Discussion: OUSA car magnets

I bought a few nice looking OUSA car magnets from the Junior Team at the Classic Champs. I stuck them on other people's cars and now don't have any for myself. How do I get more?

Ironically, I don't have any O-USA gear, haha.

We are selling them as a fundraiser for Orienteering USA, at $5 each + shipping (if needed).

Either let me know of an upcoming meet where our paths could cross, or tell me how many you (or your club) would like and that you'd like them mailed to you. I'll e-invoice and give you shipping options.

They make fine holiday gifts, btw!

How large are they? Photos?

Oval, about 7" the long way (a guess, as I don't have mine handy). It's the logo on a white background with a red border line--very nice.

My only thought is that it should have .org under the arrow so folks can find the website and check us out. Maybe next printing? How many do you have in stock?

I think most people use teh google to find sites these days (seriously, a lot of people will even type "www.facebook.com" into a google search bar), and thankfully searching for "orienteeringusa" or "orienteering usa" both come up with orienteeringusa.org as the first hit. The .org would be a nice emphasis to get people to think about it, though.

5 3/4" x 3 3/4"
border line is blue

I don't excel at memory-O. ;-)

I just received about 50 of the adhesive OUSA stickers (rectangular, 5.75x3.50", no border) from Glen, and will have them with me here.

I have some of the stickers, and I have to say that I was quite disappointed with the image printing. I don't know much about graphics, but I guess it looks like a rasterization issue? The magnets, on the other hand, came out great.

I was quite disappointed with the image printing. I don't know much about graphics, but I guess it looks like a rasterization issue?

Yeah, I was really disappointed when I first saw them, too (they came with the NOD kit). I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed.

"This looks like a .jpeg! I didn't spend all of that time using vectors to see this get raster artifacts!"

So... even though I technically don't own the logo anymore, I'd be willing to distribute vector versions to people who are going to be printing (or webbing) where image quality is key.

Please send to me, Patrick, just as a back-up to the ones that will be going on the website soon... usofweb at gmail

One reason we did the magnets (after getting permission from Glen) was that we were hearing from club members that (1) they didn't like having permanent stickers attached to their bumpers, and (2) the quality of the sticker was poor, and even the shape is problematic. So we took pains to make sure the magnet quality was high(er) and to make it fit in an oval design. An earlier version did have a URL but it was just too cluttered, and like Cristina said, we figured anyone online would do a search anyway.

FYI, the logo is owned by Orienteering USA, so it should only be used with permission from Glen (or the Board, I suppose). We have been putting it on the maps for our local meets when there's space, and future versions of our club promotional materials (like rack cards, flyers and brochures, as well as club jerseys) are all likely to sport the logo somewhere too.

Now that every club has a website, it isn't cool anymore and people aren't going to bother remembering the URL. They may remember at least part of the name, though. I bet I could sell a lot of small car magnets that have the new OUSA logo and the text "Orienteering USA" on it, and maybe our club would buy a few large car magnets with the same logo and both "Orienteering USA" and "New Mexico Orienteers" on it. Imagine you are not an orienteer and you see these magnets on cars in a parking lot at REI or a trailhead. Would the orange&white symbol or the arrow&finish symbol mean anything to you? Not likely. Would the word "orienteering" mean anything? Maybe, and if not then at least the word is a term you might type into a search engine. Sometimes a word is worth 1000 images.

Our new Drupal website tracks referring websites and for visitors incoming from search engines it even shows the search terms they used. Our website is getting hits from search terms like "NM rogaine", "NM orienteering", "scout orienteering"...

I just got a "new" car and it's a nice boring white color. I could use one about 2 feet long for my door :)

I was quite disappointed with the image printing. I don't know much about graphics, but I guess it looks like a rasterization issue?

I see what you mean. :-\ The sticker could probably be narrower too.

Here's a thought: Those "magnetic" stickers that adhere to windows.

Yes, we're working on getting those "static cling" decals for Orienteering USA.

Here in the desert southwest those static cling decals don't survive from one oil change to the next.

Odd -- you'd think they'd do better in low humidity...