:: ( CRIT ) :: DESIGN BLOG ::

Jackie + Mattie Go to the Armory Show

2010-03-08T18:21:32Z

There were many, many more. But here are some favorites from our recent visit to the 2010 Armory Show which closed its doors yesterday.

///// Design in March

2010-03-03T00:19:57Z

Springtime will soon be here and there are many events to attend this month. To start off March, we're giving away 10 free tickets to the AIGA/NY Jessie Auersalo talk. To get a ticket, just post a comment and share an event we can blog about. First come first serve.

1. Small Talk: Jessie Auersalo/BIG ACTIVE
In his first-ever U.S. presentation, Jesse Auersalo will discuss his design background, its relationship to his personal background and how they all affect what he is doing now. Jesse is an illustrator dividing his time between Brooklyn and Helsinki. His distinctive, character-driven work is marked by an aesthetic he describes as, "polished and clean, as well as sticky and dirty." His images are uniquely powerful, dark, intriguing and captivating.
http://www.aigany.org/events/details/10S5/
When: March 3, 2010, 6:30 pm–8:00 pm
Where: Bumble and bumble, 3rd fl, 415 West 13th Street, New York, NY
Price: $20 members, $10 student members, $35 general public

2. Armory Arts Week
Art insiders spend their whole lives traveling from fair to fair—Venice, Basel, Miami Beach, London—but each March they return to New York for Armory Arts Week. "With Basel, in Miami, it's like the whole world moves [there] for one week, but for the rest of the year it's not really an art city," says Katelijne De Backer, longtime director of The Armory Show,"New York is the center of the art world." The Armory Show: New Art by Living Artists (Pier 94) and Modern: Art of the 20th Century (Pier 92). The twelfth edition marks another milestone for the fair with the introduction of Armory Focus, a new section that will feature an important art community every year and is premiering with Berlin. This year The Armory Show features 267 galleries from 31 countries.
http://www.armoryartsweek.com
When: March 4-7, 2010, 12:00 pm–8:00 pm
Where: Various locations, New York, NY
Price: $30 general public, $10 students

3. Working with Inhibitions to Creativity
Marilyn LaMonica, MPS, NCPsych, will discuss how psychoanalytic theory provides a unique explanation of impediments to creative work. Clinical cases of a filmmaker, a painter and a writer will be used to demonstrate how explorations of fantasized object relations lead to freer access to creative potential.
http://www.schoolofvisualarts.edu/events/index.jsp?sid0=70&page_id=181&content_id=3265
When: March 5, 2010, 6:30 pm–8:00 pm
Where: MPS Art Therapy, 133/141 West 21 Street, room 101C, New York, NY
Price: Free and open to the public. RSVP 212.592.2610 or arttherapy@sva.edu

4. The Tablet
Khoi Vinh, design director of NYTimes.com, and Matt Jacobs, designer for Six Apart, will discuss new modes of media presentation. They will address how the size of an object frames the user experience and how designers need to consider grid, typography and behavior differently. Books. Magazines. Televisions. We hear these words, and understand well what shape their content will take. But “tablet?” “Digital magazine?” How does the size of the objects frame the user experience? Influence their portability or accessibility? How will the experience with these devices compare with other more “fuller-figured” media? How do we need to consider grid, typography, and behavior differently? Hear from four perspectives how telling stories in new spaces influences new experiences.
http://interactiondesign.sva.edu/events/entry/lecture_the_tablet/
When: March 10, 2010, 6:30 pm–8:30 pm
Where: Galapagos Art Space, 16 Main Street, DUMBO, Brooklyn
Price: $6 general public, register at http://svaixd-tablet.eventbrite.com

5. Collaboration: Pablo Medina/Parsons School of Design
Can Collaboration Help Haiti? On Thursday, January 28th, Pablo Medina gave a tough assignment to the 15 students in his Experimental Typography class at Parsons The New School for Design: Use the medium of typography to help Haiti. Students are now working in pairs to satisfy the assignment. Each pair has one week to come up with 15 ideas and one more week to execute the very best of those 15 ideas. On March 11th, Pablo and his students will jointly present each of the final solutions. At the end of the presentation, the audience will vote for the most successful project and that project will - in the following weeks - be executed to achieve the ultimate goal: to help Haiti. All event proceeds will be donated to Yéle Haiti.
http://www.aigany.org/events/details/10C3/
When: March 11, 2010, 6:30 pm–8:00 pm
Where: Museum of Arts and Design, 2 Columbus Circle, New York, NY
Price: $13 members, $26 general public

