Check out the poster I designed for the Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club. http://berkeleylawnbowling.org/best-retro-sport-plus-solano-stroll/

Maybe this is more of a personal rant but I am asked all the time to literally do design favors for people. I don't mind this when a close friend asks me but it got me wondering if attorneys and doctors get bombarded with requests to take a case for free or check a pulse on the house.
I've been asked to do posters, t-shirt designs and even logos for free. I like the barder idea trading design for a dinner or a day at the spa but people don't realize the time it takes to come up with a concept and execute it not to mention the cost of the software to create such designs. Now, I do well as a designer but us creatives need the most robust computers and many designers prefer to work on Macs. This little machine can cost over 3 grand! The software can cost hundreds for annual upgrades. I'm just sayin'.

Zachary's Chicago Pizza put up a small profile about me on their new web site. I thought I would share this light-hearted blog posting with you.
Click here to go to the Zachary's story on Ian Ransley.

Check out the unique way I was promoting Ian Ransley Graphic Design 20 years ago. At about the same time I decided to silkscreen my resume on t-shirts and send them out to Bay Area design firms. It did get some attention. You can check out what I have been doing lately at www.berkeleygraphicdesign.com.

You can also browse some of my other poster designs following this link to the print section of my portfolio website.

Zachary's Chicago Pizza began in the 1980's in Oakland, CA. Funny enough, my first job after getting a degree in Design from UC Davis was working for a screen-printer who printed Zachary's Pizza t-shirts so I had a shirt before I ever had a Zachary's slice.
Zachary's has a poster contest every other years. They have been doing it for year's so each restaurant is covered in framed 36"x48' posters designed by all ages of Zachary's loving customers. I entered the first year when my older son was 7-years old. I only entered one poster that year and won 100 bucks of pizza. My son was thrilled every time we went to Zachary's to see "our" poster hanging on the wall. In 2009, I entered 3 posters. All 3 posters won, In 2011, I entered 4 posters and all 4 posters won and in 2013 again, I won 4 times. It's 2014 and I have designed 5 posters for the 2015 contest. It's not an obsession but a great way for me to put out my creative ideas in a forum I love to work in. I've used friends, my sons and even my mother as models for the posters. I don't do it for the prize or the "fame". I'm apparently not even the person who has won the most times! There is someone crazier than I am! The Berkeleyside, online-local newspaper even did an article on me.
Zachary's seems to love the posters I've designed so much they hired me to do their anniversary logo and few ads. When you go to a Zachary's check out all the great art on their walls!