News:

"The phone is a remarkably complex, simple device,
and very rarely ever needs repairs, once you fix them." - Dan/Panther

Main Menu

Classic Rotary Phones logo.

Started by Dan/Panther, July 09, 2010, 06:44:48 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Doug Rose

Debbie....looks fantastic....very professional....Doug
Kidphone

JorgeAmely

Quote from: Dewdrop on July 10, 2010, 05:46:10 PM
Would this do? Didn't spend much time on it, could use a better cut of the black phone.

Debbie

Debbie:

Excellent work, you are certainly a Photoshop expert!
Jorge

HarrySmith

Very nice :D
Lets see more from other members ;D
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

dsk

I really like Debbi's logo,  :) but seen from Norway the typical American phone is one of the payphones seen in films from the 30ies, a candlestick (Never used regularly here) or the ugly ones like this http://tinyurl.com/34bkbpz.

I go for the one designed by Debbi.

dsk


JorgeAmely

Jorge

Dan/Panther

Debbie;
You have some great ideas, I also love Red.
Keep them coming.
I lean towards the cartoon  type rather than photo shots.
Add more detail to the phone and maybe even consider making an imaginary phone from different manufacturers parts, to cover all instead of just W.E.
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

McHeath

QuoteI have no suggestions, but I think this is a great idea.  I like to plaster my station wagon with decals that reflect my beliefs.  Right now mostly conservative, redneck, rebel flag, pinup girl, and teamster stickers on her LOL.  Nothing about phones.

Maybe we should print up some bumper stickers about old phones.  That would confuse people! :D

Gee Debbie, you didn't spent much time on it?!?

I like the continuity of the design she came up with and the current logo.  I also agree that we could just call it Classic Rotary Phones since folks are here from all over. 

Jim Stettler

Debbbie's first logo is what I was thinking of (kinda spooky).  A simple logo is needed for recogniction.
Debbie's logo is the natural logo from the current webpage. It works well.


I prefer the blue background, tho a pekin red 302 would be interesting.

D/P you don't really want a frakenphone logo, do you?

Another thought (for computer types).
Is that the middle is "fillable". Whoever uses the logo could upload a photo of a (rotary) phone.

I would say use the 302 as a default.

JMO,
Jim
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

gpo706

My 2 cents PSD.

WE Hawthorne typeface at the top, blue payphone backdrop, purloined graphic of a 706 (although I'd prefer a WE 500 if anyone has similar).
"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"

gpo706

Also comes in black...
"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"

Dan/Panther

Jim;
You are right, the 302 works..
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

Bill

#26
To me, anyway, it should reflect what we mean by "CLASSIC". No offense intended, Dennis, but Classic is an eBay word, like "vintage" or "antique" - no real definition is implied. In the original context, choosing a name for the forum, that was fine, because the forum was created to include many phones, many eras, many nations. But now we are going to choose the one phone that will represent not only the forum, but the whole concept of classic phones. If only one phone will show, which one phone best represents the word Classic?.

So maybe this is a side discussion. What do we mean by a CLASSIC PHONE?

To me, classic means old, and I would peg that as 50 years or more. Although some 500 sets are 50 years old, most are more modern, and evoke a more modern time. So to me, a 500 set is not classic.

On the other end of the scale, a phone should not be so old as to be misleading or off-putting or restrictive. If it is too old, it suggests a purpose that we don't have. An oak wall phone from the 20s is certainly old, and many of them are beautiful, but they  are not central to the purpose of the forum. And the original Alexander Graham Bell and Watson invention phones from the 1800s are clearly out of bounds, just as an 1884 LaMarquise may be the world's oldest car, and it may show up at a classic car meet - but I wouldn't use it as the best example of a classic.

A classic was made in quantities sufficient to be recognized, at least generically, by almost anyone. It was a standard product, not a special or a one-off or a show phone. Apologies to the military phone collectors. And apologies to the clear plastic phones. And - I hesitate to say it - a phone colored anything but black is not the best example of a Classic.

Finally, to me, a classic phone was made by Western Electric.  My apologies to the AE and Kellogg  and Northern Electric fans, as well as European collectors. The answer would probably be different in Europe or Japan.

So if I were to narrow it down, a Classic would be a Western Electric candlestick, or a 102/202 B- or D-mount, or a 302. In black.

I'm sure many other thoughts are floating around out there, so I'm donning my asbestos suit. Let's hear it.

Bill

Dan/Panther

Bill;
The 302 best fits your description, the 102/202 would not be as readily identifiable to most people outside the community.
Almost everyone will recognize the 302, and black you are again correct.

Debbie;
I added one item to your design.

D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

Dennis Markham

#28
I guess I will chime now on this topic.  

I think it is generous of Dan to offer to make a decal representing the Forum that can be distributed to members.  I learned of his idea at the same time you all did, when I saw it here.  I also appreciate Dan's suggestion to talk about it with the others to come up with something everyone will like.

But the topic seems to be evolving from there to changing the name of the forum.  I agree with that idea in part.   Having the word "America's" is restrictive as is "rotary" when in fact we now discuss other telephones.  For the sake of those that haven't been on the journey with us from the start I'll give a little background on the name that ultimately evolved into the Classic Rotary Phones Forum.  I'll try and keep it brief.