6. Chris Hacker: Design Thinking & Sustainability
At the top of Chris Hacker’s agenda is the imaginative application of sustainable design thinking. He has overseen this process as Chief Design Officer at Johnson & Johnson for the last five years, and at Aveda™ for the previous five. Dubbed as “the man to bring sustainable design to corporate America”, by ID Magazine, Hacker and several members of his design and engineering team will explain their approach to sustainability in both design and business, illuminating his mission: to change the way designers think about sustainability. They will discuss how they have updated the design process at J&J, where over the last 5 years Chris has built a 120-person think tank, including an award-winning design team, where environmentally conscious decisions are a fundamental part of the process. Hacker is Chief Design Officer of the NY-based Global Strategic Design Office, Johnson & Johnson Group of Consumer Companies, leading all creative processes for brand identity, packaging design and brand imagery at J&J Consumer. Prior to J&J, Hacker lead Marketing and Design for Aveda™. His work was awarded the 2004 National Design Award for Corporate Achievement from the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.
http://www.aigany.org/events/details/10DS/
When: March 12, 2010, 6:30 pm–8:00 pm
Where: Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street, New York, NY
Price: $20 members, $10 students, $30 general public

7. Design Trust: Partnerships to Improve Public Space
Deborah Marton, executive director of the Design Trust for Public Space, will provide an overview of several of the organization’s projects, the process that went into shaping them and their influence on public space in New York City.
http://dcrit.sva.edu/view/events/lecture-with-deborah-marton/
When: March 16, 2010, 6:00 pm–8:00 pm
Where: Design Criticism MFA Department, 136 West 21st Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY
Price: Free and open to the public. RSVP 212.592.2228 or dcrit@sva.edu

8. The Buzellis, A Marriage of Art Direction & Illustration
Soo Jin Buzelli is the creative director of PLANSPONSOR, PLANADVISER and ai5000 magazines; Tim O'Brien once said SooJin's magazines were like "Fantasy Island for illustrators." Chris Buzelli is an award-winning illustrator who works in advertising, publishing and editorial for clients pretty much everywhere. Together they make a powerful and creative team whose love and support for illustration is hard to match. Chris Buzelli will be signing limited-edition prints after the lecture.
http://www.spd.org/calendar.php
When: March 16, 2010, 6:30 pm–8:30 pm
Where: Design Criticism MFA Department, 136 West 21st Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY
Price: $10 members, $7 students, $15 general public RSVP 212.838.2560 or jessica@societyofillustrators.org

9. Type Salon: Cooking with Type
Douglas Riccardi will speak about his cookbook work for Mario Batali and give an survey of cookbook design and typography through the years: discovering trends, uncovering the roots of conventions, and perhaps even discovering new possibilities. After working in New York and Italy for 10 years, Ricardi founded Memo Productions in 1993. The studio’s work focuses on brand identity and development with many clients in the restaurant, food and hospitality industry. He has designed 8 best-selling cookbooks and for Mario Batali and 8 restaurants for celebrity chef Mario Batali.
http://tdc.org/tdc/archives/1049
When: March 18, 2010, 6:00 pm–8:00 pm
Where: Type Directors Club, 347 West 36th Street, Suite 603, New York, NY
Price: Free for members, $15 students, $20 general public RSVP 212.633.8643 or director@tdc.org

10. Stewart Smith
Greg Brunkalla has been directing commercial content, music videos, and other moving images in New York City since 2002. He has recently founded a new media company with industry friends called Legs, based out of Milk Studios in NYC. Legs' first project was a multifaceted black-and-white film campaign for Diesel.com. Greg was nominated for an Emmy for a series he directs for The New York Times Style Magazine. Other clients include: Nike, Levi's, Kia, and Diet Coke. Agencies he has worked with include: Mother, Taxi, Farfar, Duetsche, 180, and Ogilvy. He lives in Brooklyn. Greg is part of the ADC Young Guns 6 class of winners, honored in 2008.
http://www.apple.com/retail/soho/
When: March 22, 2010, 6:30–8:00 pm
Where: Apple Store SoHo, 103 Prince Street, New York, NY
Price: Free, no reservation required

