Crowdsourcing a New Chicagoboyz Header Image

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Commenters and regular contributors here have complained that the thumbnail photos of famous Chicago boys that appeared in our blog header at https://chicagoboyz.net have gone missing. It’s true; I removed them. Some of the images are copyrighted and I decided that their inclusion in our header probably didn’t quality as fair use, so down they went.

I liked the photo header and maybe one day I will recreate it using public-domain or other alternatives to copyrighted photos. In the meantime I would be interested in suggestions for alternative header designs that might be appropriate for this blog. The only stipulations are that if you submit a design it must be a design that you created, and that by submitting a design or concept you are giving us irrevocable permission to use it in our header image.

If you own the copyright to any photos of famous Chicago boys and would be willing to let us use your photos in our header that would be good too.

Finally, if you can point us to public-domain photos of Friedman, Hayek et al that would help a great deal.

Thanks.

UPDATE: Please email any graphic designs to jonathan at chicagoboyz dot net.

36 thoughts on “Crowdsourcing a New Chicagoboyz Header Image”

  1. Wikipedia has a lot of PD images. Check some of the boys bios there. I’ll wager that David Friedman would send you a picture of his dad.

  7. Names include:

    Frank Knight
    Milton Friedman
    Ronald Coase
    George Stigler
    Sam Petlzman
    Richard Posner
    Aaron Director
    Gary Becker
    Frederick Hayek
    Adam Smith
    Enrico Fermi
    Margaret Thatcher
    Ronald Reagan

  9. Verifying the copyright on images can be hard. Even though the iconographic woodcut? engraving? of Adam Smith is undoubtedly out of copyright, a photograph of it may not be. Furthermore, museums seem to retain some interest in works that are out-of-copyright, though the law in this matter is unclear to me (as well as whose law–varies by country, I’m sure). So that if the “Adam Smith” is in a museum, the museum may forbid reproduction without permission. The image is, of course, all over the Web.

    And why Fermi? He’s the only scientist on the list, I think.

  10. As to Adam Smith, I know that the image we had on the blog was a photo Jonathan took of the profile of Adam Smith on the Social Sciences building at the University of Chicago. So, that one must be OK.

  11. Fermi because he is a U of C guy and he is the father of the Atomic Bomb. The Atomic Bomb is a good thing we are proud of, and proud of the U of C connection.

  12. Wikimedia:
    Frank Knight: nothing at Wikimedia (I think).
    Milton Friedman: one poor picture; requires attribution.
    Ronald Coase: an okay picture; wish he were younger; requires attribution.
    George Stigler: nothing, I think.
    Sam Petlzman: nothing, I think.
    Aaron Director: not sure.
    Gary Becker: nothing.
    Frederick Hayek: nothing, I think.
    Thomas Sowell: nothing, I think.
    Ronald Reagan: lots of pictures with different statuses, including public domain.
    Margaret Thatcher: lots of pictures; didn’t have time to check the statuses of all of them.
    Adam Smith: Wikimedia claims the reproduction of the etching is the public domain.
    Richard Posner: GNU license, maybe others; requires attribution.
    Enrico Fermi: Wikimedia has at least one picture of Fermi in the public domain (government photo).

    If I understand the GNU license correctly, by incorporating the GNU licenses picture of Posner into a CB logo would make the CB logo licensed under GNU as well, meaning anyone could use it. That may not be what you want.

  14. ” The Atomic Bomb is a good thing we are proud of, and proud of the U of C connection.”

    Cool by me. I liked Fussell’s “Thank God for the Atom Bomb.” Several people have been less than kind me for that.

    The photo of the profile (a sculpture?) at U of C is the kind whose copyright isn’t clear. If the sculpture may be copyright even if the original image isn’t.

  15. Yes, for Reagan and other politicians it’s no problem to find high-quality public-domain images. But for academics it’s more of a problem since the best images of them tend to be portraits the rights to which are owned by a publisher or university. I did some unsuccessful searching at the Govt Printing Ofc a while ago. I suspect that the GPO or Library of Congress has what we need but it may be difficult to find.

  16. I like the look of ErisGuy’s logo. However, it strikes me as too general in that its visual allusion is to the City of Chicago rather than specifically to the empirical traditions of law and economics at the U of C.

