Archive for 'Events'
DC GUEST – SAMATAMASON -UPDATED
August 16th, 2010 by Ryan McGovern. Published under Announcement, Events, Inspiration, Upcoming Guests. No Comments.
UPDATE: SamataMason just changed their name today, August 17th, the day before the show to smbolic. I can’t wait to talk about this!
This week on DesignChat we’re speaking to 2 of the partners from SamataMason, a heavily decorated design firm in West Dundee Illinois. If that name sounds familiar, its because I say it every week on the show. SamataMason is where I broadcast from, and they have been great supporters of DesignChat and what we are trying to accomplish. Dave Mason and Kevin Krueger are going to take us through the history of their shop, and also what motivated them to start one of the most intriguing design conferences today, Cusp. I was lucky enough to attend and do a live show from Cusp last year, and I’m excited to say that I’ve been asked back! Follow me on Twitter to hear more announcements about who I’ll be interviewing.
Dave Mason was born in England and raised in Canada, where he formed his own design firm in 1984. He and co-founders Greg and Pat Samata formed Chicago/Vancouver-based SamataMason Inc. in 1995. His strategy and design work for clients such as Sesame Workshop, Swiss Army Brands, TRW, Broderbund Software and QLT has been honored in hundreds of national and international competitions and publications. He has served as a guest speaker at design industry functions and schools and has served as a juror for design competitions across North America and in Asia. Dave has also co-founded a number of successful business ventures including OpinionLab, Inc., the leader in web-based VoC (voice of customer) intelligence systems, Cusp Conference LLC, which produces an annual conference about “the design of everything,” and documentary producer NoisemakerFilms.
Dave Mason was recently awarded FGDC status as a Fellow of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada—GDC’s highest honour.
An Ohio University graduate, Kevin was a designer at Herman Miller before joining SamataMason in 1996. Kevin’s worked for a diverse range of clients such as the PGA Tour, Whirlpool, Devon Energy, International Truck, and Motorola. His print and interactive work has been honored internationally in numerous competitions and publications including AIGA Communication Graphics, The Art Directors Club, The Type Directors Club, Communication Arts, Applied Arts, International ARC Awards, Graphis and How Magazine. A former Chicago Chapter board member of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), he is a frequent lecturer at design schools and organizations, and has served as a juror for numerous design competitions. Kevin is also a co-founder of Cusp Conference LLC, which produces an annual conference about “the design of everything”.
SAMATAMASON OFFICE
The BARREL ROOF of the SamataMason office has eight large skylights; glass walls divide working spaces. Gutters were removed and replaced by lanes in the center gallery of this renovated bowling alley.
SAMATAMASON WORK
Cambridge Solutions Ltd., client
Golin Harris, client
Evan’s Life Foundation, client
Stephen Wilkes Photography, client
Motorola, Inc., client
Sesame Workshop, client
An EVAN’S LIFE FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT combined translucent paper with photos of grant recipients to portray the variety of children aided by the organization.
EVAN’S LIFE FOUNDATION’S “One Boy” campaign depicts a day-in-the-life account of a typical child the foundation supports.
CUSP CONFERENCE
Cusp is a conference about ‘the design of everything,’ bringing together thinkers, innovators, performers, skeptics, believers, visionaries and explorers from the arts, sciences, technology, business and design. Cusp Conference is for anyone who believes that the best way to predict the future is to design it.
Cusp Conference is a magnet for the design-centric, but a significant percentage of attendees do not describe themselves as ‘designers.’ They describe themselves as business people, entrepreneurs, educators, policy-makers, physicians, consultants, students and managers.
Cusp attendees have included people from the worlds of: advertising, architecture / planning, broadcasting, construction / tech- nical services, consumer electronics, consumer finance, corporate communications, education, equity management, filmmak- ing, furniture, graphic design, industrial design, international tax law, journalism / writing, learning technology, manufacturing, medicine, not-for-profit, technology, philanthropy, public relations, public transportation, publishing, printing, research, web devel- opment, web analytics, and a whole bunch of high school students.
Cusp Conference 2010 presenters and special guests to date include:
Sean Adams • Graphic designer / AdamsMorioka Designer
Natalia Allen • Design Futurist / member Fast Company 100 Most Creative People in Business
Sakchin Bessette • Multimedia designer / founder of Moment Factory
Maggie Breslin • Designer / SPARC Lab at Mayo Clinic Rap troubadour
Baba Brinkman • Rap troubadour
Josh Elder • Cartoonist / comics in the classroom advocate
Randy Fielding • Architect / FieldingNair / school design leader
Whitney Hopkins • Product designer / Smart Design, member of the Biomimicry Guild
Michelle Kaufmann • Architect / sustainable design leader
Noreen Morioka • Graphic designer / AdamsMorioka
Dr Jay Parkinson • Doctor / designer
Diana Rhoten • Education innovator / co-founder / STARTL
Amy Krouse Rosenthal • Author / filmmaker
Diego Stocco • Sound designer
Tim Will • Social entrepreneur / founder of Foothills Direct / winner of The Purpose Prize
Richard Saul Wurman • Author / designer / founder of TED Conferences
And more to come!