11. E Pluribus Unum: Creating Design Policy in the U.S.A.
Casey Jones, Director of Design Excellence and the Arts for the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), will discuss his role in overseeing the design and development of new and renovated federal buildings as well as the artwork commissioned for them. Previously, Jones led jones|kroloff with Reed Kroloff (Director of Cranbrook Academy), an architect selection advisory firm whose clients included the Whitney Museum of Art, Yale University, Friends of the High Line and Brad Pitt’s Global Green USA.
http://dcrit.sva.edu/view/events/lecture-with-casey-jones/
When: March 30, 2010, 6:00 pm–8:00 pm
Where: Design Criticism MFA Department, 136 West 21st Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY
Price: Free and open to the public. RSVP 212.592.2228 or dcrit@sva.edu

SVA Masters Workshop in Venice and Rome

2010-03-03T00:05:14Z

SVA Masters Workshop in Design History, Theory and Practice
Venice and Rome the birthplace of Western typographic tradition
May 30 - June 12, 2010

Venice: May 30 -June 5, 2010
In collaboration with the Fondazione Claudio Buziol, Grand Canal

Rome: June 6 – 12, 2010
Sapienza University of Rome, Piazza Fontanella Borghese

Immerse yourself in Italian culture
Field trips to museums, ancient sites, letterpress printing shops and design studios
Metal type and woodtype workshops with Italian faculty
Produce projects for publication

American Faculty:
Lita Talarico and Steven Heller, co-chairs of MFA Designer as Author at the School of Visual Arts; Louise Fili, designer, Louise Fili Ltd, and author of Italianissimo and The Civilized Shopper's Guide to Florence.

Italian Faculty:
Dr. Darius Arya, Roman Archaeologist; Carlo Branzaglia, Director of Design, Academy of Fine Arts, Bologna; Giorgio Camuffo, Studio Camuffo, Venice; Cristina Chiappini, Graphic and New Media Designer, faculty, University of Rome; James Clough, Typographer and Calligrapher, Milan; Mauro Zennaro, Designer and Typographer, Rome.

Tuition: $6,700
Includes three-star hotel accommodations in Venice and Rome, continental breakfasts, workshops, lectures, transportation for off-site visits, guided tours of architectural and archaeological sites, first-class train from Venice to Rome, and all program receptions.

Credit: 3 graduate studio credits

Application Deadline: March 15, 2010

Contact: Esther RoSchofield
eroschofield@sva.edu
212-592-2600

Additional Information: visit the following links for more information
http://www.louisefili.com/blog/
http://design.sva.edu/masters_workshop_italy/
http://design.sva.edu/masters_workshop_italy/docs/video.html

Q&A with Gail Anderson

2010-02-22T00:31:03Z

I recently flipped through the January 2010 issue of Graphic Design USA and enjoyed reading the short-n-sweet Q&A of our MFA faculty, Gail Anderson, as she was named one of 30 on their People To Watch list.

via Graphic Design USA

GDUSA starts every year by choosing a group of People To Watch who embody the spirit of the creative community. The criteria: individuals who we have come to know and respect for a combination of talent, leadership, success, insight, business savvy, community service and newsworthiness. In a field so deep in talent and intelligence and achievement, this is clearly a subjective process. Still, over four decades, it has seemed to work out: the roster is star-studded and the 2010 group only adds to the luster.

Where were you born, where do you live, did this effect your design style or sensibilities? I was born in the Bronx, New York. I've lived in New York for most of my life, with the exception of a few years when I worked at the Boston Globe. In fact, I've lived in the same apartment in Greenwich Village for almost 20 years now. I probably developed an attraction to detail because I've lived in the same small space forever. I think I'm attracted to clutter.

If you were not a designer, what would you be? I'd be a writer. I'm not sure what I'd be writing about—maybe it would be fiction. But I'd hope to be really smart and witty, like Fran Liebowitz or Nora Ephron.

