I’ve been thinking recently about possible uses of one’s coat of arms in a technological world; specifically, I was thinking about bookplates, and how you can’t use them on ebooks. I fought the idea of replacing books with an iPad or Kindle until I was on a long vacation last year. I lugged along a bunch of books and became jealous of those around me who were reading ebooks. Then on my birthday, my girlfriend gave me a Kindle.
With email replacing letter writing, and having no reason to put a wax seal on anything, my bookplate has been my primary way of displaying my coat of arms. So I’ve been trying to figure out a modern equivalency, and here are a couple I’ve been looking at:
1. A virtual bookplate on your Kindle (I assume you can do something similar on Nooks and iPads):
http://kindle.ereaderjournal.com/2010/12/01/how-to-create-a-virtual-bookplate-for-your-kindle/
2. I found this company where you can create a custom skin for your tablet, mp3 player and cell phone:
Anyone else looking/considering/finding new ways to display a coat of arms?
How about using your arms as your avatar? I’m sure it will catch on 
Not exactly a bookplate yet (hint hint Josh
One thing I have done is use an image of the arms I am considering as my cell phone background. I’ve also used it on my computer as a desktop. My old MP3 player had the ability to change the background picture on the display, so really the only thing that limits the use in the technology realm is the capabilities of the software/hardware you are using. A nice thing with smart phones these days is that you can send people your contact information which can include a picture. Every time you call that person, your arms would come up. Gmail allows you to put a picture in as your avatar, so there is another route.
The skins in a good idea as well. If I went that route, I would do something subtle and clean, especially if going onto my laptop.
Another fun little option would be to make your arms an icon for your desktop.
At one point or another I’ve had my arms as phone and desktop wallpaper. But I change those far too often to keep making new art.
I am familiar with skin-it however, as several months back I made a wall cling for my dartboard cabinet.
Dale - I have a dart board cabinet, and I like your wall cling. Now I’m seriously considering doing that myself.
I use mine at the end of the EMS classes I teach, when I’m not "officially" representing my full-time employer. The last slide of these classes has my contact information, and I have my arms on that.
arriano;91370 wrote:
I’ve been thinking recently about possible uses of one’s coat of arms in a technological world;Anyone else looking/considering/finding new ways to display a coat of arms?
I have mine on my credit card:
http://heraldryadict.co.uk/images/card-cap.jpg
The image is somewhat spoiled because, for security reasons, I have airbrushed out some of the detail.
Martin Goldstraw;91525 wrote:
I have mine on my credit card:
http://heraldryadict.co.uk/images/card-cap.jpg
The image is somewhat spoiled because, for security reasons, I have airbrushed out some of the detail.
That is a very cool idea! How were you able to do that?
j.carrasco;91549 wrote:
That is a very cool idea! How were you able to do that?
What’s in your wallet?
It’s now possible to have one’s arms put on postage stamps here in Canada. I haven’t tried it yet but its on my to-do list.
j.carrasco;91549 wrote:
That is a very cool idea! How were you able to do that?
Just before Christmas it was simply offered, presumably as a gimmick to encourage usage, free of charge by the credit card company to existing customers. All I had to do was respond to their email by uploading any image I wanted to via my secure on-line account. Images of course were vetted but within a week I had received my replacement card and instructions to simply cut up the old card and activate the new one.
If I recall correctly, a similar offer was made to me some time ago via my Royal Bank of Scotland account but this one involved a charge of £10 for each card (two cards on the same account - Mrs Martin and myself = £20) so I declined the offer. The Capital One offer was free so I went for it.
Actually, it probably won’t be seen by many people at all. Quite apart from the fact that I rarely use a credit card, even if it was used frequently, nowadays with chip and pin one rarely ever hands over ones cards to another person.
