Baltimore Creative Community Events: October 2019

Posted on by Frances Miller

October is here. Temperatures are dropping (only to 85 degrees, apparently), pumpkin spice flavors are prevailing, and most importantly, DESIGN WEEK IS ALMOST HERE!

When you think of October, you likely think of Halloween and sweater weather. Ask an AIGA Baltimore board member what we think of when October arrives? Design Week! The annual celebration occurs during the third week of October, and 2019 marks the 8th Baltimore Design Week.

This year, we’re reaching out to the community to broaden Baltimore Design Week into Baltimore Design Month. There are a plethora of amazing events in our area for creatives and creative professionals, so we’re shining a light on these events by groups like the Society for History and Graphics (SHAG), AMA, PCB, Monument Women’s Creative Alliance (MWCA), AIA, and more.

EVENTS LIST

 

Jump to:
WEEK 1WEEK 2WEEK 3WEEK 4WEEK 5

10/1

Design Cuts Live: Free Online Design Conference (October 1-15)
Design Cuts is celebrating their 6th birthday! Get in the spirit with two solid weeks of festivities: free sessions from top industry speakers, 800+ products at 92%-99% off, competitions, freebies & fun!
Hosted by: Design Cuts
Check it out

10/3

aaf baltimore hulu networking happy hour
Hulu Networking Happy Hour
Join the American Advertising Federation (AAF) at Producers for an evening of Networking and fun brought to you by our friends at Hulu! Complimentary beverages and snacks will be served, and two lucky attendees will go home with a Roku.

Hosted by: AAF Baltimore
RSVP Here

Fells Point Art Tours
Take a guided tour through historic Fells Point, enjoying light fare while meeting artists and gallery owners. We’ll visit a variety of local art venues including photography, paintings, sculpture, pottery, gift items, and more!
Hosted by: Luann Carra Gallery
RSVP on Facebook

10/5

Doors Open Baltimore (October 5-6)
Doors Open Baltimore is a free citywide event that invites the public to explore buildings and sites in Baltimore.
Highlights Include: Tours of the Hoen Lithograph Building, SNF Parkway, AVAM, and Sewlab USA
Learn More

Baltimore Innovation Week (October 5-11)
Baltimore Innovation Week is a unique opportunity to showcase the city’s creative minds and forward thinking organizations who are part of the thriving innovation and entrepreneurship community. The week aims to highlight positive messaging within Baltimore’s growing reputation as a hub for innovation across the United States.
View Baltimore Innovation Week Events

 

Edgar Allen Poe Festival and Awards
Poe Baltimore invites you to darken Poe’s chamber door at the second annual International Edgar Allan Poe Festival and Awards, October 5 & 6, 2019. This free, two-day outdoor event will feature Poe-themed performances, art, vendors and food, celebrating Poe’s life, works and his influence in the arts.
Tickets are required for tours of the Edgar Allen Poe house.
Register Here

 

10/6

Doors Open Baltimore: Hoen Lithograph Building Tour
During the tour, guests will learn about the history of Hoen Lithograph and its importance in the printing industry in Baltimore, as well as the overall vision for the existing buildings, future tenants, and surrounding community.
Right This Way

Baltimore Innovation Week (cont)
Edgar Allen Poe Festival and Awards (cont)

 

10/7

Design Thinking for Schools: Students, Teachers, & Community Collaboration
When people talk about Baltimore City Public Schools, we often hear about the problems. In this workshop, high schoolers, teachers, and community members will come together to view problems in BCPSS as opportunities to make our schools better.
Hosted by: Baltimore Innovation Week
Get Tickets

 

10/8

Have A Nice Day Project - pigtown
Have a Nice Day Project – Pigtown
While enjoying good food, drinks, and conversation, we’ll be tasked with filling those sleeves with positive message, quotes, jokes, fun pictures and more. We’re donating them to locally owned Cafe Jovial (Pigtown). They will use those sleeves until they are gone, distributing them with coffee orders to their patrons throughout the week. How awesome will it be for someone to go to their favorite coffee shop, place their usual order, look down and see a fun message from you?

Hosted by: Have a Nice Day Project
RSVP on Facebook

biofabrication-baltimore innovation week

Biofabrication: Building with Life at the Intersection of Art, Science, and Technology
Join artist Ryan Hoover for an artist talk and backstage tour of the Maryland Institute College of Art’s Bio Fab Lab – where student artists and researchers are building in collaboration with life, blurring the boundaries of art, science and technology to innovate futures that employ biocement sculptures to restore oyster populations and grow hair follicle germ cells to create synthetic animal-free wools.

