button bonkers

[VinceT]

right now our team is getting very heated over what our buttons should say, or whether or not to have buttons at all. were going to nationals and we had buttons last year, and we have the money. i just want to get some outside opinions on the matter if your team is going through the same issues. on the table at the moment is our team name, number, school, city/state, and our semi-slogan of "Nolle Stulti Esse" which literally means 'refuse to be stupid' but we claim it as 'don't be stupid'. i just want y'alls opinion on the matter.

vince

[Iain McLeod]

Personally I would just put on (from most important to least)
1. Number
2. Team name
3. Motto

and leave the school name and miscellania off altogether.

[Munkaboo]

Wow you're team is stressing over buttons? I just make the buttons and everyone gets happy

(IF you're curious, here's what ours looks like)

www.team975.org/etc/reds.jpg
www.team975.org/etc/blacks.jpg

[ngreen]

Here ours from last year

We have our motto, "A panther among robots is a most fearsome thing." If it fits and looks okay you can put it. I don't think if will be offensive but then again I wouldn't understand it.

[VinceT]

i may not have expressed the main problem that clearly, the main feud is over whether or not to have "Nolle Stulti Esse" on the button. does anyone think this would be offensive to anyone or have an opinion on this quote

[Marygrace]

Originally Posted by VinceT

i may not have expressed the main problem that clearly, the main feud is over whether or not to have "Nolle Stulti Esse" on the button. does anyone think this would be offensive to anyone or have an opinion on this quote

LOL, nah, no one'll be offended by it. Sounds hilarious, noone will take it seriously...i wish i had thought of that one...

The buttons are for expressing your team. Right now we are working on ours...ugggggg, we have 3,000 to make *Looks over shoulder* and all of the button parts are sitting in my living room waiting to be made, and we have only started putting the little stickers with our website and our sponsors websites on the back. PHOENIX IS NEXT WEEK!!! AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!

Don't get to strung up about people taking your slogan seriously...lol, hey, it needs to be said to some people.

Peace Out

[The Lucas]

If any one wants to see "some" of our buttons they are displayed in a gif on our homepage:http://moe365.org/
I think the most important button is Team Name and Number with a Team logo. I think team logos are very important. We change our logo every year by adding another gear. Everyone draws up designs and we vote on them. This year's design has 5 gears (for five years) and is a combination of all previous logos. "It’s not easy being Green" is an unofficial team motto that started in 2002. The "Real Men Wear Kilts" button is an homage to Space Coast's "Real Men wear Pink" button that is very popular among our team.

[Iain McLeod]

Oops. My mistake.
No, I doubt that that would really offend anyone. It's still a valuable lesson no matter what language it's in. And funny latin slogans are cool

[Redhead Jokes]

Originally Posted by VinceT

right now our team is getting very heated over what our buttons should say, or whether or not to have buttons at all. means 'refuse to be stupid' but we claim it as 'don't be stupid'.

Last year Mr Button misspelled our name, redid the buttons 2xs, delivered it to the wrong address day before regionals...

So this year I have a new button machine, 3000 button parts, and no buttons made cuz a mentor isn't happy with the graphic and he's still working on it. *sigh*

your motto doesn't bother me.

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by Redhead Jokes

So this year I have a new button machine, 3000 button parts, and no buttons made cuz a mentor isn't happy with the graphic and he's still working on it. *sigh*

(trying to make lemonaide out of a pile of lemons) sounds like the perfect opportunity to start up the "Southern California FIRST Regional Billion-Button Blow-out!" Give every team a set of button parts, one black and one red Sharpie marker, two minutes of lead time, and 30 seconds of access to the button-making machine. Best artwork/coolest design wins! You can even have sub-competitions, with special prizes for:

- most buttons produced in a 120-second period
- fastest time to create 10 unique buttons
- coloring inside the lines
- fewest life-threatening injuries resulting from first two contests
- highest stack of balanced buttons

Then you can have special seminars to discuss topics like:

- "Piercing with Buttons - fashion trend or fad?"
- "Winning at 'Button, button, who's got the button?'"
- "'Pinning down your financial future - buttons as business"
- "Butt(on)ing in - inserting buttons into social conversation"
- "Was Kermit The Frog just another button freak?"
- "Life Before My Button Vest" by Woodie Flowers
- "Political Action Committe report on changing 'Boston, MA' to 'Button, MA'"

OK, maybe not...

-dave

[Marygrace]

Originally Posted by dlavery

- "Piercing with Buttons - fashion trend or fad?"
- "Winning at 'Button, button, who's got the button?'"
- "'Pinning down your f...inancial future - buttons as business"
- "Butt(on)ing in - inserting buttons into social conversation"
- "Was Kermit The Frog just another button freak?"
- "Life Before My Button Vest" by Woodie Flowers
- "Political Action Committe report on changing 'Boston, MA' to 'Button, MA'"

OK, maybe not...

-dave

LOL ROF

...k, that was pretty entertaining, lol, dont give her any ideas!

[Amanda Morrison]

um... okay, well, a lot of the other (more SANE than Dave's) posts seem to have hit the nail on the head. A team name, logo, number, or even small picture should be sufficient; additions that are funny or crazy sometimes make your buttons higher in demand.

We've ordered our buttons from here: http://www.everyonelovesbuttons.com ... and have never had problems or complications. They offer a variety of sizes and shapes of buttons, and are pretty quick with the orders (okay, ridiculously quick... last year we hesitated and needed buttons last minute, and they got 250 buttons to me in FOUR DAYS). Highly recommended over here.

[Redhead Jokes]

Originally Posted by dlavery

"Piercing with Buttons - fashion trend or fad?"

How'd you know which mentor I was talking about?!?

[Frank L.]

Try this.... Team 343 has been making a different button for each subteam/committee (i.e. mechnical, web page, electrical, logistics, etc.) So if you are looking for just one button from Team 343, you are out of luck...you will have to choose from several, or get one of each. Then, during the Championship...we will be conducting a "button collection contest"...where you have to collect all of the buttons and then one special one. The person that collects each button and finds the special one (the special one will be worn by one of our Team Members) will win a Palm Pilot (or the like). There will be two contests, one on Friday and one on Sat. We did this last year at the Championship and had a ball. Point is...don't spend time worrying over making buttons...just have fun with it.

[KenWittlief]

if you have your own button machine then you can have as many different buttons as you want - this year out team is up to 5 designs, and if someone comes up with more, we'll make them too

as long as they are not offensive let whoever is manning the button machine choose which ones they want to make - if you have a design that no one else likes, well, make them yourself when the machine is free.