If one thing’s certain, it’s that we are all getting really good at video conferencing this year. From workout classes to happy hours, the world is finding creative ways to stay connected while socially distancing. AIGA chapter leaders across the country are connecting and working on ways to continue our programming online. We’ve collected a few interesting digital experiences that have crossed our screens here, and plan to continue updating this list as more events surface.
Do you know of an event or opportunity that belongs on this list? We’d love to hear about it! Email us at promotions@baltimore.aiga.org with your event or campaign information.
Virtual Events
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MARCHAPRILMAY
3/17–3/24 | Watch Helvetica for Free
Filmmaker Gary Hustwit is streaming his documentaries free worldwide during the global COVID crisis, and you can find them on the website Oh You Pretty Things. Helvetica is a feature-length documentary about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives.
→ Watch at your leisure
3/23 | AIGA Nebraska Shift+Cmd+Join
Hosted by: AIGA Nebraska
Kelsey Janda, VP of Design at Hudl will share what it means to work remotely; designing remote, managing remote, and leading remote teams. After surveying the design team, they (the design team) have compiled their data on remote work and will present their findings to us in this Zoom-based event.
→ Register
Multiple dates available) | Online Yoga with Baltimore Yoga Village
Adding movement into our days spent mostly on the computer is another big topic of conversation, now more than ever. Join Shelly Boggs (formerly the owner of Design B&B, Design Manager at Proctor & Gamble, MICA grad, and longtime member of the Baltimore design community) for live streamed classes at a variety of times this week.
→ Sign up
3/23–3/27 | Free Online Procreate Event
Hosted by: Design Cuts
Over the next few days, you’ll be able to take advantage of some of the biggest names in the Procreate industry! This series of 7 free sessions will teach you all the best tips and tricks for lettering, illustrating, and animating in Procreate, all from the comfort of your home.
→ Find out more
3/26 | Webinar: Teach Your College Class Online
Hosted by: Adobe
As more faculty are shifting their courses online, they are looking for simple, easy to implement best practices that can keep interactions with students engaging, personal, and supportive.
Dr. Shannon Pufahl is a lecturer in creative writing at Stanford University and a celebrated novelist and writer. For the past few years, Shannon has been running creative writing classes using videoconferencing, digital office hours, and leveraging Canvas, her institution’s LMS.
In this talk, Shannon will share her insights, best practices, and how she’s learned to teach creativity effectively using distance learning tools and approaches. At the end of the talk, the host, Brian Johnsrud (Adobe’s Education Curriculum Lead), will share more information about this series, Adobe’s Distance Learning Resources, and Adobe’s integration with Canvas.
→ Register now!
3/31 | Adobe Summit
Hosted by: Adobe
Each year, Adobe hosts customers, partners, and employees from around the world at Adobe Summit and Magento Imagine to “talk about the future of customer experience, unveil the latest product and platform innovations, and get inspired together as a community.”
This year, Adobe’s conference will be held online and registration is free. The show starts on March 31st, but more content will be added continuously.
→ Sign up for free
4/4 | Virtual Icon Design Workshop
Hosted by: Scott Fuller
This is the rescheduled workshop with Studio Temporary, which is now happening virtually!
In this 3-hour workshop, we’ll be focusing on a very interesting subject…you! We’ll start with a walk through Scott’s personal work process, exploring the research, inspiration, and execution of a few of his icon design projects. Then comes the fun part: sketching and ideation of your own personal icon set!
This will be a special virtual experience where we are helping you hone your craft at the comfort of wherever you are. Some things you’ll need ready are the Zoom app, a free DropBox account, and Adobe Illustrator.
→ Get your ticket
4/4 & 4/5 | Canceled Con
Hosted by: HOCH
Canceled Con is a free online creative event to bring together the community of creatives. They’ll be live-streaming all day with special guests, fun games, and other assorted shenanigans. Come hang out on April 4-5 from 8AMpst until 8PMpst at CanceledCon.com.
→ RSVP!
4/6 | AIGA Boston Book Group: The Brand Gap
Hosted by: AIGA Boston
AIGA Boston’s monthly book group is moving online for the time being, which means you can join them in reading Marty Neumeier’s concise brand-building guide, The Brand Gap. In this business classic, Neumeier outlines the five disciplines that comprise his “unified theory of branding”.
→ Get in on the discussion
4/8 | Baltimore Women in Tech Virtual Happy Hour
Hosted by: Baltimore Women in Tech
Baltimore Womxn in Tech is doing a bi-weekly casual happy hour for our tech community. Feeling like you need to have an adult conversation or just chat with some humans who get it?
→ Grab a drink and join on Zoom
4/14 | Storytelling in User Experience
Hosted by: Baltimore UX Meetup
Basic UX practice knowledge and skills are important, but storytelling is the skill that will make the greatest impact — both in the work you do every day and on the trajectory of your career.
