On Friday February 3rd, April Clark, owner of Nuance Consulting LLC, came down to Houston and gave AIGA Houston an in-depth presentation on the beta version of Adobe Muse, a new way for designers to design and publish professional websites as easily as designing for print.

Adobe Muse does all the code for you on the back end, while still being completely compatible with all major web browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer. A favorite feature among many, is the ability to internally review web pages in progress, with its built-in WebKit browser before publishing it into a live browser. Muse also allows you to design your website using any typeface on your computer.

At the event, we had a raffle drawing for Adobe CS5.5 Design Premium (Retail $1209) and the lucky winner was Amy Mei.

If you missed the workshop, don’t worry as you can download Adobe Muse for free since it is still in beta: http://muse.adobe.com/ along with  the sample files to get you started: http://adobekb.com/QuickStartAssets (KevinsKoffeeKart.zip).

For those of you have downloaded Muse and tried it out, please let us know how you like it and what your thoughts are so far.

2011 was a very good year for AIGA Houston. A quick montage of people, places and events that helped shape our experiences and community in 2011, and helped informed our vision for 2012.

What are you looking forward to in 2012 from AIGA Houston? We’re interested in hearing your thoughts and ideas.

Music track: “Inní mér syngur vitleysingur” (Icelandic for “Within me a lunatic sings”) by Sigur Rós

AIGA Houston would not be possible without all of our members, volunteers, sponsors and board of directors.

Many Thanks to…

Our 2011 Speakers:
Nessim Higson
Allan Chochinov
Andy Epstein
Pablo Ferro

And to the following studios and organizations for their continued support:
AdCetera
Axiom
Brand Extract
Culture Pilot
Gensler
Keystone Resources
Origin
Primer Grey
Pennebaker
Savage
Schipul
2 Chairs Design
CultureMap
Domy Books
Heights Theater
Houston Press
Getty Images
Spacetaker
Rice Design Alliance
Museum of Fine Arts Houston

And a special thanks to our volunteers:
Marrisa Avelar
Nurit Avni
Erica Bogdan
Joanna Bonner
Jill Hunter
Monica Yeal Garcia
Rowan Gearon
Daren Guillory
Chris Jones
Christopher Lee
Mick Markham
Norma Riehle
Jessica Rios
Steve Thomson

This Saturday (November 5th) will be CTRL+ART+CREATE: AIGA Houston’s 2nd Annual Art Festival. For those that missed it last year, this year we will be offering live music, raffle prizes and giveaways and free workshops for the kids. Please feel free to stop on by and bring your blankets and lawn chairs to enjoy the nice weather.

To give you, our loyal blog readers, a sneak peek of what to expect, we’ve compiled a listing of some of your local artists and vendors who will be showcasing their work there at the festival. (Note, we will be updating this page as more bios and artwork comes in. So please, check in often. )

Lisa Chow is a Houston based artist, illustrator, make believer and story teller. Armed with an overly active imagination, a healthy dose of creativity and self-taught skills learned through trial and error, her work is whimsical, delicate, surreal and strange. Drawing inspiration from crowded cities, fairy tales and bygone years, Lisa strives to transport viewers to foreign lands that still feel oddly like home. Her personal artworks have found homes with collectors from all over the world and her illustration clients stretch from the music industry to magazines.

Erica Bogdan is the Creative Services Designer at the web marketing company, Schipul. But when she isn’t designing websites, you can find her away from the computer – paper macheing giant heads, sketching new whimsical characters, and making jewelry pieces. Erica got her bachelors degree in graphic design at St. Edward’s University in Austin and participated in the screen print t-shirt sales with the SEU group, Command G. Erica gets inspiration from her work everywhere, but especially loves browsing around on Pinterest and Fffound and can get lost for hours on those sites. Her illustrations are usually doe-eyed sad looking children with animal hats but once in awhile she’ll throw a robot in the mix. Check out her website (http://www.ericabogdan.com) or her etsy or even follow her pinterest.

Tupelo Grease Co. produces men’s and women’s vintage rock-inspired clothing – including graphic tees, pearl snap shirts, vests and blazers, caps, watches and other accessories – all with a vintage look and feel. In fact many of the items are actually composed of vintage items and materials, and are hand-constructed, distressed, printed, stitched, sewn and otherwise embellished right here in Houston. They can also be found online at http://www.TupeloGrease.com

Sylvester Sanchez is a graphic designer from Houston and he draws weird things. See some more of his weird drawings here: http://dudetrippy.tumblr.com

Graciela Constanza is a Graphic Designer. She likes to work with gold, silver, precious and semi-precious stones, and vintage findings to create one of a kind pieces of jewelry. Look for her at the GC Design table.