Hosted by: Baltimore Innovation Week, MICA, and Baltimore Creatives Acceleration Network (BCAN)
Get a Ticket

 

10/9

An Introduction to React Native
React Native is a modern open-source framework for native app development developed and maintained by the team at Facebook. React Native is a cross-platform development tool, but unlike previous options, React Native uses native platform-specific interface components, making it both easy to program and highly performant.

Hosted by: Baltimore Innovation Week
Read More

 

10/10

pumpkin succulent workshop maryland
Pumpkin & Succulent Workshop
Get into the fall spirit by coming to decorate one of our Heirloom Pumpkin Succulent arrangements with custom calligraphy.

Hosted by: Eventi Floral & Events
Register on Eventbrite

Baltimore Innovation Week (cont)

 

10/11

design & dine with debbie millman 2019 design week
Design & Dine with Debbie Millman
Join us for a casual discussion led by the wonderful Debbie Millman, in which we’ll explore how we portray our lives on social media. 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.

Hosted by: AIGA Baltimore
Get Your Ticket Now

Data & Technology in Social Innovation
It is generally accepted that data and technology serve as critical tools for innovation. However, we experience shortcomings in how we make these tools accessible to change agents and residents. In this session, we will explore platforms that are working to make data and technology more accessible and relevant.

Hosted by: Baltimore Innovation Week
Read On

 

10/12

Makers of Maryland Fall Meet Up
One of the best days of the year is almost here! The Makers Fall Meet Up will be filled with music, fun, food, drink, and hanging out with your fellow Makers! You will have your choice of ticket but everyone will be receiving a Swag Bag filled with goodies donated from your fellow Makers, a new Makers tee, & automatic entrance into winning one of the amazing giveaways we will have! Come enjoy a fun day with the Makers!

Hosted by: Makers of Maryland
Read More about the Makers Meet Up

10/16

Climbing the Corporate Ladder

Climbing the Corporate Ladder: Extraordinary Stories of Paving Your Own Way
There has been a strong push to highlight gender inequality within tech, yet the question still remains: Why are there so few women in tech and in executive leadership roles? According to a recent Thomson Reuters study, 30% of 450 technology executives stated that their groups had no women in leadership positions. Only 25% of the IT jobs in the US were filled by women and 56% of women leave IT in the peak of their career. We all know the path to success is not a straight line. Baltimore Women in Tech has put together a stellar panel of noteworthy professionals to discuss this and their own journey of rising in tech. This event is open to all genders.

Hosted by: Baltimore Women in Tech
Get Your Ticket Here

 

10/17

“Legacy of Innovation” The Glasgow School: 1900-1910
Join SHAG at the Walters Art Gallery for a talk on design history, on Thursday October 17th. This event is free and open to the public.
Hosted by: Society for History and Graphics
Registration link to follow

mwca yoga wellness event
Restore Your Core
Monument Women’s Creative Alliance is a women’s group working to inspire, educate, connect, and unite Baltimore’s creative community. This class, Restore Your Core, is a proven + comprehensive core and pelvic floor strengthening method that targets your whole body in order to regain function. It helps you learn to move better, exercise better, uncover movement compensation patterns, and create new patterns of strength, mobility, length and support.

Hosted by: Monument Women’s Creative Alliance
Learn More about MWCA

 

10/19

Intro to Screenprinting
This one-day, hands-on workshop covers all the basics of screenprinting. Attendees will learn first hand how to properly coat, expose, print from, and clean a silkscreen. Differences in inks, printing substrates, screen mesh, and filmwork will all be discussed, and various multi-color registration techniques will be covered. This class will provide you the skills to return and rent time to print your own work during our regular studio hours. If you have any questions, please contact us at print@baltimoreprintstudios.com

Hosted by: Baltimore Print Studios
Tickets Available Now!

 

10/20

Beginner’s Lettering Workshop 
Join Ashley Tiburzi of The Artsy Apple (@artsyapple) for her first ever in-person beginner lettering workshop!
Learn More

 

Baltimore Design Week: OCT 21-27

 

Environmental Graphics Painting Workshop

Have you ever wanted to play around with neon glow-in-the-dark paint or graffiti markers? Are you tired of hiding behind a computer screen day in and day out? Yearning to get a little messy? Join AIGA Baltimore and Jubilee Arts for a workshop in which we’ll create props and graphics to display at Saturday’s Fashion Show!
Save Your Seat

10/22

Stress Addiction talk 10/22 with taylor cashdan

“I work best under pressure.” “No worries—I’ll get it to you ASAP.” “It’s fine, I can handle it.” Sound familiar? It did for designer Taylor Cashdan as well, until he woke up one morning with the intent for a normal day. And instead, found himself in the cardiac wing of his local hospital for a short stay that included a lot of “we’re not sure why this is happening.”