Storytelling gets you and the value of your work noticed; it has tremendous power to get buy-in and agreement when there’s objection to UX work; it can help you secure funding and resources for a project. And maybe most importantly, good storytelling can put your portfolio head and shoulders above the rest and advance your earning potential.
Joe Natoli has been practicing UX for nearly three decades, training and helping UX practitioners and leaders tell meaningful, compelling stories: tales that clearly communicate and demonstrate the importance and impact of UX on product design — and on the success of users, UXers and the companies and clients they work for.
→ Attend for free
4/18 | AIGA Baltimore Ink & Pixels Part 1: Designer Panel
Hosted by: Yours truly, AIGA Baltimore
We’ll be changing up the format for our annual Ink & Pixels portfolio reviews & professional development day, which will occur digitally across multiple dates this April and May. First up, an informative discussion with experienced designers representing different aspects of the design field, covering the topic of, “If I Knew Then What I Know Now.”
Our panelists include:
Alexander Reynolds, Senior Creative Recruiter at TCG
Perry Sweeper, Design Strategist
Emilee Beeson, Senior Designer at Mission Media
Moderated by Vaibhav Sharma, Freelance Motion Graphics Designer, AIGA Baltimore Programming Chair
→ Register for free
4/22 | Futurism(S) | Online Talk By Ellen Lupton
Hosted by: Society of Design Arts (SoDA)
Join the Society of Design Arts, AIGA Baltimore, and Stevenson University for an online talk on Futurism(s) by the curator, educator, and writer Ellen Lupton.
In 1909 the Futurist Manifesto triggered a series of avant-garde design movements that used design and typography to disrupt tradition. This talk takes a tour from Italian Futurism—with its Fascist bent and anti-feminist ideology—to alternative modes of techno rebellion, from Afrofuturism to the Cyborg Manifesto. It’s 2020, folks! The future is here, and it’s not pretty.
→ Register for free
5/5 | Make it Remote: Virtual Meetings Don’t Have to Suck
Hosted by: AIGA
Nobody wants to stare at a screen all day…, so how can we make our virtual meetings more interesting? In this webinar, workshop design specialist Matthew Manos will share best practices for making your next virtual meeting more productive and engaging. We’ll explore the nuances of virtual meetings, and discuss a range of fun activities and helpful strategies to help you get the most out of all that dreaded screen time.
→ Register to receive the Zoom link
5/6 | Early Light Media COVID-19 Marketing Webinar
Hosted by: Early Light Media
Early Light Media is hosting a special live event on Zoom Wednesday, May 6 at 12:30pm EST moderated by ELM Co-founder and Creative director David Larson. Join us and top agency thinkers for a virtual panel on how businesses, marketers, and communication experts are planning the transition to reopen from COVID-19.
→ Learn more & register
5/9 | Registration Deadline: Ink & Pixels Portfolio Reviews
Hosted by: AIGA Baltimore
Portfolio reviews will begin on May 16 and run through June 13, hopefully allowing everyone adequate time to schedule and hold their review sessions. We will partner reviewees (creatives needing professional guidance) with two or three reviewers (professionals who can provide advice and resources). Communication will be conducted on a virtual basis via the platform that works best for you: email, phone, video, etc.
→ Reviewers and reviewees, sign up here
5/27 | Digital Accessibility: The What, Who, Why, When and How
Hosted by: Baltimore Techies for Good
Technology has changed the way people interact with the world around them. In many ways, the technology boom has enabled people to do more than they ever thought possible. People are more in touch, able to connect faster and be more productive than ever before.
This is the case for many people, but what about the people who don’t experience technology as a convenient default? What about those whose experiences are limited due to the inaccessibility of the very technologies that could enable them to experience life in a whole new way?
Digital Accessibility is about the inclusion of our diverse population. Join Tracey Long on the journey to learn more about what Digital Accessibility is, who is impacted, why it is important, when to consider it and how to get started on your Digital Accessibility journey.
→ Learn more & register
Ongoing Campaigns
AIGA Wisconsin Positive Quotes
To uplift spirits while we all practice social distancing, AIGA Wisconsin would love to see what quotes are helping you to stay positive. Design a favorite positive quote or message you’d like to share with your extended design community from a few states away!
→ Share the love
AIGA Miami Dare to Design
Dare to Design aims to keep our skills sharp and our creativity expanding. Every month, AIGA Miami selects a design discipline (branding, web, fashion..) and a theme (polar bears, atlantis, outerspace…). Your job is to have fun with design. Break the rules a little and let your imagination roll. Share your design through Instagram DM or tag @aigamiami, and they will feature it on IG stories.
March Dare to Design: Come up with a name and design a logo for an 80’s rock band.
→ Dare to design
Free Movie of the Week
Filmmaker Gary Hustwit is streaming his documentaries free worldwide during the global COVID-19 crisis. Each Tuesday we’ll be posting another film here.
→ Watch
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.
