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"

faculty development grant presentations

jamie gray, mike kidwell, and tyler galloway will be presenting the results of work/research completed with the aid of faculty development grants they each received last spring. these, and other faculty presentations, will be in the vanderslice reception room.

wed oct 6, 3:50
tyler is presenting on the creation of a silkscreen and laser-cut poster he designed “printervention,” a poster exhibit in Chicago, IL that raises awareness of social and political issues.

fri oct 15, 3:30
mike is presenting on the creation of a digitally-published book of personal photography that simultaneously explores personal narrative and the technical issues associated with digital printing.

fri oct 15, 3:50
jamie is presenting on her talk given at the Fifth Centre of Learning and Teaching in Art and Design international conference in Berlin, Germany, where she discussed a long-distance classroom collaboration with our own marty lane. 

Events: Studio tours and more

http://aigakcai.blogspot.com/2010/10/potential-studio-visits-for-fall.html

Please check out THIS POST to view possible studios we want to tour. I need everyone to select three firms and leave their selections in the comment section on that post. Thanks!

We've got a bunch of events coming up. You MUST be a member of AIGA in order to participate in those so be sure to sign up by the end of the month! It only costs $50, and it's definitely worth every penny of it.

Up-coming events:

Kickball on the 8th, Friday, at Roanoke Park, 4 o clock, meet at 3:45 in studio for a ride or in order to follow someone there.

Halloween Party

Friday, October 29, starting at 7 p.m.

Activities:

Decorating Pumpkins

Decorate Studio

Movies on TV

Video Games

Food - candy

Music

Cake Walk?

Lots of food

Sean (senior studio) is in charge of planning, so contact him with questions or suggestions

Other events happening in the near future to keep an eye out for:

Potluck/Roundtable in November

Group Critique in December

Tours Scattered throughout

Movie Night (Art and Copy)

Thirty Conversations on Design

Check out the web project Thirty Conversations on Design. They asked 30 creatives two questions: “What single example of design inspires you most?” and “What problem should design solve next?”

Of particular interest:
Daniel Pink on the eraser and where he thinks design should focus next: systems.
Deborah Alder on designing for your audience.

*Daniel Pink wrote a nice little book, A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule The Future, that is worth checking out. Perhaps some light winter break reading?

"Lawyers. Accountants. Computer programmers. That’s what our parents encouraged us to become when we grew up. But Mom and Dad were wrong. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind. The era of “left brain” dominance, and the Information Age that it engendered, are giving way to a new world in which “right brain” qualities-inventiveness, empathy, meaning-predominate. That’s the argument at the center of this provocative and original book, which uses the two sides of our brains as a metaphor for understanding the contours of our times."

Matthew Carter recognized as a 2010 MacArthur Fellow

Type Designer Matthew Carter is recognized as a 2010 MacArthur Fellow.



Go type!

Lecture: people centered design

Mike McCoy, an award winning product and interior designer and design educator, will be giving a lunchtime talk (10:40-11:40) on Friday October 8th in the design building. The topic is 'people centered design: tools & methods'. Should prove to be very informative and interesting!

Architecture lecture

In Dialogue With Gravity
Lecture by Yvonne Farrell
Grafton Architects

Tuesday, October 5th
Kansas City Design Center
1018 Baltimore

Yvonne Farrell is co-director of Grafton Architects in Dublin, Ireland, which she established in 1977 with Shelley McNamara. The practice has been engaged in the design of university buildings, schools, housing, mixed-use buildings, and institutional buildings together with urban design projects. Grafton Architects has won numerous awards from the Architectural
Association of Ireland, among other honors.

AIGA The REEL Design Film Series Returns!

October 7
Tivoli Theater
4050 Pennsylvania Ave.
Kansas City, MO 64111

Watch the Trailer

The first film of the 2010 REEL Design film series is called Typeface. It is a beautiful film about The Hamilton Wood Type Museum and print shop where international artists meet retired craftsmen and together navigate the convergence of modern design and traditional technique.

The REEL Design Film Series will continue in November with Infinite Space, The Architecture of John Lautner and a third film to be announced.

Brought to you by a partnership between AIGA, AIA, IDSA and KC MODERN.