Beth Linesch has been in the design/advertising field for over 25 years as both designer and manager of designers. Her interest in glass started about 3 years ago when she took a glass blowing class through the Center for Contemporary Craft in Houston. From there she took a fused glass class and really enjoyed creating things out of glass. At her home studio she looks for that special blend of colors and textures that leads her to each piece of fused glass she carefully designs such as ornaments, jewelry and more.

Keddy Outlaw’s artwork is for sale in Houston at Lucia’s Garden and the Texas Art Asylum. She had a solo collage show at Caladan Gallery this past summer, and her work has been in various group shows in Texas. She received a cash award from the National Collage Society in 2010.  As for the rock art, I have a sereis made from beach brick found on the Galveston shores months after hurricane Ike. The little pieces of brick were debris from the houses ruined by the hurricane, softened by the sea and sand.

About Workhorse Printmakers: Nothing says love like heavy metal. We don’t mean purple satin, long hair and guitars heavy metal. We mean one ton of cast iron slowly squeezing paper in its tender embrace. We mean men lavishing attention on long forgotten machines that once were the epoch of human ingenuity. Hammers hitting steel, the squeek of belts, and the sizzle of oil on well lubed bushings. We love letterpress.

People used to make things with blood and toil and sleepless nights. Nothing you truly care about can be made by a nameless face in a far flung country and left out in the rain on your porch the next day. Our investment to you is missed parties, skinned knuckles, and an alarm that comes too early. We do it because we care about the things we make. More importantly we do it because we care about the things we make for you.

Workhorse Printmakers is a letterpress print shop run by designers for designers and we’re happy to support the Houston chapter of the AIGA through participation in this year’s CTRL-ALT-Create extravaganza. We’ll be on site with our Challenge Machinery Co. 15MA proof press allowing you to purchase and print one of five+ specially created posters celebrating Houston’s Space City heritage.

The evening of Friday, August 26 2011, AIGA Houston presents nationally-recognized “invangelist” Andy Epstein. If you’re an in-house designer in the Houston area, this is one event you won’t want to miss.

Epstein has written and spoken extensively on in-house issues, and was the co-founder of InSource, an association dedicated to providing support to in-house designers and design team managers. As head of AIGA In-house Design, he is continuing his efforts to empower in-house teams and raise their stature in the design and business communities. Epstein recently published his book, The Corporate Creative: Tips and Tactics for Thriving as an In-House Designer, and has headed up HOW’s In-HOWse initiatives since 2009.

By way of introduction to Houston’s design community, AIGA Houston’s Andy Rich conducted a brief interview to learn more about his upcoming event, MY BAD: How I Survived the Corporate Cluster Fluster and You Can Too.

Your talk has a pretty unique title. Can you elaborate a little on what the attendees should expect without giving too much away?

Absolutely. Like many designers, I’ve walked into corporate environments with all their enigmatic dysfunction with no training or prior experience to prepare me for the culture shock and how to navigate the craziness I found there. As a result, I screwed up all over the place – with branding, managing teams, finances, workflow processes, corporate politics. You name it – I messed it up.

I figured rather than focus on my successes, discussing the mistakes I’ve made and, most importantly, the lessons I learned, would be of value on 2 levels. First, most obviously, I may be able to help some poor overwhelmed in-house designer avoid making a boo-boo. Second, I want to dispel the myth that there are anointed creatives who do everything perfectly and that life as a designer can be perfect. I’ve seen speakers unintentionally give that impression and it can be disempowering to other designers. Design is messy and practicing design in a company is particularly chaotic – or as my daughter once said – it can be a real cluster fluster.

Tell us a little about your professional background, and how you became such an advocate for in-house issues.

After graduating Carnegie-Mellon (great school BTW), I worked for one of my teachers for a year in Pittsburgh and then went to NYC seeking fame and fortune. I spent 8 years freelancing. Like many designers who end up working in companies, I found myself freelancing for Commonwealth Toy, a toy company, almost full-time and when they decided to start an in-house department I jumped across the fence. From there I went to Gund, then took a huge leap into pharma at Bristol-Myers Squibb and later J&J before coming back to the Gift and Stationery industry by joining Designer Greetings, a greeting card company, in 2009.

I became an advocate for in-house design when I found myself with more questions than answers on how to be an effective corporate designer and design team manager. I scoured design industry publications, organization websites and conferences for advice relevant to my situation and found practically nothing. In an effort to connect with others in the same situation as me, I partnered with Glenn Arnowitz to form InSource in 2003. The more I became involved in promoting dialog and content for the in-house community the more I came to realize that there was a tremendous need for professional development opportunities for the community and that there were numerous avenues to provide it through AIGA, HOW and InSource.