Join AIGA Baltimore and Raleigh, NC. native Taylor Cashdan on Tuesday, October 22, 2019 at Co-Balt Workspace to discuss the dangers of ignoring stress, the toxicity of the ‘hustle mentality’ and burnout culture, and their overall contributions to living ‘the creative life.’
Get Your Ticket

10/23

SHAG AIGA Baltimore Application House
Come join The Society for History and Graphics (SHAG), AIGA, and Morgan State University’s School of Architecture and Planning for a talk and workshop about how we might make space in the future. Application House is a speculative design project for a future house and neighborhood, after a brief talk about that project, you’ll have the chance to participate in a collaborative workshop in which we’ll draw a whole city.
Save Your Seat

10/24

Creative Communities event
Creativity. Collaboration. Community. Join us on October 24th at Pixilated to learn how to find your community AND make the most of it, with Illiah Manger of C&V and Rachel Davis of Your True Tribes. Register now for this free Design Week event – tickets are going fast!
Learn More

10/25

design week studio tours
Join us for an exciting day of tours through four of Baltimore’s innovative design and advertising agencies: Gilah Press, idfive, Jellyfish, and Mission Media!
RSVP Here

10/26

AIGA Baltimore fashion show design week 2019
This Design Week, we’re taking the conversation out of the screen, off of the paper, and onto the outfit. Join the Baltimore creative community on October 26th at Baltimore Artists Union as we experience a conceal and reveal fashion show, featuring a panel of five local design talents!
Join Us

10/27

Problem Framing - Design Thinking Workshop
There are so many versions of design thinking processes out there, from IDEO to Google Design Sprints. However, many don’t dig deep enough into what Rachel Davis calls step 0: Problem Framing. Problem Framing is about asking ourselves, “What Else?”

Join us at iNovex’s brand new offices in Columbia for this workshop as a part of Baltimore Design Week 2019. Lunch will be provided, courtesy of our hosts at iNovex Information Systems.
Get Your Ticket

10/29

Tobias Frere-Jones
Tobias Frere-Jones is one of the world’s leading typeface designers, creating some of the most widely used typefaces, including Interstate, Whitney, Surveyor, Tungsten, and Retina. His typeface Gotham was used in the election campaigns of Barack Obama.

Hosted by: MICA and AIGA Baltimore
Registration link to follow

10/31

impact hub success coaching
Success Coaching Skill Share
Do you find yourself juggling too many things and feel like you are not making progress? Do you ever feel stuck? Do you feel like work is always on your mind even when you are with family and friends? Would you like to spend more time working “on” rather than “in” your business? Then check out this free Skill Share event at Impact Hub Baltimore!

Hosted by: Impact Hub Baltimore
RSVP on Eventbrite

Got an event you think belongs on this list?

We’d love to hear about it! Email us at promotions@baltimore.aiga.org with your event information.

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.

More about Ink & Pixels

What I Learned About Being A Creative

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

What I learned about being a creative, after breaking through 30 years of stifled creativity

“I suck at art.”

I can’t remember the exact age when that thought crystallized in my head, probably around first or second grade. It was a toxic seed that I unwittingly planted in myself. As I grew, so did that seed. Until it completely cut me off from the creative instinct inside of me. Luckily, that drive to create always bubbled right beneath the surface, and after several decades of my life I have been able to reconnect with something that I thought I lost long ago.

Nobody is born a talented artist; every child produces some level of messy scribble when they first try to draw or paint or create anything from their imagination. But I felt like my scrawl was especially bad. Maybe I just lacked the fine motor skills. I couldn’t keep my coloring inside the lines, and I certainly couldn’t recreate any person, animal or object. I was hopeless.

I have this one distinct memory where I had a full spectrum of crayons in front of me, but for some reason chose to use my pencil to color a picture of a duck. “Why did you do that?” I remember the teacher asking… wondering why I had chosen pencil-gray instead of yellow or some other sensible duck color. I didn’t have a good answer for her. Maybe I preferred the sharp precision of the pencil. Maybe it was just what was closest to my reach. Whatever it was, I came away that day feeling like I had made the “wrong” choice creatively.

I came away that day feeling like I had made the “wrong” choice creatively.

There were many similar instances where I tried to express myself artistically and was left with disappointing results. Before long, other kids’ work began to outshine my own, and instead of striving to improve I just decided art was not for me.

Creative answers aren’t right or wrong

It took me many years to realize that it was my own belief system that caused me to give up on my artistic ability so early. The truth is that I couldn’t deal with the threat of criticism or ridicule. I couldn’t deal with making mistakes.

By comparison, it’s a lot easier to focus on learning something where the answers are concrete and unambiguous. There’s only one correct solution to a math problem, and I could learn how to repeat the same steps to arrive at that same answer every time.