What is your design process, do you sketch first, go to the computer, take days off to get inspired? Who are these people who take days off to get inspired? Where are those jobs? We try to sketch on paper before going to the computer, and I try really hard to get the undergrads I teach to work that way, as well. Most seem a little puzzled at first, since they've grown up in a completely digital environment. Some do carry those big black sketchbooks, though, so there's still hope. Those take me back.

What is one thing you have done to help weather the economic downturn? I find that I'm on a constant hunt for the sweetest deal. I refuse to pay full price for anything, whether it's personally or professionally. I look for the best price for everything, whether it's shoes for me, or books for the department. We've been extremely lucky at SpotCo; no layoffs, no pay cuts. I don't take advantage of my good fortune, so I make time for all projects and pretty much never say that we're too busy to take something new on. You never know.

What is your greatest strength and weakness as a designer? I love type, and l love all things design, but I think my real strength is that I am still curious. I still buy books, hunt for fonts, and all that. I still want to learn all that I can. My weakness is that I over commit and don't carve out enough time for myself to do all that growing. I need to take time to expand my horizons a bit and do some traveling.

YOUR DESIGN HERO?
Paula Scher

YOUR WORST HABIT?
Shockingly sloppy

FAVORITE COLOR?
Yellow

FAVORITE TYPEFACE?
Anything by Jonathan Hoefler

FAVORITE TV SHOWS?
Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, Seinfeld

FAVORITE BOOKS?
Catcher in the Rye, To Kill A Mockingbird, anything by David Sedaris

FAVORITE MOVIES?
Moonstruck, Some Like It Hot, Young Frankenstein, Goodfellas

FAVORITE MUSIC?
Anything by Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, The Beatles

FAVORITE FINE ARTIST?
Antoni Gaudi

FAVORITE GADGET?
iPhone

BOOKMARKED WEBSITES?
www.makeachildsmile.org, www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive

BEST GIFT YOU EVER RECEIVED?
My first magic slate

ONE THING YOU NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT?
Where are my keys? Where are my glasses?

ONE THING YOU CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT?
Internet access

TALENT YOU WISH YOU POSSESSED?
To play the piano really well

Magic slate!! I loved those tiny little things...do they still make them? I wonder if she still has it.

Read the rest of the article at http://www.gdusa.com/issue_2010/01_jan/ptw/

///// Design in February

2010-02-08T05:31:25Z

Happy February! Love is in the air indeed, and because we love our readers, we're giving away tickets to AIGA/NY Eddie Opara, and Glenn Cummings. To get a ticket, just post a comment and share an event we can blog about. Please indicate which event you'd like to attend. First come first serve.

1. Paul Sahre
Paul Sahre meditates on, among other things, "alien abduction attempts, the hairless hand, dead pig heads, and eating the dinosaur." Paul creates book covers, posters, images, photography and illustrations for clients such as The New York Times, Metropolis Magazine, Seed Magazine, T Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Esquire Magazine, Sundance Channel, The New School University, The School of Visual Arts, Marvel Comics, Knopf, Little Brown, Beacon Press, Simon and Schuster, Scribner, Farrar Strauss and Giroux, Penguin Putnam, Verve Records to name a few.
http://www.spd.org/speaker-series/2010/01/paul-sahre-alien-abduction-att.php
When: February 9, 2010, 7 pm–8:30 pm
Where: Helen Mills Theatre, 137-139 West 26th Street, New York, NY
Price: $15 members, $10 students and faculty, $25 general public

2. The Arkadium Game Design Workshop Series: Multiplayer Game Design
At the heart of every successful game is strong game design – the systems and interactivity that create meaningful experiences for players. Systems of Play is a workshop series brought to you by Arkadium that combines informative lectures with hands-on design exercises to explore the unique challenges of game design. Lead by Naomi Clark and Eric Zimmerman. Clark held lead design positions at LEGO.com and Gamelab, and taught courses in multiplayer game design at Parsons School of Design. Zimmerman is the co-founder of Gamelab and co-author of Rules of Play; he taught game courses at MIT, NYU, SVA, and Parsons.
http://interactiondesign.sva.edu/events/entry/arkadium_session_3/
When: February 24, 2010, 6:30 pm–8:30 pm
Where: MFA Interaction Design, 132 W 21st Street, 6 Fl, New York, NY
Price: Free. RSVP to http://www.arkadium.com/gamedesignworkshop.html