I had established an e-mail relationship with the founder, Mark Stevens.  Mark had contacted me via my original web site, www.VintageRotaryPhones.com. Out of the blue Mark told me that he was considering starting his own blog to write about old telephones.  He was kind enough to ask me if I objected to a similar name as mine which he would call Classic Rotary Phones.  I told him, this is America, you can call it whatever you'd like (as long as the domain name were available) and that I would be happy to support his new blog and we could work together with our blogs.  After all it is a hobby---it should be a lot fun.  So that was done.

It was some time later that he came up with the idea to start a Forum as an off-shoot of his blog at Classic Rotary Phones.  His banner on the site was called "Mark Stevens' Classic Rotary Phones".  When, some months later he decided he no longer wanted to be active in the Forum--because of too many irons in the fire he asked if I would take over the operation of the Forum and do whatever I wanted with it and the blog.  In essence it would be my site.  The domain name was transferred to me and after the fees were due again I assumed payment and now I own two blog/web sites.

During the transition we discussed removing his name from the banner.  He asked me what I'd like put there (since he had done the web design at his end---using source coding).  I believe one suggestion was to change it to Dennis Markham's Classic Rotary Phones.  I didn't want the spot light.  Especially when I considered myself a new-comer to phone collecting.  I did not and do not want to consider myself an expert on the topic, only someone that enjoys talking about old phones.  I didn't give it a lot of thought and just asked that he put the word "America's" where his name had been displayed.  Thus the current name.

Because of the activity of the Forum side of the web name and the inactivity of the blog side it is my intention to change those.  In fact I thought of pulling the plug on the blog and just running the Forum.  So when one logs on to www.ClassicRotaryPhones.com they will get the Forum. This change will be made.  However, I have had to delay in doing that because of an obligation I have to a business that has an embedded link in one of the postings on the blog side.  I have an agreement with them to leave their link in place for one year.  That year will expire in August (next month).  Then I can move or remove the blog side with no issues.  I've just been waiting for that time.  I planned to eliminate the word "America's" at that time.

Despite the fact that as members we talk about touch-tone phones, non-dial phones, European phones or even cell phones, I want the name Classic Rotary Phones to remain.  

What image best represents Classic Rotary Phones?  That seems to be the latest part of this discussion.  Dan (the other Dan) I agree with much of what you've written about the term classic.  I disagree (my personal opinion) that Classic and Vintage are eBay words.  They are used often on eBay as we all know but I don't associate those words with eBay.  When I see a sign in my area for a Classic Car Show I think of automobiles that are representative of Americana.  But I think that that can only be defined in each individual's mind.  To me when I think of a classic car I think of a 1955 Ford Thunderbird, or a '57 Chevy.  A car that was the work-horse of America---that anyone could own and one that many people did own but they just faded from the American landscape.  They're a classic example of our automotive culture.  What someone else considers classic may be entirely different.  But certainly something not modern.

The same can be said with anything, including phones.  Mark Stevens chose the Model 302 as an example of a "classic" phone.  To me it is a classic representation of a commonly used telephone that is recognized everywhere, representing a time period.  It's a middle of the road model bridging the genre of early wooden phones, desk stands and the like with more modern model 500 and phones of today.  There are a multitude of images that could be used to represent that 302.  Maybe it's best to keep it simple.  The image currently used is a simple "cartoon like" (I think someone used that description)...maybe a caricature.  The more I look at Debbie's first work, with the blue background the more I like that plain image.  The black 302 was the backbone of the American telephone for years just as the Chevy was the backbone of the American automobile.

It's impossible to try and be "politically correct" and satisfy each person's likes and dislikes.  We don't want to omit those in the U.K. or anywhere, we don't want to slight those that like Kelloggs, or Stromberg Carlsons, or Automatic Electrics, or whatever.  For that reason I think the 302 represents all telephones from a time period that we seem to discuss the most.  It represents the Model 500 or the Model 102 simply by being an identifiable as a classic phone from the past.

I lied.  I said I'd keep it brief.  

Those are just my opinions.  A friend of mine used to say, Opinions are like noses, everyone has one.  I'm not opposed to a different idea for the web site banner but I'm one of those people that find it difficult to change things...that's why I use a 55 year old telephone at my desk.

As far as what design to use for Dan's decal, that is up to Dan.  My vote, which is only one vote (if we're taking a vote) is the round image that Debbie made (blue background) as it is recognizable with the web site just as the TCI and ATCA logos are with their groups.

Nice job by the way Debbie. Both of those look very nice.

Please feel free to discuss my comments.  Thanks for taking the time to read them.

~Dennis

teka-bb

I prefer Debbies design with the picture from the forum. I would also use the blue back ground color from the forum because it relates to the forum and I think it looks better.

A picture of a black 302 is recognized as a phone and a classic by most people. There is a European phone that looks a lot like the 302.

=============================================
Regards,

Remco, JKL Museum of Telephony Curator

JKL Museum of Telephony: http://jklmuseum.com/
=============================================
TCI Library: http://www.telephonecollectors.info/
=============================================