But art, or any other creative pursuit, is not like that. The ‘solutions’ to any particular project can be infinite, which creates uncertainty that used to drive me crazy.

Before long, I had cut myself off from my inner creativity so much that I forgot that part of me ever existed. “I just don’t have any good ideas”, I’d tell myself. I admired others who were able to create inspired pieces of art, music, storytelling, but thought they had some magical source of inspiration that I somehow lacked.

Creativity, in the purest sense, cannot be taught or learned. However, it already exists naturally in every human being. What differs between us is the degree to which we self-criticize and suppress the ideas that are constantly being born within our minds. After a while, this suppression becomes second nature and we don’t even notice we’re doing it. All we’re left with is a blank slate when we try to access our mind for an original idea. This creative blockage comes from years of saying ‘no’ to all of the tangential and creative thinking that our brains naturally produce. When we set the bar too high for what constitutes a good idea, we close ourselves off to the source of all ideas.

This kind of flawed perfectionist thinking comes from childhood experiences. It’s not our fault, but it is our responsibility to correct if we want to reach our full potential. Many of us did not have the proper nourishment or encouragement to launch us into our best lives. Some of us were told directly that we did not have what it took, or that art was a dead-end path. For others, it might have been more subtle than that. Maybe we just weren’t in an environment where we felt like it was ok to make mistakes, and where we learned the important lesson that failure was the path to growth.

It took me until near middle-age to realize that the ‘safe’ path in my life was not safe at all. It was absolutely soul-crushing to work in a field I had no interest or passion in, just because I thought it was the most logical career path and the path that was expected of me by society, family, etc.

‘Staying inside the lines’ career-wise was a defense mechanism that I thought would keep me safe from criticism… it didn’t. Even within the confined, predefined spaces of corporate life you will still make mistakes and have to stand behind them constantly. But at the core of it, I didn’t believe in any of that work in the first place. I felt completely incongruent and therefore lacked any power or conviction to be proud of what I did.

Here’s the good news…

I wasn’t that special. I can’t believe how liberating those words are. It seems so obvious now, but it took me over 30 years to realize that. I’d rather take the risk of being a creative with “no talent” than being stuck in a career focused on conformity and rigidity.

Perhaps I wasn’t destined to be an illustrator or fine artist, but there are so many other mediums through which I can express myself to the world. And expressing myself authentically is non-negotiable. I cannot happily live my life without the opportunity to do so.

Creativity is in all of us.

It’s a combination of our life experience and a multitude of other intangible factors. It’s just a matter of the extent which we nurture that natural creative instinct. Creation is more of a process of getting out of your own way than trying to force ‘good ideas’.

My new path has been a series of these revelations. It has been a process of unburdening. Questioning my limiting beliefs about why I couldn’t succeed. Asking myself if I really do lack some fundamental ability that other, ‘real’ artists possess.

Ultimately, success as a creative professional comes from cultivating certainty.

When a client hires you to make creative decisions, you must back them up with certainty. You alone are the expert in whatever you do. If you were brought into a project in any role, you must believe that the client chose you because you are the best at what you do.

This kind of confidence and self-certainty doesn’t happen overnight, it takes time to build, but it can only come from within. You need to be comfortable making difficult creative decisions and being courageous enough to put your work out there even when you feel most vulnerable.

The biggest piece to all of this is just giving yourself permission.

If you don’t value the work you do, nobody else will.

It comes down to an inner choice, although ‘flipping the switch’ in your head to believe that you and your work are enough is much easier said than done.

It’s a lifelong journey, that never ends until you give up or decide to move onto to something else. There’s always room for improvement in terms of honing your craft and sharpening your skills. But in my experience, the biggest piece to all of this is just giving yourself permission. Believe that you are enough, right now. You are not an imposter, there is real value to what you do. If you can feel your heart calling you to do this work, then nobody can ever take that away from you.

Stay strong.

Never give up.

About the author:

Vaibhav Sharma headshot

Vaibhav Sharma

Vaibhav is an NJ native, who has called Baltimore home since 2013. He loves motion design, cooking, cats… and most of all, being a dad. Vaibhav is an introvert but loves to make new friends. Feel free to say ‘Hi!’ on Facebook, Dribbble, or in a comment below this article.

How I Landed My Dream Design Job Right Out Of College

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

An Ink & Pixels Testimonial

Hi all! My name is Sammy Smith. A recent graduate of Stevenson University (Spring 2018), I majored in Visual Communication Design. I am currently a Junior Designer at Design B&B, a design and branding agency with locations in Baltimore & Chicago. I was fortunate enough to be offered an internship the summer before my senior year, and was ecstatic when it turned into a full-time job offer after graduation.