STA ARCHIVE MEET & GREET
August 15th, 2010 by ohnho. Published under Announcement, Events. No Comments.
If you’re in Chicago, come meet the judges of the 2010 STA Archive. It’s happening August 26 at the Landmark Grill + Lounge in Chicago’s Lincoln Park. For more information and to register, click here.
PRINTERS’ BALL 2010
August 1st, 2010 by Shampton. Published under Design News, Events, Inspiration. 8 Comments.
When poets and designers collide, it tends to get a bit messy… But it’s a beautiful mess for sure.
The 6th Annual, Chicago Printers’ Ball was held on Friday July 30th. A venue-crushing mob of artists, poets, designers and students were treated to a “celebration of literary culture” as organized by Poetry magazine and the Columbia College Center for Book & Paper Arts.
This year’s theme “Print <3 Digital” seemed to be a comment on how print artists are not really at odds with digital mediums but instead are embracing the tools given to them by the technology. We only spotted one instance of print vs. digital in the space, and noted that students and organizers carried the theme through the gallery, hallways and gathering areas.
Although not busted-up by the police as it was in 2007, according to this post on ChicagoPoetry.com, it still had a vague feeling of subversiveness and an edge most hope to get when dealing with us creative types. Some said “The people watching at the Ball was awesome…” and we could not agree more. A selection of performance artists roamed the floor as literature-seeking hipsters picked through the stacks of free paperback books and magazines placed throughout the Center for Book & Paper Arts.
We arrived about an hour into the event, missing many of the free hand-outs and readings listed on the schedule, but still found enough to keep us occupied until the After-Party bus started to bring the Ballers (we can call them that that right?) to Reggies, another Chicago-area-hot-spot, for more music and fun. Unfortunately for us, the drive back to the burbs of Chicago prevented us from attending that part of the event. If you went, we’d love to hear how that part of the night/morning went as well.
Highlights for us included the “Copy Jam!” installation by Printeresting.org and our first-time watching The Show ’n Tell Show — a growing, and well produced, talk show featuring the Chicago design community, normally held at Schubas. In full disclosure I’d also like to point out that The Show ‘n Tell show is actually sponsored by our good friends at the STA.
We commissioned some instant poetry, drank free beverages, and picked-up some serious swag. We also regretfully skipped the second floor where printmaking and papermaking demonstrations were set-up. We hear there were some really great broadsides by the Chicago Printers Guild. Also missed by our group was the official poster by Sonnenzimmer that I hoped to pick up and add to my collection.
Overall, it was a great experience for us and I’ll be trying to get a larger group of DesignChat participants to go with us when it happens again in 2011. Check out the images below for a bit of the experience.
If you have any other press, articles, opinions or thoughts about the Chicago 2010 Printers Ball, please share them in our comments section. We want to hear about your experiences too!
The poem we had commissioned, by Barbara Perry (please correct us if we got your name wrong): Snow Falcon. Wings spread disappears bright slap of cloud, shatters of French window lording its form over trees, titmice, lightening struck oaks... wait it’s a card in a deck of exotic animals and its flipside says sharp sense of appetite. And it's true a Snow Falcon can see a baby rat 500 yards away. Like you who sees the title of a book that you’ve been looking for. For years.
A few more links about Printers’ Ball
(Please leave yours in the comments below).
Link Round-Up:
Printers’ Ball
isgreaterthan.net
Chicagoist
underground-library.org
Printersting Vimeo about Copy Jam
flavorwire.com
SNAP CHICAGO 2010
August 1st, 2010 by ohnho. Published under Announcement, Events. No Comments.
The STA is hosting their annual Snap Chicago event Saturday, August 7 in Chicago’s colorful Pilsen neighborhood. It’s a tour of the area which reveals itself through photography shot by the participants. See a set of photos from last year’s Snap which the theme was The Devil in the White City.
To find out more and to register for this event, visit STA-chicago.org.
CUSP SEEKS STUDENT VOLUNTEERS
July 19th, 2010 by Andrew Tibbetts. Published under Design News, Events. No Comments.
This year will bring the 3rd iteration of Cusp Conference, the mind-melting, thought gorging, two-day event on ‘The Design Of Everything’. As with years previous, Cusp is looking for students to assist in all areas of the production. This is a cherry way to get into the conference for free so if you are currently a student and want to volunteer your time and energy, get in touch. Here are a few ways:
→ cuspconference.com
→ twitter.com/cuspconference
→ info@cuspconference.com