My goal has now become more ambitious. In-house designers are on the front line of the intersection between the business and design communities. They are in a unique position to be powerful advocates for the value of design and design thinking. In-house designers can also literally change the culture of their host companies by showing their non-design peers the power and benefits of the design process and mindset. I want to help make that happen.

You’ve written extensively on the concept of “Brand Blindness.” What is that, exactly?

Ah, you’ve been doing your homework. There are many advantages to being a designer embedded in a company. In-house designers live the brands that represent their companies affording them an intimate understanding of the brand.  This intimacy can lead to indoctrination, though, and in-house designers can end up drinking too much of the corporate Kool Aid. When that happens, they stop questioning the validity of their brand and it’s relevance to their audience and they stop exploring new ways to articulate their brand. They effectively become blind to their brand and all of their design decisions are based on inaccurate and false assumptions and beliefs – not a good place to be.

What can independent or studio designers learn from in-house designers, and vice versa?

In-house designers often function in flatter organizations and have more client and non-designer contact than their freelance or design firm peers. To be successful in that situation they’ve had to develop interpersonal and communication skills that could be of use to independent, studio and agency creatives who may be more siloed and have less client contact.

In-house designers can sometimes become complacent and lose that fire in their belly and passion for design that permeates the freelance and studio design community. It’s to their advantage to join groups like AIGA to keep the creative flame burning bright.

How has your experience with AIGA affected your career as an in-house designer?

Through AIGA I’ve had a chance to meet the most amazing designers who have generously shared their insights and wisdom with me. My relationships with these same designers have also been extremely therapeutic. It can be really challenging working as a creative in the left-brain corporate world of the suits and getting to blow off steam with others who have experienced the same difficulties is a soul-saver. They also inspire the hell out of me.

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Register for this event today. Space is limited, so register now to reserve your spot. You’ll also have a chance to win a signed copy of Andy’s book The Corporate Creative: Tips and Tactics for Thriving as an In-House Designer.

This Thursday Allan Chochinov will be presenting his lecture at Duncan Hall/McMurtry Auditorium on the campus of Rice University. AIGA Houston’s John Luu got with Allan to learn more about what people should expect from Thursday’s event.

Q: Your lecture has a pretty enigmatic title, “Almost.” Can you elaborate just a little bit, you know, without giving it all away?

A: Sure. I’ve been thinking about how design so often comes close to success, but then turns a bad corner and ends up creating more problems than it purports to solve. I’ll be showing a lot of “near misses”—perceived as design triumphs–and identifying where they went wrong. It will be through an analysis of the presumptions of design.

Q: What do you mean by the “presumptions of design”?

A: Well, the first thing is that the motivations of design go entirely unexamined. They are almost always commercial and mass-produced. I will be sharing ways to explore the often misunderstood, misaligned, and often-misguided presumptions of design, and helping designers get in closer touch with their intentions and their processes. Design is now seen as a strategic global resource, enabling innovative brands and companies to compete more effectively. Of course, there has to more to it than that.

Q: You’ve talked about how “designers aren’t in the artifact business; that they’re in the consequence business.” Does this apply to graphic designers as well?

A: Absolutely. Any time you are making more than one of something, you are a mass-producer–whether it’s a pamphlet or a poster or an advocacy campaign. The irony is that most people get into design because they are interested in this kind of consequence; they are interested in scale. But the ramifications of scale are poorly understood, almost never measured, and for the most part, hidden.

Q: You’ve also written that designers need to move “from making stuff to making meaning.”
A: I think that they don’t necessarily need to move, I think they want to move. Client satisfaction, professional accolades and even increased market share are no longer reliable measures of meaningful design solutions. Designers are uniquely equipped to create value, but how value is defined needs to be pushed around by us. I’ll be talking quite a bit about that.

Q: What will attendees come away with from your lecture?

A: I will define territory and vocabulary that will help designers acknowledge and flex their power. I just last week launched a new MFA program at the School of Visual Arts, so I’ll be talking about new mandates and processes in design education. (There will be a lot of takeaways for design educators.) And I’ll be providing frameworks to help recognize both the urgencies and the privilege of being in the world of design. Too often we forget what’s great about our work. It’s problem solving, but it’s also about celebration. Oh, and there will be a lot of humor in the talk. Promise.

