An interview with Sophia Hitchcock, owner of SO|MO Studios and Raleigh AIGA's Director of Storytelling.

Brief interview with UX designer and illustrator Lydia Kuekes, a Raleigh AIGA member.

Our fifth B-Side session, Marketing Your Business and Finding New Clients/Customers, is all about the power of promotion. AJ McDonald, the Senior Content Marketing Manager at Republic Wireless, has years of experience building a successful brand voice and social media strategy. On July 20, AJ will discuss how to create a customer journey and brand story through social media and content marketing.

On March 22, we are hosting real world expert and Adobe trainer Brian Wood for a 4-hour hands-on workshop on responsive design where you will learn how to optimize the websites you design for mobile devices and varying browser sizes in order to create a complete experience for users. Get to know our instructor in this interview with Developer, Trainer, and Consultant Brain Wood, as he shares some of his favorite resources and approaches to design.

Timothy Maddox is a rare breed. He is a young (30) man out in the world excelling at an old craft. His work has the character and skill of someone who has been painted signs longer than he has been alive. Which is exactly why we are so excited to have him as our opening speaker for our February 27 (NEXT THURSDAY!) screening of the Sign Painters Movie. He is so ready to share stories, knowledge and bring people as close as he can to this craft short of handing them a brush and a can of One-Shot. Come see Timothy next Thursday at our Sign Painters Movie Screening. ONE NIGHT ONLY! What sparked your interest in becoming a sign painter? Loving hand-painted signs! Seeing the individual’s hand represented in the work and the uniqueness of each piece: the human-quality, the flaws, that are inherent in such a direct form creation were (and are) inspiring. It helps create a space for me to create without such an expectation of perfection. I have found perfection in the flaws, but valiant attempt, of the individual.

As some members or people who are familiar with me may know, I have had an epiphany of sorts in getting back to analog. Pencil and paper, printing, brush and ink, paint. Combine that with a love for lettering and it led me to researching and learning about Sign Painting. I fell in love with this lost artform and the people who are still carrying the torch today to preserve it and carry it into the future. I wanted to see who was doing this in our state and as it turns out, not a lot of people are. But one name kept popping up. Suzanne Bircher of She Paints Signs in Dunn, NC has never stopped painting signs even if just for the love of it. Suzanne will be in attendance at our Feb 27 Screening of Sign Painters at the Rialto Theatre (Get your tickets now! - link) and showing some of her work as well participating in a Q&A session after the film. She also painted a custom sign just for our event! We sent Suzanne some questions which she jumped right on. It’s a good read and is very telling of the state of Sign Painting as a profession in many areas today.

In 2013 Angie Scala and Jerrad Bement started The Oak City Collective (OCC) with the mission to create NC inspired apparel designed by local artists and designers. Today they have over 15 locally themed t-shirts and apparel designs that are sold at local events, on the OCC website and at DECO in downtown Raleigh. Current t-shirt designs include a design featuring a large 919, a NC barbeque tong and fork image, a shirt featuring some of the area’s local breweries, and a Raleigh neighborhood shirt that lists neighborhood names in a bold typeface. Angie Scala, co-founder of Oak City Collective, shares the history, progress, and future of this local creative enterprise that combines design with local love. Later on current she, along with fellow OCC artist, Mitchell Beasly, discuss the creative process and inspiration of some of the current active artists of OCC.

If you have ever been to a Trader Joe’s store, you most likely have seen some of the hand lettering and mural work of Tonia Michno Gebhart. Gebhart lives in Lillington, NC and has painted over1500 murals, including doing work for 22 Trader Joe’s stores. She has a fresh take on the creative design process and doing mural work. Get to know more about her as she shares her about her inspiration, working process, and challenges in this interview.