Two AIGA Innovate Awards Granted to AIGA Baltimore

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

Every great success story starts at the first chapter, and we are thrilled to be starting two books at once.

AIGA Baltimore is proud to announce that we have received not one but two AIGA Innovate grants for special projects that are poised to have a lasting impact on the design community in Baltimore and at large.

Within the next year board members and a committee of volunteers will work to produce an EntreprenU Design Business Toolkit, a collection of tools and content aimed at helping designers and AIGA chapters become more business savvy, and a Design Legislation Wiki, an online resource for established and in-progress legislation related to design and design education across the United States.

Read more about these two projects and about AIGA Innovate below.

 

AIGA Innovate

AIGA Innovate is a grant program developed to encourage and empower chapters to boldly face the future. The program funds game-changing projects at AIGA chapters across the country, which improve the AIGA member experience, impact the wider community, are scalable to other chapters, and are sustainable after the initial grant period.

AIGA Innovate is a four-year fund with up to $250,000 to be awarded each year. AIGA members, in collaboration with their chapter board leaders, can apply for AIGA Innovate funds by submitting a formal application detailing their project. To ensure that projects meet the high standards set for all AIGA Innovate projects, there is an eight-person selection committee that reviews the projects through a rigorous two-round review process before awarding the finalists.

The first group of projects was funded in 2015. In 2016, three projects were funded; AIGA Baltimore received two grants: the EntreprenU Design Business Toolkit and the Design Legislation Wiki, and AIGA Arizona received a grant for their project, Empowering the Underserved DesignKit.

Read more about AIGA Innovate on AIGA.org.

 

AIGA Baltimore’s Innovate projects

 

EntreprenU Design Business Toolkit

This toolkit will consist of articles, templates, tutorial videos, and other content to help designers start their own business. Content will relate to business plan development, tax filing, how to talk about the value of design to non-designers, and variety of administrative considerations.

The toolkit will also cover on soft-skills and research-assisted data, giving design entrepreneurs a primer in making a pitch, business writing, effectively presenting work, and managing clients.

 

Design Legislation Wiki

The value of design and design thinking is more important than ever for businesses and communities. However, there is a disconnect between local design policy and legislation and the communities they are meant to serve.

This online resource will be a searchable, visual database of established and in-process legislation for design at the professional level, and in education, especially K-12. Searchable by zip code or state, users will be able to see not only what is going on in their community, but what other communities across the country have implemented.

Additionally, the website will include a toolkit with examples of good design legislation and STEAM education policy that communities can use as templates for their own proposals. It will also include forms that can be customized to contact local representatives about the importance of, and interest in, specific design legislation.

 

Project Progress and Next Steps

AIGA Baltimore board members are currently nailing down project details, milestones, and timelines so that these projects are set up for success and can be fully developed within the next year.

Our next steps will be to to develop RFPs for the design and development of each project and assemble a committee of volunteers to drive execution.

A talented project manager, web developer, and content expert is needed for each project—these volunteers will be critical for the success of the initiatives, and for our board to be able to continue producing and improving our ongoing events and design programming.

Know anyone who wants to make an impact and might be a good fit for one of these roles? Sit tight! We’ll have more project details, committee position descriptions, and a link for you to apply your talent (or nominate someone else’s) to these special projects. In the meantime, you can contact us at socialdesign@baltimore.aiga.org if you have questions or comments.

We look forward to bringing these initiatives to the Baltimore community, and beyond.

SEEKING Talented Designers and Creatives in Baltimore

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

YOU: a creative Baltimore artist, architect, designer (of graphics, fashion, interiors, typography,  web, or other), doodler, illustrator, hand letterer, and/or maker of things who photographs and shares your work on social media outlets.

US: a collective of professional designers interested in sharing your work across our social streams in order to highlight and amplify the creativity of Baltimore and inspire fellow community creatives.

If the Baltimore creative community is expansive (and we know it is), then it follows that creative work produced in Baltimore is doubly so. AIGA Baltimore wants to share your work far and wide so we can, together as a community, put Baltimore on the map as a hub where creativity thrives.

YOU can help in this effort by sharing your doodles, sketches, illustrations, work in progress, personal projects, and any other creative work with us.

