This blog is relocating

In a lot of ways, web design is not unlike heraldry. Shields and websites are graphical representations of individuals and organizations. Both have a unique code or language (HTML/CSS and Blazon) which, when interpreted either by a machine (internet browser) or a heraldic artist, renders a visual design. And both require a strong eye for aesthetics as well as a technical expertise to successfully develop.

In addition to my heraldry hobby I do graphic and web design. Because of the similarities, I've decided to conjoin my two extra-vocational identities on one website. From now on, the Maine Heraldry blog can be found at my domain, www.jeremyhammond.net.

The direct link for the blog is www.jeremyhammond.net/maineheraldryblog.

I hope you'll follow me at the new location!

Rowing Club Colors

While not strictly heraldry, I did find a recent Wooden Boat Magazine (based out of Maine) posting on Facebook pretty interesting.

These are the vessels which will be competing in the St. Ayles Skiff World Championship Ullapool, a wooden boat race in Scotland. I appreciate the simplistic use of color for identification and of course see a resemblance to heraldry in terms of using vibrant visual markers to identify individuals or groups - or in this case rowing clubs.

It also reminds me of the use of lobster buoys here in Maine. Every lobster-fisherman has a buoy to mark each trap left behind which is identifiable by unique color and stripe patterns. I believe the patterns are even registered with the State. (Below are the buoys of my grandfather hanging from my deck railing, white with crossing green and orange stripes.)

I even devised arms which I attributed to my grandfather based on the buoy design. My grandfather did not live long enough to see these arms, and they aren't in use by my family. They exist mostly in my imagination, but I'm proud of the design nonetheless. Lobster-fisherman even post the same buoy on their boat, flying it as sort of a flag.