Per O.T.T.'s suggestion, I'm opening up a thread for discussions on the book. It seems that there's a lot of interest, so if people are willing to a) help and b) pay, then I don't see why we can't move forward.

Here's some questions:

-What content do we want? Model overviews, pictures, testimonials, all of the above.

-How much are we willing to pay? $20 for a black and white or $200 for a full color bound book.

-Distribution. Do we have them made and then sold, or have each person do a one-off. Possibly distribute a PDF that people can burn to a CD and take to Kinko's for printing and binding.

Personally, I'd pay whatever....but if we are serious, I would be willing to look into distribution outside of just the OR.

I think some of the collection pics that are approaching "art" pics would be great as well of some of the more memorable quotes from the site. I don't really want a PDF version of the website - that's kind of pointless...but if we want to truly look into a real book, I am willing to invest whatever I can and spend the time to help out and contribute in any way I can....not for profit....but for the sake of being a part of something that's never been done before.


I used to have a neighbor that was a publisher and he used to tell me that with all the available internet resources and services, that pretty much anyone could get a book out. I don't really know what that means - but to me, that makes this seem possible.

I too am of the opinion that i am willing to contribute as much as i possibly can, and that includes monetary dontation and anything else i can offer.

I am willing to do whatever is asked of me, but we need someone to step up and take this project by the tail. Otherwise I fear we slap the idea around until it eventually evaporates. We need a plan.

I like the idea, but like Nik said, I dont want a pale copy of the site in a book, or even a exact copy of the site in a book.

This site is so good, I just have a hard time figuring how a book could be better...

But Rick is right, a plan is needed.


*Not to be off subject, and I dont wanna repost in that thread, but its kind of sad we could not get our signature combo or model that was talked about a while ago...

One thing I have been wanting for a while is business cards to hand over to people who are interested in the O.
Sent you a PM Dann.

I think Dann's PDF idea is a good one in terms of making distribution loads easier and allowing whoever wants one to get one printed easily in their own country.

Obviously, being PDF doesn't mean it'd be a copy of the site, but just a neat way of publishing the content that we come up with.

I think, in terms of moving things on from what we already have here, that one of the most important things to try and acheive is a detailed history of the company, milestone products and how they became important to making Oakley what it is today.

Of course, we could distribute it in both PDF and do some printed copies if demand was high for that.

I'd be happy to help co-ordinate/organise/edit once we have a good set of ideas, though I think we would need a real hot shot to do the desktop publishing. I know we have these people here but I'll let them offer their services if they wish.

DreamingMaybe we could write it, and get Oakley to print and distribute it around the world as the official guide. Ahhhh... lovely.[/Dreaming]

chapters;

1 - oakley from day one , uptill now
2 - the marketing strategies
3 - product from start till now ) app/fw/acc all included
4 - advertisements worldwide
5 - prototypes / drawings
6 - persons of the o
7 - atlethes
8 - spinn offs
9 - and of course ; o-review
10 - ending

like this?

Okay, so to get us moving I thought I'd start off a list of what we could include, based on some of my ideas and the bits we have already thought of. Please feel free to add/remove/change, and then we can keep an up-to date edited list of what we come up with. I haven't put this into any real order yet. Once we have it sorted, then we can allocate people to particular sections.

liIntroduction
- How the book came about
- Origins of the O Review

liAbout Oakley
- How the company was founded
- Short history?
- About the HQ
- Timeline of major events (ie first glasses, first shoes, first apparel etc)?

liOakley Sickness
- Why love Oakley?
- O Review User Testimonials
- Perhaps link to the technology behind the products...

liO Science
- A nice piece here about how Os are the most superior glasses in the word, covering XYZ, plutonite, etc.

liO Art
- Talking about the science wrapped in art. How they come up with the crazy designs.
- Include prototype sketches etc if permissible.

liO Athletes
- Short profiles on the major O athletes and what they've achieved etc.

liThe Glasses
- I think Adam pretty much covered this in the other thread. Every model, with pic and logo, date of release, description, then some stories and comments from members.

liWatches
- We could certainly do this as the glasses, as there arn't that many to cover.

liFootwear
- I dunno what the feeling is on this, but I think we do need something on what else the company does. My bag is footwear. Probably impractical to do this the same as glasses, but perhaps mention our favourite lines, how O came to be doing shoes etc.

liAcessories, bags, apparel???
- Again, perhaps the kind of things the everyone has/wants. Could be pretty dammned tricky for apparel. Maybe just mention how they got into that and what kind of things they do with a few examples?

liAt the end of the book, it'd be nice to have things like lens charts, frame options, timelines etc.


- I don't know if it'd be worth saying anything about display items?

- Movies?

- O Stores? Favourite OPDs across the world? Becoming an OPD?

Other things to put in (if it were possible, and probably not) would include their advertising and marketing and how it's developed over the years.

I'd say for this bit to happen we would need some kind of permission/backing from the big O, as Mike mentioned in the other thread.

Anyways, let's hear what you guys think.

hi guys,

just thought it was such a good idea it deserved a little more serious attention. Hopefully look at this in a more serious light.

I am certainly willing to spend a good bit of time on this if we are going to look at it seriously. With regards to what I can bring to the project, apart from being a massive O fan I am currently writing a book on consumer issues and have a background in marketing so I am Ok with the written stuff. I know that a lot of the guys here have backgrounds in design and media and we have a wealth of information.

I would really like to have a shot at this!

Anyone else?

I reckon it would be a good idea to cut it into sections and have a person or persons responsible for a set piece.

Thought we could have an excel doc which sets out each are and those responsible for putting together content (text and images). see attached

I would at least like to be inolved in the x-metal portion but would prefer to participate in a LOT more!