But how did I land this amazing internship and job? Well, I have Ink & Pixels to thank for that.

Ink & Pixels is an amazing event to get your portfolio reviewed by working design professionals, work on interview skills, and network. Being very active and even President of Stevenson’s AIGA student group, I made it a point to attend this event every year. (Even though I’m a slight introvert, and would rather stay home and watch Netflix.) I knew the value of this event, that there was no debate about whether to attend or not. It was a definite “okkk, fiiinne.” pauses Netflix & gets off couch

*pauses Netflix & gets off couch*

Ink & Pixels 2017

During Ink & Pixels my junior year, I had the pleasure of sitting and meeting with Shelly Boggs, a Principal of Design B&B. We had a fantastic conversation and review, which ultimately led to an internship offer. She told me that they don’t usually hire junior year college students as interns, but made an exception for me because she was so impressed with my portfolio. Woww, flattered! I interned at Design B&B that summer and they even kept me on throughout my senior year.

Two months before graduation, when all seniors are frantically looking for jobs, Shelly offered me a full-time position. I was so humbled and grateful for this opportunity to continue with such an amazing company and TO HAVE A JOB OUT OF COLLEGE! Whoooo!

Ink & Pixels 2018

So, take my advice.

Pause Netflix.

Get yourself and your work out there. NOW! You won’t regret it. Now, obviously, it is not a guarantee that if you attend Ink & Pixels, you will be offered an internship or a job. I was just lucky, I guess. But who knows; you won’t find out unless you try.

Sign Up For Ink & Pixels Today!

Behind Design Week 2018’s Branding; A Discussion With idfive

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

AIGA Baltimore was thrilled when local Baltimore design studio idfive agreed to be our Branding Sponsor for Design Week 2018.

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 Fastspot, Orange Element, Gilah Press + Design, Eye Byte Solutions, and Exit10.

This year, we want to bring you behind the scenes with our Branding Sponsor, idfive, to learn more about their inspiration for this year’s branding for Design Week, their work outside of AIGA Baltimore, and what their company is all about!
design week baltimore

What was the inspiration for idfive’s Design Week Branding?

I wanted to take this creative opportunity to address what I think is the central issue in Baltimore – the “two Baltimores” – by attempting to build a visual system that would unify, represent, and complete the “feel” of Baltimore. I thought about the disparate ways our City has been represented visually – a sort of mishmash of the old (cobblestones and gas lamps), the new (modernist/brutalist architecture), and the forgotten (formstone, Waters-esque camp, The Wire).

I kept getting hung up on was the source of many of our current divisions – the 1937 Federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) “redlining” map. So I suggested to our designer Heather that we re-use, re-purpose, and “break” shapes and forms from that tragically unjust document as a way to acknowledge our City’s past and represent its current divisions, while still looking with hope toward a more unified future.

The tagline was a natural extension of this visual theme, tied back to design.

What were the steps involved in creating the branding?

We divided a volunteer squad of six creative team members in to three teams of two (a copywriter and a designer), hashed out rough concepts separately, and came together under the guidance of Courtney Glancy to critique and tweak.

I can’t speak to the other teams’ processes, but for me and Heather, beers, dinner, and doodles on some cocktail napkins in Hampden were all it really took to come together on concepting. Heather and I have complementary strengths and work together well. I’m very analytically minded and always try to zoom out to process everything on the level of overarching themes and concepts, and she lives in the nitty-gritty of the execution phase where she’s amazing at expanding and exploring concepts within a consistent visual language.

aiga baltimore design week branding idfive

What was the inspiration for being a part of Design Week 2018?

Courtney asked us, “wanna do it?” And we said “hell yes!”

What was the goal of the Design Week branding?

Try to answer the questions:
“What is Baltimore design?”
“What should Baltimore design be?”
“How can we represent Baltimore in a way that feels like Baltimore?”

AIGA Baltimore Design Week 2018 logo by idfive

Could you explain an exciting idfive project completely unrelated to AIGA?

We’re currently redesigning the website for Maryland Food Bank, which distributes 37 million meals every year to people in Maryland. You can’t ask for a more inspiring client than that. As a copywriter, any time you find yourself shedding tears while you’re writing, you know you’re on the right track. Whoever’s reading this should donate.

What are your typical process steps? Do they differ from the work you did for AIGA?

Usually I start with a task list item, then go back and research the brand or the industry until I find an angle of entry, then organize my thoughts into buckets, and execute. I typically think slow and work fast. The process for AIGA was similar, but since the task wasn’t laid out with really any specificity, I also got to jumpstart my usual process with my own questions – “What do I want this task to be?” “What don’t I want this task to be?”

