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Vehicle Art


ecanderson

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Guess this is art. It's artwork at any rate, and certain had some thought behind the design. Here's the cachemobile, badged, ready to roll to the next cache site.

 

The basic principle is that stealth is overrated. Even on site and on foot, few people are really equipped with the skills necessary to operate in stealth mode. Let's face it - there's not much difference between servicing a dead drop in a public place and finding a cache in a public place. For most people, it's better to take the opposite tack and just appear to belong there. That takes some skill as well, but is generally easier to pull off for the novice.

 

The same goes for vehicles, though it's rarely practiced by cachers in either stealth or un-stealth fashion. Since a 'stealth vehicle' would be quite the trick, it's far easier to go the other way, and instead produce a mental image that says 'this vehicle belongs here'. To that end, we made up some magnetic signs that, along with the work light, provide the 'correct' thought in the mind of most any muggle, including the 'official' variety. We've had gates voluntarily opened, work crews asking if we needed additional space ... well, you get the idea.

 

The various elements included in the artwork were carefully considered to produce a particular thought in the mind of the muggle. That the impression that is given is incorrect .. well, one can't be responsible for a muggle jumping to an incorrect conclusion!

 

Sign makers seem to like to operate in *.tiff format, so If anyone wants a clean *.tiff version to produce their own signs, let me know and I'll email it to you. This board won't allow for a *.tif attachment. I do NOT recommend trying to use the attached *.gif file since the resolution may not be very good when printed on a decent sized magnetic sign.

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we made up some magnetic signs that, along with the work light, provide the 'correct' thought in the mind of most any muggle, including the 'official' variety. We've had gates voluntarily opened, work crews asking if we needed additional space ... well, you get the idea.

What do the signs say?

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To me, it looks more like a way to deceive someone... not design, or art of any kind. :blink:

Meant to deceive? Well of course! I thought I had made that objective completely clear in the original post. It takes the concept of un-stealth urban/suburban caching that some cachers apply with their fluorescent vests and clipboards to a new level: Look like you belong where you are, and you're much more likely to be ignored.

 

You seem to feel that deception and design are mutually exclusive. Can you elaborate on that a bit? Must all 'design' be entirely honest to be design? Consider the pretty pictures of an Arby's roast beef sandwich vs. what you get at the counter before answering. At least I'm not trying to get you to buy anything!

 

Whether there is design involved ... I suppose that depends upon where a person has spent their professional life. Even a simple corporate logo comes from an art department somewhere, and usually involves multiple iterations and a boatload of consideration before it's approved. If it is your opinion that you don't like the elements that went into this particular design, that's certainly valid, but this design certainly had a fair bit of thought put into it so as to elicit the right image.

Edited by ecanderson
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What do the signs say?

Click on the thumbnails. You should see full size images as a result.

 

Edit: Hmmm.. my images still show names, but the thumbnails and images refuse to appear now. Board problem, or overzealous moderator, or ???

It's working now, with actual pictures! I spied a Jeep at an Event last year with a cool "Official Geocache Recovery Vehicle" magnetic sign on the door. That works for an SUV, van, or truck, maybe not so much for a compact car. The amber light is a nice touch!

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Must have been a glitch at gc.com. Busy day for the servers, no doubt. Glad you can see the pics now.

The light serves more than a decorative purpose at times. Even when parking legally on a shoulder area, we kick it on to be sure we're plenty visible.

Edited by ecanderson
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Some people like to use vests or carry clipboards. I suppose the U S Survey Geolocation Services sign is not that different. But in my case no one would believe it, any more than they would think that a clipboard indicated I was doing official work. Most people would look at my Prius with kayak racks, the moose sticker, or my Phil the Power Taylor darts window decal and wonder why I stuck a sign on the car. And in some areas, I would not want people to think I was working for a government agency (other than the one I work for) or was a Man in Black. So my method works for me: park legally and go about my business. If it is better that I not draw attention to the car, then I park a few blocks away and go about my business (more of a concern when urban exploring than caching).

 

Still, the light might come in handy. And I am not adverse to vehicle art. I have always thought that having the right kind of art on a VW microbus would get me Further.

Edited by geodarts
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I do not understand your question. Caches don't experience success. They lie in wait for me to discover them, and to that end, the method has often proved very helpful.

Let me try again, then. Is it a success just for you at the expense of the cache, the cache owner, and future catchers?

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It's at no expense to the cache, cache owner or future cachers. Why would it be? Our objective is to be ignored whenever possible, and accepted whenever necessary. To most folks, we just appear to be a couple of working stiffs out looking for something. So we avoid questions from overzealous mall patrols and the like. In park areas, no one is fussed that a couple of middle aged men are rooting around at the base of a pine tree. They see the word survey on the vehicle, and make their own assumptions, and we can all relax. We're not living in the 1990's anymore.

