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

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

About the Druid Heights Community Development Corporation

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

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

Timeline
Dates are tentative and subject to change

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

Apply now!

Design & Dine: An Evening of Excellence

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

When we asked Baltimore designer Wesley Stuckey to come present his work at the Fork & Wrench while attendees noshed on items from a prix fixe menu, we didn’t know just how awesome the evening would be, but awesome it was. The cuisine was just as delectable to our taste buds as his presentation was to our creative eyes as Wesley showed us how he worked through several of his food-related design projects in the local area — like the branding for Dooby’s, Owl Bar, and Milk & Honey to name a few.

Take a look at the video, photos, and tweets from the evening, below:

AIGADW15 [Design and Dine] from AIGA Baltimore on Vimeo.

 

Check out more photos on our Flickr page, too.

 

Thanks again to all our attendees, our sponsors Exit 10, Indigo Ink, and Fork & Wrench for a fantastic evening!  

Photo Credit: Jennifer Marin Jericho is an Industry Specialist for the School of Design and AIGA Chapter Advisor. Co-President Emeritus, AIGA Baltimore. Follow her on Twitter @hungry4design.

Video Credit: Leonard Brady is a University of Baltimore graduate who currently works as a video producer for Stevenson University’s marketing department. When Leo isn’t hiking trails in Maryland state parks, he enjoys taking photos. As a Baltimore City native, Leo is very involved in social justice and community organizing efforts in Baltimore.

Top 7 Takeaways from Baltimore Design Week 2015

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

Top 7 Takeaways from Baltimore Design Week 2015

This past October, AIGA Baltimore celebrated design by kicking off its 4th annual design week. With over a half dozen events between Oct 16th-23rd, it was one of our best registered and attended design weeks to date. For those who missed it or just want a recap of the week’s events to tide you over until Baltimore Design Week 2016, here is a list of our top seven takeaways from 2015.

  1. Failure isn’t the end of the world
    Alyson Beaton told us about her experiences with failure while developing her company, Lille Huset. Failure, as she says, teaches you when to let go, and when something needs to change.
  2. Personal projects—projects just for you—are important
    Not only do personal projects give you the opportunity to explore ideas or concepts outside of your day-to-day, but it can also be therapeutic. Daniel Danger spoke on how creating personal work helped him cope with complex emotions at the opening art talk for the National Poster Retrospecticus.21784967734_c759d5f1b9_o
  3. Inspiration can be anywhere. Even graveyards.
    While touring graveyards in Southwest England, Paul Barnes of Commercial Type was inspired by the worn, eroded tombstone lettering. This prompted him to create Dala Floda, an elegant stencil typeface that looks anything but military.showcase-dala-floda
  4. A-N-A-C-I-N
    Considered one of the oldest pain relief brands in the United States, Anacin made waves with their advertising strategy. Anacin television and radio ads were “designed to irritate” with their continually repeated unique selling proposition. One of the original television spots cost only $800 to create and generated $86 million in media buy revenue.Screen Shot 2015-12-21 at 5.47.55 PM
  5. Don Norman and the Norman Door
    In its simplest terms, a Norman Door is a door that at first glance does not quickly convey how it should be opened—pushed or pulled. Named after Donald Norman, it represents one of the key principles of user experience design: To empathize with the user.
  6. Mad Men was 90% accurate
    Thin ties aside, the 1960s marked the “age of the creative team”. Copywriters and art directors started working on advertising concepts together to share with the account executives, the true “Mad Men” of the era.SHAG: Mad Men: Myth vs Reality
  7. What do you do when your client hates the one concept you had to show them?
    Get back to the drawing board. Fast. Commercial Type experienced this exact moment of panic while showing lettering concepts to Puma for their sponsored teams in the Africa Cup of Nations. They scrambled to come up with a new concept, Crepello, which ended up being a winner for them and the client.
    crepello_specimen

Check back soon for more design week recaps. Who’s ready for Baltimore Design Week 2016?