1. Tag @aigabaltimore in your post, in your image, or even in a comment when sharing images of your creative work on social media.
2. Send your images to socialmedia@baltimore.aiga.org. At a minimum, include a brief description of the work, your name, and any social handles you have. You can also include a brief profile info, such as:
– your employment status, your employer and/or if you’re looking for a job(!)
– your job title and/or what creative area(s) you focus on at work or on the side
– where you went to school and/or your graduation date

Once we receive the tag or images we’ll repost your work on our Instagram and/or Twitter, tagging you as the creator and amplifying your name as a creative voice in our community.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email us at socialmedia@baltimore.aiga.org!

 

 

Want to get more involved with AIGA and give even more back to the creative community?

Become a Guest Blogger
In addition to amplifying Baltimore’s creativity on social media, we want to publish YOUR blog posts on your design work, personal design career experiences, case studies, thought articles, and more. Send your pitch to us at communications@baltimore.aiga.org.

Volunteer with or join our board
AIGA Baltimore seeks talented professionals for a variety of positions (e.g., copywriting, project management, photography, design, video/animation, marketing, programming, web development, etc.) and involvement levels (i.e., one-time/ad-hoc volunteers, volunteer committee members, and board members). For more information, visit our volunteer page and get in touch with us at info@baltimore.aiga.org.

Sponsor or host an event
AIGA Baltimore produces over 20 events every year, from happy hours to workshops to our large annual events like Ink & Pixels student design conference and Design Week. Becoming an AIGA Baltimore sponsor or host means that you’ll give back to the creative community while also gaining visibility among the members of the local design community. Interested in learning more? Drop us a line at info@baltimore.aiga.org.

Speak at an event
Have some industry knowledge you want to share with AIGA Baltimore members and the design community at large? Drop it on us! To learn how you can be part of AIGA Baltimore’s programming, send us a note at info@baltimore.aiga.org.

5 Questions with Orange Element

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

Design agency selected as the official branding sponsor for Design Week 2016

AIGA Baltimore is excited to announce that Orange Element (OE) has agreed to be the official Design Week branding sponsor for this year’s fifth annual Baltimore Design Week. Held every third week of October, Baltimore Design Week is a week-long series of events geared towards educating and inspiring the design community.

One of the most important components of communicating Design Week to our membership (430+ and growing!) is a strong brand identity. Since 2013, we have reached out to a local design agency to partner with us and bring Design Week alive visually. Past partners have included Gilah Press + Design, Eye Byte Solutions, and Exit10.

AIGA Baltimore is thrilled for the partnership with OE this year, not only because they’re a group of uber-talented creative professionals, but also because their agency has made a really awesome commitment to focus on the Baltimore community and be proactive in helping make our city a better place. To learn more, we asked Aaron Moore, Creative Director and Principal of OE, five questions:

How did OE’s mission come about?

When we established our agency in 2003, we started in the beginning with a focus on developing strong partnerships. For us, earning trust has always been as important as the design work we do, and we take that to the broader community level by making a commitment to use design and branding to help our local communities, and organizations focused on making sure our city remains a great place to live, work and play.

How is OE currently involved?

We allocate an annual percentage of our revenue to support local and regional organizations focused on improving the quality of people and places. We’re currently honing our areas of focus and where we feel our mission most closely aligns with giving back, but we have supported organizations including Parks and People, The Creative Alliance, The Girl Scouts of Maryland, The Brick Companies, Thread, The Production Club of Baltimore, The American Advertising Federation, AIGA, The Foundery, the Industrial Arts Collective, and more.

We also support local organizations by choosing one or two each year to provide either pro-bono work or reduced pricing with the intention of moving their brands and missions forward. Philanthropy is one of our core beliefs and we continue to make it a priority, both as a team and as individuals.

Tell us about the coolest thing you did last year.

The Parks and People Foundation welcomed visitors to their new Auchentoroly Terrace in 2015. The new campus will welcome community families, educators, students and leaders focused on improving our City’s green spaces and the opportunities to make each an active addition for outdoor use.

Orange Element has been involved both personally and as a company to help advance the Foundation’s mission. We were thrilled to be included and involved on groundbreaking activities, as well as engaged with helping participate in environmental graphics—from the interior entrance signage to the donor wall. We are currently working on wayfinding and outdoor signage for campus visitors. It’s so cool to think about a new community campus that will help engage our youth and provide communities the opportunities to enjoy the city’s parks.

If you could describe the OE team and work philosophy in 5 words, what would they be?

Integrity, Civility, Precision, Curiosity and Creativity. Along with philanthropy, these round out our core beliefs at Orange Element.