Your firm recently made a big move to the MICA campus. What’s your favorite part about the new location?

Anytime I need a boost or a break, I can walk through a gallery space and see something interesting, or pop into the library and flip through art books.

baltimore design agency idfive brands baltimore design week

How do you typically find your clients?

I let the new biz team handle that, and my focus is on doing high-quality work that makes their job easy.

What’s an ideal day at the office like?

A nice varied mix of tasks, some deep workflow where time has no meaning, some lightning round problem solving whack-a-mole, some positive client feedback when you check your email, some solid belly laughs with other team members, and that feeling at the end – when you fill out your timesheet – of “I just knocked this one out of the park.” And also idfive bought us pizza.

What is idfive’s mission? How did it come about?

Our whole thing is helping mission-driven brands do good better. So we do things like no-commission media campaigns, and website redesigns that are built to drive action AND help build more efficient governance structures. The whole setup is pure Andres, who is without a doubt the best boss I’ve ever had.

aiga baltimore design week

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

How can I help? Oooohdonuts!

What’s your vision for Baltimore? For Maryland?

I’d like to see Baltimore, Maryland, and America transcend its entrenched divisions, build sustainably and fairly, and keep on being weird and wonderful.

idfive baltimore design agency logo png

Q&A With Charlotte James: Comms Specialist, Creative Entrepreneur, Baltimore Badass

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

Charlotte James is a digital communications strategist and entrepreneur originally from Philadelphia. She came to Baltimore to study at Johns Hopkins University and decided to stay! And we’re so glad she’s here.

She currently serves as the Director of Outreach and Communications for Common Curriculum, a local ed-tech startup. She is a former Baltimore Corps Fellow and current Baltimore Creatives Acceleration Network Founder Fellow with her nail art business, Power Decals.

Charlotte James Baltimore

Where do you draw inspiration from?
My business partner – she’s an incredible designer and helps me hone my aesthetic.

Favorite creative hobby, outside of design?
A friend recently got me back into sculpey clay so probably going to keep playing around with that.

What advice would you give to your 20-something self?
I’m still in my 20’s so if anyone has any advice, hook a sister up! Just kidding but for real, I always tell anyone younger than me that it’s totally cool to not know exactly what you want to do or who you want to be, as long as you’re always hustling towards something.

it’s totally cool to not know exactly what you want to do or who you want to be, as long as you’re always hustling towards something.

Charlotte James is the Co-Owner of Power Decals

Power Decals is a line of vibrant, statement-making nail decals that celebrate culture and powerful women. The Baltimore business is shaking up your handshake, as seen in Baltimore Magazine. But founders Charlotte and her partner Valentina Fiamma Ziino Colanino want more than amazing nail art. They create their decal designs based culturally diverse patterns and even feature inspiring women throughout history.

Meet Charlotte at AIGA Baltimore’s Ink & Pixels 2018

Join us at Ink & Pixels on September 29th to get to know her in person! Charlotte will be moderating the panel and town hall discussions on issues relevant to the emerging designer.

Register for Ink & Pixels – 9/29/2018

Save The Date: AIGA Baltimore Design Week 2018

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

Celebrate & examine design beyond the margins

What boundaries does design face in Baltimore? What boundaries have we overcome? How could we do better?

This year’s AIGA Baltimore Design Week is an exploration of these and other topics related to the boundaries – real and artificial – that constrain, separate, protect, and define us. As designers, as Baltimoreans, and as people.

Join us, along with luminaries from Baltimore’s academic and design communities, for a series of events and discussions as we look back at developments that shaped Baltimore design over the last year, and look ahead to what’s next.

Stay tuned for full event details, and join the discussion on social media with #BMOREDW18

Event Lineup Preview

AIGA Women Lead Initiative: Baltimore Community Meeting Recap

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

Written By: Jennifer Marin Jericho | Photo Credit: Kate Lawless

Women today outnumber men in AIGA’s membership—as in design schools and various disciplines—yet leadership, representation, and parity remain a challenge.

AIGA Women Lead is committed to empowering women in design and advancing the vital discourse on issues facing professional women today without generalizing or segregating women designers. Instead, we aim to address persistent biases and inequities, inclusively and constructively, through programming around three goals:

  • Celebrate the achievements of women in design.
  • Cultivate awareness of gender-related issues, while building knowledge and leadership skills.
  • Connect by facilitating relationships within and beyond the design industry.
AIGA-Women-Lead-Initiative-Baltimore-Discussion
Baltimore creatives gather to develop ideas for launching a women lead program

How AIGA Baltimore Is Working To Empower Women

On March 22, 2018, the AIGA Baltimore Women Lead Initiative Committee hosted a community meeting to connect with local creatives and facilitated a design thinking workshop to develop ideas for launching a women lead program in Baltimore.

