more about the experience

more about books, interactivity and the "trans-media experience." check out the amanda project by fourth media publishing.

enriching the experience

Slam = Alms

For the holidays, recent design alums Garrett Fuselier ('08) and Cassie King ('10) participate a Google Demo Slam. Watch it here.

Comedy Central's new logo controversy

Comedy Central Unveils Ironic New Logo, and Everyone Misses the Joke

“One of the things we looked at constantly as we were developing the brand redesign is that it needed to become a next-generation brand package,” Johnson says. “In the old world you could do a logo mark that was dominant for print. You don’t want that anymore. The way a brand moves in a digital space -- where everything moves -- is as relevant to your experience as a static logo.”

(ignore the very last line of the fast company article, or don't, but take it with a grain of salt)

hallmark internship

check out this opportunity to work the summer inside the "factory" as a design intern.

general career info is here.

internship details are here.

Project: Design a Poster Promoting Alternative Holiday Gifts

"This holiday season, you will be spending a lot of money on gifts for your family and friends, and they will be spending a lot of money on you. What if you used some of that money to help people in the developing world? During the holidays, Mercy Corps offers people a chance to give gifts, like using $70 to buy a goat for a farmer in Zimbabwe, $33 to purchase crickets for an entrepreneur in Indonesia, or $125 to refurbish a classroom in Somalia. To help promote this kind of gift giving, Mercy Corps is asking the GOOD readership to design a poster to help promote the idea. The money that could go to these alternative holiday gifts could improve lives and, in some small way, change the world. Your design of a compelling poster could help accomplish that. Design, at its finest, has a history of driving social change. We hope you can continue in that tradition."

Read More at Good

kcai alum josé garcía earns national recognition

a 2005 graduate of our fine program, josé garcía, from quito ecuador, went on to earn a masters in packaging design at elisava university in spain. he recently launched his own studio, gworkshop, in quito and has been racking up multiple national awards and press for his great packaging work. the above front-page image is from the largest newspaper in ecuador. be sure to check out josé's site and then bug him for an internship this summer. a huge congrats to josé for the great work he has done. we're very proud of our grads!

Check out the recent Parse article by Marty Lane:

Failure: It’s Not That Bad

by Marty Maxwell Lane

Failure can be defined as a lack of success. But, how does one understand success within a creative practice? As a design educator, I witness fear of failing regularly. Whether a student striving for an A, a professor striving for tenure or a practitioner striving to build a practice we all have a fear of failing. However, what if the fear of failure and the accompanying baggage is worse than the failure itself?

Read more here...

website of interest

never sleep is the website for a book of the same name. the premise of the book is that "there is a major disconnect between the life of a design student and the transition to being a design professional." to that end, the book and the site offer lots of stories and advice for design students and young professionals. worth a read / look.

something from PH books

LEO FUCHS: Special Photographer From the Golden Age of Hollywood from powerHouse Books on Vimeo.

not so much about the design...but the images and video PRESENTATION.

AIGA GROUP POTLUCK & ROUNDTABLE (11-18)

Armin Vit in KC Dec 2

The Good, The Blog and The Ugly an AIGA KC event

"If you're a design blog junkie, you probably recognize the name Armin Vit (http://www.underconsideration.com/). If you've ever ranted about your design morals on Speak Up, read about the latest logo redesign debacle on Brand New, or quip'd about an inspiring project on Quipsologies, then you've interacted with his blogs. While perusing the bookshelves, you've likely seen books he's published, such as Graphic Design, Referenced. Join us as Armin Vit gives us a raw, uncensored look at his ten year design career—having grown from an almost client-less home business and a single blog to a relative publishing empire. This event won't be a cliché "best-of" slideshow. The Good, The Blog and The Ugly will give you a peek at Armin's lamest flops and cautionary tales as well as his greatest hits..."

There is also an opportunity to attend a private dinner with Armin Vit. Details on the AIGA KC site.

Liquid 9 Studio Tour (11-17-10)

Herbert Matter Documentary 11/18

Herbert Matter was a Swiss-born American photographer and graphic designer known for his pioneering the photomontage in a series of Swiss tourism posters in the early 1930’s.

Reto Caduff has now put the life and work of this great designer to film in “The Visible Language of Herbert Mater”. Director Caduff will offer one of the only showings in the Midwest at the Liberty Hall Theatre in Lawrence and will be there to discuss the making of the film.

Tickets are at the door and there will be only one showing.
$10 (cash only)
Thursday evening, November 18, 6:30-9:30, Liberty Hall/Downtown Lawrence.

Design Ranch Studio Tour (11-10-10)

Thanks, Bethany, for taking photos!

Advice For Emerging Designers

After School Special: Advice For Emerging Designers

beautiful comparison...

and i've never been on the "spruce goose."

Upcoming Events

Hey kids, check out the blog for potluck/round-table details, as well as details for our first two studio tours this semester!

Don't forget about the all-members meeting this coming First Friday at lunch! Can't wait to see your super-smiley faces!

Cheers,
Abby

What's black and white and abstract all over?

(hint: it contains dots and lines too!)

You all are invited to my ArtSounds video performance: Tuesday November 9th, 7:30 PM, Epperson.