What’s OE’s vision for the Baltimore creative community?

Baltimore has nearly 500 non-profits working towards their respective missions. Each organization, in some way, shares a collective desire to believe in our great city. At OE, we are constantly looking for opportunities to share these stories with hope that we can connect our creative thinkers to organizations that would benefit from new insight.

With so many organizations working towards this common goal, we challenge everyone to find time to give back. Whether it’s a commitment to a board, committee, volunteer effort or donation, please use your creativity to lend hand. And stay here, in Baltimore, because it IS the Greatest City in America.

 

Photo credit: John Davis Photography

Revised AIGA Baltimore Chapter Bylaws: For Your Vote

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

Wait, I know what you’re thinking—most creatives don’t want to read a blog post with “bylaws” in the title. We know that this is not necessarily the kind of thing that gets the engines running for creatives. But as an non-profit organization that strives to support, inspire, inform, and connect the creative community of Baltimore—and especially one that wants to be transparent about how the association you support is managed—this post is necessary.

As fellow professionals, we want you to know that we welcome and encourage our membership to be involved with how AIGA Baltimore is run just as much as any board member.

The Baltimore chapter of AIGA is a non-profit organization that is supported and funded by our members and managed by volunteer board members who each commit to their role for two years. The chapter’s goals are to strengthen the value our organization brings to the Baltimore design community by:

  • Creating opportunities for learning and career development,
  • Sharing resources to advance the conversation of design, and
  • Making connections with leaders and members in the design community of Baltimore and at large.

As with many professional groups, we are regulated by our chapter bylaws, a formal document that dictates how we govern ourselves. It is a common practice for non-profits to revise their bylaws to be able to reflect the changing landscape and realities of our expanding and dynamic organization.

The AIGA Baltimore Board of Directors approved revisions to our chapter bylaws and are submitting them for approval by our membership. A two-thirds majority of all chapter members is required for the changes to the bylaws to be enacted. A non-vote is counted as affirmative. Voting will begin on Thursday, May 19, 2016, and end on Thursday, June 2, 2016, at 8 p.m. EST. Chapter members will receive an email invitation for this vote along with our annual AIGA Baltimore Board Member Slate vote. All votes are confidential.

Download and review the revised AIGA Baltimore bylaws.

While reviewing, we ask that you consider that bylaws are a framework that outline the rules and regulations of an organization, and are not intended to dictate policy or detail procedures. We welcome any and all comments via info@aigabaltimore.org.

We appreciate your support of our chapter and welcome you to be more involved. We hope to see you around our creative community of Charm City.

North Ave coworking space, Impact Hub, offers 10% discount through AIGA Baltimore

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

Impact Hub is a brand new coworking space in the heart of Baltimore City, but it’s not your typical tech startup incubator. Impact Hub’s mission is to bring together a community of entrepreneurs, activists, creatives, and professionals to take collaborative action and drive positive change. It’s equal parts innovation lab, coworking space, and community center.

Given its strong mission and space offerings, the AIGA Baltimore board felt that Impact Hub was a perfect fit to call our home base for our monthly board meetings in 2016. We are grateful that Impact Hub has extended their space to us and in kind we are extending a discount on an Impact Hub membership to you.

Use the code ‘AIGA’ to sign up for an Impact Hub membership and get a 10% discount for the first three months. This discount applies for any membership level, from the flexible membership to the dedicated desks or private offices. Find out more about Impact Hub’s membership plans and benefits and activate your discount today.

We need YOU! Volunteer your time and talents to help our community

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

AIGA Baltimore is calling all designers looking to make in impact in our community! The nation and the world have been focused on Baltimore as we have confronted some of the major issues of our time. Last June we hosted an event focused on examining the issues facing Baltimore — designers came together, discussed the complex problems that affect our city, and used design thinking to concept solutions.

AIGA Baltimore has been working since then to determine the best course of action. After months of discussions, planning, and meetings internally and with city and community leaders; we have concluded that as an organization, our efforts can be most effective by assisting those who are already doing great work within the community. Therefore, in the coming months, we will be working in partnership with the Druid Heights Community Development Corporation and Neighborhood Design Center to develop the community branding for Druid Heights CDC. These branding efforts will include designing a new logo and branding system, templates for print collateral and social media, and a website review and redesign.

AIGA Baltimore will be working with Neighborhood Design Center to help with project management, and will be engaging members and leaders within the Druid Heights community during the process as well.

