About the Discussion
"Everything is going to be OK." Doesn't that feel better? Finally, a projection about the future that doesn't suck all the oxygen out of the room. Despite all of the doom and gloom, the silver lining for designers is that everything they need for success and happiness in this field is well within their own control. The Practice Sessions panel discussion will be an open dialogue about the traits necessary to thrive in today's highly networked design field: passion, curiosity, and optimism. The panel will discuss how these qualities manifest in their work through global collaborations, personal visual explorations and the testing of new business models.
About the Workshop
The Practice Sessions workshop will be a "make-tank" for 10 of the top students at the National Student Show & Conference. The workshop will focus on students and professionals working together to leverage their collective talents to create a new positive propaganda. Participants will be collaborating and using their visual communication skills to raise spirits and affirm that "Everything is going to be OK."
Filling you full of advice, inspiration and good old-fashioned design know-how isn't all we have to offer. We've partnered with some really great folks who want to help you and your future as a creative professional as much as we do.
Folkert Gorter and Josh Pangell have graciously donated a lifetime account for each practitioner at their newly developed personal publishing platform, Cargo. Cargo evolved out of the system that runs the SpaceCollective community. The goal of Cargo is to dramatically increase the accessibility and exposure of creative individuals on the internet, while aspiring to build a networked context that will contribute to the culture as a whole.
Andre Andreev and G. Dan Covert have donated copies of their eye-opening book, Never Sleep for each practitioner. There is a major disconnect between the life of a design student and the transition to being a design professional. To demystify the transition, Andre and Dan share their failures, successes, and surprises during their years in college and progression into the field: the creative process, monetary problems, internships, interviews, mistakes, and personal relationships.
The Students
Ashley Cooper, Texas State University
Megan Dowdy, Truman State University
Christina Griffis, Texas A&M University-Commerce
Aaron Jacques, Fort Hays State University
Cameron Kraus, Harding University
Andrew Le, Mississippi State University
Josh Schweser, Texas Christian University
Casey Sullivan, The Creative Circus
Stu Taylor, University of North Texas
Jared Tomlinson, Missouri State University
About Shane
The fact that his last name seems to be missing a few vowels might start to explain why Shane Bzdok embraces a 'less is more' approach to design. His love for clean, honest design and typography makes him a perfect fit for his current role at BBDK, Inc. His relationship with owners Duane King and Bob Borden began back in 2000 when he joined King at focus2 to help develop award winning print, packaging and interactive solutions for national and overseas clients. He now applies his ever-expanding technical knowledge and design chops to developing solutions for both clients and the contstantly evolving internal endeavors of BBDK. Part of those endeavors include writing the occasional article and contributing other content to BBDK's passion project, Thinking for a Living™.
http://www.bbdk.com
http://www.athleticsnyc.com
http://www.thinkingforaliving.org
About Antonio
Due to scheduling conflicts, Antonio will be attending The Practice Sessions virtually instead of physically. After all, a virtual Antonio is better than no Antonio.
Born in Queens, New York into a colorful Italian family, Antonio Carusone has been in the creative arts since he was a child. Currently he resides in New York City, where he is an Senior Art Director at Ogilvy, and oversees projects which have included Nestle, Cisco, Time Warner Cable, Lays, Dial, Red Stripe, AOL, NFL, Gillette, Cingular, Audi, Verizon, and Bank of America. He has also won Caple Design Awards for his work on Wisk and Jose Cuervo.
Antonio is also the author of the popular graphic design blog AisleOne and the ever-growing resource The Grid System.
http://www.aisleone.net
http://www.thegridsystem.org
http://www.yearofthesheep.com
About Frank
Frank Chimero is an illustrator, graphic designer and writer based in Springfield, Missouri. He teaches design and typography at Missouri State University. He also frequently contributes his writing and illustrations to Thinking for a Living. Chimero's fascination with the creative process, curiosity, and visual experience informs all of his work. Each piece is the part of an exploration in finding wit, surprise, honesty and joy in the world around us. For Frank, the work is play, and the play is work. His clients include: The New York Times, Business Week, Starbucks, Fast Company, American Airlines, Edizioni Corraini Press, and Good Magazine.
About Duane
With a unique style and approach that is emblematic of a new generation of graphic designers, Duane King has been developing design solutions for top brands for over a decade. King joined Focus2, a Dallas-based brand development group, in 1998 where his innovative approach to analyzing and solving creative challenges achieved notable results. In 2005, he went on to found BBDK with Bob Borden. King’s technical knowledge and passion for “wondering why” gives his work an originality that has been recognized by Graphis, The 100 Show, I.D. Magazine, Communications Arts, Print and HOW Magazine. Among his clients: MoMA, Bloomingdale's, Luigi Bormioli, Nambé, Orrefors, Kosta Boda, Neiman Marcus, Herman Miller, Northrop Grumman, Activision, Sega, id Software and FootAction USA.
Duane is the founder of Thinking for a Living™ an ever-growing platform dedicated to the concept of open source design education.
http://www.bbdk.com
http://www.athleticsnyc.com
http://www.thinkingforaliving.org
About Matt
Matt Owens is the principal of Brooklyn based design studio Volumeone established in 1997. The experimental portion of volumeone.com is updated several times a year, featuring conceptual narratives and personal visual work. These explorations show prospective clients the studio’s wide range of visual and technical capabilities while providing a creative platform for learning and experimentation outside the sphere of client work. Volumeone clients include Ride Snowboards, Levi’s Europe, XLR8R Magazine, Sizzle clothing label in Japan, Leo Burnett, Bartle Bogle Hegarty and the American Institute of Graphic Art.
National Student Show & Conference
You're somewhere between homework and the workforce. So, how do you get the rest of the way? How do you fill the gap between education and experience? Join some of the best in the business and find out what they wish they'd known when they were getting started.
http://nationalstudentconference.org
The Show
All college-level designers, art directors, illustrators, photographers, and even writers are invited to submit their finest work and compete with visual communications students from around the country. Entries in 22 categories (plus six Scholarship Categories) will be judged by an esteemed panel of nationally acclaimed creatives.
The entry deadline is February 25, 2009.
The Conference
The Conference spans three days starting with Studio Tours on Thursday and kicking off on Friday with a schedule that is chock-full of speakers, breakout sessions, a job fair and portfolio review, roundtable discussions with real working professionals and a ton of free stuff. The Conference is also where the winning entries to the National Student Show will be on display and the Awards Show is where Scholarship winners and Best of Show winners will be announced.
The Conference registration deadline is March 27, 2009.
Nine is fine.
Nada. Nothing. Zilch.
Use your keys if you please. Press 1-7 on your number pad.
