Me again,

If you're in Chicago, you can come by the studio to pick up your book.

Location
I'm located at 1821 West Hubbard Unit 202.
Here's a map: http://thepostfamily.com/contact-us

Hours Saturday & Sunday 1pm - 6pm
Thursday, June 17th - Wednesday, June 23 , 1pm - 6pm

Hope to see some of you when you stop by!

Scott Thomas

Hi everyone!

We have some exciting news. Most of the books are in the mail. If you submitted your shipping information before last friday, your book is in the mail! We had a busy week of packing, labeling, and filling out customs forms for all of our international friends before dropping off 3 skids of books at the Post Office.

We are not exactly sure when the books will get to you but please let us know when they do. I'm looking forward to hearing from you that the books arrived safely. Just leave a comment on Kickstarter or mention @designingobama on Twitter when you get your copy. I imagine it will be sometime next week for domestic people and a couple of weeks for the international folks.

Still need to arrange your shipping?
If you have not arranged for shipping, you can do so by following this link: http://www.designing-obama.com/products/shipping

Thanks for all of your support.

Scott Thomas

P.S. Mike Ruggirello did this time lapse of our book packin' party. (The music is Fidgety Feet by Bix Beiderbecke and The Wolverines).

Hi Everyone,

Some questions have been raised about shipping.

First, to arrange shipping you can go to this website, many already have so thank you! http://www.designing-obama.com/products/shipping (*links do not work in the email updates, you can copy and paste this into your web browser)

Many have asked questions with regards to international shipping. In hopes of answering many of your questions I'm attaching a message from a fellow backer below.

As for the electronic version, we will be sending it when people begin receiving the physical books.

Pick-up will be available for people in Chicago! We will let people know when they can start picking up their copy!

Thanks again.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marcus on Monday May 24, 10:54am CDT

Scott,

With the greatest respect for you and your project, I'm having problems with the high charge for shipping the book internationally.

In my opinion this appears to be unfair to your supporters in Canada as well as those of us in Europe and further afield. A blanket charge for shipments outside the USA, may seem like the simplest solution to a problem that I feel should have been considered well before asking people to pledge support, however it is not the most satisfactory for those being asked to pay.

I did a simple test on the shipping price with Amazon.com for Shepard Faireys' Supply & Demand, an equally sized publication. This book ships to Dublin from the US, for $11.73. To ship the same book from IL to Dublin from an independent book seller is $10.48. IN both cases this included the shipping & handling

I have two questions; is these any reason why your shipping fee is 3 times that of other book sellers? Why can't you have Amazon fulfill the shipment. They processed all the pledges, so there should be no problem for them to manage all distribution too, as they do for many other sellers?

Again I applaud you for the work you have done on the Obama campaign and for producing what appears to be a fantastic publication, all I ask is that you treat those who made this project possible with the same respect that they afforded you from the outset. I look forward to receiving your response.

Best wishes,

Marcus

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott Thomas on Monday May 24, 12:02pm CDT

Hi Marcus,

Let me first explain how Amazon works. Amazon does get reduced shipping because of the volume of books they send around the world. They have businesses set up in each country and distribution centers in various regions. Which allows them to ship books at a reduced fare. Ordering a book on Amazon and ordering a book from an individual doing a "small run" of books is a very different thing.

That said. Amazon fulfillment does not ship internationally for orders placed on other websites, such as Kickstarter. The only way Amazon will ship books internationally is if you sell the book on Amazon.com. With regards to Amazon Payments, the processor for Kickstarter. It is important to note that Amazon Payments is not connected to Amazon.com. I know it seems logical and one would think that the organizations are connected, but Amazon.com is currently not set up to handle fulfillment of products processed with Amazon Payments. They do not do this with any other sellers except for sellers placing product on Amazon.com.

So we then looked into freight service to ship 500 books to the UK and distributing to European backers via Royal Mail. I determined that though there was a cost saving for Royal Mail in comparison to USPS, but after freight fees and custom taxes, as well as, freight forwarding fees to get the books from the shipping dock to Royal Mail the price became higher than using USPS and tripled the amount of work. We then looked into FedEx, UPS, and DHL and found we are not shipping "regularly enough" for there to be a cost savings, to ship to the UK was around $120 for our 4.9 lbs book.

Lastly, what is fair? I decided to use a flat fee for shipping to ease the pain of many supporters. To ship the book to Australia will cost around $50, the UK $40 and to ship the book to Canada will cost around $27 dollars. International shipping via the USPS is based on 2 factors weight and distance, it's that simple. So to determine the price for each country individually would have left some people paying more for shipping than for the amount they pledged for the book which is what I was trying to avoid.

I'm being transparent and telling you the process we went through and the decisions we were forced to make. Unfortunately we are not doing a massive amount of shipping on a reoccurring basis to have shipping prices that can compete with Amazon. We broke new ground with how a book can be self-published this has brought about many challenges and new interesting questions.

Thanks for your message,

Scott Thomas

Hi Everyone,

Thanks to all of you for your patience in this process. We definitely refused to cut any corners when it came to designing, producing, and even fulfilling this project. Our goal has been to best present the images that defined a campaign and the art that coincided a political movement.

Now that the book is finished, we need to arrange shipment of the books to you. You can arrange shipping here. We honestly worked long and hard to find a better way to ship these books internationally, and discovered no cost effective option better than the US Postal Service. In regards to domestic shipping, we were able to reduce the fee to $5 using Media Mail, which is unfortunately not offered internationally.