But we need YOU to do it!
AIGA Baltimore is looking for designers, creative and art directors, interactive and UX designers for this initiative. Apply by March 25th to get involved.

A link to the application is and details are below. Please contact socialdesign@baltimore.aiga.org with any questions.
Apply now!

 

 

About the Druid Heights Community Development Corporation

Druid Heights is one of Baltimore’s oldest neighborhoods with a rich historical background. The Druid Heights Community Development Corporation’s mission is to cause, encourage and promote community self-empowerment through the development of economic, educational, employment and affordable housing opportunities. They are one of the most active community centers in the city with a wide range of community resources and programs including peace patrols, environmental stewardship, senior programs, summer camps, youth initiatives, re-entry programs, community school initiatives, housing counseling, and real estate development.

The DHCDC has also been recognized for community revitalization and housing accomplishments such as the Commitment to Excellence Award by the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, the Community Advocate Award by the City of Baltimore and the Economic Empowerment Challenge Award by the NAACP, to name a few. The center was visited by members of the World Bank this past fall in recognition of their work within the community.

 

 

About the Neighborhood Design Center
Since 1968, the Neighborhood Design Center has provided pro-bono planning and design services to over 2,400 community initiatives that have helped communities build new playgrounds, reclaim vacant lots and abandoned buildings, revitalize commercial districts, create community master plans, and beautify their neighborhoods.

 

 

Expectations
Volunteers can expect to work 1-3 hours per week for the duration of the project and attend scheduled reviews.

Timeline
Dates are tentative and subject to change

  • Monday, March 14 — Applications open
  • Friday, March 25 — Applications due
  • Friday, April 1 — AIGA to contact volunteers
  • Tuesday, April 5 — Volunteer Introduction meeting with NDC (1 hour)
  • Tuesday, April 12 — Project Kickoff with Druid Heights (1.5-2 hours)
  • Tuesday, April 26 — Design check-in
  • Tuesday, May 3 — Design check-in
  • Tuesday, May 10 — Internal design review with NDC (1.5 hours)
  • Tuesday, May 31 — Stakeholder design review (1.5-2 hours). Meet with the same group as at the project kickoff, review designs. Determine next steps.

Apply now!

Mental Models, Design Patterns, and the Norman Door: A Night of UX Design

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

Exactly what is user experience (UX) design? In a hands-on workshop lead by Phil Bolles, a DC-based designer and educator, that very question was asked to the crowd of 20+ attendees. Responses included “the easiest way to get from Point A to Point B” and references to the Norman Door, but ultimately, attendees agreed that the essence of UX is asking the questions, “Who is this for?” and “What are they trying to do?”

While the role of a UX designer is multidisciplinary, the ultimate goal is to be an advocate for the user. How one goes about this, with respect to web and mobile applications, was explored through rich discussions, activities, and real world examples.

One of those examples was an exercise in developing the mental model of a pizza tracker app. The goal of the mental model is not to illustrate how ordering a pizza via an app works, but how the user thinks that it works. Through this exercise, we were able to anticipate a user’s goals and tasks as they walk through the ordering process.

In the end, attendees were left with not only an excellent list of UX resources (see our list below), but also a deeper knowledge of design patterns, qualitative insight and mental models, and an understanding of how they all these things fit into the role of a UX designer.

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What are your favorite UX resources? Share them with us on Twitter!

UX Resources:

DeDesign the Web
http://dedesigntheweb.com/
Test your knowledge of popular websites just by looking at the wireframes

The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman
http://www.jnd.org/books/design-of-everyday-things-revised.html
Donald Norman’s book on the good–and bad–design theories behind everyday products

Designer Hangout CO
https://www.designerhangout.co/
Join 5800+ UXers from around the world on Slack to discuss user experience.

Apps

UX Companion
http://www.uxcompanion.com/

POP App (Prototyping on Paper)
https://popapp.in

Books

A Book Apart
http://abookapart.com/

Rosenfeld Media
http://rosenfeldmedia.com/

User Experience Team of One by Leah Boule
http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/the-user-experience-team-of-one/

Podcasts

Accidental Tech Podcast
http://atp.fm/

The Big Web Show
http://5by5.tv/bigwebshow

Let’s Make Mistakes
http://www.muleradio.net/mistakes/

A Responsive Web Design Podcast
http://responsivewebdesign.com/podcast/

Other

A List Apart
http://alistapart.com/

Boxes and Arrows
http://boxesandarrows.com/

Daring Fireball
http://daringfireball.net/

Jesse James Garret’s visual vocabulary
http://www.jjg.net/ia/visvocab/

LukeW Ideation + Design
http://www.lukew.com/

Nielsen Norman Group
http://www.nngroup.com/

Shannon Crabill is a HTML Email Developer at T. Rowe Price. Outside of the Internet you can find her riding her motorcycle and binge-watching home improvement shows on HGTV. Tweet her at @shannon_crabill.