Mine is a short video/music collaboration (created with Robb Smigielski and Daniel Eichenbaum) that will be part of a longer performance called "Quadrivium Duplum".

"The Kansas City chamber music ensemble, Quadrivium and the Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance team up for an encore performance of their highly acclaimed collaboration featuring local musicians, composers and artists. Quadrivium members Jonathan Borja (flute), Kari Johnson (piano), Cheryl Melfi (clarinet), and Sascha Groschang (cello) will perform works by Chris Biggs, Jason Bolte, Andrew Seager Cole, Daniel Eichenbaum, Mara Gibson, and William Lackey with videos by Chris Biggs, Andrew Seager Cole, Rebecca Dolan, Jamie Gray and Robb Smigielski."

Be SWISSMISS's intern!

Studio612A (a collaborative workspace in NY, shared by design blogger extraordinaire swissmiss) is seeking a one month studio intern. They don't say when, but perhaps you could arrange this to occur over your winter break!

This would be a fantastic opportunity in which you would learn from designers, developers, interior designers, copy writers and bloggers:

Cameron Kozcon, FictiveKin
Larry Legend, House of Legend
Rob Weychert
Jennifer Ward, Minor Details
Erica Heinz, Energy7
William Burks Spencer, Spencer Empire
Chris Shiflett, of Analog
swissmiss

Email them and state "why you think you’d qualify". Make sure to include a link to your website (something like this would work).

more info here.

First Friday Design Exhibit

For the very first time, AIGA KC will be showing selections from the AIGA A6 Design Awards in a joint exhibition with the Young Architects Forum's Monsters of Design show. This is a great opportunity to see all the great work from both shows at the same time. Come see the winning professional and student projects!

Friday, November 5, 2010 6:00 - 10:00 pm

AIA/AIGA Office in the Crossroads
1801 McGee Street, Suite 100
Kansas City, mo 64108

American Advertising Federation of Kansas City Career Day

Monday, November 15th
9 am Opening Presentation
4 pm Portfolio Review & Wrap Up

Location Uptown Theatre
more info & registration here

thrive lecture and workshop

"Current Perspectives" lecture with Thrive: Terrance Clark (’05 graphic design) and Will Staley (’04 graphic design)
Thursday November 11, 7pm
Epperson Auditorium, Vanderslice Hall
Thrive, a nonprofit design firm located in Helena, Ark., that offers creative and strategic support to assist economically-impoverished rural communities in the United States, is co-directed by Terrance Clark  and Will Staley.

Thrive workshop 
Friday Nov 12 and Saturday Nov 13 
- in the design building
- work on the development of a community event that would benefit the town of Helena, Arkansas, and the branding of that event.
a sign up sheet and details of the workshop will be outside lisa's door -- first come, first serve, so sign up fast!

design your own alphabet

more info here!

I know there are some worthy bitmap designs from type 1 or experimental letters from type 4!

Internship opportunity

Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams

"Looking for smart, focused, talented design students who are interested in the contemporary state of design to apply for seasonal internship program. The intern works directly the designers employed by MoCA, on postcards, posters, didactics and vinyl lettering"

Starting interviews for the next internship period, starting in Jan. and ending in May 2011.

More info about the internship can be found here... http://www.massmoca.org/opportunities.php

behance portfolios

It's easy to create your own portfolio with Behance. Check out all of the KCAI graphic design students and recent graduates that have their work online. If you are an AIGA member your behance portfolio will show up on the AIGA jobs site too.

joshua eithun
morgan ashley allen
gerg kaufman
laura berglund
josh lambert
dustin maberry
Andrea Morris
MoninaVelarde
tom morse-brown
lance flores
Karen Villalba
luke babb
patrick drake
Cassandra King
Genia Narinskaya
nik smith
taylor pruitt

KCAI design seniors in the news

Guerilla crosswalk temporarily connects Rosedale Park with its neighborhood

Check out the design efforts of seniors Tom Morse-Brown, Tammy Shell and Amanda Laffoon.

The campaign is featured on Let’s Go KC and you can read more on Tom's blog.

AIGA film series

REEL Film: Infinite Space, The Architecture of John Lautner
Event November 4, 2010
Tivoli Theater

Tickets: Online: $10.00 At Door: $12.00 cash Register Now! Watch the Trailer The Reel Design Film Series presents Infinite Space, a new documentary feature...

View Details

Poster design by our very own, Julie Sikonski

http://www.frankchimero.com/idea/

ode to your studio desk

a sweet, short film by Imaginary Forces

What makes your desk home?

Gap is back and what AIGA does for you

Here's a quick summary of the recent re-design-crowd-sourcing debacle at Gap. http://www.idsgn.org/posts/gap-turns-to-crowdsourcing/

And more importantly, here is the letter that AIGA sent to GAP. Your national organization for design (AIGA) provides thought leadership on ethical business practices for the profession and has taken a stand against crowdsourcing.
http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/how-do-businesses-balance-crowd-participation-and-design#letter

Kickball! 10-8

AIGA members and officers gathered for a fun game of kickball!

Sean was awarded a watermelon for being the "best dressed"