Tonight I was able to attend Juan Carlos Pagan's talk in KC for design week! I haven't been to an AIGA event in awhile and it was wonderful to get to spend an evening hearing about his work. JC is an art director, typographer, and designer who loves to manipulate letterforms to tell stories. His talk focused on doing things the hard way, and his passion for creating definitely comes through in his work. Thanks AIGA KC, and my friend Lila, for bringing another great speaker to KC!
Jessica Hische in KC!
I have long admired Jessica Hische's beautiful lettering, and the moment AIGA KC announced she would be speaking I immediately bought a ticket. Here are a few quick takeaways from her talk, I can't wait to read her new book In Progress, which I was lucky enough to get signed! Thanks, AIGA, for bringing such a wonderful speaker to KC.
- Jessica talked about how she was most motivated when she could picture someone using/enjoying the end result of the project.
- She has found that it's best to do the heavy lifting of a project through sketching (more work in analog=less work in vector).
- Her process order includes researching, brainstorming, thumbnail sketches, real sketches, and vector drawing, and she has found that a consistent process matters a lot.
- She recommended visiting the Letterform Archive in SF
- Something I found really relatable was when she talked about how it is necessary to start to vary the skeleton of your letterforms in order to create more unique lettering. I have seen in my own work that I have often changed the "dress" of the lettering, rather that starting with a different and unique skeleton. This is something I hope to continue to develop in my future lettering work.
- In her final remarks she listed some practical (life) tips, which included a remark about how designers are like indoor cats. Of course I couldn't resist including that in my notes. But seriously, I truly appreciated her humor and willingness to be open about how she works and also how she interacts with clients. Thanks again, Jessica and AIGA KC!
Sign Painters The Movie
This past Friday I joined several of my co-workers and went to AIGA KC's screening of Sign Painters: The Movie. I truly recommend this film to anyone who has an interest in hand-lettering, or documentaries in general. It was fascinating to not only watch the sign painters in the film execute their craft, but also to hear their commentary on this traditional skill. Take a look at the trailer for the movie posted below:
AIGA KC Fellow Award
On September 20th my professor Patrick Dooley was honored as the 2014 AIGA KC Fellow Award winner. While I was unable to attend the Sintennial A10 Gala and Exhibition, I could not have been more excited for Patrick to receive this award. He was definitely a great influence on my design career while at KU, and a wonderful advisor as I completed my Senior Problems class at Hallmark. Take a look at the wonderful video Liquid 9 created to celebrate Patrick!
A10 Jurors Panel
Wow, last night was inspiring. I attended AIGA KC's A10 Jurors Panel featuring Lost Type co-founder Riley Cran, Nessim Higson of IAAH, Kelly Stevens of Seven Creative, handletterer and chalk artist Dana Tanamachi, and Katherine Walker who recently joined the Google Brand Studio. It was amazing to hear each of them speak. Here are a few insights from the evening:
Seek out mentorship.
Find your angle.
Balance work and personal projects.
Make something every day.
Community and design intersect.
Overall, it was a wonderful panel. Thanks again, AIGA KC!
Reimagining Brands with David Mikula
Last night I attended an AIGA KC event Behind the Beard: Reimagining Brands with David Mikula. He describes himself as an avant gardener, inventor, and mischief-maker living in New York City. A creative director at Redscout New York, he led us through the journey that is his impressive career. One phrase that stuck out to me was the idea that inspiration can be paralyzing. Yet, I can't say I wasn't inspired last night, thanks David and AIGA KC! Below are few images and a video from when David worked at Digital Kitchen, it's fun stuff take a look:
