5 DMV Experts Weigh In: How to Start Your Creative Career

Posted on by Krystal Carpintieri

On Saturday April 23rd, 2022, AIGA Baltimore held a virtual panel discussion for Ink & Pixels, “From Portfolio to Offer: The Art of Getting Hired”. The discussion featured a fantastic group of established professionals while talking about how to rethink and refine your approach to getting hired in the creative industry. There was lots of insight on the dos and don’ts of resumes, portfolios, and interviews as well as the other things to keep in mind that Google doesn’t tell you.

The panel included Nate Brubaker, Owner & Executive Producer at Rock Shore Media;  Jordan Watts, Director of Design at Fearless; Amy Quarles, Creative Director at Visit Baltimore; and Hilliary Turnipseed, Director of Recruitment & DEI at Subject Matter and Founder of Hill Street Strategies, and was moderated by Nhu Nguyen, Vice President at AIGA Baltimore and AVP, Creative Director at Fenton.

Career Values

What do you value? If you don’t know, start thinking about it. What do you value in your career? Some of our panelists noted that experience, respect, and a mission you can stand behind, is very important when looking for a career. Don’t forget to think about values in your personal life—especially a good work life balance. Workplace culture shouldn’t be stagnant. Just like the field of design is always changing, your workplace should be full of people who are also willing to change.

HR Advice

When applying for a job, be prepared and know where you are applying. We suggest having a document of when and where you applied and know about all of them. If you aren’t excited for the job application or if it doesn’t interest you, don’t apply! The interviewer will know if you don’t care or aren’t familiar with the company. Don’t hit apply if you wouldn’t be excited to get a call back.

When you graduate from college, you might not have the career experience you are looking for, but you should have some job experience. 

Think about it:

  • Have you had a job anywhere? Starbucks or anything at all?
  • Have you done any passion projects? These make you stand out from the crowd. 
  • Have you completed an internship?
  • Have you had a career shift? HR calls these nontraditional backgrounds with transferable skills. Talk about what underlying skills you have that will make you effective in this new role. 

Make sure you are being seen, heard, and valued. If an offer comes in and it seems insulting—it is insulting. Negotiate and believe in your worth.

What happens if you miss the job application deadline? If the job is still posted online (such as Indeed or LinkedIn), just apply and go for it. Be sure to look for contact information and email the person hiring to let them know you have applied to the job. 

Embrace the Change: Seize the Opportunities. 

Hillary embraced that you don’t have to explain your career gap in a global pandemic! If the employer asks about your gap, that may be a potential red flag. If you do want to explain—it’s ok to be your authentic self. Nhu noted, “feel free to be authentic. If you need to take time off for family, or for yourself, you can say this.”

Sometimes it’s okay to fake it until you make it. If you are learning something new like photography, just keep welcoming new opportunities (school project, client project, etc.). This is how you can bring your ideas to the table.

Networking

There are lots of ways to network and create connections—make connections in real life at events or online via LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.! Always be in conversation, always be there to support people. Create GENUINE connections. There might not be an immediate benefit, but it can come back around. Connect with them because you share a commonality.

Cover Letters & Resumes

When you are creating your cover letter, make it personal so you can stand out. Make sure to show yourself in your cover letter with your passions, personality, and values. Go deeper into what you have learned and how it applies to the specific company. Go through each of your resume bullet points and see how it can apply to the job. Don’t forget  to address the cover letter correctly, including the right person and the correct company. 

Each of these pieces (cover letter, resume, portfolio) are just one piece of the puzzle. Some employers will look holistically at the candidate, look at the outcomes, and look beyond their title. As Jordan explained, “The cover letter is a great place to explain your “why” and have a personal letter to your hiring manager.” 

When designing your resume, don’t overthink it or overdesign it—assigning a percentage to a certain skill or software is often not recommended (for example, 56% in Adobe Photoshop is confusing). Instead, keep it simple and add your skills/software in bullet points. We also recommend having a PDF copy as well as a simple Microsoft Word copy—sometimes the PDF won’t work on certain applications when you have to apply online. Make sure your resume can be printed, no tie dye backgrounds or lots of color in the background, keep it simple!

Portfolios

A few things to consider when deciding your portfolio platform: What is the cost? How easy will it be to update over time? For you, this might be a PowerPoint presentation, or it might be a website. 

There are lots of ways to present your work (printed portfolio, website, Behance, slide deck/PDF) but you want to showcase your work in a simple and organized way. Make sure you present in a way that is efficient, effective, and clean. When presenting, have something that is ready to go and doesn’t require WiFi. If you’re an animator, don’t have a print portfolio. If you are creating a portfolio with Google Slides/Keynote/PowerPoint, make sure to save and send as a PDF for a more professional look.

If your portfolio is on a website, make sure it’s mobile friendly (you never know what device the employer is using!). The moment a recruiter or hiring manager is faced with a difficulty (such as a website not loading or doesn’t have the PowerPoint software to open your .ppt presentation), they will more than likely move on to the next candidate. 

If it’s a team project, make sure to specify what you were responsible for. Keep in mind that most people assessing your projects are likely not to spend more than 5 minutes looking at a specific project—be sure to be prepared to talk about each project. 

You can find more information about the number of projects, and what to include (don’t forget process and sketches!), in this blog: Best Practices for Creating a Design Portfolio & Preparing for Interviews in 2022.

Interview Tips

When you are being interviewed, it’s not just the employer interviewing you—you’re also interviewing them. You want to make sure that they are a good fit for you. Always ask questions—especially questions about the company’s culture. Don’t forget to do some research on the company! Always be prepared.

What happens if you need special accommodations for your interview? For example, if you are deaf, you might prefer to meet in-person or on a video call. You can ask for accommodations in the comment section of the application or when they email you back. If you can’t find an email or if there is no place to add comments, try looking the company up on LinkedIn and see if you can message anyone. Again, it is totally reasonable to ask for the accommodations you need in order to have a productive interview—whether that is a permanent or temporary condition.

Our panelists shared their top advice for job applicants:

  • Be genuine and authentic: Don’t be afraid to show your personality. Employers want to make sure you will be a good cultural fit. 
  • Know about the company: Show that you’ve done your research on the company you’re interviewing for and show a genuine interest in what their goals are and how you can contribute to their success.
  • Your portfolio isn’t everything: Don’t just “let the work speak for itself.” Your portfolio is only half the battle. Make sure you are articulating your skills outside of your portfolio as well. How well do you work in a team? What leadership skills do you have? Are you good at managing multiple project deadlines?

5 Key Takeaways from Our Panelists

Nate Brubaker
Seize opportunities! When hiring, we’re not just looking for a degree. Looking for the person who took advantage of all the opportunities available. 

Jordan Watts
Look for whether a company is willing to change and embraces change. Recognize imposter syndrome. From his colleague Kelsey Johnston—“if you think you’re 80% qualified, you are 100% qualified.” That remaining 20% is the room for growth, and learning on-the-job is expected.

Amy Quarles
For your portfolio: Think about what you learned from each job/project. Even if the design output wasn’t completely newsworthy, your hiring manager will be looking at it in the context.

Hillary Turnipseed
Only apply for as many jobs/interviews as you can show up for 100%. The interviewer will know if you don’t care or aren’t familiar with the company. Don’t hit apply if you wouldn’t be excited to get a call back. Rejection is Redirection.

Nhu Nguyen
Fight through the fear. Don’t let imposter’s syndrome hold you back. The best opportunities come from taking risks!

 

Meet the Panelists 

Nate Brubaker

Owner & Executive Producer @ Rock Shore Media
Nate developed a passion for entrepreneurship and the creative industry at a young age. According to Nate, the most rewarding part of creating Rock Shore so far has been the ability to grow his team and see them prosper.