While we were interested in leading a local initiative, we wanted to make sure to validate our assumptions about what women in the design community need from AIGA Baltimore. The process may take longer than tossing an event together, but our goal is to build something that speaks directly to the women in our community, is flexible and adaptable, and most importantly, is scalable.

AIGA-Women-Lead-Initiative-Baltimore-Meeting
Women from various industries and community programs worked together to answer a tough question.

To accomplish all this, we first had to bring together women in various industries and community programs to ask the question: How might we help women leaders 10-15 years into their career, get the resources they need to step into leadership roles?

Why was this question so specific? Because we have to start somewhere, and often when you tackle large issues such as this one, you run the risk of trying to solve all the problems, and end up solving none of the problems.

Our goal is to empower women to grow professionally and use the tactics and resources we provide to tackle issues that they are passionate about in their own communities. I imagine this initiative as a ripple effect, because we are all responsible and capable of influencing change, and it is crucial that these initiatives are diverse and inclusive.

I imagine this initiative as a ripple effect, because we are all responsible and capable of influencing change

AIGA-Women-Lead-Initiative-Baltimore-Workshop
In Design Thinking workshops, an empathy map helps build understanding.

Outcomes of the Design Thinking Workshop

In our two-hour workshop, we led two specific activities. The first was an empathy map, where we broke into groups of 4-5 people and developed personas of various types of women in the industry. The goal of the activity is to put the person at the center and think about what she is feeling, thinking, saying, and doing when it comes to her professional goals. After brainstorming, we then shareback and group common themes. Here are some of the themes that were common among the personas we developed:

  • Anxiety/Uncertainty
  • Growth and ambition
  • Social Interaction/Relationships
  • Self Worth/Reality Check
  • Planning for Future
  • Lifelong Learning/Business Knowledge
  • Life Balance
what do women designers feel, think, and do?
Participants noted that this persona, Alexis, may feel determined but sometimes depleted. She mentors younger designers, but she knows she needs mentors of her own.

The outcomes were not surprising. Most professionals struggle to strike a balance between focusing on career, learning new skills, balancing a personal life, and developing the confidence to do all of the above while maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

How might AIGA’s Women Lead Initiative help to fill the gaps?

To answer this question we did a big ideas exercise to come up with potential solutions to support women in their careers. We had three major themes that came from this workshop: group mentorship, skill development, and self-care.

ideas-for-women-lead-program-baltimore-design
The ideas centered around skill development, group mentorship, and self care. All in favor of a 4-day work week, say aye!

Group Mentorship
While coworkers, family, and friends can be a great support system, a professional network is crucial. While the former can provide great emotional support, the latter can provide you the right tools, help you tackle specific challenges and navigate the complexities of building a successful career. I am a huge proponent of building a brain trust, people that challenge you and push you to be better. It has been instrumental in my own career growth.

I just attended the Women Spanning the Globe Leadership Conference hosted by the World Trade Center Institute here in Baltimore. One comment that resonated with me was a speaker who suggested we be more like spiders. Build a web: a network of people that support us and help us catch opportunity. Love this!

Skill Development
We have heard from our members that inspiration is an excellent resource. Inspiration can fuel our creativity, inspire us on that specific project, and push us out of “unstuck”. Yet inspiration can only take you so far; stretching your skills and capabilities will better prepare us to face the challenging problems we face as creatives in a fast-paced world.

This means more than learning new technical skills, we need leadership, business, and management skills to help us grow professionally. This is a common challenge of many designers in our field and it is one we are starting to tackle as a national organization to help designers better communicate the value of design and collaborate with professionals in other disciplines.

Self-Care
This continues to be a common theme in the lives of busy professionals. We know that rest and regeneration are crucial to creativity, but we continue to struggle with the demands of our personal and professional lives. I’d like to see some intentional programming that helps us carve some space for activities that energize us.

I look forward to seeing how this evolves, and I hope you will join us. Stay tuned as we continue to craft a plan for a women lead program that fits the needs of our community members. We will be looking for volunteers in the coming months, so look out and keep checking in!

Jennifer Marin Jericho
AIGA Women Lead Steering Committee

AIGA-Women-Lead-Initiative-Baltimore-Design-Thinking
Thank you to all who joined us for the last community meeting!

