AIGA Design Revival 08

This weekend I had the opportunity to go to the AIGA Design Revival in Pleasant Hill, KY. Every 2 years they host a weekend design retreat that is located in the largest existing Shaker Village in the US. www.shakervillageky.org. The setting is breathtaking. Historical, serene, just amazing.

Throughout the weekend we had the opportunity to host a series of speakers. Listed below...

Julie Beeler, Second Story
Margo Chase, Chase Design Group
Bill Drentell, Winterhouse - Winterhouse
John Winsor, Crispin Porter + Bogusky
Stanley Hainsworth (previous Global Creative Director of Starbucks), Tether - Tether
Todd Henry, Accidental Creative - Accidental Creative

My highlight of the weekend was having breakfast with Scott Hull, Dylan Menges, Tim Frame and John Winsor. John is the Executive Director of Strategy and Product Innovation at Crispin Porter. We had a really interesting conversation ranging from the finer points of collecting vinyl to the new things they were working on at CPB.

Overall I wish that I would have done my homework before going into the weekend. The speakers that were there were amazing and I regret that I didn't dig into enough knowledge of their work in order to ask more poignant questions.

I had a cigar with the desk clerk at the INN that we were staying in Beaumont Inn on the last night. It was nice to talk to someone who wasn't a designer. It was also nice to able to sit on the front porch and think of what direction I want to take the studio. Passion was a main underlying theme of the weekend and got me thinking about what I truly am passionate about. Is it the problem solving aspect of what we do as designers? Is it simply the creation of imagery that creates impact? Is it the idea of typography and communication? I think a bit of it all really. I am in a situation now, however, where I am teaching full-time and am not relying solely on my work to pay the bills. That is an interesting place to be. Freedom is often the toughest thing to deal with.