Illustration by Niko Kwiatkowski

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

Unveiling a New Identity

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

AIGA Baltimore logo The new AIGA Baltimore logo

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

Meet the 2015-2016 AIGA Baltimore Board!

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

Each year, we ask our members to vote on the entire slate of Board Members, each of whom volunteers for a minimum two-year term, helping shape the direction of our local chapter and the design community at large. Some of these individuals are brand new to the board, and others are in the middle of their term.

The proposed 2015-2016 slate of board members is below. Please take a moment to review the introductions for each board member. AIGA members will soon receive an email with a link to vote either for or against the entire slate. So be sure to cast your vote, as voting will end on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015!

Interested in joining our team of volunteers? Check out our available volunteer and board member positions and get in touch with us at info@baltimore.aiga.org.

 

Vanessa Ulrich, President
Term ends: June 2017

Vanessa Ulrich is a communications strategist currently working in public relations. She has done freelance work in graphic design, brand development and writing, and is passionate about bringing clarity to complex ideas. Vanessa graduated from the University of Maryland with a dual B.S. in Marketing and International Business and from the Savannah College of Art and Design with an M.A. in Design Management.

She grew up both in Montgomery County and Thailand, and is proud to call Baltimore home. Vanessa enjoys downloading fonts she swears she’ll use someday, going on runs around Riverside Park, and networking with all the amazing people who make Baltimore such a fabulously quirky city.

After falling in love with graphic design in grad school, Vanessa sought out AIGA as a way to stay plugged in and give back to the local design community. As incoming President, Vanessa’s goal is to promote the value of design and design professions, and expand AIGA Baltimore’s presence and relationships within the community.

Chad Miller, Membership Chair
Term ends: June 2017

Chad Miller is a Senior Graphic Designer for MedStar Health and his passion is deep for design and illustration. If you were to follow Chad around on a weekend, you may just find him hiking the great outdoors, collecting designer vinyl, reading graphic novels, immersing himself in pop culture (the geekier the better), enjoying an adult beverage here and there, and spending time with his lovely wife and daughter. Oh, and also drinking coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

As the newly appointed Membership Chair, Chad’s goal is to engage with the chapter’s members, hear their feedback and respond in kind, all in an effort to establish and improve relationships, ensuring a positive membership experience.

Joseph Anthony Carter-Brown, Programming Director
Term ends: December 2016

As a graphic designer and entrepreneur, Programming Director, Joseph Carter-Brown is what you might consider a “jack of all trades.” His breadth of experience (in tech sector consulting and training, apparel design, higher-ed teaching, web design, brand development, publication design and screen printing) has been a key factor in helping numerous small and mid-size companies throughout the DC, Virginia, Maryland and Atlanta areas conceive and execute key branding initiatives. Joe holds a BS in Graphic Design from Full Sail University and has a passion for all things art and design. He enjoys learning as much as he can and takes on new design challenges as often as possible.

As Programming Director, Joe is focused on raising awareness of design and its importance in the larger corporate, social and economic conversation. In his role, Joe works hard to connect designers to broader professional and developmental resources in the Baltimore community.

Jermaine Bell, Programming Chair
Term ends: April 2017

Jermaine Bell is a graphic designer who holds a BFA in Graphic Design from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Through his work at Havas Worldwide, he has gained footing in advertising with clients like Michelob Ultra, Liberty Mutual Insurance and Constellation Energy. Jermaine is also a Contributor for the Arts & Culture Blog Bmore Art.

Jermaine Bell is well-suited to his role as Programming Chair because he enjoys planning events that engage Baltimore designers and community members. His unique voice and his passion for inclusivity fuels him to work towards providing a comfortable space for people to talk about design and issues that can be solved through design thinking. Through programming geared towards embracing diversity, Jermaine will also work to give all designers—regardless of their race, gender, or any other demographic status—a more significant voice in the local and national design community.

