Beginnings

This past week, I've been immersed in the UCDA history with a little project I've been doing. Interesting history, to be certain. We were started because Lee Kline, from Illinois State, decided it was time we had something for university designers, as there just wasn't anything out there for us at that time. I won't repeat the rest of the history, which you can read here.

Boy, the early days must have been something. They had impressive programming at these events, to be certain, (Milton Glaser? Saul Bass? Margo Chase?) but even more so than the programming, it is clear that the chance to get together was vital. When you talk to Lee, and you can this year, he'll tell you it was an opportunity to drink beer and commiserate. Someone who attended those early days told me "It was kind of their Woodstock every year." It's clear as you go through the old letters and pictures that deep, important friendships were made, and are still made, through UCDA. I meet so many of you that work in offices as the sole designer. Especially for you, UCDA can give you colleagues. I see it on the listserv (really? 40+ messages of road songs, people?) and on Twitter all the time. You support each other and that's what we're supposed to be all about.

To me, the heart of this organization is summed up in this membership brochure from 1977. Here's the intro: "You say the publications editor in your department thinks design is something you cut out of a clip art book? That the dean considers $300 for 5,000 copies of a full color three-panel brochure "absolutely outrageous" and suggests you use the mimeo machine in the future? That your budget's been cut back so far you're having your department secretary fill old magic markers with food coloring you bought with your own money? And that your last request for a creative project was to have the college catalog (with a return reply card) reprinted on the inside of a matchbook flap? Well, take heart friend. The University and College Designers Association is here.

"We can't do much about the publications editor's attitude, the dean's tightfistedness, your budget problems, or the never-ending series of ridiculous publication design request you'll get.

"But we can get you together with other designers from across the country who've already faced -- and handled -- problems like your, and who can tell you how they've coped. With designers who've had their share of successes and failures and would like to share success formulas, and the funny failure stories, with you."

If that doesn't sum up, 33 years later, who we are trying to be, I don't know what does.

The other thing that hit me as I sifted through the more than 1,000 names of speakers over the past 40 years, is the caliber of the speakers. To add to Milton, Saul and Margo, there are other impressive names that jumped out at me, including: Charles Spencer Anderson, Steven Heller, Didi Katoni (the very first speaker I ever heard at a UCDA event), Annie Leibowitz, our good friends Brenda Foster and Domenica Genovese from GCF, D.J. Stout (twice). And right next to those names, more than a few of our own: John Krider (Washington University), McRay Magleby (Brigham Young), Amy Charron (Oregon State), Bob Winward (currently Utah State), Tom Hope (Univ. of Central Florida) and Amanda Fetterly (Univ of British Columbia). It's a wonderful meld, isn't it? A mix of the well-known commercial world along with our peers, teaching each other what we've learned.

So as the conference nears, I am excited to see all of you: from our founding members Lee Kline and Bud Deihl, to our very newest members. And I'm just as excited to see Matt Banbrough from Utah Valley University as I am the NBA in-house events team.

Nice spread!

Have you been swimming in class notes and page counts? Searching for just the right cover shot? Trying to figure out how on earth to get your beautiful print magazine onto the web?

As the Creative Director of Marketing at Utah Valley University and the Art Director of the UVU Magazine, Matt Bambrough has been there. As he tells it, "We have a very talented team and have a lot of creative people that contribute to the final project. I work directly with the editor and all of the designers, photographers, and illustrators. I love doing editorial design, it is one of the favorite things about my job, and I am continually trying to make things better. It is always changing and evolving."



Matt has also proven he's pretty talented. He's the recipient of several UCDA Design Competition Awards. Last year alone he won Awards of Excellence for both Recruitment/Other, Magazine-Complete Unit, and Magazine-Editorial Spread.

When I asked him about presenting at this year's conference, Matt was instantly interested. They completed a redesign in 2008, and they're implementing a new approach to moving the magazine online. It sounds like there's always something interesting going on. As Matt puts it, "It is always changing and evolving and hopefully getting better."

So if you're looking for a relevant, useful case study of a successful higher ed magazine, you need to be in Minneapolis this October! Learn more about the conference and see what other breakouts will interest you: http://ucda.com/breakoutsessions10.lasso

And be sure to check out Matt and his team's award-winning work with the UVU magazine.

The Wilde Years

Dave Yakley from Malone College found this terrific video on Richard Wilde, the chairman of the BFA program at School of Visual Arts in NYC. It's a celebration of 40 years as chairman of the program. I was already excited to hear what he has to say, and it's just so cool that he's got 40 years in and we too have got 40 years in. I'm sure we'll hear much about how things have changed in 40 years, along with how to inspire yourself to be different and push yourself. I love this quote from Richard in the video: "The enemy is the fashion of the day. The fashion of the day is the cliche of tomorrow."