Jordan Watts

Director of Design @ Fearless
Jordan has spent his career working to rebuild trust in government and public institutions. As the Director of Design at Fearless he leads a multidisciplinary design practice to help people deliver and get better government services.

Amy Quarles

Creative Director @ Visit Baltimore
Amy began her career as an in-house graphic designer at a labor union in Washington, D.C., and moved to the leisure and tourism marketing space in 2007 where she has been ever since. She works with one full-time, in-house graphic designer and marketing managers in a small group of freelance creatives—photographers, illustrators, stylists, and videographers.

Hilliary Turnipseed

Director of Recruitment & DEI @ Subject Matter
Founder @ Hill Street Strategies
Hilliary is a DMV area-based talent acquisition executive, with a rich background in early-stage technology startups, media and social impact organizations. She seamlessly integrates diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies into her work, with an emphasis on advocating for underrepresented/underestimated candidates and creating two-way interviewing experiences.

About the Moderator:

Nhu Nguyen

Vice President @ AIGA Baltimore
AVP, Creative Director @ Fenton
Nhu brings over 12 years of comprehensive experience within the multimedia, interactive, and traditional design space and creative industry to develop effective and impactful campaigns. She leads the creative team at Fenton, integrating strategy, effective design, and compelling storytelling to create memorable solutions that help grow brands and leave lasting impressions. Nhu has worked in a variety of different industries and is passionate about amplifying voices that are underrepresented.

Thank you to Kristin Kosmides, Nhu Nguyen, and Frances Miller for your help on this blog.

Best Practices for Creating a Design Portfolio & Preparing for Interviews in 2022

Posted on by Krystal Carpintieri

AIGA Baltimore is here to help you succeed in your design portfolio reviews and interviews! Here is a guide for creating a design portfolio and some tips on how to prepare for an interview.

1. Quality over quantity. Showcase your best work.

We recommend starting and ending with an awesome piece. Don’t be afraid to include self-initiated work to stand out from the crowd. ONLY show your best work in your portfolio. If you aren’t 100% happy with a particular piece, don’t include it. It’s better to have 5-7 amazing projects than 10-15 projects that aren’t so great.

2. Think about how you will present your design portfolio—whether it is a PDF or an online portfolio. 

Traditional portfolios are printed in a flipbook style. If you have mostly print pieces, the traditional route may be the way to go. A bonus of having a printed portfolio is the opportunity to showcase printed pieces and to give reviewers a takeaway. Or if you have mostly web pieces, think about creating a portfolio website.

If you create a traditional printed portfolio or just a PDF, we suggest using Adobe InDesign to create the best design layout! Use 1-2 pages for each project and make sure you have a good hierarchy in terms of typography and images. A good size is 12×18 inches. 

Don’t forget to make your projects pop by placing them in mockups. We recommend keeping your mockup files organized to avoid re-downloading huge files. Some good mockup sites are mockupworld.co, creativemarket.com, graphicburger.com, and unblast.com. If you can’t find a free mockup, sometimes it’s easier to just create your own. 

If you need more design resources, check out this *FREE* Design Resource Guide from YouTuber & Graphic Designer, Kel Lauren.

3. Create a graphic design online portfolio.

It is a good idea to have a graphic design online portfolio so you can easily share it on LinkedIn, via email. Think about using Behance (free to use), Adobe Portfolio (you need a Creative Cloud account), Dribbble (you need to be invited), or a custom website such as Squarespace, Wix, or WordPress. Keep an out on the Creative Market freebies as they sometimes offer free website templates. 

4. Seek design opportunities outside of school.

There are lots of ways to get involved in design outside of school. Join the Baltimore Graphic Designers group on Facebook. It’s a group for Baltimore area-based graphic designers to create community, ask questions, get advice, share jobs, and plan meet-ups.

One way is to get involved with AIGA Baltimore! AIGA Baltimore is gearing up for another year of learning, connecting, and growing, and we need your help! Join board leaders on 1/26 at 12PM to hear about open roles and volunteer needs and find out where you can make a difference.

5. Keep your career goals in mind.

What do you want a career in? Think about all of these categories:

  • Brand Identity Design
  • Marketing & Advertising Design
  • Packaging Design
  • Motion & Video Design
  • Web & User Interface Design
  • Print & Publication Design
  • Lettering & Type Design
  • Graphic illustration
  • Data Visualization & Infographic Design

Learn more about these specific career types on dribbble: https://dribbble.com/resources/types-of-graphic-design

6. Practice how you will present your work. 

Be ready to discuss the goal of the project and how you reached the solution. Consider bringing any process sketches with you as well since reviewers are interested in your overall process.

Make sure that the pieces you include are the ones you are proud of. Make sure you can talk confidently in your meeting, interview, or review. Practice with a professional if you can.

7. Seek expert feedback. Attend Ink & Pixels 2022!

Take the next step towards your design career! Whether you want to make a good impression in interviews, need a new perspective on your portfolio, or want fresh eyes on a current project, we’re here to help. Ink & Pixels is one of AIGA Baltimore’s largest events focused on helping designers prepare for a career or career shift. 

This year, Ink & Pixels will be a 2-part event. The first event will be a virtual panel, From Portfolio to Offer: The Art of Getting Hired on Saturday, April 23rd. The Ink & Pixels portfolio reviews returns on Saturday, April 30th at Towson University. Mark your calendars and clean up those portfolios!

14+ Events to Attend Around the World!

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

9/15-10/15

Hispanic Heritage Talks

AIGA Unidos was created for Everyone!
We highlight Hispanic and Latinx creatives, so we can share their stories and work with the world—that’s you! Our first ever event is a series of talks called Hispanic Heritage Talks, which will take place during Hispanic Heritage Month. It is a series of virtual talks featuring Latinx and Hispanic creatives from different backgrounds and disciplines. ¡Acompañanos!

Join the AIGA Unidos familia, and hear from all the amazing creatives our heritage has to offer. From us to you, with love and a little sazón… who are we kidding? A lot of sazón! We are Unidos for Everyone!

Hosted by: AIGA Unidos
→ Register Here
FREE

10/1-31

Doors Open Baltimore

Doors Open Baltimore is going virtual-only in 2020 with a month’s worth of programming throughout October. Organized by the Baltimore Architecture Foundation (BAF), Doors Open Baltimore is the free citywide festival of architecture and neighborhoods that invites thousands of people to explore the city and make meaningful connections to the built environment. Replacing a weekend of open houses and in-person tours will be a month’s worth of virtual programs. Every week of October will include a new theme and new ways to virtually engage with Baltimore’s architecture and neighborhoods. 

Hosted by: Doors Open Baltimore
→ Register Here
FREE 

10/2-10/9

Phoenix Design Week – PHXDW

Phoenix Design Week (PHXDW) is a week-long celebration of design organized by AIGA Arizona to unite our state’s creative community and provide a forum for sharing best practices, showcasing exceptional work, and gaining inspiration.

Hosted by: AIGA Phoenix
→ Register Here
$25-$49 Tickets

10/5-10/10

St. Louis Design Week

St. Louis Design Week is a seven-day celebration of our local design community, featuring a variety of panel discussions, workshops, presentations, open houses, and other community growth-oriented events. Our mission is to grow design and breakdown design silos through making St. Louis design week all-inclusive, to all designers.

Hosted by: AIGA St. Louis
→ Register Here
FREE

10/5-10/9

Salt Lake Design Week – Dimensional Design

What is “Dimensional Design?” It is the idea that we, as designers and creatives, have to be multifaceted in our disciplines. Becoming a dimensional designer includes exposing oneself to creatives of other disciplines and perspectives to be able to see the broader context of their own work. Experience dimensional design in action during this year’s SLDW.