Kerry Tasch Korrer, Social Design Chair
Term ends: January 2017

Kerry Korrer is a senior art director for an advertising and marketing agency and a freelance designer in her limited free time. She fuels her passion for branding, communications, interactive design and advertising with adventures in the great outdoors, yoga, craft beer, and funny gifs on the interwebs. Originally hailing from the great state of Wisconsin, she is now proud to call Baltimore home.

As the Social Design Chair, Kerry aims to educate, inspire and encourage involvement in social design initiatives. She comes to the role with a desire to connect design to causes that are important to the community, and to showcase the great work that is already being done throughout Baltimore.

Gary Rozanc, Education Director
Term ends: January 2016

Gary Rozanc is an assistant professor of graphic design at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he teaches responsive web design. He received his BA in Graphic Design from Cleveland State University and his MFA in Visual Communications from the University of Arizona. Gary has also presented his research and findings on inquiry and problem-based learning methods at international and national peer-reviewed conferences, including AIGA’s bi-annual National Conference “Head, Heart, Hand” and the “International Conference on Design Principles & Practices.”

As the Education Director, Gary continues AIGA Baltimore’s strong tradition of educational programming, which includes the annual spring student design conference and portfolio review, Ink & Pixels. Gary works to find new opportunities to grow design faculty involvement in the Baltimore design community and increase student engagement.

Vivianna Bermudez, Education Chair
Term ends: March 2017

Vivianna Bermudez is a Graphic Designer for the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. As a strategic communications professional, she enjoys fusing together creative vision, extensive design knowledge and marketing expertise with a passion for higher education. She received a BS in Fashion Merchandising from the University of Delaware, and is currently pursuing an MA in Communications from Johns Hopkins University. From a Blue Hen to a Blue Jay, Vivianna has relished the opportunity to work with talented students, faculty members and researchers, and will continue forging a path towards equality in higher education.

As the newly appointed Education Chair, Vivianna works to promote and expand student and faculty participation in the Baltimore design community. She also helps to provide growth and networking opportunities for design students and professionals.

Kate Lawless, Communications Director
Term ends: April 2017

Kate Lawless is a Communications Designer at the University of Maryland Faculty Physicians, Inc. With her BA in English from West Virginia Wesleyan College and her MA in Publications Design from the University of Baltimore, Kate has strengths in writing, making visual connections with words, and translating those connections into fully developed pieces, from flyers to emails to eLearning courses.

Through her role as Communications Director, Kate is able to help strengthen Baltimore’s creative community and grow the design profession by way of making ties with the people in it, both in person and online. She comes to the position with a passion for design thinking and a love for sharing it with others. By serving on the board, Kate is able to give back to the design community both far and wide and keep in touch with Baltimore’s creative undercurrents.

Meredith Burke, Web Chair
Term ends: January 2016

Meredith Burke, Web Chair, is a freelance designer who lives and works in Baltimore City. Having earned an AA in Publication Design from the Community College of Baltimore County and a BS in Corporate Communications from the University of Baltimore, she has a wide range of skills, including print design and production, web design and front-end development, project management, and writing. She also enjoys tutoring and training others in the use of design applications and coding for the web.

As Web Chair, Meredith’s goal is to help improve and maintain AIGA Baltimore’s web presence. She provides front-end web development, content management support, consultation on technologies and best practices, and connections with Baltimore’s web tech community.

Update: Since the time of first publication, we’ve added two *new* board members. Please welcome Leo and Rob to our team!

Leonard Brady, Board Operations Chair
Term ends: June 2017

Rob Schilke, Outreach Chair
Term ends: June 2017

Letter of Introduction from Vanessa Ulrich, Incoming President

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

I am incredibly excited to officially begin my first term as President of AIGA Baltimore this summer, replacing the leadership of our amazing outgoing Co-Presidents, Jennifer Marin and Stacey Fatica.

I’ve worked with Jen and Stacey for two and a half years since I joined the board in February 2013 as Visibility Director. In that role, I connected with other organizations in the Baltimore community to build relationships, collaborate on events and create awareness and understanding for AIGA Baltimore’s goals. I’m so inspired every day by all the people who make Baltimore a creative, innovative, and fabulously quirky city.

As incoming President, my goal is to promote the value of design and design professions while continuing to strengthen the chapter’s programming and community involvement. Under Jennifer and Stacey’s leadership over the past two years, AIGA Baltimore produced more than 60 amazing events to bring education and inspiration to the Baltimore design community. In 2013, Design Week was also recognized officially by the state. I seek to continue to strengthen this legacy.

Assisting me in achieving this goal is a board powered 100% by volunteer AIGA members. Each one has a specific area of focus, and each brings a diversity of thought, talent and passion to the board.

Education
Gary Rozanc, Education Director
Vivianna Bermudez, Education Chair

Gary and Vivianna led a highly successful Ink & Pixels student portfolio review conference this past April. They are currently planning next year’s annual conference, and are working to develop new ways to engage with AIGA Baltimore’s student groups.

Programming
Joseph Anthony Brown, Programming Director
Jermaine Bell, Programming Chair
Kerry Korrer, Social Design Chair

Joe and Jermaine are leading the planning for Design Week 2015, all while working to execute several special events as well as our regular monthly Blend and Converse events. Kerry leads social design programming, and she’s got a few key initiatives she’s gearing up for.

Communications
Kate Lawless, Communications Director
Meredith Burke, Web Chair

Spearheading our outreach online via email and our website are Kate and Meredith. They also manage a committee of dedicated communication volunteers who assist with our blog, social media, and other communications needs.

Membership
Chad Miller, Membership Chair

The newest member of our board, Chad, will cultivate AIGA Baltimore’s relationship with you, our members, encouraging you throughout the year to engage with us, give feedback, and add your voice to our initiatives.

I am honored to lead and work with such an amazing team. But nothing we do would be possible without a strong community of people passionate enough to volunteer their time to this effort—people who volunteer to speak at events, offer up their spaces for us to use, review portfolios and serve on committees. There are so many people who have helped make AIGA Baltimore what it is today. A two-year term is not a long time, and I hope we can continue to carry that torch and serve the evolving needs of our chapter’s membership and the Baltimore design community as a whole.

I look forward to a great two years serving as your new chapter president.
Thank you,
Vanessa Ulrich

Ben Jenkins Lives Slow and Makes Fast

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

Ben Jenkins, founder of OneFastBuffalo, toured the East Coast hitting up six cities in six days to talk to six AIGA chapters about how he evolved his design business and his personal life into a more satisfying and fulfilling one. We laughed, we learned a lot about his concept of work-life balance, and we talked about how designers have a natural inclination to be designtrepreneurs.

“Twitchyness is contagious”

Ben Jenkins started his presentation with a disclaimer: “I can be a bit twitchy, and it can be contagious.” And as he continued through his talk, we watched him go into side tangents, witnessing just for ourselves how twitchy he was. We hung onto every word, anyway, as Ben told us a story about how he evolved his design business and his personal life into a more satisfying and fulfilling one.

About Ben

Growing up in the suburbs of Dallas, Ben Jenkins loved two things: art and baseball. He admitted it’s an odd combination; there aren’t many sports fanatics that are also into art and design. Following his dreams, he got a scholarship to play baseball at Mississippi State University, where he studied graphic design and architecture. After graduation, Ben went on to play for the Phillies in the minor leagues, and out on the road he passed the time working on small design projects for whoever asked him. These projects put him on the path to freelancing after Ben realized that his career as a baseball player was not going to land him in the big leagues. He continued his education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he earned an MFA in Art & Technology.

Everything is Bigger in Texas (Including Partial Male Nudity)

In 1998, OneFastBuffalo (OFB) was born from the idea that conventional wisdom isn’t always useful. Using his competitive nature as a ball player, Ben grew OFB from a two-person operation to a boutique firm. OneFastBuffalo would move from one office space to another as they expanded, and each time Ben would strive to create the dream office that any agency and their employees would love to have, especially one that would impress clients.

