Graphic USA

Ramzy Masri (kcai graphic design '10) and Morgan Allen (kcai graphic design '10) are both contributing designers in a book project by Ziggy Hanaor (illustrator, author and editor) with Cicado Books in London.

They were asked by Ziggy to represent Kansas City for her new book, Graphic USA: An Alternative Guide to 25 US Cities. You can purchase now for $30.

Looks like a great book and what a fantastic opportunity to highlight our fair city!

See more photos and read Morgan's blog post here. Photos by Morgan Allen.

seniors win national "design ignites change" awards

a huge congratulations to amanda laffoon (graphic design KCAI '11), tom morse-brown (graphic design KCAI '11) and tammy shell (graphic design KCAI '11) for winning a $4,700 implementation award and to bryan jones for winning a $500 idea award.

"i need a sidewalk" is an awareness campaign designed to alert city officials of the need to construct a sidewalk and crosswalk that provides access to rosedale park for its citizens. the park is situated across busy mission road and is currently very dangerous for anyone from the immediate neighborhood wishing to use the park facilities. funding will support the production of a billboard and website which will be supported by a press release, web video and other materials.

bryan jones' (graphic design KCAI '11) project, completed with jessica meurer (graphic design KCAI '11) and kate morr (graphic design KCAI '11), is entitled "enlightening individuals". a web-based test and supporting classroom poster series are designed to help fifth-graders understand how they best learn, either through visual, auditory, or kinesthetic means. the idea awards are given for strong concepts and recipients are not obliged to implement their projects.

see the full "design ignites change" press release here for a full list of winners. a special thanks goes out to jane heide, joshua hoffman, heidi holliday, and wendy wilson, our community partners in the rosedale neighborhood, for making this such a great experience for all of our seniors.

faculty work on exhibit

Empire
One Artist - Tyler Galloway
One Critic - Alaska Noyes
One Curator - Michael Schonhoff

A Conversation


come to empire on 1724 wyandotte (around the corner from YJ's) this friday, feb 4, to see two images from my "instructional series" presented as large vinyl adhesive pieces. opening reception is from 5 to 9 pm.

In the news

Check out the January issue of Graphic Design USA. Our own Tammy Shell (graphic design '11) is listed as one of "25 top students to watch in 2011" and her photo is even the featured thumbnail on the homepage.

What a nice interview! See it here: www.gdusa.com

One inspiring creative sharing one piece of advice, all over video chat.

"Humble Pied originally started as a crowd-sourced AIGA student presentation, with friends and peers alike offering their words of wisdom within the creative industry. This site was created to house all of the great bits of advice, and to stimulate dialogues along the way." Source

www.humblepied.com

the daily for the ipad

barkley summer mentorship program

"As a participant in Barkley's mentorship program, you will be challenged with real–world accounts under the guidance and mentorship of senior agency team members. And you’ll leave with experience that can help you get your foot in the door when the time comes to land a real job."

Accepting applications for 2011 Mentorship Program through February 25.

http://www.barkleyus.com/careers/mentorship

Reach Out and Read Poster Reception

Wednesday, February 9, 2011 4:30 - 6:00 The Simpson House
4509 Walnut St. Kansas City, MO 64111

"You're invited to the Reach Out and Read® Kansas City poster exhibition. Join us in celebrating all the wonderful poster designs submitted to our call for entries last year. Our four esteemed jurors, including AIGA President Debbie Millman and local design superstar Clifton Alexander, each picked their favorite poster and now those four are being printed for wide distribution all over Kansas City. See them hot off the presses at the exhibit.

People's Choice

In addition, all submitted poster designs will be on display and any attendee to the event will get the chance to vote on their favorite. The winner of the public voting will receive a handsome assortment of prizes including a $50 dollar gift certificate to the delicious Grand Street Cafe, $50 in xpedx retail items, and a selection of awesome screen printed posters donated by Tad Carpenter of Valhalla studios. Holla! The votes will be tallied and the winner announced at 6:00."

Come out and support our sophomores who submitted!

RSVP by Feb 4.

In the news

Check out the current issue of HOW magazine. It features our very own Laura Berglund (design '10) as one of 17 new international designers.