Join us at the next Women Lead Initiative Meeting

An Evening of Design Thinking and Radical Collaboration with AIGA Baltimore

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

Written By: Joseph Carter-Brown and Valerie Anderson | Photo Credit: Frances Miller and Leo Brady

AIGA Baltimore’s Community Meeting started in late 2016 with the intention to provide a platform for members within our creative community to share ideas, concerns, and hopes for the betterment of Baltimore. In meetings past, we’ve heard from representatives from AIGA National on the work the organization is doing as a whole, as well as how the work that goes on in headquarters aligns to the work each chapter is doing locally. Other meetings focused on presentations from a variety of community-based initiatives spearheaded by our board within AIGA Baltimore or other organizations. While we enjoyed opportunities to share the things we love most about the local design community, we found we weren’t spending enough time talking to you about what you wanted.

So, at our most recent community meeting on January 16th, graciously hosted by our friends at SlimTech, in an effort to talk less and do more, we made your interests the focus of the meeting. We started with a Facebook poll to gauge where the discussion interests lie. To those of you who participated, thank you for helping to guide the conversation. After choosing the top four topics from the poll, we used design thinking tools to begin to brainstorm ways in which we could impact designers’ pain points in each area of focus.

Facebook Poll Results

Following a brief kickoff, we asked attendees to jump into action, connecting with their fellow designer and discussing their personal and design-focused hopes and fears for the new year.

AIGA Baltimore President, Joseph Carter-Brown, addresses and prep attendees for the evening's proceedings
AIGA Baltimore President, Joseph Carter-Brown, addresses and preps attendees for the evening’s proceedings.

In this exercise, we discovered some of the common themes on designers’ minds—from hopes for professional growth and making connections within the community to fears regarding world events and maintaining healthy lifestyles. While these hopes and fears were not the intention of the discussion, this broad range of concerns helps us put a finger on the pulse of of our community. Discussing our hopes and fears is also a great way to find allies in the room; because what starts as individuals writing their personal hopes and fears, turns into a group of collaborators, realizing that they’re not alone in their goals or concerns.

Attendees share their hopes and fears for the new year
Attendees found shared themes among their individual hopes and fears for the new year.

Once the attendees completed the hopes and fears activity, we broke into four distinct groups. Each group focused on a different discussion prompt as dictated by our Facebook poll. This is when we began to get a true collaborative feeling for how designers in our community could benefit from involvement with AIGA. We did this by building a prioritization grid to identify some ideas that would be impactful, while also being mindful of the feasibility of any given idea. After lots of collaboration, silent ideation, and group sharing, we settled on a handful of big ideas in our four key discussion areas, with a goal to create more user-driven outcomes for all of our community members.

Collaborating on Big Ideas
Attendees collaborate on some big, impactful ideas.

Below is a list of the big ideas, along with pictures of the final prioritization grids:

Design for Good Big Ideas

  • Empathy/Human-Centered Design Workshops
  • Murals for Community Beautification
  • Career Day Awareness
  • Design for Good Video Series:
    Videos educating designers on pro-bono/community-focused work
  • Designathon for Baltimore Businesses in Need (with appropriate vetting)
After brainstorming Design For Good ideas, attendees grouped common themes, and came up with big impactful ideas

Design + Business Big Ideas

  • “Dear Ellen”(name tbd) Blog/Column (like Dear Abby):
    Q&A advice column (topics could include differences between working in-house vs agency vs freelance, branding a new business, other peoples’ design business experiences)
  • Creative Round Table:
    Event for bringing business leaders and creatives together to discuss topics related to running and working in/for a design business (educate businesses on how to work with designers, collaboration opportunities, workshop on getting start-up funding, bring big names to design community, connections with local businesses, comparing notes with similar businesses/getting advice on processes)

    Design & Business Ideas
    Big Ideas for Design & Business Content

Design + Leadership Big Ideas

  • Workshop with Local Design Leaders:
    How to lead a design team, advocating for design, how to navigate career path in different contexts, how to progress in your career and still design
  • Improv Workshop to Role-Play Design Leadership Situations
    Design Leadership Big Ideas
    Design Leadership Big Ideas

Mentorship Big Ideas:

  • Daily Internships/Adopt a Designer
  • Coffee/Lunch Date or “Speed Dating” to Find a Mentor
  • Designer Exchange Program
  • Portfolio Reviews Targeted at Designers with More Than 5 Years Experience
    Mentorship Big Ideas
    Mentorship Big Ideas

Sharing our creative ideas in a community setting is the first step to taking action, but we want to take that a step further. We want to see your ideas come to life, however AIGA Baltimore is a board of only a few people, and all volunteers at that; so we’re asking the community to work with us. While we want to do everything on this list, we simply cannot do it alone. What we can do is support and empower you, our design community! Let’s work together and make it happen. Shall we? If you see an idea that you can’t wait to help bring to life or want to explore more (or if you know someone who may be able to help push the needle forward), we want to hear from you.

Email info@baltimore.aiga.org and let’s talk about how we can all take ownership in our design community.