Homegrown Series

• No event in May, but we will return in June with Content Matters: Create Meaningful Sites with Content Strategy with Michael Gowen. Tickets are on sale now.
• We are actively looking for volunteers to help organize this monthly series. Contact volunteer@raleigh.aiga.org if you are interested.

Design For Good

• Next DFG meeting: Room 202 at the Cameron Village Library on May 18 from 12:30-2:30Check the Facebook Group for updates.
• Share your ideas on the Project Work Space on the Triangle Wiki.
• Will organize a group to attend CityCamp to observe and share ideas. Interested in going, email dfg@raleigh.aigai.org.
• We’ve introduced The Window Project, a challenge to effect positive social change in your immediate surroundings through creative thought. It’s meant to encourage everyone in the creative community to take a more active role in addressing the social needs of our neighborhoods.

Film Series

• Was a great success. People enjoyed the speaker/movie concept. David Burney gave a great presentation on Design Thinking prior to the film.
• We want to know what design-related film we should show next. Email ideas to film@raleigh.aiga.org.

Studio Tour

• We are going to try to schedule the Durham tour for June.
• Raleigh tour will be in the fall. We may also consider Raleigh for June in the event that Durham doesn’t work out.

Pursuit Fund

• We are in the early stages of organizing the next Pursuit Fund round. Start thinking about what project or goal you’d like to submit to receive a grant from AIGA Raleigh.

Combining his love of science and design Josh began attending NCSU for aeroscience engineering. In his initial studies he learned that “empiricism extends far beyond science, into the humanities and the arts. Josh eventually changed to graphic design but always kept a scientific foundation in place. For example, he compared how creative ideas come together for a campaign in a similar fashion to how a star in space is born by absorbing nearby matter.

“As with science, it is observation and experimentation that drives meaningful design”.  

After graduation Gajownik considered relocating, preferring a more dense urban culture. He believes density creates opportunity. Josh pointed out how downtown Raleigh has lived in the past. There is no bakery, bookstore, or grocery store downtown, though soon there is to be a grocery and bakery. Why no monorail — missed our stop? NCMA is 6 miles away from downtown museums. We have national Hockey, but no place to go before/after a game. He showed us a map of where he would put these downtown.

It is time to create a New South. With all the choices of the past there are opportunites to create. Remember to embrace history but do not let it art direct the future. Sir Raleigh is not his royalty. Set your own future.

He met a local chef/restaurant owner Ashley Christensen after hearing about her plans for 3 restuarants/bars on the corner of Wilmington and Martin in Raleigh. He started with some “fun” designs and quickly realized that Ashley really understood the value of craft and design and was willing to spend money to create something that will stand the test of time. She used the Raleigh Printing Sign as an example.

Here are some idea gathering tips Josh has learned:

• Create compelling client experiences
• Use interior space to drive designs (floors, tiles, bricks, cords, hardware, furniture)
• Client used Pinterest to show what he liked and it was very useful
• Sharing playlists can give a designer a sense of your taste
• Talk to others outside your field/profession
• Stay connected with people of unlike minds

Thanks to Josh for sharing his experiences with the AIGA Raleigh Homegrown series.

It’s a trick question, of course. In the end, content and design are inseparable in the user experience. And just as each design element should have a reason, the content that fills a site must also be created with a purpose.

Content strategy plans for the creation of content that meets the needs of your clients and site users. In the AIGA Homegrown Lunch & Learn session on June 11, Michael Gowan will discuss elements of content strategy, tips for creating meaningful content, and ways to plan for the life cycle of information on your sites.

Join us June 11 for our Homegrown on Content Matters with Michael Gowan.

Gowan Communications:

Michael Gowan is a content strategist, writer, and editor with more than 15 years of experience creating web content. He’s developed content strategies for institutions including Duke University and UT Southwestern Medical Center. He’s also a journalist who writes for Men’s Journal, Macworld, and other sites.

