Contestant's Case to Win

Jeff Fisher, the Engineer of Creative Identity for the Portland design firm Jeff Fisher LogoMotives is celebrating 30 years as a graphic designer this year. His home-based company actually began by default in 1980 with a move to Portland - and no design jobs to be had in tough economic times - Jeff Fisher Graphic Design was born.

In 1997, with encouragement from his sister (an ad and PR firm owner), Fisher opted to focus on logo design and branding under the name Jeff Fisher LogoMotives. The following year his initial web presence went live and suddenly the business had clients from around the world. Today, as the business mission statement states, "Jeff Fisher LogoMotives engineers innovative graphic identity solutions in helping businesses and organizations to get, and stay, on track." Jeff Fisher's identity design efforts have developed an even greater international reputation through winning over 600 design awards and appearing in over 100 books and magazines on graphics, logo design, self-promotion and the marketing of small businesses.

Being a home-based business, Jeff Fisher may often work from his home or garden in a T-shirt and boxer shorts. In fact, he once gave a presentation in his underwear to hundreds of designers at the international HOW Design Conference. With few limitations in regards to from where he can work, and his handy PowerBook at hand, Jeff Fisher LogoMotives has been in operation - designing and writing - from a farmhouse in Italy, a camping van at the Oregon Coast, by the pool of a beachfront house on the island of St. Croix, homes of friends and family throughout the U.S., and various conferences, airports and hotels around the world - in just the past year.

His first book, "The Savvy Designer's Guide to Success," was released in 2004 after being written on his "portable office" from numerous locations. In late 2007, HOW Books released his second volume, "Identity Crisis!: 50 redesigns that transformed stale identities into successful brands." In the acknowledgments of that book he thanked friends and family in San Francisco, Palm Springs, Atlanta, the Caribbean, and throughout the State of Oregon for allowing him to plug in his laptop and write from on the road, on kitchen tables, and poolside. On a gold mining, wilderness camping trip his efforts were even powered by a portable solar panel. A new book is currently in the works - and who knows from where it will be written.

While an incredibly slacker-friendly business for its owner, with constant marketing and self-promotion, Jeff Fisher LogoMotives is currently at its busiest with the economic downturn. Over the years, when the economy is at its worst, Jeff Fisher's business is at its best. Companies laying off in-house staff still need design work executed, those who have lost jobs need design for their new entrepreneurial efforts, and people concerned about losing jobs are making use of Fisher's design skills in preparing a new business as an exit strategy - and Jeff Fisher LogoMotives offers design solutions from wherever Fisher and his computer may be at the time.