Salt Lake Design Week celebrates and promotes the impact of all design in Utah. By providing a forum for designers, business professionals, students, and the general public to interact, collaborate, and learn from each other, we build a stronger creative community. We are inclusive of all people and disciplines including; graphic, digital, product, fashion, photography, architecture, interior, and more. From October 5-10, 2020 we will host the first-ever virtual SLDW to celebrate Utah creatives and promote the impact of design throughout the state and beyond.

Hosted by: AIGA Salt Lake City
→ Register Here
FREE

10/7 | 6:30–8pm EDT

And She Could Be Next Virtual Screening

This film follows the grassroots campaigns of six women of color running for political office during the contentious 2018 United States midterm elections. Produced by female filmmakers of color, the documentary offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of these women leaders whose personal motivations, political coalitions, and ground-level activism steamroll the expectations of their opponents and of the broader public — defying traditional notions of what it means to be a U.S. politician in the process. 

A co-production of POV and ITVS. A co-presentation of Black Public Media and the Center for Asian American Media.  Film running time is 40 mins. Watch the trailer for And She Could be Next.

The screening will be hosted through Zoom. Zoom information will be sent to attendees prior to start time. Event will start at 6:30 PM EST and screening will start at 6:45 PM EST to allow attendees time to log on. 

After the screening, there will be a discussion based on prompts created for the film. Attendees will be grouped into break rooms for open discussion. Discussion time will be 15 mins.

This event is part of Design for Democracy, an AIGA initiative to increase civic participation through design. This event is a collaboration with POV, the award-winning independent non-fiction film series on PBS www.pbs.org/pov

Hosted by: AIGA Pittsburgh
→ Get Your Ticket Here
FREE

10/9

Baltimore Innovation Week

A one-day virtual event series celebrating good news stories and innovation in Baltimore.

Baltimore Innovation Week 2020 is a one-day virtual Innovation Celebration featuring multiple sessions that are focused on showcasing local companies and good news stories that have emerged during these continuously changing and trying times. Save your seat at spotlight discussions with industry experts, workshops from top companies, and networking with local businesses. You’ll have an insider look at the positive effect this city is having on the U.S. and World markets with premier access to the latest products and ideas. 

This annual event series is a unique collaborative effort from industry leaders across seven defined sectors. This is where technology meets science, creatives, students, entrepreneurs, sales representatives, marketing executives, economic developers, social activists and everyone in-between.  The best part? It’s all FREE.

Hosted by: ETC (EMERGING TECHNOLOGY CENTERS)
→ Get Your Ticket Here
FREE

10/14 | 6:30 PM–8:00 PM EDT

Changing the Face of Voting with UX

Join us for a conversation with Kathryn Summers about making voting inclusive and accessible through design. Design has the ability to include or exclude people. Join us for a conversation with Kathryn Summers about making voting inclusive and accessible through design. We will be discussing the implication of bad design and its implication on the voting process in the wake of the 2016 election and the coming 2020 election. In addition, Kathryn will be showing us the benefits of using eye-tracking machine and how it helps to analyze the visual behavior of your user.

Hosted by: Ladies Wine and Design Baltimore
→ Register Here
FREE

10/14 | 7–9 PM EDT

Talking Strategy with Douglas Davis

Join us on October 15th as Douglas shares how to turn the rational language of business into the emotional language of design. Douglas’ inspiring journey has taken him from designer to strategist, to now teaching other creatives the business of design. Wherever he shares, he helps provide a framework for the design industry. A framework that can be applied to concept pitches or to how to think about your career. Strategy has been something design schools haven’t focused on, and it’s more important than ever we understand it. After stepping into Harvard Business school, Douglas realized how big the disconnect was for designers. Since then, he’s taught at NYU, HOW Design University, Manhattan Early College School for Advertising, and the City College of New York, all while running The Davis Group LLC. Douglas took it upon himself to fill the void between design and business and teaches left-brain business skills to right-brain creative thinkers with his book, Creative Strategy and the Business of Design. He’s helped creatives across the country better understand business goals, how to set them up, but most importantly, how to measure their success for clients. There is a need to understand more than what looks good for your career to blossom. Join us on October 15th as Douglas shares how to turn the rational language of business into the emotional language of design. You already have the creativity, now it’s time to gain the business insights.

Hosted by: AIGA Charlotte
→ Register Here
$10

10/19-23

AIGA Colorado Presents Colorado Creatives

Colorado’s creative community thrives when its members are able to come together to share stories and experiences, however, the pandemic has moved these communities online and made it more difficult for people to come together in person. That’s where AIGA Colorado Creatives comes in.

The best part? Our project is all about YOU, the AIGA Colorado Creatives. It’s your chance to share your stories, advice, experiences and inspiration in a short video. Selected videos will be featured on an event site and combined with others in a storytelling reel which will be shown to thousands of people.

→ Participate Here
Submit your Video by October 12

10/20-22

Adobe MAX—The Creativity Conference

Make plans to join Adobe MAX for a uniquely immersive and engaging digital experience, guaranteed to inspire. Three full days of luminary speakers, celebrity appearances, musical performances, global collaborative art projects, and 350+ sessions — and all at no cost.

Hosted by: Adobe MAX
→ Register Here
FREE (with Adobe Account ID)

10/30

Creative Mornings Talk – Speaker Lola B. Pierson

Your Home! (part of a series on Stress)

Lola B. Pierson is a highly collaborative artist who was born and raised in Baltimore City. She is a playwright, writer, and director. Her work challenges theatrical form, incorporating elements of social media, performance art, visual art, switcheroos, and boredom. Other words she has used to describe her work in bios include: presence, explore, dynamic, and representation. A graduate of Baltimore School for the Arts, Bard College, and Towson University, she is passionate about the intersections of language, time, presence, and philosophy. She writes new work and messes with classics (that deserve it). She is the co-founding Artistic Director of The Acme Corporation.

Hosted by: Creative Mornings
→ Register Here
FREE

10/31 | 6 PM EDT

Counter Narratives Show: Black Liberation & Queer Resistance

The purpose of the show is to provide a critical examination of society and culture through the intersectional lens of race, gender, and class, more specifically it seeks to provide a COUNTER-NARRATIVE. The Show encourages a reflective assessment and critique of unique standpoints and their potential contribution to popular discourse.

What you can expect from the COUNTER-NARRATIVE:
Quality conversations about critical issues in communities of color, with guests who don’t just talk about the problem they are active in finding solutions.  Guests share their lived-experiences, insights, information, opinions, and personal narratives.

Hosted by: Rasheem
→ Register Here
FREE

AIGA Get Out The Vote

Every four years since 2000, AIGA has activated its community of designers across the U.S. and beyond to Get Out the Vote. The campaign is part of Design for Democracy, an AIGA initiative to increase civic participation through design.

In 2020, AIGA recognizes the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote in 1920 with a special edition of Get Out the Vote: Empowering the Women’s Vote. It commemorates the first legislation for women’s voting rights. Not until the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 were voting rights of all women protected and enforced.

AIGA members–submit your posters today until election day, Tuesday, November 3, 2020, and help us get out the vote! Posters received by National Voter Registration Day (September 22, 2020) and Vote Early Day (October 24, 2020) will have the greatest impact.

Hosted by: AIGA

There are two opportunities. Please see below for the submission portals and galleries:

Finding Your Creative Communities

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

National and Local Professional Organizations

 

AIGA The Professional Association for Design logo
AIGA: The Professional Association for Design | National
AIGA Baltimore | @aigabaltimore
AIGA advances design as a professional craft, strategic advantage, and vital cultural force. As the largest community of design advocates, we bring together practitioners, enthusiasts, and patrons to amplify the voice of design and create the vision for a collective future. We define global standards and ethical practices, guide design education, enhance professional development, and make powerful tools and resources accessible to all.

