Beta testing a real life puzzle

[impossibleroot]

It's been a while since I've been here, but I come back bearing a puzzle test.

http://imgur.com/a/J3p2l

My friend is an artist and he has built a stack of boxes (not quite cubes) that independently spin. His original use for it (students could draw on it with chalk) is finished, so I asked if I could make it into an interactive puzzle. Here's what I came up with, and I was wondering if any of you would want to try to solve it.

The 4 strips map to the 4 boxes, but since the boxes can spin, the individual faces can change order from strip to strip. They stay in sequence on the actual cubes, of course. Look at the last picture for a view of what the whole piece looks like.

I'm looking for errors and corrections, feedback on the individual faces, and feedback on the thing as a whole. I don't think I should answer any questions since I won't be around when this piece is installed, but I'll certainly correct and address any errors if you find them. People who try to solve it in real life will email me (Mr. Lake) the answer.

What do you think? Feel free to post pieces of it, figure it out together, or just go for the whole thing.

[Zahariel]

Well, I'm practicing for the Microsoft Puzzle Hunt in a couple of weeks, and this is the sort of puzzle I can expect to face, so I thought I'd take a crack at it.

Clearly, each small image translates to a single letter. I've got a lot of the translations.

First row:

[Suspence]

On the logos:

1-1 is Walmart
1-3 is Sprint
2-1 is Ferrari
2-2 is ING
2-5 is Learjet
3-1 is Ecko
3-3 is Oxfam
3-4 is Levi
3-5 is Under Armor
4-5 is Electrolux

A founding father was the first two but the final was just for fun; the solution is the full pen name

I'm not sure how to ID the special letters
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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Suspence]

The dice code is from "petals around the rose", where you count only the dots that surround a central dot, then apply the math suggested. The first part is "Be warned, the final solution..." and the rest as you have it already.

Don't have the full solution yet, and don't know which logos are the special one, but I'll guess Silence Dogood based on what we have now.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Suspence]

[impossibleroot]

Nicely done, Zahariel and Suspence! You've done the bulk of it, and I think you're very close to the final answer.

I checked in because this project goes 'live' today! The artist is cutting up the panels right now and we're gluing it to the blocks this morning. It'll be up and running by day's end, I think. I'll post pics if you're interested.

Thanks for trying it out, I appreciate seeing the process being followed as you identified the 'alphabets' and worked out the order.

Quick hint: check the 'special letters' on the piano again...

[Suspence]

I didn't do the piano, I just used what Zahariel had already posted, but the special letters look like the correct ones - last letter in the top line, middle letter in the middle line.

I still haven't made anything with the special letters yet. That said, given the text made up from all the parts, I'm guessing Silence Dogood?
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Zahariel]

No, it's the 3rd letter in the top line (T), and the last letter in the middle line (K). The numbers on the piano keys are the order in which the letters appear. But I still have absolutely no idea what to do with these letters.

[Suspence]

So then:

[impossibleroot]

This is correct! So, two special letters per face, two directions to read. One can be read directly, the other requires the cubes to be lined up in the correct order (which you have).

You can pretty much start reading right across the top!

[Suspence]

Unfortunately, I can't make anything of the special letters in any direction.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Vagrant]

If i ignore the seventh cube I can see COLOR BIRD AUTHOR with the first letter on each cube. I assumed that was wrong because I couldn't think of any good reason why I should ignore the seventh cube.
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Some people are like slinkies. They don't serve any real purpose but it still brings a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.

[Suspence]

Well, I saw COLOR BIRD AUT, but how are you getting AUTHOR?

I'm not sure what you mean when you say "seventh" cube. Which are you ignoring?
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Vagrant]

[Suspence]

Gotcha, but even skipping that cube, I get COLOR BIRD AUTOHAO...

[Vagrant]

I was using the first letter appearing on each face in the order shown (except the seventh) without being concerned about whether they lined up with the letters on the other faces.