Daddy Desktop (provocative) Mission Statement

Creative consultation by Daddy Desktop for the in-house desktop publisher,
whether you're an executive, typist, or neophyte in-house designer.
Help. Friendly. Clear. Via fax, phone, e-mail, pdf, or on your monitor.
A three-hour consult is fun and makes your creative project more professional.
Phone 704 542 3375. Or e-mail us a heads-up!

Mission statement of Daddy Desktop —not too boring and self-serving	Daddy Desktop is a for-profit business. We want to make money. There's another reason we exist: Passion. We love design. We love creativity. We love identifying problems. We love solving problems. Daddy Desktop knows that, when you achieve good design, you feel good. Good design works for readers and for end-users. And for clients. One reason so many dotcoms are folding is bad Web-page design.
Good and bad design as Daddy Desktop sees it	Good design gave us the new State of Georgia flag in year–2001. Bad design and bad desktop publishing gave us the infamous butterfly ballots of the year–2000 presidential election. Good design gave us contemporary cinematography. Bad design gave us the M-1 infantry rifle that, when Larry Miller was in basic training, was always eating sand and jamming. (His company commander said Miller shares blame. “Keep the muzzle up, Private!”) Good design gave us the original VW Beetle ad campaign by Helmut Krone and Bob Levenson of Doyle Dane Bernbach, and its current incarnation — nice work fellas, whoever you are. (Anyone know?) Good design gave us Janel Moloney of NBC’s “The West Wing.” And the Cingular logo. Bad design or something gave Daddy Desktop the Cingular service that led us to hooking up with Sprint PCS. Good design gave us the Chrysler PT Cruiser and Ford Techno. The Nike logo and slogan. The Superman costume. The set, intellect, and energy of the PBS “Charlie Rose Show.” The opening, Faster than a speeding bullet, to the Superman radio show of the 1940s. The Swiss Army Knife. The editorial typography of Esquire and Rolling Stone. The way Prince Charles wears a suit. The eyes of James Gandolfini and Edie Falco. The heart of Steven Spielberg. Good design gave us Vance Jonson and Lou Dorfsman and Herb Lubalin and Paul Rand and Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast and Paula Scher and Push Pin and Pentagram. And Pilot Razor Point pens. Good design gave us the original cut of Bookman Old Style. Good design gave us the Apple Macintosh Titanium G4 Powerbook (which we hope someone will give us).
The blessing and curse of desktop publishing (and why we exist)	Sure it’s a blessing. People who used to say, I can’t draw a straight line, can now become designers and art directors and writers and illustrators and photo retouchers and typographers and proofreaders, regardless of whether or not they have training or talent or experience or aptitude or taste in any of those disciplines. Which hints at the curse. Empowerment is a blessing. But technology is not talent. You know how it is—
Daddy Desktop's self-serving conclusion	We really love consulting with clients, helping them enhance their strategy, strengthen their headlines, shorten their body copy, clean up their layouts, sharpen their typography. And achieve good design in the fullest meaning of the word design. That’s our mission. By the way, who or what is on your bad design list (such as airline seats)? Who or what is on your good design list (such as the Aeron chair)? We’ll augment this page from time to time.