AAFB: American Advertising Federation Baltimore logo
AAF: American Advertising Federation | National
AAF Baltimore | @aafbaltimore
The American Advertising Federation of Baltimore (AAFB) traces its roots back to 1918, originally established as the women’s auxiliary to the men’s Advertising Club. In 1920, the women formed their own organization, naming it the Women’s Advertising Club of Baltimore. It was affiliated with the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World, the predecessor to the modern-day American Advertising Federation.

AGI Alliance Graphique Internationale
AGI: Alliance Graphique Internationale | @agigraphic
Alliance Graphique Internationale [AGI] is, as its name suggests, a member-based association of professionals, united by working in the field of graphic design and drawn from across the globe.

AMA American Marketing Association logo
AMA: American Marketing Association | National
AMA Baltimore | @amabaltimore
The American Marketing Association Baltimore Chapter is Maryland’s leading provider of networking, educational programming, and resources for marketing professionals. AMA Baltimore provides extensive opportunities for marketers to expand their networks, grow professionally, and learn about current industry trends.

Creative Mornings logo
Creative Mornings | National
Creative Mornings Baltimore | @CreativeMorningsBaltimore
CreativeMornings/Baltimore is a FREE monthly breakfast lecture series based on the two core principles that everyone is creative and everyone is invited. CM/Bal is one of over 200 chapters around the world meeting each month. Every month, all chapters organize talks based on the same theme. CreativeMornings is fueled by an engine of generosity and is 100% volunteer-run, partnering with great local businesses and organizations. If you’re interested in volunteering, please complete this form.

Baltimore Creative Community

BOPA: Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts
@promoandarts
As Baltimore City’s arts council, The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts provides resources and opportunities to artists and artist organizations to continue to make Baltimore a city for the arts.

BCAN
@baltimorecreates
The Baltimore Creatives Acceleration Network (BCAN) is a 10-year, city-wide initiative providing both strategic and as-needed, just-in-time entrepreneurship support for Baltimore creatives of all disciplines and backgrounds. At BCAN, we define artists, creatives, and entrepreneurs the same way: visionaries who create something new from raw and often limited resources.

Through our Programs—Founder Fellowship, Connect, Help Desk, Mobile, and Pilot (launching in 2020), we’re on a mission to foster a stronger, more equitable creative ecosystem and economy in Baltimore by empowering artists as entrepreneurs!

bfc: Baltimore Freelancers Collective
IG: @bmore_freelancers
FB: @baltimorefreelancers
Whether you own your own business, freelance on the side, work remotely for a large company, or just want to learn more about entrepreneurship—we would love for you to join us at our next event.

Elevate & Cultivate with Illiah
@elevate.cultivate
Nothing combats fear or intimidation like bravery and empathy, so reach out to your competition, ask for a chat—it could change your life! Also, pay attention to when inspiration hits you like a truck, it could be your next big thing. And finally, keep a list of competitors, not to watch, but to reach out to invite them to be your friends and join our community.

The Bmore Creatives
@thebmorecreatives
Hi, welcome to The Bmore Creatives! We are a community platform and a social media brand that celebrates the creatives, the makers, the get sh*t done-ers, the people that make Charm City charming! We promote and connect local artists, small businesses, and avid IGers throughout the city. We want to prove that everyone can be creative when they are open to being inspired by everyday life in our city.

Ladies, Wine & Design
Ladies, Wine and Design Baltimore holds monthly events which are limited to eight creative ladies. We’ll have drinks and casual conversations on a wide variety of topics relating to creativity, business, and life. If you’re a female student or creative and would like to join, please email us. It’s free and reservations are first-come, first-serve. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook, and if you’d like to host us in your space, teach a workshop, or lead a discussion, please do get in touch.

Made With Love In Baltimore
If you want your product or organization listed, drop a “Made with ♥ in Baltimore” link on your site, and send us an email to hello@madewithloveinbaltimore.org.

Open Works
@open_works_bmore
Our mission is to make tools, technology, and the knowledge to use them accessible to all. We connect you to manufacturing equipment, space, education, and Baltimore’s largest community of maker professionals. With programs for ages eight and up, we can help you make just about anything!

Production Club of Baltimore
@ProductionClub
THE PCB PRINT, PAPER & PRODUCTION SHOW 2020 (Scheduled for October 1)
Join the Production Club of Baltimore, along with hundreds of other local creative and marketing professionals, for an evening of networking and fresh production ideas from the mid-atlantic’s very best printers, paper suppliers, image producers, and technologists. Grow your swatch book collection and samples library. Cultivate new vendor partnerships. Seed your future project timelines with new media. Dig into deeper relationships with fellow creatives by face-to-face networking. This is a time to flourish! Register now!

SoDA | Society of Design Arts
@sodabaltimore
The Society of Design Arts (SoDA) presents a monthly program in Baltimore, Maryland to further attendees’ knowledge of the history of the design arts including graphic design, illustration, architecture, book arts, and photography. Programs are free and open to anyone.

SoDA consists of a planning committee that meets quarterly to discuss future programs. Formerly known as Society for History and Graphics (SHAG), the all-volunteer group has been active since 2007 providing more than 100 programs which have explored such diverse subjects as Bauhaus methodology and practice, Patent Medicine labels, The Real Mad Men of Advertising, Science Fiction illustration, and many others.

Baltimore Cake & Whiskey
Fresh, authentic, purposeful networking events for the modern businesswoman.

Baltimore Graphic Designers
This group is for Baltimore area based graphic designers to create community, ask questions, get advice, share jobs, and plan meet-ups.

Monument Women’s Creative Alliance
@monumentwomen
Our mission is to support women creatives by cultivating a community that enables connection, inspiration, and education.

Baltimore Tech Community

Baltimore Women Techmakers
Calling all Baltimore women that use tech! Whether you are a Product Manager, Designer, Developer, or a tech hobbyist, this group welcomes you! This is the local chapter of Google’s Women Techmakers.

Baltimore Womxn in Tech
@BmoreWomenTech
Through networking, mentorship, and collaboration, we aim to empower womxn in our community. No matter your role in our ecosystem, we want you to thrive.

Baltimore UX Meetup
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Calling all those who create excellent user experiences for sites, systems, applications, software, and hardware! From the startup to the enterprise. From user research to implementation. If you’re designing and building great experiences in the Baltimore area, please join us.

Code for Baltimore
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We are a community of volunteers who develop open-source projects as a Code for America Brigade by focusing on open government, open data, great design, and social good in Baltimore.

Code in the Schools
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We empower Baltimore City youth to thrive in the 21st-century economy by expanding access to quality computer science education and building pathways from school to jobs and higher education. By focusing on youth traditionally under-represented in technology fields, we work to eliminate structural barriers and inequities in education and industry.

Hack Baltimore
@hack Baltimore
Baltimore is a unique and vibrant city, and though there are many reasons why we’re called Charm City, we tend to make the news for our flaws rather than our strengths. And hackathons are a great way to engage the broader community to explore technology as a way to help solve them.

Technical.ly Baltimore
@TechnicallyBMR
Technical.ly Baltimore is a local technology news organization dedicated to how innovation is impacting the region.

Creative Job Boards

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The Creative Group (TLC) | A Robert Half Company
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Behance
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Futurism(s): An Inclusive History of Graphic Design

Posted on by Frances Miller

It is always an honor and a pleasure to have Ellen Lupton present. A huge thank you to Ellen for her generosity in delivering the recent talk on Futurism(s) as well as writing this article, for those who weren’t able to listen live.