More on the Hallmark Internships

from Hallmark:
2011 CREATIVE SUMMER INTERNSHIPS

Learn what it’s like to do exactly what you love while working for one of the largest employers of creative professionals. Problem solving, designing, innovating; crafting, writing, collaborating—creating. You can fulfill your artistic passions, start building a career, and get paid (yes, paid) during an internship. Students do just that every summer at Hallmark, one of the largest employers of creative professionals. Learn what it’s like to be part of one of our many creative studios and departments. You will do exactly what you love while making a genuine difference in every life, every day.

There are a variety of Creative Summer Internship opportunities available, including:

Industrial Designer – Platform Team
Industrial Designer – Design Engineering
Industrial Designer – Prototype Studio
Web and Multimedia Experience Designer – Multimedia Studio
Web Designer – Marketing Design Studio
Graphic Designer / Lettering Artist – Lettering Studio
Graphic Designer / Illustrator – Greeting Card Design Studio
Graphic Designer – Marketing Design Studio
Stylist / Photographer – Photography Studio
Copywriter – Marketing Studio
Writers – Creative Writing Studio
Editors – Greeting Card Studio

A resume, cover letter and a portfolio of your work are required for all positions.
To learn more about each position and its portfolio requirements and to apply, please visit http://www.hallmark.com/careers and click on “College Students.”
THE DEADLINE TO APPLY IS TUESDAY, MARCH 1ST, 2011.

Adobe Design Achievement Awards

Submissions are now open
2011 Adobe Design Achievement Awards

"The Adobe Design Achievement Awards recognize innovative students and faculty members who AMAZE the world. Finalists will receive Adobe software and a trip to Taipei, Taiwan, where they will be honored in an awards ceremony during the 2011 IDA Congress set for October, 24-26, 2011. Category winners also will receive a cash award of US$3,000.

Competition is FREE to enter and open to all students, faculty and staff of higher education institutions around the world. Participants may submit up to 2 times in 15 different categories and 3 faculty categories. All student categories except for Web Analytics and Mobile Analytics* will be judged throughout the competition year. Students are able to submit in three judging sessions and semifinalists will be selected during each judging session. Students are advised to submit their projects for every academic term from May 2010 through June 2011.

*Web Analytics and Mobile Analytics categories require advanced registration and development kit download in order to participate. The Web Analytics category registration deadline is February 27, 2011, and the Mobile Analytics category registration deadline is January 28, 2011."

Design Challenge: Feed the City

Be part of the 2nd annual Kansas City Design Week / DESIGN CHALLENGE! This year’s challenge: FEED THE CITY, will benefit the Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture. If you are up to it, you will work collaboratively with designers from other disciplines including architecture, landscape design, industrial designers, interior design, interactive design, urban planning and graphic designers to help solve real problems facing a local KC non-profit.

To participate you will need permission to donate your time on Monday, February 7th from 12-5 for the Design Challenge, and from 5-8 for the Design on Stage portion where each team presents its Design Solution. We can take up to five teams of eight designers so sign up quick! This is a great opportunity to meet other designers, show-off your mad design method, AND help a great local organization. The following Design on Stage event will showcase your team's solution in a 10 minute presentation, as our panel of judges determine who has the best solution.

Please send your name to Zack Shubkagel at zshubkagel@willoughbydesign.com along with the organization that you are representing (i.e., AIA, AIGA, APA, IDSA, PGSLA, ASID, IIDA, KCAI, UMKC, KU, etc.) Please submit names by January 26th. We will send out further instruction closer to the event.

Last year a handful of KCAI graphic design students participated including Cassie King, Ian Tirone and Morgan Allen and Josh Eithun. Josh (graphic design '10) was on the winning team. Let's continue the tradition! Sign up to participate.

* If you participated in the first Design Challenge in 2010, you are not eligible. However please encourage others to participate by sharing your experience last year!

Intro-Active: Session 1

I'm very excited to announce a lecture series I am developing for AIGA KC. Session 1 is already filling up so register online to save your spot!