I can say the book is a wonderful representation of what happens when you set your sights high and work hard to deliver something you know people will be looking at for generations. There are always challenging obstacles and moments of uncertainty when you chart new territory. Each of our vendors have done a wonderful job, printing, binding, foil stamping, die making, embossing, gluing, wrapping, and packing. Though they have been making books for many years, these vendors were challenged in ways they had not been before. They were careful not to make any mistakes along the way, careful to ensure this book would be cherished by the people that will hold it. The books will be shipped to Chicago next week and the long road will finally come to an end.

I have learned a tremendous amount throughout the process, and in the end feel this represents the true spirit of what we're all striving for. To take something on yourself can be a scary thing – doing something differently does not come easy, and quality requires the ingredient of time. Sacrificing the quality of this book was not an option for me any step of the way. You will notice that when you place this book on your shelf with pride. I look forward to getting this book out to all of you. I'm proud of what we accomplished, and blessed that I had the opportunity to mark this moment in history.

Finally, don't forget to arrange shipping here. If the cost of shipping is just too much to bear I'm happy to provide a refund to those that would want. Send us a message to orders@designing-obama.com That said, here are more photos of the book.

Thank you very much,
Scott Thomas

A quick update...

I received the first ten copies of bound books today. In the next week, the jacket will be placed on the book and then we'll be ready to ship!

Thanks again for all of the support, without you this book would not have been possible.

I just had to share these photos of opening the box.

Sincerely,
Scott Thomas

Hello Kicksters,

I want to send a quick update from Concord, New Hampshire where I have been spending the week watching the book come off the press at Capital Offset. We've been making steady progress on the 21 signatures that make up the book. Ensuring the print quality and colors are spot on. After writing, designing, proofing, editing, producing, and everything else which went into this it's amazing to see the book come together.

I wanted to share the process with you so I put together a little video, you can view below. (For those that are curious the soundtrack is The XX)

I have also posted a set of photos to flickr.

The printing should be finalized this week and the printed pages will be sent to the Acme Binding next week where the signatures will be stitched, sewn together, and glued to the covers.

Thanks again for all of your support! I'll be keeping of you posted with the progress.

It's been an exciting journey. Thanks to everyone who has supported the project. I'm looking forward to the next phase, getting this book printed !!! We reached our goal and then some! Great work to everyone involved.

If you are in Chicago tonight come by the Family Room at 1821 W Hubbard, Unit 202 for the Designing Launch Party and celebrating the anniversary of Obama's victory.
Tonight! 7pm - 11pm
Look forward to seeing you here! If you can't make it I've attached some photos of the gallery.
Work on display from Sol Sender, Antar Dayal, Scott Hansen, Gui Borchett, Jonathan Hoefler, John Slabyk, Will Wan, Lance Wyman, Tristan Eaton, Caleb Kozlowski, Max Estes, and Aaron Meshon.

Real quick (actually kinda long) I want to thank, Kori Schulman for her help and inspiration early on in this project, Sam Rosen for pushing the project forward during times of uncertainty, Charles Adler and the team at Kickstarter (@kickstarter) for making this method of fundraising possible, Allison Jones for all her assistance, all of the participating artists, the Obama New Media team for all that you taught me, John Slabyk for your genius and Scott Goodstein for making Artists for Obama a reality, my Post Family for the unconditional love and support, and finally all of you!

Be well.

We are excited to announce we'll be giving a percentage of proceeds to DonorsChoose.org. We support their approach to a "grassroots method" of funding classrooms around the country. Looking through the projects on their site touched my heart, while others made me laugh out loud.

We hope the energy you have placed in getting our project funded will be continued with the support of great programs like, DonorsChoose.org. Supporting the arts in our education system is vital to a healthy society.

A quote from John F. Kennedy, which inspired the creation of this book:

"For art establishes the basic human truths which must serve as the touchstones of our judgment. The artist...faithful to his personal vision of reality, becomes the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an offensive state."

Be well. Spread wealth.

With less then 48 hours to go we have set a new goal. Please take a moment to invite your friends to pledge and make our book even better! This is your last chance to get the special preorder price.

We did it!

We would like to send a special thanks to all of our supporters, because of you Designing Obama is officially going to be printed. Throughout this process we have received an exuberant amount support from all over the country and beyond, this kind of support gives us great confidence in entering the next step of this process: Publishing.

Keep in mind that just because we have surpassed our goal of $65,000 doesn’t mean it needs to stop here! Please pass on our project to your friends and families. The more copies sold on KickStarter by November 5th means the more resources we will have to ensure better materials and the highest quality print process. Last of all, the price of the book will raise after November 5th! The book will be $59.99 after November 5th, so tell your friends to pledge today.

Since we have decided to self-publish the book, a great amount of effort will be done on our part, working one on one with printers to ensure that Designing Obama is printed at the highest possible quality. Can't wait to share with all of you the process of printing the book!

We will be in contact with you shortly regarding all shipping information for when the book is ready for release. Until then please keep a look out for updates on the printing process and new developments at www.designing-obama.com or follow us on twitter as @designingobama.

Thanks again for your support,

With only one week remaining of fundraising, we are only $1,000 away from reaching our goal. Thanks for all the support in getting the word out about this project. We're excited to get Designing Obama off to the press and into your hands.
Please note: $50.00 for the White Sleeve book is a Pledge (Pre-order) offer that will expire on November 4th. The shelf price for the book will go up to $59.99. So get your copy today!
Going beyond our goal is good for us, the book, and you. Having a larger budget will allow us to do some interesting print techniques and use even higher quality materials. So let's get the word out and make this book as great as possible.

Thanks for your continued support! Looking forward to showing you more of the process.

We are planning to donate a percentage of the book's proceeds to a charity supporting the arts in schools and communities (the organization still to be determined). Please let us know if you have recommendations of worthy charities that are working to keep art programs in schools and communities. If you have any further questions or concerns feel free to contact us.