On Wednesday, April 22, 2020, Baltimore’s stalwart design history group launched its new identity. Formerly known as SHAG (Society for History and Graphics), the group is now called SoDA, Society of Design Arts. It was my pleasure to deliver a talk called “Futurism(s)” as SoDA’s first event, in collaboration with AIGA Baltimore and Stevenson University. This online event attracted over 200 guests from the Baltimore region and beyond. Thanks to SoDA’s energetic new member Raquel Castedo, many designers from Brazil logged on to hear the talk and participate, as well as people from Utah, Tennessee, and elsewhere.

Below is my short summary of the talk, which was not recorded. —Ellen Lupton

“Futurism(s)” represents an approach to teaching Graphic Design History. At MICA, my colleague Brockett Horne and I are striving to tell a more inclusive history of design than the chronology we learned back when we were students. Most GD History courses include an ode to Italian Futurism. This canonical all-male art movement can be a leaping-off point for discussing other forms of future-leaning art and creativity. “Futurism(s)” is a talk with three chapters: Italian Futurism, Afrofuturism, and the Cyborg Manifesto.

Italian Futurism

Italian Futurism was launched by F. T. Marinetti in 1909. Frankly, it’s hard to find a more patriarchal, exclusionary, white-dominated movement in the history of design-isms. Marinetti expanded our view of the printed page with his innovative typography, but he infused his ideas with hatred and violence. He wrote, “We will glorify war—the world’s only hygiene—militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of freedom.” He wanted to destroy museums, libraries, and schools in order to make way for a factory-born future.

Futurismo-filippo-tommaso-marinetti

Although Italian Futurism scorned women and embraced fascist ideology, the Futurists explored liberated styles of masculinity. The Futurist painter Giacomo Balla, who published his “Futurist Manifesto of Men’s Clothing” in 1913, dreamed of menswear tailored with interactive fabrics that could be changed at will to represent a man’s shifting moods: “Loving, Arrogant, Persuasive, Diplomatic, Unitonal, Multitonal, Shaded, Polychrome, Perfumed.” Italian Futurism took place in a particular place and time, and many of us reject its politics while admiring its revolutionary aesthetics.

Afrofuturism

Afrofuturism is a movement in music, art, and literature that arose in the 1950s and continues today. (The term was invented by critic Mark Dery in 1994.) Afrofuturism embraces world-building, a creative methodology arising from science-fiction and gaming. World-building emphasizes mythic time rather than historical time. It employs storytelling across many genres, from novels, comic books, and toys to fashion, movies, music, and fan fiction. World-building actively engages an audience in experiencing a world that is both real and imagined.

Afrofuturist artists include the musician Sun Ra (1914–1993), an American jazz composer, bandleader, and poet who claimed to be an alien from Saturn—and always dressed appropriately for his role, building a mythic world around his persona. George Clinton’s funk band Parliament created their own “P-Funk mythology,” generating an elaborate backstory to the music. The Afrofuturist album covers of the 1960s and 70s featured space ships, Egyptian pyramids, and other symbols of cosmic knowledge. Today, a new generation has brought feminist identities to Afrofuturism. Artists including Solange Knowles, Rihanna, and Janelle Monae use sound, performance, fashion, and storytelling to build vivid worlds ruled by warrior queens and rebellious androids.

Billy Graham was the first black art director in the comics industry. In addition to creating a character called Luke Cage, based on Blaxploitation action films, Graham was the main comic artist to work on the Black Panther comic book series, from 1969 through 1976. These comics continue to be published today, with storylines created by renowned Black authors including Ta-Nehisi Coates and Roxane Gay. In 2018 Ryan Coogler directed the international blockbuster film The Black Panther, featuring production design by Hannah Beachler and costumes by Ruth E. Carter. Together, this creative team designed a high-tech civilization that combines aspects of contemporary African urbanism, architecture, and fashion with futuristic details.

Each of these exercises in Afrocentric world-building questions culturally dominant readings of technology. Mainstream representations of the future—whether utopian or dystopian—have pictured technology as a primarily white, male instrument of power, in contrast with subjugated human bodies that are seen as female and/or non-white. These artists have transformed how technology is represented and understood across cultures.

The Cyborg Manifesto

Donna Haraway’s essay “Cyborg Manifesto” (1985) represents a third vein of futurist design and philosophy. Haraway questions the binaries that privilege white, male, human creatures while “othering” countless alternative modes of life. The cyborg is a being who is both biological and mechanical. The cyborg challenges cultural binaries such as male/female, animal/human, and human/machine. According to Haraway, cyborgs don’t appear only in science fiction. The cyborgs have arrived! They are here among us! Examples of cyborg life include A.I., virtual reality, bioengineering, psychoactive drugs, and countless medical technologies, from fertility treatments to cloning and transgender medicine. Fashion has always altered the body, while people with physical differences use wheelchairs, prosthetics, glasses, and hearing aids to expand their mobility and change their sense perceptions.

Designers working in the field of speculative design use techniques such as illustration, model-making, animation, and photo-illustration to imagine new, often dystopian futures. In their project Life Support: Respiratory Dog (2008), Revital Cohen and Tuur van Balen explored whether a dog could breathe for a human being. Living “service animals” help humans overcome many sensory and emotional challenges; the designers ask, why not have service animals augment our essential biological functions as well? The project is intended to be fictional and provocative, not realistic.

revital-cohen-respiratory-dog-design-futurism

Despite its fictional aims, Respiratory Dog has assumed new relevance today, a time when thousands of patients with severe Covid-19 require artificial life support. Every intubated Covid patient is a cyborg. Devices for respiratory life support are landmarks in the history of design and medicine. The Negative Pressure Ventilator—also known as the “iron lung”—was used to artificially ventilate patients who were paralyzed by polio. An iron lung encloses the user’s body in a negative-pressure chamber. Rhythmic pressure changes inside the chamber cause the person’s lungs to expand and contract. Thousands of these machines were mass-produced for use in homes and care facilities before the discovery of the polio vaccine in 1955. Iron lungs were eventually replaced with positive-pressure ventilators, which force air in and out of the patient’s lungs through the airway rather than exerting pressure against the chest. These modern ventilators require heavy sedation and put tremendous strain on the body. Today, modern versions of the iron lung are being reconsidered as a technology that is less expensive and more humane than a standard ventilator. One such prototype, Exovent, is being developed in the UK (as of April 2020). According to the developers of this old/new medical technology, the Exovent is a simpler, cheaper, and less invasive technology; it allows patients to remain awake, to eat, drink, and take medications on their own, and to talk on their phones.

What is “futurism”? All futurist movements, from Italian Futurism to Afrofuturism and speculative design, are opportunities to challenge the present by picturing what comes next. Designers are imagining the future whenever they question how things look, work, or signify in the current moment. Sometimes, the future arrives on the wings of catastrophe. Sometimes, the future must be created by excavating the past. Design history doesn’t have to be chronological. Like world-building, design history can pursue ideas across simultaneous and overlapping dimensions.

Bibliography

 

  • Reynaldo Anderson, “Afrofuturism 2.0 & the Black Speculative Arts Movement: Notes on a Manifesto,” Obsidian, Vol. 42, No. 1/2, (2016), pp. 228-236
  • Yytasha L. Womack, Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture (Chicago Review Press, 2013).
  • Ruth la Ferla, “Afrofuturism: The Next Generation,” New York Times, December 12, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/12/fashion/afrofuturism-the-next-generation.html
  • Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby, Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2014).
  • Donna J. Haraway, Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (New York: Routledge, 1991).
  • Dan Hassler-Forest, “The Politics of World Building: Heteroglossia in Janelle Monáe’s Afrofuturist WondaLand,” World Building, ed. Marta Boni (Amsterdam University Press, 2017).