3. Eddie Opara
Eddie Opara will share examples of The Map Office's dynamic, accessible and beautiful creations, from wall coverings to software applications. British-born Eddie Opara is a designer with a background in multiple design areas. Over the past four to five years after leaving 2x4, Eddie set up The Map Office as a contemporary design agency that strives to build compelling visual ideas through design and technology. He is the winner of numerous awards such as Art Director Club Gold, AIGA 365 and ID Magazine Awards. His work has appeared in publications such as Archis, ID Magazine, Graphis, and Surface. His work as part of 2x4 is part of the permanent collection at the MoMA and SFMOMA.
http://www.aigany.org/events/details/10S6/
When: **Rescheduled due to weather.** New date: February 22, 2010, 6:30 pm–8:00 pm
Where: Bumble and bumble, 3rd fl, 415 West 13th Street, New York, NY
Price: $20 members, $10 student members, $35 general public

4. Glen Cummings / MTWTF
The evening will focus on graphic design, urban planning, graphic design and architecture. Glen Cummings of MTWTF will be joined on stage by a few of his most recent collaborators each of whom will offer a very different perspective on what it takes to produce a good design project. Projects include work with The Center for Urban Pedagogy, SCAPE Landscape Architects, The City of Newark, Safari 7, ArtHome, The Justice Mapping Center and Studio Museum Harlem. In 2008, Glen founded MTWTF, a design practice with the specific mission of focusing on interdisciplinary collaborations with architects, advocates, designers and planners. The premise of MTWTF is that the overlapping interests of a group of collaborators is always more specific and curious than the preferences of the individual designers. Glen Cummings is the principal of MTWTF, and a lecturer in Graphic Design at Yale University School of Art.
http://www.aigany.org/events/details/10C2/
When: February 11, 2010, 6:30 pm–8:00 pm
Where: Museum of Arts and Design, 2 Columbus Circle, New York, NY
Price: $13 members, $26 general public

5. Design USA Short Films
A selection of short films on National Design Award Winners and Finalists, including Eva Zeisel, Milton Glaser, Stefan Sagmeister, Paula Scher, and Pentagram by filmmakers Jeremy Bales and Hillman Curtis. Jeremy Bales is a New York-based filmmaker and photographer. His film ‘Distinguished by Design’ is a sketch of Eva Zeisel’s life and work as she continues to design at age 102. Hillman Curtis is a filmmaker, designer and author whose company hillmancurtis, inc. produced the ‘Artist Series’ documentaries, as well as award-winning short films. He and his firm have designed digital media for, among others, MTV, Rolling Stone, Yahoo!, SonyBMG and Adobe. The work of Eva Zeisel, Milton Glaser, and Stefan Sagmeister, is included in Design USA: Contemporary Innovation, on view through April 4, 2010. The exhibition will be open before the program from 5:30–6:30pm. A short Q&A with the filmmakers will follow the screening.
http://events.cooperhewitt.org/
When: February 11, 2010, 6:30 pm–8:30 pm
Where: Cooper Hewitt, 2 East 91st Street New York, NY
Price: $10 members and students, $15 general public

6. The Reel World: New York
A rare opportunity to see the Big Apple’s greatest motion-graphics gurus on the same stage describing the methods and meanings behind this ever-evolving art form. Speakers include Randy Balsmeyer of Big Film Design, Rama Allen, Creative Director at Digital Kitchen, Josh Norton of Big Star, and Karin Fong of Imaginary Forces, founding member and director
http://www.aigany.org/events/details/10RW/
When: February 16, 2010, 6:30–9:00pm
Where: Galapagos Art Space, 16 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY
Price: $13 members, $23 general public

