Are you a runner? Seattle is for you!

Another mention of Seattle for you! Check out Chris Guillebeau's list of best cities for running ... Seattle is one of the few American cities listed. My director Dave is a runner and he has started a runner's group that gets a little exercise in before everyone starts to exercise their minds in our sessions. Get in touch with him if you're interested! You can find his contact info on the Board of Directors page.

And if you don't know who Chris Guillebeau is, he's a very interesting person who writes the "Art of Nonconformity" blog. I'm sure he'd find me utterly boring, but he's an interesting read nonetheless.

Registration has been extended! With that and the lower hotel rates, get signed up now. We've got a terrific lineup for you, so you want to take advantage of learning about the latest and greatest in our changing landscape.

A reason to travel!

Hey folks! Just read this really interesting article about creativity from Scientific American and it turns out that traveling is an excellent way to develop creativity. I quote: "It suggests that there are several simple steps we can all take to increase creativity, such as traveling to faraway places (or even just thinking about such places), thinking about the distant future, communicating with people who are dissimilar to us, and considering unlikely alternatives to reality." Leave out the "thinking about such places" and tell your manager that coming to the conference is an excellent way to build your creativity!

A link between UCDA and literacy?

A study by Central Connecticut State University ranked Seattle as America's Most Literate City in 2005 and 2006. In 2007 Minneapolis claimed the top spot and 2008 saw the two cities tied for the honor....hmmm....UCDA conference in Seattle this year, and in Minneapolis next year. Coincidence?

Less really is more

At a recent marketing summit one of Fuller's trustees, a former executive with Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb, repeatedly touted the website of Oregon State University as a benchmark for both brand consistency and usability.

I don't know how involved Amy Charron is in the design of the website, but in representing OSU as this year's featured school at the UCDA conference I believe she's going to be focusing on how different entities at Oregon State, including print and web designers, share resources to build a stronger more cohesive brand and save money at the same time.

In education where there's always pressure to differentiate units and do something different it's great to see someone get recognition for doing something less--but doing it consistently and really well...and who among us isn't being asked to save money.

Best Local Food

Just in on the Huffington Post is a list of best cities for local food and Seattle is #4! Now of course we will all come to the conference for the terrific and inspiring programming but a designer's gotta eat, right? So we have some excellent choices as well. Yeah!

Conference hotel lowers rate

The hotel has recently lowered their already discounted rates for UCDA Design Conference attendees to $185, but these rooms will go fast. If you have already booked your room, don't worry. The hotel will be honoring this rate for you too!

This year's conference will be held at the Marriott Seattle Waterfront. Located in the heart of downtown Seattle's most popular waterfront district, Marriott Seattle Waterfront offers an ideal place for both business and pleasure. Many of the guestrooms feature private balconies offering breathtaking views ranging from Mt. Rainier, Elliott Bay to the Olympic Mountain range. The hotel is just steps to the famous Pike Place Market.

Seattle Marriott Waterfront
2100 Alaskan Way
Seattle, Washington 98121 USA
206-443-5000
1-800-228-9290 (toll free)

Contact the hotel directly at 206-443-5000 or toll free at 1-800-228-9290 to make your reservations. Mention you are attending the UCDA Design Conference to receive the discounted rate. Deadline to receive this rate is August 1. Consider taking advantage of these great rates and stay a few extra days before or after the conference to explore the Seattle area.

The hotel stay is not included in the conference registration fees. You are responsible for making your own hotel reservations. Room blocks may fill before the hotel deadline and have sold out twice in the past three years, so please make your reservation immediately to ensure the discounted rate and availability.

Survey says...