Through the growth of OFB, Ben sought validation as a successful graphic designer. He felt strongly that in order to be considered a good designer, he needed a client list full of the big ones. He was collecting his own design trophies, so to speak. Over time, he would spend more energy managing than designing, more time at the office than at his home, and more time making calls for work. Those 10 years of trophy collecting took a toll on Ben. The man who had been good enough to play in the minor leagues had gained substantial weight and it showed (literally) in the photos his wife took of him just wearing gym shorts.

Slimming the Buffalo (and the Man)

In 2008, Ben realized that it was time for another renovation, and not just one of office space. He turned his work and personal life upside down after realizing that he could work better in a different way. In a period of purging, Ben reduced not only his weight and a large portion of needless possessions, but also the size of OFB as the economy took a downturn.

He even subleased his office space (with the furniture), enabling him to do more with less. Plus this allowed him to spend more time with his wife and three sons. Instead of just heading off to work in the morning and getting home late from the office, he wakes up and has coffee with his wife, takes his sons to school, works in his home office (or wherever he feels like working), and spends time with the boys after school, too.

As Ben simplified the external aspects of his business, his branding process changed, as well. Now, instead of giving clients multiple logo concepts, Ben focuses on just one concept until he gets it right. This allows for more concentration and energy to be put into that one idea, as opposed to spreading the creative energy and time across two or three ideas, he says. And, as an added benefit, the client never picks his least favorite concept. And this process works, too! Since Ben began presenting one concept to clients in 2008, he’s only had to go back to the drawing board a few times.

Since 2008, one logo concept is shown to the client. This allows for more concentration and energy to be put into that one idea.
Since 2008, Ben shows only one logo concept to the client. This allows for more concentration and energy to be put into that one idea.

As his business evolved, Ben also stopped worrying about collecting trophies. He now focuses on creative work to help good people make famous brands, and he’s quickly learned that it’s more enjoyable and more fulfilling to work this way.

Where the Buffalo Roam (Have laptop, Will Travel)

While eating some authentic Mexican cuisine with his wife and kids, Ben came up with the idea of a Mobile Creative Lifestyle. Harking back to his days as a baseball player in the minor leagues and being out on the open road, Ben wanted to combine his passion for design and travel. Buying a 1958 Airstream trailer, Ben began to take his family out on “journeys” (not just vacations) and taught himself to “create big work in the smallest of ways,” by working within the confines of wherever he is at the time.

The OneFastBuffalo 1958 airstream mobile office
The OneFastBuffalo 1958 airstream mobile office.

 

You can now find Ben working on a brand concept in the back of his truck on a lawn chair, parked by a lake, while his wife and three sons enjoy some fly fishing or playing in a nearby playground. This is how “Live Slow, Make Fast” became his new mantra. Ben says that living and doing beautiful things that you enjoy while resting and relaxing will re-energize your work. Working in this way allows him to stay more focused and fill the eight hours (and only eight hours) with a more productive workflow. He uses the 8-8-8 principle to demonstrate this: 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of play, and 8 hours of work make for a much more healthier work-life balance. There’s time to make and time to live, all in one day.

Ben quickly noticed that this new found freedom of working anywhere at any time made his work better, too. The famous brands that Ben used to chase around now just come to him because they recognize the quality of work he produces and the energy and focus he puts into it.

Designtrepreneur

With his new approach to working, Ben found he had the energy and focus to create brands for himself rather than for a client. He believes that designers are still artists at heart and that their ability to create and produce gives them a natural inclination to start their own personal brands. Armed with a passion for baseball, Ben started Warstic Bat Company, which produces handmade wood bats, baseball gear, and apparel. The company was recently featured in the pages of GQ and was even contacted by Coach to sell a limited run of men’s gear in their stores. Some other brands Ben has created are Treadsmith Board Co. (a snowboard producer), and INDIG (a strategic branding company for Native American owned companies).

