks as we make the switch over.
Have a comment? Share your thoughts below.
Like what you see? Hire Humble Humans for yourself!
An Open Call to Action for the NJ Technology Community.
Since the inception of Cowerks and the Jersey Shore Tech Meetup in the summer of 2010 our goal has been simple- to promote technology based culture & entrepreneurship here in NJ, right here in YOUR backyard. With that being said, we also need YOUR help.
In 2013 our vision is to expand our efforts outside of Asbury Park. We're looking for individuals interested in helping us organize events such as tech breakfasts, open coffee clubs, niche meetups, workshops as well as those who can take our agenda to the press, local & state government, & NJ higher education institutions. Help can involve something as simple as having an idea and/or a space to meet, opening a door to a university of NJ based company, or taking the reigns and organizing an event with us.
We have a real opportunity to build something great, right here in NJ. I cannot promise you fame or riches but what I can promise is that your efforts will be bigger than any one individual or group.
Feeling motivated? Contact me.
I've got 100 resolutions...
class Blog def new_years_resolution 'hellow world.' end end
puts Blog.new.new_years_resolution