7. Your Client is Your Worst Enemy
Designers beware – Clients from hell are on the loose! For the third consecutive year, TDC welcomes design victims to present their worst client horror stories as well as helpful, survival advice for making it out alive. Eric Baker, The O Group (ogroup.net), Rodrigo Corral, Rodrigo Corral Design (rodrigocorral.com), Fernando Music, and The Rooster Design Group (theroostergroup.com)
http://tdc.org/tdc/archives/1052
When: February 18, 2010, 6:00–8:00pm
Where: Type Directors Club, 347 West 36th Street, Suite 603, New York, NY
Price: Free for members, $15 students, $20 general public.
RSVP to director@tdc.org or call 212-633-8943

8. Stewart Smith
Stewart Smith is the founder and principal of Stewdio (http://stewdio.org/), a consultancy that approaches art and software through the lens of graphic design. Stewdio has created collaborative works with renowned firms including Diller Scofidio+Renfro, O-R-G, Warning Office, and Death by Cyan. Stewart earned his MFA from Yale University and teaches Visualizing Data at NYU in the Interactive Telecommunications Program. He is also a research scholar at Columbia University.Stewart is part of the ADC Young Guns 7 class of winners, honored in 2009.
http://www.apple.com/retail/soho/
When: February 22, 2010, 6:30–8:00 pm
Where: Apple Store SoHo, 103 Prince Street, New York, NY
Price: Free, no reservation required

9. Design in the Face of Disaster
A discussion moderated by Chris Hacker, Chief Design Office for Johnson & Johnson, on how design can alleviate some of the innumerable problems facing Haiti right now. Panelists include Pierre Fouche, a Haitian earthquake engineer, Anna Muoio, Principal, Design Continuum, Social Innovation, and representatives from rescue and aid organizations, and other designers invested in both short term and long term solutions.
When: February 23, 2010, 6:30 pm–8:30 pm
Where: Cooper Hewitt, 2 East 91st Street New York, NY
Price: Free

10. Tony Di Spgna on Typographics and Spencerian
Tony Di Spigna was born on the Island of Ischia, Italy and is a graduate of New York City Community College and Pratt Institute. Tony was a partner in the legendary studio of Lubalin Associates where he worked on all aspects of visual communication and graphic design. He has achieved international recognition for his letterform and typographic designs including exclusive newly designed corporate typefaces and logos. He has won numerous awards and his work has been widely exhibited in the United States and abroad. In 2007, he was honored with a one man show in Italy. He currently teaches at The New York institute of Technology and is a tenured professor at Pratt Institute where he was given the institute-wide Distinguished Professor Award.
http://tdc.org/tdc/archives/1905
When: February 24, 2010, 6:00–8:00pm
Where: Type Directors Club, 347 West 36th Street, Suite 603, New York, NY
Price: Free for members, $15 students, $20 general public.
RSVP to director@tdc.org or call 1-212-633-8943

///// ADDITIONAL EVENTS

Greener Gadgets Conference
Speakers like Yves Behar and Robert Fabricant tackle all of the issues surrounding energy efficiency and sustainable design, from innovative advances in packaging and product manufacturing to end-of-life recycling solutions, while highlighting ways in which electronics make a major impact by utilizing renewable energy in developing nations. The conference closes out with the Greener Gadgets Design Competition, highlighting a new class of sustainable product concepts, from those that create their own energy to those that minimize the need for any electricity at all.
http://www.greenergadgets.com/
When: February 25, 2010, 9:00 am–6:00 pm
Where: McGraw-Hill Conference Center, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY
Price: $75 students, $395 general public

Design for Humans
A conversation on user-centered design with National Design Award Winners and Finalists who have been recognized for their contribution to the field of Product Design. Moderated by Jesse Ashlock, former Editor-in-Chief of I.D. Magazine. Speakers include a pioneer of ergonomic design, Niels Diffrient, driven by the need to improve the way existing products work. Sigi Moeslinger and Masamichi Udagawa of Antenna Design, combining technological complexity with a sense of humanity. Smart Design founder, Dan Formosa, explains their simple goal: social responsibility through design.
http://events.cooperhewitt.org/
When: February 25, 2010, 6:30 pm–8:30 pm
Where: Cooper Hewitt, 2 East 91st Street New York, NY
Price: $10 members and students, $15 general public

Sulki & Min / More & