Because AIGA Raleigh traditionally breaks during the month of July, our June community meeting was all about celebration. Members of our community led the meeting with Pecha Kucha lightning talks–20 slides, for 20 seconds each, focused on their passion projects. If you missed out on the fun, read our recap below.
Kimberly Thomas
Kimberly’s presentation focused on her journey of rebranding herself.
“I rebrand people all the time. It’s harder to rebrand yourself.”
She gave us insight into her creative process and why she loves her work.
“I love being able to capture what’s important to people or an idea, and then showing that to them.”
She revamped her portfolio website to tell a complete story from project to project. She pushed herself to go beyond words and question “how to put a narrative together visually.”
“If you had no words, what does that mean?”
Matthew Causey
Matthew’s presentation not only gave us insight into his creative process as an illustrator and potter, but also showed us how he passes the time during AIGA meetings.
Each month, he opens up Adobe Draw on his phone and draws the presenters, the setting and the topics. He’s been attending meetings for almost a year, and is now beginning to teach and learn new skills within our community.
Matthew got his start in the design world as an animator, but moved into pottery.
“I wanted my work to last forever.”
Still, animation techniques make their way into Matthew’s work. He blends scenes across a set of mugs, produces multiple variations of each design and lays out each version in the order they were made. He’s currently working on a revamp of his popular “emojugs” – a set of pottery inspired by traditional ugly face jugs of the South.
Courtney Leach
Courtney recently led the rebrand at FatCat strategies. Her presentation focused on her design process and getting leadership buy-in for a redesign.
After rounds of sketches and digital mock-ups, Courtney and her team were ready to pitch three rebrand concepts to stakeholders.
“Before we pitched the concept, we handed out a worksheet with our five goals [for the rebrand].”
This worksheet level set the expectations and feedback for the presentation. Her advice:
“Have a strategy to base feedback on so they’re not just shooting in the dark.”
Since the rebrand launched, she has already seen her hard work pay off.
“We’ve been able to go after bigger clients because of this.”
Chris Sim
Chris’s presentation focused on his journey at AIGA now coming full circle.
After beginning his AIGA and design journey at Hopscotch Design Festival, Chris Sim had the opportunity to develop the festival’s identity as a designer at New Kind. At the beginning of the design process, he searched for words that spoke to the essence of Hopscotch: epiphany, wonder, soulful. Next, he asked himself:
“How do we visually represent these words?”
The 2017 Hopscotch Design Festival site has since launched, representing both what is unique to 2017 and traditional the festival.
Liz Moomey
Liz wasn’t always a designer. Her presentation focused on her path from engineering, to writing and now design, and how she sees them all working together.
“I was writing articles in physics class and I knew something wasn’t right.”
As a journalist, Liz is always consuming news. When she’s not listening or reading news, she’s writing it. She has a passion for multimedia stories and looks up to media companies who use technology to tell a better story.
She showed examples from the New York Times, The Washington Post and Buzzfeed to highlight how journalism and design go hand-in-hand. She also showed examples of how she’s incorporated these techniques into her own work – both print and digital.
Kaliq Ray
Kaliq’s presentation highlighted key steps to creating social impact through a case study of his work on the 1st Take Youth Program.
Step 1: Find your passion.
“I enjoy helping passionate people achieve their goals.”
Step 2: Find a decision maker that aligns with your passion. Kaliq said that decision makers are people who can help make your dreams a reality.
Step 3: Design and get your hands dirty. Kaliq said this step is where you “turn your passion into reality.”
Twitter | Instagram | Linked In | Website | Dribbble | Medium