 

About the Author

Ellen Lupton | Senior Curator of Contemporary Design at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City. Her exhibitions include “How Posters Work,” “Beautiful Users,” and “The Senses: Design Beyond Vision.” Lupton is founding director of the Graphic Design MFA Program at MICA in Baltimore, where she has authored numerous books on design processes, including “Thinking with Type,” “Graphic Design Thinking,” and “Graphic Design: The New Basics.” Her recent books “Design Is Storytelling” and “Health Design Thinking” were published by Cooper Hewitt. She is an AIGA Gold Medalist and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Design & Dine Recap: Debbie Millman’s Perspective on Social Media & Personal Branding

Posted on by Krystal Carpintieri

Thanks to Kelly Strine for writing this blog post!

The 8th annual AIGA Baltimore Design Week kicked off with a special Design & Dine with the legendary Debbie Millman on Friday, October 11, 2019, at Topside’s beautiful Garden Room. Founder and host of the Design Matters Podcast, Debbie has interviewed over 500 artists, designers, and industry experts. This special Design & Dine was no lecture. Instead, it was Debbie’s signature conversational interview style with 30 of Baltimore’s industry professionals. Had it been recorded, it could’ve been the next episode of Design Matters.

The casual discussion explored how we portray our lives on social media and in our own personal branding. Debbie has “very, very strong feelings about people as brands,” and why we sometimes hide the truth––or downright lie––in the social media versions of our lives.

Personal Branding

Debbie has studied the evolution of branding, and how we’ve grown with it, for the past 17 years. At its core, branding is about mark-making and building consensus around that mark. Through quality and consistency, shared views and opinions regarding products and services can be accomplished.

If we fast-forward through the history of corporate branding, we come to a more recent phenomenon: personal branding. Personal branding is the practice of marketing people and their careers as brands, with an intentional effort to influence public perception. Sound familiar in the design industry where everyone wants to position themselves a certain way in the marketplace?

Photography Credits: Bryan Burke
Photography Credits: Bryan Burke

Humans are Messy

As Debbie so bluntly put it, “Humans are messy.” We have a lot of feelings. But brands don’t have that kind of depth. Sure, brands can evolve, but brands are rooted in consistency. If humans run the emotional gamut and can reinvent themselves, but brands are built on consistency, can personal brands be successful? Can consensus be built?

From a technology standpoint, we’re living in an ever-connected environment. We’re always just a tap, click, or voice command away from whatever we need. Yet we’re oddly disconnected in our interpersonal relationships. Why? Isn’t social media supposed to make us feel more connected?

Our Online Personas

In many cases, people use social media as a highlight reel. We share what we are proud of and the happy moments and hide what we are ashamed of. That’s natural, right? But if you’re only seeing the highlights of other people’s lives, it’s much easier to feel left-behind or alone in your own life. The things that we don’t share tend to be the things that build a better connection with others.

For those of us who maintain a personal brand, Debbie challenged us to consider how social media impacts our branding. If we hide certain aspects of our lives to position ourselves a particular way, we start to pull away from our authentic selves. We start to create an online persona who is our ideal selves, but ultimately this can lead us to feel even more disconnected from ourselves and others.

Photography Credits: Krystal Carpintieri
Photography Credits: Krystal Carpintieri

How do we combat the disconnect? Here are a few ideas:

  1. Digital minimalism: More and more people are disconnecting from social media to live their lives IRL (in real life). Taking a break from social media or ditching it altogether is one way to reconnect and build better relationships with others.
  2. Be authentic: Rather than showing only the highlights, show your authentic self—challenges and all. People connect with honesty. But the key is to help; not commiserate. If you’re going through a difficult time, chances are someone else is going through it too. Share resources or seek support, rather than just complain.
  3. Set an intention: Ask yourself, why am I posting this? Am I looking for self-validation? Sympathy? Is it a humble brag? Being honest about why you’re posting sends a clear message to your audience. Did you land your dream client after working your tail off on the pitch? Yeah, I’ll celebrate that win with you. But do I care about your “picky” client? Nah, I don’t need your negativity.
Photography Credits: Bryan Burke
Photography Credits: Bryan Burke

Social Branding

As Debbie notes, branding is always evolving. The most recent anomaly is social branding, which is marketing for social change. Social branding projects, such as the Me Too Movement and Black Lives Matter, are designed to change a culture. So, whereas personal branding fails at the individual level due to the complexity of human emotions, social branding succeeds due to the social change people can rally around. Social branding builds consensus.

Continue the Conversation

Where do you stand on personal branding? Is your personal brand a true brand in that it builds consensus, or is it more of a brand identifier to set you apart in the marketplace? Do you tend to hide the truth on social media in hopes of creating an ideal online persona? Share your thoughts in the comments below, we want to hear from you!

About the Speaker:
Debbie Millman
Twitter & Instagram: @debbiemillman

Named “one of the most creative people in business” by Fast Company, and “one of the most influential designers working today” by Graphic Design USA, Debbie Millman is also an author, educator, curator and host of the podcast Design Matters.

Meet The Speakers: Illiah Manger & Rachel Davis

Posted on by Krystal Carpintieri

We are so excited to have Illiah and Rachel join us for Baltimore Design Week. Together, they bring us insights into creative communities with their In Perfect Harmony–Choosing Creative Communities event on October 24th.


Here’s what they have to say about the event: “We can’t wait to meet everyone during our Creative Communities event. This isn’t a typical talk where you leave with a numb bum because you sat in your seat the whole time listening to someone talk at you. We have some amazing activities planned for us to explore values and aligning those with communities.”

Choosing Creative Communities

Rachel will also be facilitating a Problem Framing Workshop on October 27. Rachel gave us a little insight into the event: “I view problem framing as step 0 of Design Thinking. Many times we jump right in because we believe we know the pain points and the user and we are ready to empathize with them, but we haven’t examined the “What Else?” There may be perspectives––or even users––we haven’t considered when we don’t explore other frames.” Join Rachel as she guides us through how to approach problem framing as we wrap up Baltimore Design Week. 

Haven’t grabbed a seat yet to these events?
Grab a FREE ticket to the Creative Communities event HERE.
Snag a seat at the Problem Framing Workshop HERE.

Problem Framing Workshop-Baltimore Design Week

Now, let’s get to know Illiah and Rachel a little more…


What’s your favorite quote/philosophy?

Illiah: “Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change” – Brene Brown

We are each a wealth of knowledge, creativity, power. Our stories make up who we are, but it requires courage and vulnerability to be innovators, thinkers, designers. Brene Brown’s writing and talks inspire me to live fully and continue to do the work I’m called to.

Rachel: Everyone is creative. One of my favorite books is Creative Confidence by Tom Kelley and David Kelley. This whole philosophy of everyone is creative is what drives my brand Your True Tribes. One of my favorite quotes from this book is, “What we’ve found is that we don’t have to generate creativity from scratch. We just need to help people rediscover what they already have; the capacity to imagine—or build upon—new-to-the-world ideas. But the real value of creativity doesn’t emerge until you are brave enough to act on those ideas.”

Doesn’t matter if you are a designer, a copywriter, an accountant, a dentist, seriously whatever you are an expert in you are also creative. You have the ideas in your head it’s about working with those individuals who can help you organize those thoughts, and help you make them come alive in the world.

What is your biggest challenge as a designer/creative?

Illiah: That debilitating fear that comes with not thinking your ideas are good. That low-feeling you hit when you think the client won’t like what you’re designing is always a challenge. This leads to putting the work off because you don’t know if you can do it justice, and that procrastination just forces you to work under pressure when it’s not needed.