The term Design Thinking has gotten a lot of attention in the recent years. This documentary gives an introduction to how businessman, individuals, and social innovators are adopting and adapting the processes and approaches that the creative minds of designers utilize every day to create, innovate, and solve problems.

The film features an impressive group of leaders in various industries, such as Tim Brown of IDEO, David Kelley, Founder of Stanford  design school and IDEO, Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, Dan Formosa, Co-Founder of Smart Design, Richard Grefé, CEO of AIGA, and many more.

Local Design Thinking leader and founding member of AIGA Raleigh, David Burney, CEO & Partner at New Kind, accepted our invitation to speak on the subject before the film started. David gave a really great presentation on his history with Design Thinking, what it is, and how to apply it. I really enjoyed David’s presentation had felt inspired and that now is a really great time to be a designer.

David shared that the book The Universal Traveler: A soft -systems guide to creativity, problem-solving, and the process of reaching goals, had a big influence on him. This book is really a precursor to what we now know as User Experience Design. David said that design can be thought of as the process of making dreams come true. I really liked that idea. Design adds value and it has the power to make the world a better place.

 Design Thinking in 7 Steps

David outlined the steps involved in the Design Thinking process. But he warned that Design Thinking isn’t always the answer. If best practices work, then use them. He also said that Design Thinking will fail if it is reduced to a series of steps. Culture is key in making it successful.

The Seven Steps are:

1. Define
2. Research
3. Ideate
4. Prototype
5. Choose
6. Implement
7. Learn

The film talked about how you should fail quickly, cheaply, and often to find success. Share your ideas and progress throughout the process, don’t wait to perfect it.  The secret power of the process is that you recognize that you will learn from it. You know it won’t be perfect from the start. You know you will continue to learn and refine.

Design Thinking will create new roles and opportunities for designers

David spoke about how the design role is changing and that this creates new opportunities for designers. We know how creativity works and we understand how innovation works.

• The Designer as Collaborator brings form and function.
• The Designer as Facilitator helps bring stakeholders in and bring them around to accepting new ideas.
• The Designer as Community Catalyst sparks change to improve the world around them.
• The Designer as Marketing Guru raises awareness and guides communication.
• The Designer as Brand Strategist preserves authenticity.
• The Designer as Researcher uses data to understand and create what is needed.
• The Designer as Content Creator/Curator shares ideas and inspires.
• The Designer as Educator teaches people the power and value of design.

The Designers Mind

This film was not a “how-to” but more of a “why-to” adopt Design Thinking. Designers are problem solvers. They think about impact.  They explore different directions and are responsive and adaptive as things change. They see things and want to make them better. They ask “why?” They dissect and understand the problem before designing a solution. They understand form, content, and context. Designers are inventing the future.

I really enjoyed this event. There was a lot to like about it. The venue was great, I had never been to the Rialto, although I pass it everyday on the way to and from work, so I was glad to finally get a peek inside. People arrived early and so there was plenty of time to catch up and converse with other attendees. I liked the format of having a speaker introduce the topic of the film and then sitting back and enjoying the movie. Oh, and the smell of movie theater popcorn…mmmmm. You don’t get that watching Netflix at home, which how I typically watch movies. This event was unique in the that it fit our three core initiatives of improving design ability, proving design impact, and uniting people. Thanks so much to David Burney, and the Film Series team: Mike Esser, Hayley Hughes, Jessica Barfield, Tim Swezy, and Jonis Winger.

We want to know what design-related film would you like to see next? Email your ideas to film@raleigh.aiga.org.

The design community is growing. There are some amazing stories to share, and we’re excited to kick off exclusive, one-night only screenings of great new design films. AIGA Raleigh’s Fresh Cut Film series is a chance to get together, catch up with colleagues and relax with a movie.

Join us casual evening at the Rialto Theater for a first view of the documentary Design and Thinking. Grab a popcorn (and a drink from the bar) and get ready for a great night. David Burney of New Kind will give a brief introduction to the idea of design thinking, followed by the film festival favorite.

