My 4-day SC experience...

[p51]

FYI, the following HAB forum members I know by their screen names are in this shot-

Those who's names are in blue are those who went to Kennedy Space center immediately before SC:
Me Second from left
Phoenix PK to the right of me, just past the podium (I left a space between myself and my pal John only so our beloved trainer Mel wasn't blocked to the audience when she was speaking)
majtom7 fifth from the left
spacemanpic fourth from the right
Steve third from the right
Deimos to the far right
I'm pretty sure at least one other person on our team is also on the HAB but I don't know what her screen name is, sorry!

[Phoenix PK]

Ha! As I recall, you (rightly) shoved me over to clear the view of our beloved Mel...

What a great shot and a great memory. This was the most special graduation I've ever
attended at Camp. Something about it was unique, I can't put my finger on it. Maybe
it was the guests in the back, maybe it was the video-taping, maybe it was the size of
the group-the largest I've ever been in. My modesty insists it wasn't that I was called
out for it being my 12th graduation, that really didn't ring my bell, and Justin was
enjoying his 11th, which immediately came to my mind...

It might have been the fact that it was the first time I've ever heard our Crew Trainer
tear up when describing her experience with us. I almost lost it at that point.

That was a very special moment. Thanks, p51. BTW, we HAVE to come up with a
callsign for you, bud!

[spacemanpic]

I second that!

I'm almost scared to go back because it feels like it would be hard to reach the same level of awesomeness as we had that week. But if camp has taught me anything (and it has), I shall overcome the fear! (Especially if we get a reunion together).

I'm especially proud of Mel for winning top trainer award!

Callsign...we'll need to think on that one.

- Justin

P.S. Anxiously awaiting word on the week long. If it doesn't happen seriously considering the 4-day again. I may have a problem...

[p51]

This was the most special graduation I've ever
attended at Camp. Something about it was unique, I can't put my finger on it. Maybe
it was the guests in the back, maybe it was the video-taping, maybe it was the size of
the group-the largest I've ever been in.

The one Steve and I were in last year had more people, but this one was better. I'd never had a graduation on the training floor before, such a great place for it.

It might have been the fact that it was the first time I've ever heard our Crew Trainer
tear up when describing her experience with us. I almost lost it at that point.

Yeah, I think we all probably were choking up at various degrees at that point. Such a great person. We had a 'perfect storm' of a team who all had the same enthusiasm and experience level and a trainer who knew just how to handle us. Having seen the other trainers that weekend, I'm sure we lucked up with Mel! As for the group, I didn't talk to each one as much as I'd liked (crying shame we couldn't have done a week-long session with the same team mates and trainer) but I can say I consider each and every member of the team my brothers and sisters. Or, like Pappy would have said, my Space Brothers and Sisters!

BTW, we HAVE to come up with a callsign for you, bud!

Yeah, good luck with that. In 3 trips to SC, I think I've only seen 2 suggestions for a callsign total.
I had a few call signs in the Army:
Ratchet 5
Eggman (long story, I chose the call signs for stateside deployment and my NCO was a big Beatles fan. When we crossed the line of departure, on coms we said, "Coo coo ka-choo"...)
Hollywood
Had a few others for training exercises, I had a cool one when i was doing OPFOR but for the life of me I can't recall it at the moment.
They also called me, "Grampa" when I was in Army ROTC because I was so much older than my classmates I was being commissioned with.
In sci-fi circles, I have been called, "Mustang" due to my owning a car by the same name (a 2006 which turned out to be a real lemon) and having flown in a P-51. That, and being an old Army guy.

[p51]

And yet again, my patch design never makes it onto the SC site: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 727&type=3

Well, it made it under the 2015 heading after all. I am not on facebook otherwise I'd have said, "Yep, I did that"... Any memners of 'Team Disco' of course are welcome to add to that if they want. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 727&type=1
I have to wonder about the reactions of people who look at the mission patches and see that among all the others. Modesty aside, it really sticks out among the rest of them. All that said, I'm surprised this doesn't come up more often where someone with design and rendering skills shows up. You'd think this would be more common than it is, but a discussion I had with someone with SC the final day in October confirmed it wasn't common at all.
And I'm gathering orders for actual patches from my teammates so we can have these made. The red border should be slightly barrower than this but it'll give the patch company an idea of what I have in mind:

So glad I decided to use an Orion this time, as the finished patch could easily pass as some kind of real NASA program patch.
Makes you wonder about the SC patches that get made later on, how many people have been confused by them once they're detatched from their original owners?

[Hotdog]

Lee, the BRIGHT red you have added to overpower your teams mission patch is, quite hideous, I must say.

I was proud of the progress you had made as patch designer until I saw this new augmentation. I assume you have a good reason for changing up your teams design? Did the company you hired to produce patches ask you to add a border? I imagine that you probably needed to create some kind of border for patch production, but there are less abrasive ways to do it.

With the knowledge I have gained about graphic design and patch production over the years, I can clue you into other ways to "enclose" the design without straying too far from what you and your team came up with.

The neon red is distracting from the meat of the design, the brilliant part you came up with. I can't look at this new layout without focusing on the red part. Instead, make the outer ring white instead of filling it in with red. Use a red or blue border on the outside edge instead to enclose it. Bada-bing.

Not trying to tell you how to design, just some advice and ideas from someone who has been down the road a bit. Hate to see a good design decline. Lord knows I've ruined quite a few of my own designs by "tinkering too much." I have been tempted to tinker with my old mission patches, especially now that I am older and wiser, but it seems somewhat sacreligious to make changes to them without the input of my teammates. Food for thought....

[p51]

This was just to give the patch people an idea generally for colors. They're for sure going use the same shade of red for everything anyway. I did this border in maybe 5 minutes.
I tried white and it looked awful with all that white inside the design itself. Blue looked decent, but I'd already done that on my first design and I wanted this to look different.

[Hotdog]

Sounds good, sorry if my critique sounded too harsh, I didn't mean it to come off that way. As far as the white background is concerned, it may seem like a good idea, but sometimes ya don't know until you try it. It sounds like you did just that, which led you to this conclusion. I don't think there's much else you could do without radically altering the design, and I don't think that would be a good idea at this point. I'm sure the embroidered patch will turn out better than anticipated. These things always look better in the thread!

[Steve]

I was asked earlier in this thread about camp 2014. Got to do something really awesome this year. I meet PK & P51 in Orlando & went to Kennedy for three days before camp. Believe me it was awesome experience. Left Orlando & travel to Huntsville a day before camp. By the time we arrived, we were pumped for camp. Our entire camp team were alumni (Team Discovery). In a few simple words, it was the best camp I attended in past three years. I recommend the camp experience to all who wants to go outside of their box. It is a great experience for anyone.

[Steve]

I got a slideshow done from various shots taken by my team, I think it turned out pretty well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klYM0S6UNjM

Looking over this again, great job Lee. A lot of great memories made!!!!

[p51]

The patches are on the way, here was the first sample, which turned out better than I expected:

[Vincent]

Beautiful!

[p51]

Beautiful!

Thanks! You were in the room when I drew the original design, if memory serves...

[Steve]

Beautiful!

Thanks! You were in the room when I drew the original design, if memory serves...

Can't wait to see them!! I am proud to be part of Team Discovery 2014. It was a camp when you walked away, you truly wished it did not end!!

[Vincent]

Thanks! You were in the room when I drew the original design, if memory serves...

I was, indeed!

But as good as the patch looked on paper, it looks even better as a real patch!

[Hotdog]

The darker red looks a lot better than the bright red version you posted previously. I like how the text in the red field appears to be raised, did you specify for them to do that? On a recent patch project I worked on, the patch maker was able to raise the lettering for us in places where we wanted it to stand out more.

I would love to go back and tweak some of the little quirks in my old patch designs, but something about changing a mission patch design "post-flight" doesn't sit well with me. I wonder if there are any instances where a NASA crew went back and changed a patch after the mission?

[p51]

The darker red looks a lot better than the bright red version you posted previously. I like how the text in the red field appears to be raised, did you specify for them to do that?

Nope, they just used the same digital version that's in this thread, but a much larger file of it. I was surprised they were able to match the typeface for the top part of the arc, as I'd always envisioned that specific typeface when I did the art originally. They said that they didn't want to use a heavy serif typeface, though, so I changed that for the patch.
I don't see an issue on changing the design for the finished product as if I had been able to do these designs at home with due time and care, they'd come out looking like the finished patch versions anyway.
But what you see here now is IT. I wouldn't dream of changing any of them now.

[p51]

Just got this shot last night from my fellow ISS EVA MS, Chika. This was taken immediately after the end of the LDM. I was totally wiped out by this point but managed a smile anyway. Such an amazing experience, I'd never a zero-G EVA before then.