Warstic_Pic
Warstic Bat Company, one of Ben’s many self-created brands.
The Journey Continues

The takeaway from Ben’s presentation is that a well-rounded work-life balance can be beneficial to re-energizing a creative professional’s focus and drive. He says you do not have to allow the pressure and distractions affect you as a whole. Spending time away from the computer and spending quality time doing things that make you happy will help you to be a better creative.

On June 1, 2015, Ben will shut OFB down for the summer and not reopen for business until September 1, 2015. He will travel around the country on a journey with his family, enjoying some quality time together while resting and relaxing. When September comes back around, with the energy he will have stored up, he most certainly will come out swinging his bat of creativity. And we can’t wait to see what he does next.

Chad Miller is a Senior Graphic Designer for MedStar Health who enjoys all things design and all things caffeinated.

How to Give and Receive a Good Design Critique

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

Why is critique so important?

As designers, we don’t design in a vacuum. A good designer will need to learn to take the feedback from their peers, clients, and bosses to solve a particular design problem. Critiques will also help you broaden your communication skills as a designer, as there is always the opportunity to articulate why you did what you did or to better explain your idea to the reviewer if they don’t see it as clearly as you do.

A good critique can involve both positive and negative feedback, which can be tricky to navigate. Here are some quick tips on how to give–and receive–good design feedback during a critique.

How to give a good critique:

The Love Sandwich
The best way to approach critiquing someone else’s work is to sandwich the feedback with love. If you think of your critique as the sandwich, the bread would be what you “love” about the work and the middle—the fillings—would be what you didn’t like as much.

First, tell your fellow designer what aspects you like about the piece, whatever they may be. Be descriptive. Instead of just saying “I like it” explain why you like it while using specific examples from the design whenever possible.

Next, move onto the constructive criticism. If you think certain aspects of a design aren’t working, try to explain why or offer suggestions on how they can be improved. Asking the designer questions may help them to see problems in the execution of the design that they may not have seen on their own.

You may also want to limit your use of personal pronouns, like “you,” to make sure your critique is about the design work and not about the designer. We all feel personally about our work, but during a critique it’s best to separate the person from the piece. For example, say you have a critique about a line intersection. You may want to say, “The way this line intersects with that line…” instead of “The way you intersected this line with that line…”. This will help reassure the designer that the criticism is about the work and not about them, as designers.

You don’t have to agree or like the decisions of the designer but their work deserves honest feedback. Put yourself in their shoes. If they are brave enough to share their work and ask for feedback, then they deserve to get that, both the good and the bad.

Finally, don’t forget to repeat or elaborate on what you liked about the piece so that the critique ends on a positive note. This way, the designer knows the piece may need some reworking, but also that there are aspects of the design that work as-is, too.

How to receive critique well:

A Grain of Salt
Hopefully, your fellow designer will follow the Love Sandwich guidelines and give you a great, honest critique. During a critique, It’s important that when you hear the good and the bad feedback to take it with stride. Design isn’t math. There are no right and wrong answers; only subjective opinions that may differ from one designer to another.

That being said, remember that a critique is about your work and making it the best it can be; it shouldn’t be about you. If you disagree with specific feedback, explain your decisions thoughtfully but also listen to what’s being said. Remember, those who are giving critiques generally do so because they want to help you grow as a designer, so try not to get defensive or take their criticisms personally.

And, if you don’t agree with specific comments you receive during a critique, it’s okay to ask for other opinions, too. Baltimore is filled with great designers who are willing to help and who love to give a good critique. There are also online resources like Dribbble or Behance that you can log into and share your work with others around the globe. Anyone, even a non-designer friend or coworker whom you trust to give honest and constructive feedback, can be a good resource. And, a good round of feedback is always better than no feedback at all.