  18. If you have an idea about how to represent law or economics, I’ll be happy to alter the first submission or do another. My first thought–dollar or currency signs–is stupid. Book titles, maybe? Hands exchanging currency? Shell money? Yap stone money (too obscure)? I don’t think the pennies as “o” worked out–too small.

  20. Comments on these images?

    I have some thoughts but I’d like to wait on sharing them until other people have weighed in.

    Thanks to ErisGuy for the creative graphics.

    Anybody else who has an idea is encouraged to share it, either here in the comments or by emailing me at jonathan at chicagoboyz dot net.

  21. This blog is now about a lot more than politics and economics. It is really sui generis due to the diversity of its contributors and their many interests. So, at this point, I would like to not have any subtitle. Just the name captures all we need to capture. That said, Adam Smith overlooking the Chicago skyline would be cool.

  22. Maybe, Erisguy, you could use the book spines from various important works of politics, philosophy and economics to create the city profile?

  24. “Maybe, Erisguy, you could use the book spines from various important works of politics, philosophy and economics to create the city profile?”

    I could. It may take some time: there are many kinds of book spines. Also, this is a holiday weekend. My computer and software are not available. Afterwards, I am attending Photoshop World next week in Vegas. I’ll do it. But I doubt I can have a mockup before the 16th or 17th.

    I think something should in place of the slogan for visual balance: perhaps a better slogan? Or some set of symbols, one for each of the honored ‘boyz,’ e.g., a atomic symbol for Fermi? (Sorta like Led Zepplin IV?)

    There’s still plenty of time for someone to submit a better logo

  25. ErisGuy,

    Thanks. Before you do a lot of additional work, I should say that I am not excited about the book spines idea. I think it’s likely to be too busy visually and too specific conceptually. I would rather either get permissions to use some of the classic CB portraits in a header display like our original one, or go with something like your graphic but with no subtitle, with our current font and with rotating images of two or three famous CBs at a time.

    Photoshop World sounds like fun.

  29. Teal instead of white.
    Same font–know which one it is?
    No slogan.
    More photos–all in same image? (there’s not a lot of room beside Smith).

    Sizes ?

  31. Thanks, ErisGuy.

    Actually, I was thinking of teal (or another color; I prefer the blue that we formerly used) instead of black.

    IIRC the font is Arial or Arial Bold.

    The photos are tricky, as you suggest. Not sure how to handle that. Possible alternatives:

    -Adam Smith only, similar size and orientation as in your prototype.

    -Adam Smith plus Friedman and perhaps a third image (Reagan?), where the Friedman and third images would be full-face rather than profiles.

    Of course we still need to find a suitable image of Friedman.

  32. Should the photos of the other boys be black and white which would match Smith & Fermi.

    What blue? I’m not aware of when CB used blue.

    What sizes in pixels of final images (banner, sidebar, etc.)?

    Did I not send the ‘Fermi’ version of the banner?

    I thought teal was serious because the page I see when visiting CB uses lots of green: money green? teal green?

    Yours,

    EG

  33. ErisGuy,

    -Yes, B&W for all photos.

    -We switched to green in solidarity with Iranian anti-govt protesters. In the long run I’d prefer to resume using blue. I can give you the color code and banner dimensions by email.

    -I either didn’t receive the Fermi banner or overlooked it. Please resend if it’s not too much trouble.

    Thanks again.

  34. So, what’s the latest – you do keep the skyline and combine it with the portraits? I hate to bring only criticism to the table w/o adding an actual design proposal, but the combo as illustrated in “Adam Smith in profile contemplates city of Chicago” above does look disturbing.
    It gives an overall image of famous heads being impaled on the skyscrapers…don’t think that’s what you want to project.

  36. How about a view through a high-rise window onto the city of Chicago. In the foreground, an old fashioned wooden desk of which we see only the top as if looking across as we’re seated at the desk. On the desk are books and arranged across parts of the back of the desk are portraits in frames. The photos are pixel mapped to that location, and can swapped on a continuing basis. Same for the books. A night view skyline might be preferable, since it would tend to focus the eyes on those things clearly visible on the desk.

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