Rachel: The ever-present imposter syndrome. Any time I have creative block, or can’t get out of a creative slump, or just get into a funk. It’s that little voice in the back of my head that wants to tell me, well maybe you aren’t good enough to be doing this. Creative communities have actually helped a lot with this—being able to have a sounding board, a place to talk with like-minded people, a place that gets me back on track when that little imposter syndrome troll throws me off the bridge into the water. This is what I value in communities and close friends who help me come back to my true focus. 

A close second is communicating the value of design. That’s a huge challenge. How do you help the rest of the world “get it” when it comes so easy to you and other creatives to know the value and benefit of good design?

What’s on your desk that you could not live without?

Illiah: I get so many questions about color from both designers and clients. The Pantone Solid Coated & Uncoated swatch book is definitely something on my desk I cannot live without. It’s the most comprehensive, up to date color tool available. For me, it’s nearly impossible to choose colors for any brand design project without it, because the color formulas are consistent across all mediums. There’s always going to be differences from printer to printer and screen to screen, but choosing from Pantone as a starting place helps a lot.
And my earl grey tea latte. 

Rachel: Oh, this is a good one because I just bought something new I couldn’t live without. I get tense when I’m focused, I mean physically, my body—especially my hands. When I type I seem to think that pinky needs to go straight up in the air on my right hand as if I’m having high tea with the queen. Why? Heck if I know! But because of that, I invested in a gel stress ball, small enough to fit in my tiny hands. It helps me not have a hand that’s in pain for a week after a day of focusing and typing. This tiny gray hand therapy stress ball is my savior right now.

What sparks creativity for you?

Illiah: Weekends away from screens, art museums, walks, new experiences. Innovative Design.

Whenever I have creative block, it is because I don’t have enough information. My client is my main source of inspiration, always. Great design cannot be created in a vacuum. I need as much info from and about the client and the project as possible. 

Also, creativity takes practice. The more creative you are, the more you have. When I’m not designing, I’m crafting with my daughters or coloring in a coloring book. 

Rachel: Reading. For sure, reading. I have a list a mile long right now of books in my queue, both Kindle and ones I can actually hold in my hands. On my Kindle, I am addicted to the highlight tool for quotes or passages that spark something for me. In an actual book, I have stickies that go right next to quotes or things I want to come back to. There’s a time and a place for fiction, but my love is nonfiction, with some of my favorite authors being Seth Godin, Austin Kleon, Tom and David Kelley, Pat Flynn, and Tina Seelig. But there are so many more that I have on my list! If I’m at a block, I take a moment, pick up a book, head over to a room with no electronics—I mean except my Kindle if it’s a book on there!—I sit down, take a moment, clear my head, and just read.

What advice would you give to your 20-something self?

Illiah: Embrace fear, take risks. There’s never a time again when the stakes aren’t as high. Listen to your intuition, and let it be your guiding force.

Talk to and connect intentionally with designers (or anyone who’s living your dream) who are ahead of you. Community and connection is how you’ll reach your aspirations. Watch them and learn. 

Rachel: Progress is better than perfection. Have grace with yourself—change and mistakes are part of the process. It’s all about failing intelligently because failure is going to happen you just need to learn from it. And for that grace piece, seriously just give yourself a break. Did you make a spelling mistake in a post? Is it the end of the world, of course not——ask yourself will this matter in an hour, will this matter tomorrow, will this matter in a week, will this matter in a year?

Illiah C&V Creative

Illiah Manger

Creative Director / Owner
candvcreative.com // elevateandcultivate.com
@c.and.v // @elevate.cultivate

Rachel Davis

Rachel Davis

Content + Brand Strategist / Owner
yourtruetribes.com
@yourtruetribes (IG + Twitter)

Meet The Speaker: Taylor Cashdan

Posted on by Frances Miller

Taylor is a North Carolina-based multidisciplinary creative and community builder who’s passionate about people, design, and all the intersections in between.

He brings to the tables a burning desire to collaborate with others to create exceptional work “for people who give a shit.”

This October, we’re welcoming Taylor as a part of Baltimore Design Week 2019. His talk, titled “Stress Addiction: From Morning Coffee to the Cardiac Wing,” aligns with our recent efforts to engage with our community and peers about mental wellness and self-care.

Read on and get to know Taylor – from how he got started in design to what he’s digging right now. Then, join us in person during Baltimore Design Week!

Stress Addiction talk 10/23 with taylor cashdan

Where do you draw inspiration from?

Taylor: The people and things around me, and by extension, the Internet. I’m not one of those people that’s anti-Internet for sourcing inspiration. Never in the history of man have we as individuals had the reach we do now thanks to the Internet–you’d be foolish not to take advantage of it.

What advice would you give to your 20-something self?

Taylor: What you’re doing is working, so relax, continue to lean into authenticity, and remember is okay to take a break sometimes–your brain (and friends) will appreciate it.

When did you first realize you wanted a career in design?

Taylor: I can track all of my major “career” decisions back to people telling me “no, you can’t do this”. My first step in the direction of becoming a designer was during a 9th grade elective-fair (where you could come and learn about all the classes you could choose from for high school). The journalism teacher said “sorry, we don’t allow freshmen on our staff”…3 months later, I was the first freshman.

What’s your favorite quote or philosophy?

Taylor: There’s a book called “The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck” that has a lot of quick, punchy lessons. But the one that’s stuck with me the most goes something like this: “you may not be directly responsible for what happened, but you are responsible for how you react to it.” I’ve defaulted back to that statement during times of stress or conflict and it has helped me not over or underreact.

What’s the harshest criticism you’ve ever gotten about your work and how did you handle it?

Taylor: I was told in an interview debrief via a recruiter that “I’d make a better design manager than an actual designer”. And at the time, it hit me hard. I was thinking “wow, they’d rather me be the one talking to the designers than actually making things–I must really suck”. Fast forward a few years, I now realize it was a compliment–the consideration and perspective I was viewing and presenting my work from was both at the 10,000-foot level and in the weeds, and the position I was applying for would have been too mundane. The lesson here is: it’s not always about you, sometimes, it’s about what an organization/client/person/etc needs or doesn’t need.

Is there any designer or piece of design that you’re digging right now?

Taylor: I’ve been leaning into monoline illustration heavily lately. It’s nice because you can pull in SO much detail, but it can also scale well with subtraction. Brian Steely has been a huge source of inspiration for me–and of course the simplicity of Draplin’s “thick lines” mantra.

Stress Addiction talk 10/23 with taylor cashdan

Q&A with Crayligraphy Founder, Colin Tierney

Posted on by Frances Miller

Hand lettering and calligraphy are having a major boom today, as seen from logos to magazine covers, and from mass-produced home goods to painstakingly-handwritten wedding invitations.

When looking at work by the likes of Jessica Hische, Lauren Hom, and Jon Contino (just a few of the letterers helping to spread the craft today), it can feel like there’s no way your own hand could do that. Calligraphy, in particular, is intimidating to get into. Choosing and buying tools, and getting over the hurdle of giving up when your first few tries don’t look totally Instagram-worthy.

Crayligraphy was founded in the Summer of 2015 by Colin Tierney in (guess where?) Baltimore, Maryland. Offering in-person workshops, online guides, and a community of other learners, Crayligraphy delivers helpful content for anyone interested in learning. AIGA Baltimore is excited to cohost a workshop right here in Baltimore, so join us on Saturday, May 11th, 2019! Read on to learn more about Colin’s journey in developing this group and resource.

Sign up for the Crayligraphy workshop!

