Reflections of Austin

The following is a record of my experiences at the University and College Designers Association Conference in Austin Texas.

This was my first major design conference. I can honestly say I came out of my shell a bit. The main thing was striking conversations. I didn't want to just stand around as the odd-man out. Ms. Gaddis, T3 president and founder said that this business is all about relationships. I'm proud to say that I talked it up in Austin.

There are a lot of personal bits and pieces I took from this conference. I learned quite a bit from Elliot Earls, and Michael Walsh. Weather it's trying not to committ a type crime, or following my bliss in an attempt to expand myself, I'll always be reminded that Design Matters.

Thank you UCDA for a great conference. See you (hopefully) in 2007.

Final Day in Austin

The following is a record of my experiences at the University and College Designers Association Conference in Austin Texas.

Everything's coming to a close, and I've met some good people. Had lunch at a local joint with some of the guys I met. We were all roughly the same age, all (but one) married, and exchanged stories about work and life.

One of my last sessions was with Ilene Strizver again. This was more about managing type correctly in InDesign. She's funny, and very pleasant to listen to. It was as informative as her session from yesterday.

T3-The Think Tank closed out the conference. Redefining creativity was the topic of their talk, and although I typically don't care for ad agencies, I began to slowly understand their function in this industry. I still can't stand advertising, though. I can at least appreciate some of it a little more.

Silent Battle in Austin

The following is a record of my experiences at the University and College Designers Association Conference in Austin Texas.

The conference's silent auction was very heated. While my battle for the 1984 Olympics Graphics standards poster halted at $15.00 ...the beautiful Saul Bass poster went for $80.00. It really is a beautiful poster. You had to see it in person.

Ilene Strizver's list of Ten Worst Type Crimes was very interesting. I'm proud to say I was aware of a few, but I leanred about InDesign's glyph pallet, OpenType and the mysteries of optical allignment.

Creativity in Austin

The following is a record of my experiences at the University and College Designers Association Conference in Austin Texas.

It's all about the nitty gritty. Today was such a full day. Creativity session with Henk van Assen was great. It's purpose was to use the basic principals of design to create a composition using found type from magazines and newspapers (mine says 'west world' in brown type.) After a few more sessions, visited several local agencies including T3-The Think Tank.

Those of us who went on the agency tours all met up at this nice tex-mex place, where I met a few cool cats from Phoenix, and Louisiana. We talked it up all night, everything from gripes about working in higher education, to debating Elliot Earls' keynote speech.

Sunday in Austin

The following is a record of my experiences at the University and College Designers Association Conference in Austin Texas.

First full day in Austin. Woke up for the 6:30am Walk & Talk. Met an art director from Illinois who gave good advice on art directing. Also met a designer from a community college in Baltimore with some good info on researching for website re-design. Our walk took us all the way downtown to the Congress Avenue Bridge... where I only saw a few bats.

My first session was about branding with Michael Walsh of the Visual Arts Press. He provided a good insight on what they do for the School of Visual Arts. The work was inspirational, and the one thing I learned... you can't be afraid to try new ideas. While that may work for an art college, it's usually difficult to take that approach in a community college.

It Begins in Austin

The following is a record of my experiences at the University and College Designers Association Conference in Austin Texas.

The Conference officially kicked off with a meet-and-greet type of dinner & design show. I came to this conference by myself, and I didn't want my shyness problems to get in the way, so I started talking to the people next to me. I met Kirsten from Illinois and Michael from Kansas. Low and behold... in the middle of Texas, I found another Eagle's fan in Michael. From Kansas no less. It pays not to be shy.

After an official 'welcome' and a showcase of this year's design competition winners, Elliot Earls, designer in residence from the Cranbrook Academy delivered his keynote address. I was looking forward to this since I got the mailers, and he did not disappoint.

Censorship Gone Ape Shit

We live in sad times when a person gets stopped by security agents in an airport for wearing a t-shirt with Arabic script. I'm going to re-type that for emphasis: A person was stopped and taken into custody for wearing a t-shirt with Arabic script. Oh, the man was also Arabic, and the message on his shirt was also in English.

I'm not even going to get into the rediculesness of this situation. It just makes me sad to think you can't even express yourself on your OWN CLOTHING. Case in point, I found this other article of a woman who got kicked off of an airplane for wearing a t-shirt with derrogatory depictions of Bush, Cheney and Condi.

I need a vacation from this stupid shit.

Ricky is Back

Believe it or not, this drawing turned out a lot better in person. I tried shooting it with my built in iSight camera. Anyway, been thinking about what I want to accomplish with this blog, because I don't feel it's interesting enough. One blog I found has a person writing an idea a day. Maybe I can do a tiny drawing a day? No matter how bad. Anyway, Ricky Gervais Podcasts are back!

He is Watching

He was always there, watching. While I was on the computer, or playing video games, or rocking out... he was watching. Just staring with his big beautiful eyes, tail flickering carelessly.