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Well, better late than never, as they say. When I saw ecanderson's topic, my first thought is "What a great idea!" So I wrote to him and as promised, he sent me the .tif format of the sign. My truck now sports both signs and light. I was somewhat puzzled--dare I say amused--at the various objections to this "unstealthy-stealth." "Deception" was one of the words used. Aren't some of the videos that appear on Groundspeak espousing deception? I recently viewed one wherein one person was reaching for a cache behind him while the other pretended to be taking a photo. How many cachers have done that, or carry a clipboard, wear a reflective vest and other apparel as mentioned by some contributors to this topic. Actually, the word I prefer is "illusion;" the signs and light leave to the mind/imagination of the viewer just what this vehicle and its inhabitants are. The Moderator stated this wasn't art or design. I disagree with that. If neither design nor art were involved, that sign couldn't exist.

 

Like ecanderson, I've had police wave at me and road construction crews wave me through. But the most common result of the signs and light was merely people looking, then walking away. So my hat's off to you, ecanderson, for an extremely clever idea. Now I need to jump in the Cachemobile and go about the Texas Hill Country "deceiving" people! :lol:

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There's a new member of the U. S. Survey Geocaching Team! Otterbreath1943 recently moved from Conroe to Kerrville, TX. He had such fun deceiving folks while riding in my CacheMobile, he got some signs for his vehicle. The "unstealthy stealth" legend continues!!!!

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I love it! I can't remember how many times someone has eyeballed me and my son, thinking we're up to no good! We try to be as stealthy as possible, but sometimes you can't prevent someone noticing you snooping around. I've had people approach us, and ask what we were up to. If I had an official looking sign on my vehicle, they may not be as alarmed by my presence.

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And don't forget the flashing light--about $20 at WalMart. I live and cache in a rural area and people will usually stop and ask what's what. I just point to the sign on the door; they look, usually say they're sorry they bothered me and they're on their way. I have a clipboard on the dashboard to add another official touch and a bright yellow vest makes everything complete. It's amazing the difference a couple of signs and a blinking light make; often I'd been challenged as to my right to be there(even if it was public domain)--it's a rural thing--but now I get offers to open gates, pass construction easily and even a police escort through a construction zone. "Unstealthy stealth" is definitely the way to go!

Edited by MrPossum
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I suppose it is unusual for a 'design' to produce specific results as this one does.

 

I always think about all the stories behind any design... geocoins, nicknames, any design we see on geocaching and geocachers.

This is the place to share all the brainstorming... and hopefully a nest for new ideas and designs.

 

Not only are there stories behind the original design, there are the stories of those that have made use of it.

 

I know that you don't LIKE my design (you made that clear in one of your earlier posts), but believe me, there was a good deal of thought put into both the general 'un-stealth' idea and the specific details of the design itself. Those that have picked up this design for their own use are explaining why they have done so, and what the results have been for them. It's also one of the few places on this forum that allows for direct embedding of photo objects, and to understand the visual impact of this design, it's good that this is possible.

 

We've discovered that custom embroidery isn't all that expensive, and are now considering having the U.S. Survey logo (without the GPS stuff on the right side) done up on a couple of decent looking work shirts to round out the overall look.

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And don't forget the flashing light--about $20 at WalMart.

 

Please keep this topic, about design.

 

It seems we differ on the definition of design. Design can relate to specific elements or the total concept composed of those elements. In this case, "design" relates to the total concept. The initiator of this thread is writing about a conveyed image of which the flashing light is a part (see the photo of his vehicle). Hence, my reference to it is both logical and legitimate.

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I guess I was misled, then. Somehow, the mechanical drawings for a cryptex style cache container seem to fit even less, but I didn't notice that you took any exception to those.

 

If anything is 'mainly visual', it's this project. That's the whole point of it, in fact. The visual impression it leaves with the person who sees it is the entire objective.

 

Speaking of which, we have decided to use a smaller portion of the sign (just the logo) for wearables. When samples arrive, I'll post pics. Will probably start with hats after I see how just the logo part renders when embroidered in smaller sizes..

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To help complete our 'look' in the field, we've added to our U.S. Survey motif with 'official' shirts and hats.

 

Found a very reasonable shop for this kind of work. The trick, it seems, is sizing text and other small features in a large enough fashion that they 'stitch out' looking good, so the original design has been modified per the suggestions of the embroiderer to take the limitations of embroidery machines into account. I think I'm finally past the novice stage (barely) with this stuff!

 

If interested in obtaining these, the set-up charge and artwork are already in place, or you can just have a digital copy of the artwork used for these items for an email.

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Edited by ecanderson
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Images keep disappearing and reappearing from the original post, depending (evidently) upon which gc.com server is being hit to recover them.

 

Here's new shots from a 3rd party server, presumably more reliable:

 

]http://www.mediafire.com/view/d6so0q0so6ocs1i/StealthOverrated1.jpg

 

http://www.mediafire.com/view/ibw21h83k8qm8a7/StealthOverrated2.jpg

Edited by ecanderson
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