About the Film
How do we fully engage organizations to think about the changing landscape of business, culture and society? Inspired by design thinking, this documentary grabs businessmen, designers, social change-makers and individuals to portrait what they have in common when facing this ambiguous 21st century. What is design thinking? How is it applied in business models? How are people changing the world with their own creative minds? It is a call to the conventional minds to change and collaborate.

Watch the trailer.

Thursday, May 9, 2013 at 7:00 PM
Rialto Theater
1620 Glenwood Ave.
Address Line 2
Raleigh, NC 27608

Register

Name: Gordon Pruitt

Professional Discipline(s): Graphic Designer

Portfolio | Twitter

Why are you involved with AIGA Raleigh?
I’m involved for the main reasons the membership of AIGA promotes, to be a part of a network that increases design’s influence and expands opportunities for designers. AIGA Raleigh is hands down the best AIGA chapter I’ve been involved with. I’m involved with AIGA Raleigh because of a strong and passionate design community that collaborates and connects with the things we love most … design. I also enjoy networking and meeting people in different design disciplines which allows me to explore, share and grow with designers and their experiences.

What is your overriding professional goal?
To energize brand strategies and design solutions that inspires action. To never stop learning and always love what I do.

How do you explain what you do to “regular people?”
I explain that I take written content, pictures and ideas and visually make it appealing to help promote or enhance a service or product.

What professional accomplishment are you proudest of?
I am proud of being a positive professional, dependable team player, and a reliable designer that communicates well with customers, vendors and clients. It’s not one particular design project, but the complete process that makes me proud when the design meets a business objective and ends with a satisfied client.

What is your non-work creative outlet?
I love to spend time with my kids and learn to see life through their eyes. I also love to read and sketch.

What’s your biggest design-related pet peeve?
When bad design happens to good people.

What is the last thing that made you laugh out loud?
Watching Mr. Bean with my kids. So stupid!

If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one ability or quality, what would it be?
The ability to control time. Oh, and to format great looking design in Microsoft Word. … NOT!

Who is your favorite cartoon character?
Wile E Coyote (Carnivorous Slobbius). He is creative, determined and always thinking of his next move and no matter how many times he takes a knock or falls down, he always gets up and tries again. There’s a life lesson in there somewhere.

What have you gained or what do you hope to gain through your involvement with AIGA Raleigh?
I hope to gain a strong networking connection with local designers who can collaborate and support each others efforts in the area of design in our community. I also want to give back to the next generation the things I’ve learned about design and strategy over the years.

What led you to volunteer or join the board?
I wanted to get to know more people in the design community and learn from and support other designers.

What have you done as a board member or volunteer that you are most proud of?
I’m proud that I finally became a member last year and try to make all the monthly meetings. I’m ready to volunteer and do more. Sign me up!

What goals do you have for the future of the chapter?
Get more of my design colleagues involved with the AIGA and contribute design solutions to the community.

What have you seen other chapters do that was really cool?
Would love to see more “how-to” classes/ lunch and learns and one-day seminars on hot topics.

This sold out event was held at the Burns Auditorium on the NCSU campus. We asked attendees to arrive early to give them a chance to network. I volunteered to help check-in attendees, and had a chance to briefly meet Alina Wheeler before the event. She was really excited to be here, and spent time earlier in the day with NCSU design students.

Jonathan Opp gave a heartfelt introduction to Alina, and then she began her presentation. Alina is a great speaker. She is energetic, funny, and passionate about design and the branding process. Alina began by telling us why she wanted to write this book. She said, at the time she wrote the first edition,  there was no book that laid out a process to revitalize a brand, nothing tying design to strategy. Branding involves an entire team including the C-suite, marketing, sales, advertising, public relations, managers, designers, etc. This book aims to demystify branding.

Alina stated that technology is so proactive that people are investing in big data over big ideas, everyone is branding themselves to gain an advantage in the marketplace. These are fiercely smart people who do not understand the powerful asset of design.

Brand identity is tangible. It is central to sales and marketing, and each touchpoint is a chance to build awareness of the brand and invite engagement with the brand.