About Allan

Allan Chochinov is a partner of Core77, where he serves as the editor-in-chief of Core77.com, and strategist for Coroflot.com and DesignDirectory.com. In addition to his editorial work, he produces design events and competitions, and coordinates content partnerships. Prior to Core77, his consulting work specialized in product design, design strategy, and writing. He has enjoyed working on design projects in the medical and diagnostic fields, as well as in consumer products and workplace systems. (Johnson & Johnson, Herman Miller, Federal Express, Kodak, A.C. Nielsen, Oral-B, Crunch Fitness and others.) He is associate professor at New York’s Pratt Institute, where he teaches two courses in the graduate I.D. department. He has received awards from I.D. Magazine, Communication Arts, The Art Directors Club and The One Club, and has been named on numerous design and utility patents.

Allan will be presenting his lecture this Thursday, April 7, 2011 —  6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Duncan Hall/McMurtry Auditorium on the campus of Rice University
6100 Main Street
Houston, Texas 77005

To learn more about the lecture and to RSVP please visit the link below.

http://aigahouston.org/events/2011/04/58891529

For those who missed out on last Thursday’s Coffee Talk, we made a list of some salient points that emerged from the discussion. By no means are these complete and definitive strategies and tactics, just a list of what has worked for various people and why. We encourage everyone to take these as more discussion points for their own efforts, whether as an individual trying to promote their careers or as firms looking to burnish their reputations online.

Many thanks to Ashley Everett and Denise Madera for helping me flesh out this recap below.

1. If people are actively searching out your firm or brand on social networking sites, make an effort to engage them there and have content available online that reflects your best work and expertise.
2. Consider investing time and energy in creating a blog for yourself or your firm. This can be the primary vehicle with which you communicate news, updates and articles that convey your point of view about your work, your profession and the challenges you face, also blogs are a great way to share recent work.
3. Create a profile on LinkedIn and complete it 100%. LinkedIn is a great way to pre-qualify yourself to a lot of prospects. It functions as an online resumé and Rolodex. It’s also one of the few places online where you get to toot your own horn and shamelessly engage in self-promotion. Also for SEO addicts, once you get 300+ connections on LinkedIn, your profile will jump to the top of most search engine results.
4. Put your portfolio on Behance & Flickr to take advantage of increased search engine visibility and descriptive keyword tagging.
5. Upload your videos and motion graphics projects to video hosting sites like Vimeo and Youtube to make them easier for people to share your creative work.
6. Consider creating a Page for your firm on Facebook, it’s great way to connect with fans and promoters and integrates easily with other tools and services to share content and updates.
7. Use Twitter for short real time updates. Be sure to learn the lingo and syntax.
8. Tailor your message for each individual Social Media channel. Each platform has its own set of unwritten rules, etiquette and best practices. What is effective and engaging on twitter will alienate people on Facebook.
9. If someone comments on your post or engages you in dialogue online, return the favor and keep the conversation going.
10. Developing your brand online requires an investment of time and continued effort. The only thing worse than not having a social media presence is starting one and losing interest after a few posts. Keep it fresh.
11. One of the function of each of your brands social media channel is to direct people back to your business website. Be sure to have a link back to your main corporate site on all of your online profiles and pages.
12. Conversely, on your main website and email signature, you should have social media icons linking to your each of your various social media channels.
13. Experiment. What works for a young edgy internet start-up probably won’t translate to a more buttoned down corporate communications firm. Find what works for you and can be integrated easily into the culture at your studio.
14. An evolving strategy and a sustained effort will trump individual efforts in the long run.

What are your thoughts? We encourage everyone to join in the discussion below and post their feedback, suggestions and ideas.

Our new podcast correspondent, Joanna Bonner, asks some members a question regarding typography at our social last week at Salt Bar. Big thanks to her and all of our respondents.

Also check out the pics from the event below.

This Thursday night after CONNECT{ED} the AIGA Student Social, AIGA Houston will be screening PROCEED AND BE BOLD!
A film by Laura Zinger.

Watch the trailer above or read more about the film after the jump.

How far would you go for your one true love? Would you give up all of your earthly possessions, your job, and your family? What if your one true love was a printing press…

At 40 years of age, Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. abandoned the traditional American Dream to follow his own. Unsatisfied with his comfortable, middle-class life, Amos traded in his computer for a printing press and his white collar for a pair of overalls. Armed with life, liberty, peanuts, and a meager yearly income of $7,000, Amos cranked out a new, mutinous declaration of independence.

Proceed and Be Bold! joins Amos for a titillating retelling of his story, while examining the pretensions and provisions of the art world. The work of this self-proclaimed “Humble Negro Printer” raises emotionally-charged questions and reveals remarkable depth beneath the bold print. By learning the rules and then choosing to break them, Amos redefines what life (and letterpress printing) can be: exhilarating and subversive.

His provocative sense of humor seeps out of every word he speaks and his radical philosophies on the American consciousness (or unconsciousness) will awaken any listless bystander. After experiencing Amos’ humble journey, you’ll never look at your middle class life the same way again.