A6 Gala Flickr set

Check out Tammy Shell's photos of the AIGA a6 gala here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tammyshell/sets/72157624917861643/

Meet your AIGA officers

OFFICERS:

Micah, Communications Officer, liaison to Jamie

Luke, Programming Committee

Mo, Programming

Lance, Programming

Johnna, Programming

Sean, Programming

Taylor, Programming

Patrick, Sophomore Rep

Erica, Sophomore Rep

Abby, Documentation

Bethany, Documentation

Sam, Secretary

AIGA: KCAI Student Branch Blog

Hey kids,

I have created a blog for the KCAI Student Branch of AIGA, make sure to follow it. I'll probably end up posting other photos of events on that page, not to mention the fact that fun polls will pop up every now and then. Click here to check it out!

Cheers,
Abby

AIGA: A6 Awards Gala 9-18-10

Free food, open bar, ice cream, great dj, awards, professionals, students, and some of the most awesome design work ever–that pretty much sums up this years flavor of the A6 Awards Gala that happened on Saturday September 18th. If you didn't make it this year, you should really try to make it next year for sure! We all had a great time despite the rain. It was a great chance to mingle with professionals (from Hallmark and Willoughby to name a few of the design firms in attendance) and a few kids from other schools in the KC area. Not to mention the fact that it was a great way to show support for your fellow classmates that were recognized this year! Congrats again to Andrea Morris, Luke Babb and Micah Barta!

Suntan Lotion Packaging designed by Luke Babb, Soy Candle Packaging designed by Andrea Morris.

Poster designed for the Folly Jazz series by Micah Barta.

Collaborative Consumption Essay

This is a great essay and video (posted on Swissmiss) to promote a new book on the era of "Collaborative Consumption". It should be of particular interest for the design seniors in multimedia experience studio and visual advocacy studio.

http://www.swiss-miss.com/2010/09/guest-post-by-rachel-botsman.html#more-24218

Art+Copy Club Presents:

Stanley Hainsworth (a man with great hair, and the former creative director at Nike, Lego and Starbucks) speaks on "The Top 10 Things I have Learned in the Last 20 Years of Design"

Thursday, September 23
Open at 5:30pm, Presentation at 6:30pm.
at David Morris Photography, 2131 Washington St., Kansas City, MO.

Free to students with valid student ID, pre-register by emailing sarah@aafkc.com.

Become an AIGA member

AIGA is committed to increasing student involvement in the design community. To make membership even more accessible to students, for six weeks only, full-time students can join or renew online for just $50.

This national student membership drive will occur from mid-September thru October 31. No paper forms to complete or money to collect. Students simply go to my.aiga.org to sign up and save!

Be sure to notify me that you have joined so I can add you to the KCAI student group roster.

posted on design observer is this short film about massimo V—his desire is not to create ephemera.

Jamie to present at the next AIGA Design Educator's Conference

Jamie has been invited to be a co-author for the session Designing for Experience: Settings and Behaviors at New Contexts/New Practices, the AIGA design educator's conference. Session provocateur is David Small, the moderator is Andrew Blauvelt, and the writer is Andrea Codrington. She will be in good company!

A little preview from Jamie's abstract:
"DESIGNING FOR EXPERIENCE:
Due to technological saturation and accessibility, the design practice has shifted towards more complex systems of integrated and multiple-media channels. Everything from the semantic web, participatory culture and mobile devices are transforming the way commerce and cultural institutions construct and deliver experiences."

The wilderness downtown

Something to get you excited (and maybe a little emotional) about the wide open future of design + technology. The Wilderness Downtown. View with Google chrome or safari.

Marty writes for Parse

Parse is a new online magazine brought to you by the people at HOW and AIGA.

It a blog-like publication that "aims to make sense of issues and information relevant to design practitioners, regardless of the disciplines they work in".

Our very own Assistant Professor Marty Lane is a ongoing contributor. You can read her first article here, titled Exploring interface possibilities (with marshmallows).

Kidwell's most recent publishing venture

Mr. Kidwell has designed 80 pages of of fun-filled action entitled: something like a series of explorations using image, space and self-publishing technology. Sounds cool, right? Well, you can view it online at: http://www.blurb.com/books/1575803

AIGA A6 Gala

Join us for great food, drinks, music, friends and to celebrate the best design of Kansas City!

Register Now

Saturday, September 18, 2010

7-10 pm
Awards Program, 8 pm

STUDIO Dan Meiners
2500 West Pennway
Kansas City, MO 64108

ADVANCED REGISTRATION
$50 Professional Members*
$40 Student Members* +
$65 Non-Members

* Members may bring one guest at the professional member price!
* + Student non-members: $50 at the door with a student id