So, what exactly is Crayligraphy?
Colin: It’s a concept I dubbed several years back—a neologism combining the words “crazy” and “calligraphy”—to help people learn the beautiful art of writing through the magical world of those nostalgic, childhood friendly markers. Because let’s be honest, calligraphy with markers is pretty crazy.

Essentially, Crayligraphy is a space for people to try their hand in the ancient art form in the least intimidating way as possible. No longer do you have to spend an arm and a leg on traditional supplies before determining whether or not you enjoy the process. Broad-line markers are cheap, easily accessible and most of all, fun!

Where did the name Crayligraphy come from?

Colin: Crayligraphy began as a way to experiment with calligraphy through a marker. In this particular post, a Crayola marker. Hence the original name “Crayoligraphy,” which yes, I dubbed as well, but that’s a whole other story 🤫🤐

I changed the name to “Crayligraphy” shortly after realizing I wanted to turn this idea into a learning platform. The name not only rolled off the tongue easier, but it didn’t limit people to thinking they had to use Crayola’s brand. There are so many quality broad-line markers out there–– Target’s Up&Up, Crazart, Roseart to name a few—–that it seemed silly to be exclusive to just one brand.

At the time, did you think this would grow to what it is today?

Colin: At the time, I had no idea how big this idea was going to be. I was simply responding to my audience after several years of emails and DMs, requesting that I teach hand lettering and calligraphy.

One year after coming up with the idea of Crayligraphy, I posted this same image announcing the launch. People who were interested in learning how to stylistically write with a marker, were able to sign up to our newsletter, being the first to know when my series of tutorials would begin.

After the first 24 hours, we had 2 thousand people sign up to our newsletter list 😱. Before the announcement, I didn’t know how to teach. I had to better my knowledge and skillset before proclaiming that I was proficient enough to take on that role. Basically, I had to learn to teach.

Originally, you were traveling across the country to host workshops in different cities. How did you balance this along with your family and other work?

Make no mistake: doing all of these workshops solo was no easy task.

We get hundreds of requests to visit different cities all around the world. Back when I started teaching workshops, I was a one-man show on the road. My wife Lindsey organized the events and made sure everything was scheduled and set up so that I could fly into the city on a Friday, wake up the next morning (like a lost puppy in an unfamiliar territory), teach the workshop and hop back on a plane to return home early Sunday (early as in 3 or 4 in the morning early 😩).

I had to do this at the time. I lost my job, my family didn’t have a home (it was on the market when I lost my job) and we were about to welcome a baby boy to the world. We already had 2 girls under the age of 4! Life was a bit Cray to say the least 😐 And while it wasn’t a sustainable living situation, it was necessary.

So after some time passed, I decided I couldn’t go at this alone anymore.

Hiring can sometimes be as daunting as doing all the work yourself. How have you built a team of educators?

Throughout my visits to these cities, I reached out to local artists who have shown interest in Crayligraphy while also having an understanding of the art. I asked these artists if they had any interest in co-hosting a workshop with me in their respective cities. I did this for a few reasons. One, having two instructors to teach a workshop adds so much more value for the attendees. Two, it adds some local flavor that the students can relate to.

Most importantly though, I was able to train these local artists to teach the Crayligraphy material. We call them “Educraytors.” So, whenever a city’s interest arises, I am able to call upon an Educraytor who represents that region, to host the workshop. This allows me to focus on Crayligraphy’s bigger picture and spend those precious moments I would otherwise be missing during travel, with my family.

Does Crayligraphy define a specific style of lettering, or does each artist put their own spin on it?

Our team of educraytors is a great example of how you can produce wild results with one simple instrument. Check them out on Instagram! Veronica Ruiz of @veronicaletters is based in Denver, CO. She has a wide range of styles, but you know Vero’s work when you see it scrolling through Instagram because it always stops you in your tracks. Terence Tang of @tinlunstudio comes from Houston, TX, where we hosted a workshop last year with AIGA Houston. He has now integrated what began as a serious hobby into his professional design workflow, where magic markers are now among his go-to tools for designing logos and lifestyle goods.

I’ll be co-hosting Baltimore’s workshop with Natalie Downey of @nataliedowneydesign. She’s one of the best out there when it comes to Crayligraphy. Her fragmented style (broken strokes) is something to watch over and over again while scratching your head in awe of how she does it. We like to call Natalie The Ninja-Wizard ⚔️🧙‍♀️of the team because her strokes are so quick and unbelievably accurate.

What sorts of techniques are taught in a Crayligraphy workshop?

We’ll go through the two different methods to create your letters. We begin with the fragmented method; that’s breaking down each character into basic strokes so that we see the makeup of these letters as shapes and pieces to build upon. So, after each stroke, you lift your marker and place it down where the next stroke needs to be marked.

Some of you will be able to learn a little quicker and if that’s the case, you might be ready for the fluid method. That’s not to say we leave those who don’t learn as quickly in the dust. We just have another option to practice for the people who might have an easier time understanding the fragmented method.

The fluid method entails keeping your marker on the paper and transitioning between thick and thins based on pressure and release through the fingertips. This method allows for a more elegant or smooth aesthetic where the fragmented method is based on broken strokes that appear sharper and quicker.

Sign up for the Crayligraphy workshop!

Wanna get a design job? Think like a hiring manager.

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

If my experience at Ink and Pixels taught me anything, it is that young designers continue to face the permission paradox—you can’t get a job without experience, but need a job to gain experience. Each of the five students whose portfolios I reviewed voiced this same set of concerns: Lots of applications are sent, but little-to-no feedback or opportunity exists after hitting send. Just about all students recognized that there was a glut of applications, and thus it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. And while the concerns are valid, I’ve begun to wonder if students fully understand the business side of the equation.

Hiring is a complicated and time-consuming process. To hire a new employee the business has to shell out costs, often in the form of man-hours and marketing costs. In business settings where a Human Resource Department is involved, there is time cost associated with posting, reviewing, and interviewing potential candidates. In addition, there is the time design managers and creative directors have to set aside to review and interview candidates. For a business, this time falls into an un-billable category, and thus represents lost income. A company is willing to put up with this lost income if they can identify and hire the right candidates, who are likely to stick around for a few years.

HR and the design team members eliminate candidates quickly—they have to—and they do so without prejudice. As a young designer, it is crucial to show (or tell) potential employers exactly what benefit, what problem they can solve when they are applying and interviewing. Sure, this is a gross over-simplification, and there are no absolute ways to achieve that goal. But as young designers often throw a lot of different types of work out to be reviewed (and I definitely believe this is a good thing), they should tailor their work to the needs of the potential employers. If the job is print heavy, show some print work first. If the job leans more towards a digital space, show some digital work first.

The importance of events like Ink and Pixels shouldn’t be overlooked. While not every reviewer or panelist will have jobs to hand out, talking to pro’s in this setting is a very structured form of networking. One-on-one time with a handful of design professionals can only help young designers understand the difference and challenges in each unique design environment. Talking to the attendees at Ink and Pixels was the highlight of my weekend (I mean, I live in a house with two toddlers), and I commend AIGA Baltimore for once again putting on this event.

About the Author:

RobMaguire_HeadshotRob Maguire has over 15 years’ experience providing graphic design and marketing services to businesses of all sizes. After changing gigs each time his wife switched jobs and cities, Rob decided to begin his role as an independent creative. His experience working as an agency art director, and later as an in-house senior package designer has cultivated a knack for understanding the unique needs of each client. Today, Rob works and lives in Maryland with his wife, kids, and dogs.

About Ink & Pixels:

Ink & Pixels is one of AIGA Baltimore’s largest events focused on helping designers prepare for a career or career shift. This year’s Ink & Pixels event was held on Saturday, April 13th at Stevenson University.

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