“Communicating clearly improves the response for audience, you get better results for your efforts”

To be successful in revitalizing a brand, the entire organization needs to be involved in moving forward. There are four critical success factors:

• A mandate from the top as a business imperative
• A Readiness to invest time capital and attention
• Clear goals—it will fail without them—for what to expect from the outcome of the process.
• Results

To start the identity process you need to start from a position of strength—you need to know who you are. Begin by answering four questions:

• Who are you?
• Who needs to know?
• How will they find out
• Why should they care?

“Trust the process”

The process that Alina outlined in her presentation and in the book works for any size organization. The process has five phases, each with specific tasks that must be completed before moving on to the next phase. This is a process to build trust and you must trust in the process.

Designers are intuitive people by nature and need to use that asset to listen, really listen and discover the issues and essence of the brand. Doing so builds trust and ensures the wrong decisions will not be made.

Process fuses business acumen with strategy. CEOs and mangers can trust the process because they use and understand processes; they understand the necessity to adhere to a process and follow each phase to completion. Trust the process if you have a small budget. Trust the process if you have a big budget. Trust the process!

“Symbols are fastest communication known to man”

The process engages the entire organization to get involved in revitalizing the brand. Give people courage to change by building a process that has logic in it.

Phase 1: Conducting research

Tasks:

• Listen and observe
• Gain insights
• Document and set protocol
• Decision makers need to be involved at every stage of the process.

During this phase identify touch points, identify all stakeholders, and find ways to understand the culture. Culture holds together the business and the brand.

Diagram the experience, the customer journey. Each phase of the journey is an opportunity to engage, delight, and reinforce brand awareness and loyalty.

Conduct a brand audit. Collect the research and brand artifacts and have the decision makers go through it all to remind them of what’s been done. Have they lost sense of who they are and of the goal?

Phase 2: Clarifying Strategy

Tasks:

• Narrow the focus. Brands get stronger as you narrow the focus.
• Determine the brand attributes and develop positioning.
• Determine the brand architecture.
• Develop a brand brief.
• Distill the information from market research and take all the fundamental perceptions, value proposition, core purpose, etc. and put it all on an 11×17 piece of paper.

Phase 3: Designing Identity

Tasks:

• Revisit the brand brief. You never know what the design process will reveal.
• Dream and doodle.
• Choose touch points and prioritize
• Explore iconography.
• Explore look and feel, color, typography
• Present your ideas, talk about business goals rather than design decisions
• Think big and small—design for social and digital. Don’t make it an afterthought.
• Create a cohesiveness across all platforms
• Show the future

Phase 4: Create Touchpoints

Tasks:

• Refinement and build, looking to create an entire system with enterprise-wide rules
• Finalize and apply
• Legal trademarking
• Extend the idea
• Design key applications

Phase 5: Manage Assets

Tasks:

• Create rules for all to adhere to
• Build brand champions. Engage all employees to get on board and be brand champions. Everyone needs to know the core values, goals, and mission.
• Build tools to protect and preserve the assets. Brand standards should start with defining the brand and what it stands for.
• Launch and share. Launch internally first and explain why the time was invested.
• Start at the top and communicate the new.
• Marketing and design need to work together.

After wrapping up her presentation, Alina Wheeler stayed for a book signing and refreshments provided by Neomonde.  The line gathered quickly and was long. Alina graciously signed books for all those who brought their copy with them. I thoroughly enjoyed this event, from volunteering, to the presentation, meeting Alina, and having her sign my books. She was engaging, enthusiastic, and kind. Alina told the event organizers the she was so pleased at the turnout and the number of students there, and with the venue.  She expressed her appreciation for the professionalism and thoughtfulness about detail that went into putting on this event. She really enjoyed it and was impressed with the efforts to put it on, she said it made it look easy.

