RE:MEMBER .Issue 30

Welcome

Welcome to the August issue of RE:MEMBER. Get ready to say goodbye to the lazy days of summer and get set for an autumn filled with exciting events you don’t want to miss! For those who missed last month’s Small Talk, read below for a summary of the evening at Liska + Associates. And don’t forget to join us for our Clear Space event this Thursday night. Enjoy a night out on the town with cool drinks and good company at Trace.

“Allow events to change you. You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.”
—Bruce Mau, designer (from “An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth”)

Chicago Chapter News & Events

Clear Space II - Trace
Thursday, August 16
3714 N. Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60610
6:30pm

Come and socialize with your fellow members of AIGA Chicago at our next Clear Space event at Trace! This free event is a wonderful chance to meet up with like-minded people from our community, relax, and have some drinks and some fun.

Since opening their doors in 2001, Trace has had one thought in mind– creating a unique atmosphere to contrast against the stigma of what the Wrigleyville bar standard has become. With the best music playlist in the city, Trace’s chill and loungey feel can provide a year-round haven from the atypical Wrigleyville haunt.

Tools of the Trade II - Emma Email Marketing
Thursday, August 23
The School of the Art Institute
112 S. Michigan
Chicago, IL 60603
Registration in lobby
Workshop on 14th Floor
6–9pm

AIGA Chicago and Emma Email Marketing have teamed up to bring you Email by Design, a casual discussion among creative professionals about how to design and implement successful email campaigns for yourself and your clients.

The evening will be a casual, open discussion of the latest email trends, tips and tools, including samples of good (and not so good) email design. This interactive session will be moderated by Annie Kinnaird, director of business development for Emma Email Marketing, who will share industry best practices, explain how email tracking works and what the numbers really mean, and answer all the email-related questions you can dream up.

Learn how agencies and designers are incorporating email into their service offering, and hear from your peers about their own experiences with email marketing. This event is SOLD OUT.

This event is sponsored by CTI Paper USA, Forget Computers, Ltd. and Getty Images.

Small Talk summary
On July 24, at 6pm, AIGA Chicago visited Liska + Associates for the season’s fourth installment of Small Talk. Steve Liska prefaced the event by informing everyone, "I’m used to doing this for students. I’m a little nervous about presenting to peers." From that point forward, any further hint of diffidence was undetectable in what was a very entertaining and thought-provoking presentation.

Liska is very articulate—it’s the skill he prizes most: "Design is subjective and hard to understand, so we [designers] need to learn how to talk about it—and not in the language of design.... We have to work around the push to dumb things down and to keep bringing the standards up." Increasing the value of design in society hinges on our ability to position ourselves as authorities and successfully communicate its value to our clients.

Liska focused less on the minutiae of his company and client base and more on his personal thoughts on topics ranging from the outsourcing of design to the viewership of Dancing with the Stars. The night offered thoughts on the state of design and communication, yet one left with a very clear impression of where his business is coming from and more importantly where it is headed.

This event was sponsored by Artisan, Dupli-Graphic and Getty Images.

Membership

Membership benefit reminder
AIGA’s official partner for Design Solutions, Adobe Systems, now offers a 15-percent discount on anything in the Adobe Store, including Adobe products, third-party plug-ins, training and more. To find out how you can take advantage of your 15-percent savings at the Adobe Store, visit the AIGA National Web site.

AIGA Chicago welcomes new members to the chapter

From National

AIGA Design Legends Gala is September 19 in New York
Every year, the Design Legends Gala honors those who have done so much to advance the profession: AIGA Medalists and Fellows, recipients of the Corporate Leadership Award and the Winterhouse Design Writing & Criticism Award. Visit the AIGA National Web site for more information.

Don’t miss Next: AIGA Design Conference!
Please help us promote this year’s Next conference in Denver, October 11–14. The AIGA Design Conference brings the world’s most innovative and inspiring voices in design to one conference. To be included in the attendee directory you must register by September 5. Visit the AIGA Design Conference Web site for information and registration.

Design Community Events

GreenTown: The Future of Community
GreenTown: The Future of Community is a one-day conference designed to help you create an eco-effective community. If you are interested in seeing how a community can become greener, join GreenTown on Wednesday, September 19, to hear from inspiring speakers, learn from been-there case studies and get actionable information to make your community more eco-effective. For more information, visit the GreenTown Web site.

Get Connected at Spark 2007
Visual Voltage, the AIGA Student Group at the Illinois Institute of Art in Schaumburg is gearing up to put on Spark 2007. The retreat takes place from 1-6 pm on August 25 at the Prairie Center for the Arts. For more information, visit the Visual Voltage Web site.

Call for Proposals: AIGA Design Educator conference
The AIGA Design Educator steering committee is announcing a Call for Proposals to AIGA members who are interested in producing an AIGA Design Educator conference. The next series of four conferences will begin in Fall 2008. Proposal submissions are due by September 30, 2007. For more information or to submit a proposal contact Design Educator Steering Committee Vice Chair Robert Sedlack at rsedlack@nd.edu.

Adobe Lightroom Seminar Tour
On August 30, Scott Kelby, Editor and Publisher of Photoshop User magazine, will be showing Chicago how to unlock the secrets of the “New Digital Photography Workflow” using Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop. Step by step, from the moment of capture to the final print, you can learn how to take control of your digital photography workflow. Visit the Adobe Lightroom Tour Web site for more information and to register for this upcoming Chicago event.

Special Thank You

AIGA Chicago and the Editorial Committee would like to say thank you and best of luck to Allison Walsh, who has been the editor of RE:MEMBER for the past year. Her dedication and tireless attention have helped keep our chapter informed, up to date and entertained. We wish her well in her new endeavors on the East Coast.