So imagine my surprise when, within 30 minutes, one of the larger agencies e-mailed me back, anxious to set up a meeting. We set it up for the next day, and I schlepped into town to show my work. They loved what they saw and said they had the perfect job for me... re-designing and branding the regional bus system, Golden Empire Transit, or "GET" for short. It's kind of a dream job for a graphic designer, designing the look for a transit system, even one in the middle of nowhere.
But there was a catch.
They'd pretty much already blown through the budget, and all they had to offer was $500. They'd shown the client several rounds of logos, and the client was, shall we say, unhappy. They then showed me the work they'd presented and I was appalled. I had doodled more professional looking logos on my Peachy folders back in Junior High. So even though the money sucked, it was going to be relatively easy to blow them away, and besides, I had nothing going on that week. So I accepted.
Over the next two days I really got into the project and designed them 16 logos. They were thrilled with the results, as was the client. Within two days they had selected one of my logos, the very first one I had done. And for a brief shining moment I allowed myself to think that maybe there was a future here. That this was the start of a beautiful professional relationship. That Bakersfield was so off anyone's radar, perhaps I could bigfoot my way into town and be a rock star.
Or not.
I never heard from the agency again. It was a one night stand. Wham bam thank you ma'am. Even though I had saved their bacon with one of their biggest clients, every phone call and e-mail after that was met with a chilly "Don't call us, we'll call you".
And so I moved on, or tried to. Totally forgot about the job.
Until two weeks ago.
So I was watching "Judge Judy", which leads into the local news, and up popped a teaser for...
THE NEW BUSSES!
It was the headline breaking news!
The new busses are here! The new busses are here!
They even got the corrupt mayor on camera singing the praises of the new look. That couldn't have been cheap.
Just to give you a little perspective, this is what the old busses looked like...
"Next stop... the Third Reich."
Seriously, the first time I saw them I thought 'Nazi propaganda".
Having lived here six months, I'm not so sure that was accidental.
And now, the brand spanking new look...
Cool, clean, refreshing, no?
Like a Prozac on wheels.
I tried to get photos of the bus, but they are so elusive here I've actually only seen one on the street once in two weeks, so I had to settle for screen caps.
I'm probably blowing my cover by posting this, but I don't care. At least not now. I can always delete it.
But still, I was bursting with pride. Like I'd just given birth. To a bus.
They look just as I imagined.
Except I thought they would be much shorter.