Thank you to the “Alina Wheeler Action Team” who worked so hard and did an amazing job organizing this event. A special thanks to Jonathan Opp who was instrumental in making this event happen. The success of this event would not have been possible without the help of:

Action Team
Jonathan Opp
Kristin McPeak
Joshua Vaughan
Sophia Hitchcock

Additional Pre-Event Support
Sara Martinez
Amy Lyons
Maura McDonald

Additional Onsite Support
Joe Schram
Mike Esser
Christina Baker
Bradley Sosnowski
JT Dumproff
Taylor Owens
Matt Stevens

A special thanks to Will Walkington from NC State College of Design for providing A/V support.

As I stood there with my peers, a feeling of relief washed over me. I thought to myself, “We made it, no more picking apart each others pieces, no grades to compare, today we stand here as equals in support of one another”. I was, and am proud of the countless hours of work that my classmates and I have poured into our portfolios and we were ready to show what we were made of. We took the next half hour or so to congregate with students from other schools. A few brave souls from other schools wandered over to introduce themselves to our group and chat about their school’s programs. I listened to them explain the differences in their programs and share the experiences of their own journey to the AIGA Portfolio Review.

As we were waiting for everyone to arrive, I took in the environment of the review venue, Centerline Digital. The building, once home to a popular gym, had been transformed into a beautiful yet comfortable studio space. It featured a large entry, a reception area near the front door, with large tables and booths perfect for spreading out and collaborating on projects. The kitchen, dart board, and bar area painted a picture of a comfortable work environment. There were glass walled private offices and conference rooms lining the perimeter of the space. One office in particular caught my eye, as there were hand-written notes on the glass walls. It was such an inspiring moment to catch a glimpse into a professional’s creative process and for a moment I caught myself daydreaming about the day I would be able to settle into my own note filled glass walled office.

Once everyone arrived and settled in, we were treated to a short talk from Centerline Digital’s Executive Creative Director, Shawn Gillen. He advised us to approach our upcoming job interviews as we would approach a dinner party. The analogy drew a captivatingly detailed picture of how to prepare and address different situations one may encounter in an interview. His tips covered topics such as the importance of punctuality, host gifts, and remembering to make lasting impressions on everyone we would come into contact with at our dinner party and not just the person interviewing us.

After all that talk about dinner parties, I was thankful it was time for lunch. Timing lunch before the reviews turned out to be such a blessing in that we were able to settle our morning jitters and by the time reviews rolled around we would be able to focus on the work at hand instead of our growling stomachs. As I was not expecting lunch to be provided I could not have been more grateful. Organizers Kristin Fowler and Rich Griffis really had thought of everything. My group settled into the bar for quick and pleasant meal. I reveled in the moment as I was trying to balance my feelings of anxiety for the upcoming hours and yet at the same time a sense of accomplishment for the work we had completed.

It was finally time for all of the students and reviewers to break off and for the Portfolio Reviews to begin. I checked my slip for the correct review location; it read, “Verdana.” You see at Centerline Digital the office spaces are named after typefaces. After asking a volunteer for some direction, I was pleasantly surprised to find my temporary home in the note filled glass walled office I had eyed upon first entering Centerline Digital. The roar from the main area was dulled once I entered the room. It took a moment to get setup and organized as I patiently awaited the arrival of my first reviewer. I wasn’t sure what to expect, my heart pounded, half in excitement and half in fear, as I scanned the room guessing which of the wandering people was going to tear apart my work in the next half hour. Just then, a gentleman appeared, and politely introduced himself as he shook my hand. Just like that, we were off and there was no turning back now.

Generally, I chose to begin the reviews by introducing myself, giving the reviewer a resume and business card. While they took a moment to look over my resume, I gave them a little background on my journey into the graphic design field. We then looked over my work, advised changes, and discussed current issues relative to the job search. One thing that really stuck with me, that I would like to share, was when one of my reviewers explained a continuum of design skill sets and how it related to the industry and getting hired. He explained there are designers, front-end developers, and back-end developers. If an applicant were to have just one of the three skills they will be in a larger pool of people competing for a small percentage of jobs. A more desirable candidate would ideally have two of the three skills and if one could master all three they would be hirable pretty much anywhere in the design field.