With regards to the shoe section, we could do a 'summary' whereby we cover the iconic shoes such as shoe 1's, flesh, assault boots, racing boots etc. Rather than having every pair, just a thought.

Should we decide on the basic outline design for the look and feel of the book? I'm workign on a few things at the mo'. As soon as I have something I'll show it, I'm by no means a designer but we've got to start somewhere...

I've always envisioned a published (whether officially or unofficially) Oakley book as a Through-The-Ages thing. Oakley's 30 years old, so the first 6 chapters would be broken down into 5-year segments. Anything else will probably lead into cross-referencing of previous dates, which makes a book read like a history lesson and eventually gets confusing.

Of course, this depends on the type of book you want to write.....a company biography or a book of collectables. I personally prefer the latter, which would include big purdy pictures.

When it comes to books of collectables--whether it be about watches, comic books, guns, etc.--the thing I enjoy most is the rarities or oddities section. Those are the most fun.

Finally, IMO I would say limit the book to products that have been commecially released. Including customs and the like would probably detract from the presumed intended goal of introducing the reader to the wide world of Oakley. Save that stuff for the sequel.

This is a very ambitious project. Certainly a great challenge, especially since we won't have a single coordinator at any given time.

I agree with you Adam regarding the shoes. The iconic, special ones are definately worth looking at, I think every pair ever made would be too much and unnecessary anyway.

I also agree with Oak that it should only be commerically released stuff, I think it'd get confusing and potentially spoil things if we got into customs.

I think writing the whole book as a timeline could get a little linear. It'd also get a bit mixed up - one page you'd have a pair of glasses and the next you'd have a pair of shoes, just due to the chronological order. I think organising by category, then by chronology would work best. I also think it's a key part to get some detailed info on the company down. Especially if this eventually stretched beyond the O Review. People will want to know why we're so hooked, and the history and ethos of the company helps explain that.

I don't see any reason why you can't mix the two, if you do it carefully and organise it well. And I am happy to work in co-ordinating it.

I’m in whether it’s Money or help count me in. And it should definitely be a full color bound book

Wow, seems you all have been busy. I'm excited by the level of enthusiasm, and I hope it remains high. This will be a huge project if we decide on it, but I think if we all tackle different sections initially, and then move on to proofread or expand upon others, that will keep everything uniform and also yield a lot more progress.

Some legal things to think about. I'd ask the lawyers, but they don't seem to mind anything until you ask them, at which point they say 'no', so forget them. I'm actually not sure how safe we have to play it since this may be a private book, but I suppose if we're thinking big, then we should plan for that. Now I'm not a lawyer, so I'm basing this all on a healthy dose of common sense and paranoia, so bear with me.

liNo official logos unless specifically used for reference or historical value. So a section on the logo evolution would be fine, but not on the cover of the book or as watermarks in the background etc...

liDon't use 'Oakley' in the main title, but maybe in the subtitle? Instead of 'Oakley through the ages' it could be 'History of the O: as told by Oakley fanatics'. I dunno, I'm just guessing on that.

liUse real life photo's if possible. Those of you with the 5+ MPixel cameras could reshoot some of your pairs at full resolution so the printed version comes out clean. Although unless we're doing a full page picture, the 2 MPx range should be fine for a 4x6".

Anything else to worry about?

He's another idea. Two version's. One can be printed in full color with the full $100+ price tag, and another economy version could exist that was much cheaper, possibly for the masses outside of O.R., or as a readable copy so you don't get your expensive one tattered by use.

a very rough couple of pages

http://adam-moore.com/oakley-testpub3.pdf

I like all your points Dann. Also something to think about when reshooting images, perhaps we should be looking for white (or plain) backgrounds on the images that are reshot, to get that professional look. I forget the name for doing that, but I think you get what I'm trying to say.

I guess we need to get those who have links to the printing world to look into that kind of stuff and try and get us a good deal. I think an important thing to remember is that this should be available to everyone, so we definately need to try and keep costs as low as possible (or at least do some kind of version with that in mind as well as a posh one).

Nice start to a look there Adam.

Cheers mate, just wanted to try a few things to get the ball rolling!

I also have a friend who is a graphic designer and has strong links to printers here in london so I can speak to him for ideas of costs etc.

I think it would be nice if the shots weren't all the same, so maybe have some pukka white background 'gallery style' shots but also mix it up with some arty shots as well (I've got an image in my mind of a pair of x metals with a workshop and sparks kicking up in the background)

That's what I was thinking. If the backdrops are white, we can remove the background easier and they'll look nice on a crisp blank page.

I've just reread Danns points and that totally blows my rough design pages out of the water! I agree with your points though Dann, if we want to go big we need to be careful of the image rights etc. And I really think we could go big with this!

Mmm, like your idea of that industrial shot Adam. It'd be good to get some UK costs too. Sounds like it's all taking shape. Everyone please do add/comment/suggest more for my big list up the page then hopefully we can get some kind of writing plan together.

We're just starting, so everything's a rough draft at this point. I'm sure we'll have to prepare ourselves for a lot of scrapped ideas.

For the images, I think the standard white BG ones would be best for the plain descriptions and history sections, and the art shots can be interwoven throughout the rest of the book for some flair. Or maybe as watermarks in the background. Here's an example.

Yep, I think for the main shot of each item, that's the best way to do it in terms of showing the item off to its best and keeping the whole thing professional.

I would like to see a front and side profile for eyewear alongsides the shot above.

Also, the best would be an annual O-R retrospective (Vols 1, 2, 3, etc.) and every 5-10 years release a compilation.

So would a '30 years' idea be good for this first book. I like the idea of an annual as well, but I think it would be structured differently. That way this one could be 1975-2005, and we'll have the rest of the year to compile the 2006 one, if we chose to do so.

Oh absolutely. Do the 30 years to kick things off and then start annuals.