See him in Oct in Minneapolis, and then we'll celebrate together with a big dance party. Bring your rainbow afro wig! (OK, just do that in spirit, not for real.)

You're in-house. He's in-house. It's a good thing.

Let's face it: being in-house is something special. Agencies, studios, freelancers…it's a different world. We navigate our day, our product, and our jobs very differently in some ways. That's where Glenn Arnowitz comes in.

The first time I saw Glenn's name, it was connected with the company InSource, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to enhancing the understanding, impact and value of in-house design. Then I found a long list of conferences he has presented at, including HOW, and contributions he has made to Dynamic Graphics, The Creative Group, and GD:USA. And his presentations had great titles like, "In-House Ad-Ventures" and "The In-House Bucket List."



So he knows how to talk to and about in-house creatives. But does he walk the walk? You can be sure.

Glenn now serves as creative director of an award-winning team of six designers at Pfizer. Before that he spent 20 years working jobs such as typesetter, assistant art director and manager for a variety of international companies. AIGA includes him in their roster of expert in-house design speakers, and his bio reads, "Glenn is passionately committed to helping in-house creatives achieve design excellence and recognition within their companies and the business community."

So he not only knows in-house, but he works really hard to help all of us do better, work better, be better. To navigate the business from within. He really gets it.



Actually, three of our five general session speakers are in-house creatives. My first conversation with Julie De Jesus from the NBA included a brief discussion about all of those in-house issues and topics we all face: expectations, budgets, turnaround, respect. You deal with that, too? I asked. Oh yes, she said.

Mark Vukelich from Century College is enjoying the implementation of his award-winning branding efforts, and speaks with twenty-five years of experience in marketing, branding, advertising, public relations, media relations and government relations.

Several conference breakout speakers are in-house as well. Mike Richwalsky from John Carroll (video/Wordpress), Matt Bambrough from Utah Valley University (magazines), and Glenn Asakawa from the University of Colorado at Boulder (photo archives/Extensis) will all be sharing their expertise, straight from the field.

It's comforting to share our trials as much as our triumphs. Our best practices and our to do lists. Our frustrations and our victories. And it's even better to hear, "I really know what you mean." This year's conference is the perfect place.

From paper to post to tweet to IM. UCDA can help. Really.

[Hi from a new guest UCDA blogger! I'm Sarah Dolinar from the College of Media at the University of Illinois.]

Stop me if you've heard this one...

"We need a brochure."

Really? Seems like forever since I heard that one…

"We need a brochure, a website, an email campaign, a mobile strategy, a viral video, and a social media plan."

Ah, now that sounds more like it. At least, in my office it does.

Overwhelmed? Don't be.

For one, like Christine pointed out in the last post, we have each other in UCDA. We've all been through it all. And if you think you haven't, you will.

I look forward to the UCDA Design Conference not only to learn new tips, tools, and tricks, but also (and maybe most importantly) to get a glimpse of what's to come. (Okay, I admit, it's also a chance to commiserate with my colleagues who have been through what I've been through. We're a plucky bunch, that's for sure.)

This year's conference is chock full of sessions about digital tools for enhancing our integrated marketing strategies to communicate with all our audiences. We're bringing experts to speak about how to meet that challenge like the pro that you know you are.

From video production for the web, to blogging tools, to using Quark and Adobe for cross-platform design, and back to email strategies, we've got it for you.

Sneak peek of a UCDA Conference Breakout Session

"Today's consumers are in charge and demand design that engages them through print, web, social media, video, and more." -- Keith Wiegold, Nutlug Content Marketing, UCDA Connect presenter

Having talking to Keith once or twice, I know that by "consumer," he means all those prospective students who have never known a world without email. And that includes all those current students who want announcements, deadlines, and course change notifications tweeted to them so they can see it on their mobile phone, while they sit in class (yes, we all know those students). And don't forget the alumni who want a print and online magazine that inspires and a website that makes giving easy.

Don't be overwhelmed. Join us in Minneapolis in October and join the UCDA community. (Get a preview of all the Breakout Sessions.)

We've all been through it.

Why I love UCDA

Hey folks! I'm sitting in a hotel in Champaign, Illinois and I woke up just inspired and in love with this organization for which you've all given me the honor of being president this year.

Why, may you ask, am I in love with an organization while sitting in a hotel room? And why am I in Champaign, Illinois in the first place, a 1,000 miles from home?

(BTW, if you wanna skip all the gushy stuff here, you can skip to the bottom and get to the homework assignment.)

In short, we have this insane bid system that means one of the most important jobs I do all year -- the major undergraduate piece -- may be sent anywhere. When I started having to press check this job 10 years ago, I frequently was bored and restless, lonely and anxious for the experience to end. The past two years, I've been in Nashville and Champaign. I'm happy to say that both experiences were good, with a chance to see some old UCDA friends. (And the print piece came out nicely too, btw.)