As quickly as they started, reviews came to a close, and we were all to meet back into the main space for a question and answer session. Kristin and Rich began with raffle prizes and started handing out t-shirts and magazines to a lucky few. We then took the next little bit of time to get overall feedback and advice from the reviewers. The common theme in the room was web work. They wanted to see more design for web and advised taking print pieces and pushing them one step further into pieces adapted for the web. Another piece of advice that resonated with me was that the reviewers wanted to hear more of our challenges and struggles as designers and how we were able to overcome and break through those creative blocks. They wanted to see initiative and the potential to be a good team player. One reviewer directed us to surround ourselves with good design in order to help constantly stay inspired.

Overall, I had an incredible experience at this year’s AIGA Portfolio Review. I was given priceless advice and made some wonderful connections. It was an excellent opportunity for students to get a better understanding of what to expect in the interview and hiring process for the graphic design field. The best advice I can pass on for future students is to only include work in your portfolio that you are truly passionate about. Be true to yourself as a designer and let that reflect in your presentation at Portfolio Review.

I would like to say a special thank you to Kristin Fowler and Rich Griffis for working so hard to organize this outstanding review! I would also like to thank all of the reviewers for taking time out of their busy schedules to offer advice to some of us emerging designers. Thank you to Centerline Digital for hosting this year’s review and allowing us students a glimpse into its marvelous space. I can’t wait to kick start my design career and thanks to the AIGA Portfolio Review, I know I am ready!

Read more from Jennifer Covington at her blog: Designias Blatherings or check out her work here.

You’ve probably heard us say in regards to involvement with AIGA Raleigh, “you get out of it what you put into it.” What do we mean by that? Allow me to illustrate, I mean literally illustrate, I sketched out my journey to share what “you get out of it what you put into it” meant for me.

The benefits of my involvement are more than I could ever have expected. I’ve gained skills that I use in my career and in life. AIGA Raleigh truly is a place where I thrive, not only as a designer, but as a person. If you are thinking about taking a more active role in AIGA Raleigh, don’t wait, let us know hoe you’d like to get involved at volunteer@raleigh.aiga.org.

Student Portfolio Review

• The annual student portfolio review was held April 6th at Centerline. We had a total of 36 students and reviewers as well as some awesome volunteers!
• Thanks to Joshua Vaughan, a designer at ECU, who has shared some photos of the review with us.  Take a look!
• And a huge thanks to Kristin Fowler, Rich Griffis, Centerline, our students, volunteers, and reviewers for making this event such a huge success.

Homegrown Series

• No event in May, but we will return with Michael Gowen in June.
• We are actively looking for volunteers to help organize this monthly series. Contact volunteer@raleigh.aiga.org if you are interested.

Design For Good

• Our April meeting was held on Sat., April 13. Survey results were discussed and will be parsed into two categories that we will advise TriangleWiki on—promotion and appearance. We are in the process of setting up the DFG blog. We will also be looking for contributors, and we discussed ideas for content. Check the Facebook Group for updates.
• Will organize a group to attend CityCamp to observe and share ideas.
• We’ve introduced The Window Project, a challenge to effect positive social change in your immediate surroundings through creative thought. It’s meant to encourage everyone in the creative community to take a more active role in addressing the social needs of our neighborhoods.

Film Series

• Series premiere, featuring the film, Design & Thinking, will be held May 9th at the Rialto.
• Tickets are on sale now!
• David Burney, a local Design Thinking expert, will give a talk before the film.

Alina Wheeler Event

• Event will be held Burns Auditorium, NC State College of Design on Thurs., April 25. Registration is open.
• There will be a book signing. We will have books for sale at the event.
• NCSU faculty and students get in free as the event is held on campus. A valid NCSU ID will be required.
• Follow our Facebook page for updates.

Studio Tour

• We are going to try to schedule the Durham tour for June.
• Raleigh tour will be in the fall. We may also consider Raleigh for June in the event that Durham doesn’t work out.