The last month has really seen a lot of changes at ChemScrapes. July started with a new website and addition of a new Instagram channel. I took down the Redbubble store (and accidentally permanently deleted it in the process -doh!). Having a more “bloggy” feel to the site is another change, which I am enjoying. The biggest change of all has been registering ChemScrapes as a sole proprietorship to allow the store to come back online.

All the paperwork is done, and approved. I am waiting for work approvals and then should be good to go. For the new store there will be fresher designs, and more overall intent.

But the biggest change? My avatar “stamp”. With registration of ChemScrapes as a proprietorship my avatar has to change. For those who never paid much attention, my avatar was actually anisole (me) reading a book of Chemistry for Dummies (see below). It was drawn back early in my #chemtiwtter days (2016) in response to a mistake I made on a structure. It has been part of the ChemScrapes logo since ~2017.

But it is time to say goodbye.

The Chemistry for Dummies book is a real thing. So having it represented in a registered entity is a definite no-no. For this reason I needed to design a new logo. Through this process I realised that whilst I love the old logo, it is not fit for purpose. There is nothing in the logo that suggest ChemScrapes is anything about comics and art. It could even be mistaken as being for a tuition center.

So in coming up with a new logo I wanted to focus more on the cartooning, art and chemistry combination. Anisole has to stay – it basically represents me and conveys the chemistry cartoon theme. For the art I decided to give anisole an artists hat, a paintbrush and a palette.

At the suggestion of my daughter, I decided to reinstate a big scrappy red “S” into the wording. This is also a nod to Prof Brian Halton, the person who named ChemScrapes. It was he who suggested the “S” should really stand out. For the colour scheme, black, yellow and red remain. These have been the theme colours for the website for a number of years now.

It will take some getting used to, but overall it does resonate more with the activities of ChemScrapes.