Special thanks go out to Karin Mellskog at University of Washington who was the first to respond to a recent Seattle destination information query. And the recommendations are:

EATS
Top Pot donuts, 2124 5th Ave—great sweets/great ambience (okay, donut confession #2--at the conference site visit last year Top Pot was the destination of a short morning walk and it's easy to see why their donuts have become so popular throughout Seattle)
Le Pichet, 1933 1st Avenue—very cozy, comfortable

SHOPPING
REI flagship store, 222 Yale Ave N—65-foot climbing wall is legendary

TOURS/SIGHTS
Pioneer Square Underground, 608 1st Ave # 200—In the south end of downtown, but accessible by free busses, and very popular
Washington Park Arboretum, 2300 Arboretum Dr E —A little farther from downtown, but still bus-accessible and well worth the visit for nature lovers; also has a Japanese garden

Thanks Karin! If you have favorite places you'd like to recommend in and around Seattle I'd love to hear from you too...any favorite books set in Seattle? favorite Seattle bands? Look forward to sharing these destinations with you in October.

Looking back at the future

In April, 1962, the Seattle World's Fair opened with the promise of a look at "Century 21" and the vision of "better living through modern science." By its late October closing nearly 10 million people had visited and to many it was a fair beyond compare. Fortunately for us the 74-acre Seattle Center has maintained much of this iconic past so visitors of Century 21 can compare vision and reality. (Seattle Center is just one mile from the Marriott Waterfront and after the first couple of blocks up the hill behind the hotel the rest is a piece of cake.)

If you're interested in more background on Seattle historylink.org provides an amazing array of information and resources including cybertours of local neighborhoods and a concise history of Seattle.

Looking for Starbucks?

The search for your favorite coffee in Seattle just got a little bit more complicated.

Speaker News: Lime Twig Honored

Lori Schmidt, principal at Lime Twig, was happy to share with me this week that they recently won a Best of Show award in the 24th Annual Admissions Advertising Awards competition. "Immersive Reality: The Future of Human Interaction" is a remarkable book designed for the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering. The challenge: how do you represent 3D and 4D immersive environments in a 2D print piece? Lime Twig's solution: the extensive use of transparencies conveys the vision of the Integrated Media Systems Center at USC beautifully and effectively.

We'll hope to prevail on Lori to have samples for us to see when she presents her sessions on undergraduate recruitment in October.

The Art of Recycling

"Turning useless into useful." That's the mission at Alchemy Goods. Located about two and a half miles south of the conference hotel, Alchemy invites you to come see how they are making bags and accessories out of recycled bicycle inner tubes and seat belts. Factory store hours are limited so you'll want to check with them ahead of time but if you can plan your visit right you might even catch their weekly factory tour.

SAM remembers Wyeth

The Seattle Art Museum, or simply SAM, is currently paying tribute to Andrew Wyeth with a special exhibition of seven paintings from private collections, not otherwise on public view. The exhibit runs through mid-October and SAM is a short walk--less than a mile--from the conference hotel. (It's also right on the way and only three blocks before the Seattle Central Library where the opening night session and reception will be.)

Donut confession #1

A few days in Seattle shared with designer foodie friends is not a good formula for dietary restraint. Thanks a lot Tadson for introducing me to the Daily Dozen...no, honestly if you're looking for a sweet indulgence to jump-start your day you've got to take the short walk up the hill to Pike Place Market and the Daily Dozen Doughnut Company. A bag of bite-sized, hot cinnamon-sugar-donuts shared with a friend and colleague must fit into your conference agenda somehow. Now, this is Seattle--there must be some coffee around here somewhere.

Olympic National Park getaway

We just finished booking a few days of August family vacation in one of our very favorite destinations, Lake Quinault Lodge. 150 miles by car from downtown Seattle, Lake Quinault in the southwest corner of the Olympic National Forest. If you're willing to take a chance on the October weather this could be a perfect spot to experience the Pacific Northwest with a few days of hiking the rainforest, fishing and kayaking on the lake, or simply relaxing by the fireplace and recovering from an action packed conference.

Monday studio tours set

I'm very excited about the Monday evening studio tours and how they tie into the programming. We got the final clearance last week and we're now set to visit Methodologie, Fitch, and Starbucks. The tours immediately follow the presentation by Methodolgie partners Anne Traver and Dale Hart, and will provide a wonderful opportunity to continue that conversation. Fumi Watanabe from Starbucks is an alum of the design program at Western Washington University and will be participating in Kent Smith's design education panel Sunday afternoon if you want to get sneak peak at her work.

Space for the studio tours is limited so if you're interested make sure you get your registrations in early.