This year, I've really gotten to know a LOT of UCDA members on Twitter: Ryan Zundell, Jason Mayeu, Stacy Herrick, Penny Frank, Steve Hartmann, Andrew Volk, Kevin Garcia, Jes Gagnon, Erica Endicott and Rex Whisman, along with others who I'm just overlooking. Through this, I've gotten to be a brand champion (via @rwhisman.) I've found an ear when I needed to vent about the buyers of my house (thanks @kg_creative) and support when I needed it (thanks @stacialynch, @ckilgore and @jasonmayeu for last Sunday!) I've even ended up with a Stuckey's Pecan Roll on my wall (thanks @creativille.) And there's loads more too.

An overnight press check so far away could be a nightmare of boredom or restlessness. But instead, I contacted some of my best Twitter buddies, Stacia Lynch and Christy Kilgore-Hadley of Eastern Illinois University. And they drove up from Charleston (Illinois, not SC) and we ended up at a place called KoFusion. It may be the first time I ate sushi on fire, but it was very good. And we ended up closing the place. Seriously, it was one of those nights where they're wiping down the tables and stacking chairs and stuff like that. We're like "oh, I think they want us to go" because for 3.5 hours, we talked about everything. We talked about our kids, in which we have cover the gamut, from college student down to pre-K. We talked about running, which Stacia is doing Team in Training and running a marathon and I was so inspired, I started running and plan to run a half marathon in October. We even talked about sticky bras and back fat and all that girl stuff that you can only do with the closest of friends. And we talked a LOT about design and designing in education and all that goes with that.

So I'm so grateful to UCDA for giving me so many colleagues, all over North America (talking to you @jesgagnon) along with the multitude of ways to converse with them. And I hope and hope and hope they can come to our 40th anniversary too, so I can give them a hug and tell them how much they've meant to me. I want to tell them that in my 15 years of designing for higher education, it's because of them and UCDA that I'm the designer I've become. (I mean this in a positive way, I promise.) I want to say "thanks so much for telling me I could run an hour after all and with you at my back, I did it." I want to stay up too late talking about design and uptight administrators and crazy faculty and nutty bid systems and commiserating about our challenges, just like Lee Kline, Bud Diehl and Gene Church used to do. It was a big big reason for them to create UCDA: so we could all sit around over a beer and compare our experiences. (I'm happy to say that is still an important part of UCDA and we've kept true to our core beliefs.)

SO, it wouldn't be a good entry if I didn't end with a call to action, would it. So I have a few homework assignments for you:
1. Get on the listserv if you're an email junkie. Loads of support and love out there too. You'll learn a lot, I promise. If you're an educator, find the educator listserv.
2. Tweet me that you're a UCDA member and you're on Twitter. I'll add you to the list. And you can find lots of UCDA members at the UCDA member list.
3. Come to the conference. I could push content in this post, because there's a ton of content to see this year. Some really awesome programming, I promise, and so relevant. Seriously, give it another look if you haven't. But come to the conference and meet the people who started this great little organization, as well as the newest of members. And come dance with me on Saturday night, but you have to wait. My first dances are going to be with my Twitter buddies.
4. Follow us on FB too. If you enjoyed the post, you'll like the Facebook page, because it's a lot of me posting UCDA stuff and crazy links that I find and the like.
5. And lastly, get involved. Seriously, don't roll your eyes, do it. Make this organization your organization, not just for yourself, but for us. Contact any board member. We need you.

Thanks for being there for me, you UCDA peeps. I love you man.

informative + entertaining + inspiring: Pechu Kucha for Educators

Informative + entertaining + inspiring: this is the combination needed for a successful presentation. Speed it up a little and that is what you get with Pecha Kucha. When they were first developed in Tokyo, Pecha Kucha Nights were a way for designers to meet, share work and ideas, and network. The fast format was often set as 20 seconds per 20 slides per presenter. Seven years later, there are PKN in over 250 cities around the world.

And now, we have a Pechu Kucha afternoon event specifically for educators! With the help of Steven McCarthy of the University of Minneapolis' College of Design, we've planned a pre-conference Pechu Kucha on Friday, October 1. You'll spend the afternoon with design educators throughout the region, each presenting their work and their programs. Then share questions, feedback and discussion. Being able to interact with people "in your boat" is one of the biggest benefits of the UCDA conference. How often can you hear right from your peers about their challenges, ideas, methods, stories, inspirations, history? This is a chance to teach and inspire—to learn and to be inspired.