Unveiling a New Identity

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

The national AIGA headquarters recently launched an expanded AIGA identity, a direction that will allow each chapter to express their own personality while being able to unify under one distinct voice. Developed by Kiss Me I’m Polish, the new visual system strengthens the current AIGA brand while unifying chapter branding across the country.

In introducing brighter, bolder use of color, a new typographic sensibility, and encouraging the logo to play a more active and dynamic role in all of its applications, the AIGA brand remains consistently strong and recognizable as it moves forward, while reflecting all of the vibrancy and diversity of our chapters, members, programs and initiatives.

To give each chapter a unique identity, a pool of ten colors options and two typefaces were presented to all 70 AIGA chapters throughout the country. Each was tasked with choosing just one color and typeface to best represent their chapter.

FUN FACT: The last brand refresh was in 2008, and chapters had a whopping 24 colors to choose from.

 

Presented with a design problem, we did what any other group of designers would do: use design thinking to solve it. First, we polled members to uncover initial reactions to the typeface and color choices. Then, we formed a smaller branding committee and worked to identify Charm City’s strongest characteristics: robust, passionate, quirky, gritty.

With a foundation laid, we discussed typography. We had two typefaces to work with: GT Haptik and Serifa. The board had unanimously chosen GT Haptik Bold for it’s bold, bright personality and its quirky letterforms in our initial poll, and the members of the branding committee felt it was the right choice. GT Haptik provides just the right amount of visual balance when both the AIGA logo and chapter logotype would be used in tandem.

Finally, we looked at the given set of colors to represent our chapter: teal, aqua, pink, purple, lime, orange, red, blue, green, and cyan. One by one, we went through each option and discussed how each color connected to Baltimore’s characteristics. The blues and greens resonated with our connection to the harbor, and red has been used historically by our chapter. Orange and purple were in the running, of course, because they, too, reflect a certain quirkiness (but ultimately we felt Baltimore’s design style and spirit couldn’t be fully reflected by a color that was so heavily identified as a sports team color).

After rounds of debate, we eventually narrowed our options down to one final solution: Pink.

AIGA Baltimore logo The new AIGA Baltimore logo

Pink, the color of the flamingo hanging above Cafe Hon in Hampden. Pink, one of two colors found on the ubiquitous pens that proliferate our town whilst promoting a certain bail bonds company. Pink, a color that speaks to not only the quirky nature of our city, but also to the boldness of its residents.

We chose pink because it stands out. It isn’t apologetic for being different and it owns up to its convictions. And yet, as much as it’s bold, it’s also welcoming, bringing forth a positive brightness to our home.

We chose this brand direction because these characteristics embody both Baltimore and its creatives. We hope you feel the same warmth, passion and energy through all your interactions with AIGA Baltimore.

AIGA Baltimore's Brand (New) Identity GuideAIGA Baltimore’s Brand (New) Identity Guide

Rob Schilke is the Outreach Chair at AIGA Baltimore and graphic designer at T. Rowe Price. When he isn’t dreaming about his next snowboarding session, he can be found in his hammock plotting his next adventure. Tweet him @robschilke.

 

Image Credit: The featured image above, “410 Banner”, is a derivative of “Baltimore City” by Yianni Mathioudakis, used under CC BY-NC 2.0. “410 Banner” is licensed under CC BY by AIGA Baltimore.

Taking a Vacation

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

Remember when summer vacation meant three months of care-free days? Your only worry was packing as much fun as possible into daylight hours and staying cool. Those were the days…

The AIGA Baltimore board members remember, too, and we’re ready to relive those bygone days. We’re taking this July off for some much needed R&R. But don’t worry! Even though we won’t be hosting any events, we’ll still be working behind the scenes, getting ready for a full calendar of events this fall, including our upcoming Design Week, October 18-24.

As always, you can still reach us via our emails and on all our social feeds. After all, we like you too much to disappear completely. Enjoy your vacation and we’ll see you in August!