Students and recent graduates! Want to have your work critiqued by Baltimore area design professionals? Register for Ink & Pixels, AIGA Baltimore’s Student Design Conference, before it is too late.

What’s the best or worse feedback you have ever gotten during a critique? What advice would you give to someone taking part in a design critique for the first time?

Related Articles:

The 4 essentials of a design critique

The Art of the Design Critique

Design Criticism and the Creative Process

Photo by Jeremy Drey for AIGA Central PA

Kate Lawless often daydreams about how she can make a full-time job out of what she does for AIGA Baltimore. When her head isn’t in the clouds, you can find her designing communications, digital signs, documentation, and online software demonstrations and interactive elearning for the operations department of a large healthcare company in Baltimore. Tweet her at @katereeez

Shannon Crabill is a New Media Specialist at T. Rowe Price. She has a love for social media, tech, all things do-it-yourself, baking, coffee and the occasional cringe-worthy pun. Outside of the Internet, you can find her dancing, riding her motorcycle and binge-watching home improvement shows on HGTV. Tweet her at @shannon_crabill

An INside look at Baltimore magazine

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore

Baltimore Magazine was first printed in 1907 by the Baltimore Chamber of Commerce. It is to this day, the oldest city magazine in the U.S. In 1994, Steve Geppi, owner of Rosebud Entertainment acquired the magazine with the goal of reviving the publication by rethinking its content as a channel to celebrate the great things that Charm City has to offer. With over 50,000 magazines in circulation, its in-house creative team collaborates diligently to keep the look and feel of the publication fresh and dynamic. Amanda White-Iseli has been Art Director for the publication for the last 16 years and shares insight on her in-house team.

How far in advance do you start working on your next issue?

Baltimore is a monthly publication designed on a 4- to 5-week production cycle. My team and I work closely with each other and with the editorial team throughout the cycle. Work begins even before the previous issue hits newsstands as art directors and designers meet with editors and writers to discuss the stories for the next issue. As a department, we all rely on each other for collaboration and critique at every step of the process. We’ve developed a strong, harmonious relationship with the editorial staff as well as with our digital and social media divisions, whom we also work closely with.

Special Editions and Marketing Art Director, Staci Lanham designs our quarterly Home section, our annual Baltimore Bride magazine, and all in-house promotional materials. Our Design and Print Division—headed up by Art Director Vicki Dodson and Senior Designer Michael Tranquillo—is creating fresh, new looks for businesses all over the region including print advertisements, stationary, media kits, newsletters, brochures, and more. Jon Timian is our Production Manager and is responsible for the top-notch production of the magazine—color correcting, along with the image, print, and paper quality. Production Artist, Marina Feeser designs ads and manages ad production for the monthly magazine as well as Baltimore Bride. Craig Forbes is our digital designer handling our web design and many of our online videos.

Understanding the broad strokes of the story and the writer’s tone influences the direction of the design and helps with the initial concept stage. Stephanie Shafer, the editorial design assistant, is responsible for part of the front of the book and all of the departments. Sophia Belitsos, the assistant AD, designs the rest of the front of the book, some features, and our Local Flavor section. I design the cover as well as features, provide direction to the assistant AD and design assistant, and manage the art department as a whole.

The three of us meet weekly to review progress, discussing design direction and potential illustrators and photographers that would be a good fit for the stories. Each person is responsible for creating art assignments for the stories they are working on.

October 2013 issue. Photography by Scott Suchman.
Baltimore’s Best Breakfast Spots. October 2013 issue. Photography by Scott Suchman.
Photography and Illustration have become a huge part of your publication, is all of this done in-house?

David Colwell, our Director of Photography, shoots a large part of the photography for any given issue. Front of the book sections such as “Charmed Life” are typically shot in our studio during the second week of the production cycle. The studio—which is a block away from our Lancaster Street offices in Harbor East—is a large, open space that provides an area where we can paint walls, build sets, and do whatever is necessary to shoot everything from fashion to portraits to product and detailed documentary photography for the monthly magazine as well as our annual Bride publication. (It was even used for a short scene in Season 2 of “House of Cards.”)

