Okay, so I have David W. Boles’ WordPunk ™ up and running and Going Great Guns over at TypePad. Now there’s the problem of identity and branding.

I came up with this simple logo. I love logos that look like text but are really images. Here’s the single-line logo:

WordPunk Logo Single Line

Here’s the stacked logo:

WordPunk Logo Stacked

Then there’s always the question of images and avatars. People are curious. They want to know about you. The image I usually use of me is this one snapped several years ago when I was teaching at Rutgers:

David W. Boles Plays the Pillars

I was planning on using a smaller version of that image on WordPunk
— but the tone and purpose of that blog is of a different rhythm and cant than the image indicates in its previous and ongoing life here on Urban Semiotic and at Boles Books Writing and Publishing.

As my good luck would have it, over the weekend I tripped over to the new Simpsons Movie website where you can create your own Simpsons cartoon by picking your drawn features. What fun! Here I am as “David Simpson” AKA, David “The WordPunk” Boles:

David

Here is my beloved wife as “Janna Simpson” AKA, Janna “I Married a WordPunk” Sweenie:

Janna Married a WordPunk Sweenie

I updated our Info page here to reflect my new persona; I also have a new Authors Page face for your viewing pleasure. Then I added my new self to David W. Boles’ WordPunk ™ as testimony to my ongoing insanity — and and it’s too bad DavidSimpson.com is already taken or there’d be more wacky fun to be had on that domain and you know what I’d be designing right now instead of writing this article… Hey, now it’s your turn!

Take a moment, if you will, to head over to the Simpsons site and design your cartoon avatar that best reflects you. Pay special attention to the color picker at the bottom of most of the design screens. I had to go back later to “lighten” my yellow skin color to better reflect my pasty, Midwestern, “lily-white” complexion.

Don’t forget many of the design option screens have more choices so click the arrow icon until you run out of picks for “hairstyles” and “mouths” and such. Then, post yourself as a Simpson online with a link to it here in a comment so we can all go take a look and laugh with you.

Or, you can email me your Simpsons avatar and I’ll link it if you like
— or we can just keep it private if you prefer. It’s days like today when Web 2.0 is silly and fun again!

23 Comments

  13. Sometimes the avatars come and go for a few hours after you change them. I lost arin’s for awhile and now it looks like it’s back.
    For now.
    😀

  15. Katha! SO FUNNY!
    Even as a Simpson you’re incredibly beautiful! 😀
    LOVE THAT HAIR!
    I wish we could get rid of the black background, though, so we could see you better!
    SO MUCH FUN! 😆

  19. That’s interesting, Katha! Ours were all white. Did you choose to download the JPG from the Simpson’s site? Do you have a full-body cartoon like the others in this thread on a white background?

  20. Yes, I downloaded it from the Simson’s site and I do have a full size cartoon on a white background!
    I think something got screwed up when I uploaded it in wordpress.

  21. Re-do your avatar, save it as a .PNG file with a whole new name and after you upload your new Avatar, be sure you save the entire page to update your user options.

  22. Self-inflicted! Arrgh! Then there’s no excuse! 😀
    Wires across the Atlantic? Isn’t that so 1980’s? We’re all wireless now! Or you you need wires to be wireless? 😉

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