Steven will also conduct a breakout session later at the conference, "Twenty-five Years of Design Authorship: Expression, Communication and Activism." Over the years Steven has sought opportunities to expand the role of graphic design from a neutral client-oriented service to an integrated practice. His bio mentions that he's been published in Graphis Posters, AIGA annual, and Provocative Graphics. His work has been in numerous juried and invitational exhibitions across the country, and he has conducted scholarly presentations across the globe.

And, when you see him in October, be sure to ask about his recent travels to Birmingham, England, where he investigated the original artifacts designed and printed by John Baskerville!

BlueFuego on Fire

Been looking into BlueFuego and why we need to hear their talk in Minneapolis. Boy, they really get higher education. Just looking at their most recent blog entry gives a treasure trove of information about social media and the web.

But, I know what you are thinking. Why should you go to a conference to hear a sales pitch? It’s not a sales pitch. Brad J. Ward has spoken a lot, worked with a lot of higher education clients and plans to show actual case studies, with ideas and techniques you can take back to your office. Heck, even the legendary (at least on Twitter) Chris Brogran brags on Brad, saying, “When I spoke at the Stamats event in Tampa, I was excited that so many people in the audience were really tuned in to the notion of what social media could do for their higher education marketing. But who stole the show, in my eyes, was Brad J. Ward. His speech [The Recruitment Long Tail] was both passionate and value-driven. You could do something with his speech. And that lesson, adding value to the passion, is what I took away from that part of that event.”

Plus, Brad comes from working within higher ed. He gets it. You won’t hear the usual “sometimes you have to fire the client” or other things you hear that really don’t work in the world of in-house higher education design. He’s been working in higher education, either as a student, or employee or consultant ever since attending college.

And they’re just great guys. Christy Kilgore, at Eastern Illinois University, gives her stamp of approval on hearing Brad. She says, “BlueFuego is really good at giving concrete ideas for how to take social media out of theory and into practice. I also love that they can help give validation to the people who are doing social media work when it comes to administration. Basically, they help prove your worth, and give you a lot of great direction. I love those guys.”

Check out more of the fun on their Facebook site too.

The good stuff before the good stuff

Here are three interesting facts about two of the pre-conference activities. They're both design-inspired…and design-inspiring!

Triple Treat: Museum Tour

• The Minneapolis Institute of Art was designed by the preeminent New York architectural firm McKim, Mead and White, and the original building opened its doors in 1915. Their permanent collection has grown from 800 works of art to around 80,000 objects.

• Opened in April 2005, the new Walker Art Center (formally established in 1927) highlights ideas from different disciplines and art forms and is seen as a model for cultural institutions of the future. A key aspect of the design is a "town square," a sequence of spaces that draws people for informal conversation and interactive learning.

• Adjacent to the Walker Art Center, the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden opened in 1988 and was immediately heralded by the New York Times as "the finest new outdoor space in the country for displaying sculpture." The Garden's centerpiece and most popular work is by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen.

University of Minnesota Day

• The founders of the Goldstein Museum of Design, educators and art collectors (and sisters) Harriet and Vetta Goldstein, worked with a design philosophy that stressed the inter-relationships between aesthetics and lifestyle: "As we surround ourselves with beauty, art actually becomes a part of our life and personality."

• The Goldstein Museum's graphic design collection includes early twentieth-century journals such as PM and A-D, the complete set of Emigre magazine from the late twentieth-century, and issues of Push Pin Graphic, Octavo: A Journal of Typography and News of the Whirled.

• Some of the wood type that will be used for the hands-on letterpress are well over a century old and on loan from the Hamilton Wood Type Museum in Wisconsin.

For more info, or to sign up for one of these activities when you register, visit http://ucda.com/activities10.lasso.

Green Minneapolis

Minneapolis launched a huge bike-sharing program last month—it's currently the largest bike-sharing program in the nation! Nice Ride is just one of MPLS's many 'green' initiatives. They have a flex-fuel city vehicle fleet, microgrants awarded to residents and businesses as motivation to reduce their carbon footprints, LEED building support, and others.

It's only fitting that we're in MPLS this year, with a handful of 'green' speakers on hand!

• Steve Dussair from Monadnock Paper will discuss their Field Guide, which offers information in support of the idea that sustainable design and print can be done in a cost-efficient and environmentally sensitive way without compromising quality.

• Angela Ferraro-Fanning of 13thirtyone will help us to adopt greener design practices when it comes to paper, printing, inks, and overall design strategies—with real world examples. She'll also share tips on creating a greener workspace.

• Roger Dziengeleski from Finch Paper will reduce the complexity surrounding "green" paper choices and the processes that get us there. A master forester, he helps Finch manage their forests responsibly while educating people about the process.

You can also purchase carbon credits again this year! Check the registration form for more details.

So…what are you doing lately to be 'green'?


Photo by Alyssa Graham