Intro-Active is a topical lecture series and moderated discussion specially developed for traditional print designers, new professionals and students interested in transitioning to or gaining a foundational knowledge of web design.

A strategic view of web design will be introduced over the course of 4 sessions. At each session selected speakers — from social media and usability experts to interactive designers and developers — will give their points of view as experienced industry professionals and arm attendees with resources, vocabulary, inspiration and confidence on relevant web design topics.

Intro-Active 1: The expanding culture of the web
Our first session will address the current paradigms of online culture, social media and highlight ways of leveraging these trends for client and project needs.

Guest Speakers
Joe Grigsby, Director of Emerging Media at VML
Lisa Qualls, CEO at Fresh ID and President of Social Media Club Kansas City

Thursday, January 27, 2011 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Kansas City Art Institute Design Building, Main Gallery (location may change - so keep tuned!)

Registration:

$5 AIGA members
$15 Non-members

Seats are limited and will likely fill up prior to the event. Register early to save your seat.

Attend all four sessions for a well-rounded perspective on the state of web design practice today. To find out about the following sessions visit http://kansascity.aiga.org/events

Adobe After Effects Workshop

Saturday, February 12 · 9:00am - 4:00pm

StagePort
208 W. 19th St.
Kansas City, MO

This one day Workshop to learn After Effects is only $25, including lunch. A full day of After Effects with some of the major motion design gurus in the Midwest. While you're there, get a tour through the StagePort photography, video and film production studio.

This Workshop is sponsored by the Midwest Association of Professional Animators, StagePort, KC Design Core, KC Video Core and of course, Adobe!

Register Now! http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=prn8jsdab&oeidk=a07e397cvdn541c1b66

For more info:
Contact, Dylan Dietz
Midwest Association of Professional Animators
dylan.dietz@themotionstation.com
(816) 267-0719

AAF-KC Foundation Scholarship

The American Advertising Federation of Kansas City Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)3 charitable organization established specifically to promote and provide for advertising education.

Every year, the Foundation awards scholarships to those college student applicants who show an intense and earnest desire to empower themselves with knowledge of the advertising, communications, marketing or graphic arts industries.

Last year our very own Johnna Pasch (senior, graphic design) won!

The Foundation Scholarship includes:
* Financial assistance of $750 per semester
* The support and counsel of a mentor from the membership of the AAF-KC
* One-year membership in the American Advertising Federation of Kansas City
* Invitations to attend all regular program activities of the AAF-KC at no cost while in school (excludes annual ADDY Awards show)
* All event and other mailings from AAF-KC
* Membership in the American Advertising Federation

The application will take you 30 to 60 minutes to complete.
APPLY HERE

Please contact Sarah Pikul, AAF-KC director, at 816-822-0300 if you have questions.

Enter the KC Addy's

The KC Addy's are the awards show for the Kansas City Ad Club. The Ad Club has a huge membership in KC with LOTS of eyes looking at the work.

In the past few years I've seen lots of JCCC and KU projects win but no KCAI. Why? Because KCAI student's haven't been entering. But you can fix this!

The deadline for student work is Jan 15th so be sure to submit your eye catching work. Show the Ad Club KC just what they're missing!

http://www.kcaddys.com

CMYK Top New Creatives 50

Show The Industry You Are Out There

CMYK magazine's high-profile design contest is open to all emerging and aspiring creatives in the following categories: copywriting, art direction, graphic and Web design, illustration and photography.

ENTER CONTEST HERE

Prize:
Validation, respect, confidence and kudos

Price:
$45.00

Max Projects/Entries:
Unlimited

Categories:
Advertising (Copywriting), Illustration, Graphic Design, Art Direction, Copywriting, Photography

Elegibility:
Students, current graduates and self-taught. Domestic and International.

Deadline:
January 10, 2011

Fast Company's list of the year's 12 best

Congrats to Gerg Kaufman (graphic design alum 2010) for making Fast Company's list of the year's 12 best ideas in interface design!

He is getting well deserved kudos for his great senior degree project - a concept for a Multi Touch Light Table.

Gerg shares the spotlight with some very cool designs as well. See the slideshow here:
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662959/12-of-the-years-best-ideas-in-interface-design-slideshow

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