We also assign work to photographers in our extensive network of talented freelancers. We try to choose photographers whose style and aesthetic is a good fit for that particular project. We then send a detailed art assignment explaining the story and our design ideas, often including sample images that will help describe the look we are after. We try to give them two weeks to complete each assignment, although time is a luxury we don’t always have.

Baltimore magazine. September 2014. Photography by Mike Morgan. Hand lettering by Martin Schmetzer

We approach illustration projects in much the same way, providing art assignments and examples of illustrations that will help guide the illustrator’s concept and initial sketches. We have worked with renowned painters and illustrators from all over the world as well as those in our own backyard, including MICA graduates and even some professors. We find most of our illustrators either through artist reps or as a result of their own dogged determination to promote themselves via print mailings and email inquiries (yes, a well-written email or catchy postcard still works).

Can you give an example of a recent concept for a cover that you really enjoyed working on? What was the process?
October 2014 issue. Photography by Scott Suchman. Hand lettering by Lauren Hom.

We recently produced our October 2014 Cheap Eats cover which was a lot of work–but really fun to do. The food stylists who I usually work with were unavailable, so I tried my hand at styling the dogs myself. I worked with photographer Scott Suchman who is gifted at shooting food. It was a long process that involved lots of buns, lots of toothpicks, and a soldering iron! I was really happy with the results. I also worked with illustrator Lauren Hom who is amazing! She did the hand lettering for the piece. I provided sketches of what I wanted to include and where—and she worked her magic.

How do you coordinate what goes into your print publication vs. digital?

We meet monthly with digital team to maximize the capabilities of digital media and make the content fresh and dynamic. This can include everything from redesigning charts and incorporating infographics to shooting behind-the-scenes footage from photo shoots as a supplement to the editorial content. We are active on Pinterest and Facebook, posting contests, polls, and generally maintaining an online presence that further nurtures our relationship with existing readers and helps develop new ones. That relationship, and the resulting communication, helps us deliver designs that complement and support the stories and enhance the reader’s experience.

Follow Baltimore Magazine: Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

Jennifer Marin is co-president of AIGA Baltimore, you can follow her on Twitter: @hungry4design

What’s Up With Your Workspace?

Posted on by AIGA Baltimore
If there’s one thing for certain, it’s that Baltimore designers have some fantastic workspaces. This is only evidenced by the growing number of Instagrammers out there tagging #bmoreAIGA100 on their #workspace photos this month.
So far, we’ve seen that many local creatives have multiple screens:

http://instagram.com/p/zCoI_JN2w0

 

some expansive workspaces:

http://instagram.com/p/ysn6O3RHii/

 

and even miniature workspaces with big visuals:

http://instagram.com/p/y0fCtbLLMH/

 

Speaking of big visuals, we’ve got some inspirational walls:

http://instagram.com/p/yu9mZ6qAtg/

 

a few ‘remote’ coffee shop spaces:

http://instagram.com/p/y5aydMvgQb/

 

and some well-appointed cubicles, too:

http://instagram.com/p/zAwgnJOx_i/

 

And this isn’t even half of the postings on Instagram, so go check out the rest with hashtag #bmoreAIGA100.
While you’re at it, snap a pic of your own #workspace and tag it on Instagram with #bmoreAIGA100. We don’t care if it’s messy and cluttered or clean and dust-free; just do it by February 28th and you’ll be entered to win one of two year-long Skillshare subscriptions!
BONUS ROUND: Want to double your chances? Come up with a creative way to spell out #bmoreAIGA100 in your photo for a second entry.
Oh, and here’s one last Instagram with a lovely Bmore feline to leave you feeling cozy on a cold winter’s night:

 

workspace with O's gear and a kitty
rmadar1: My lil corner workspace, lots of orange, lots of cat. #bmoreAIGA100 #workspace #Baltimore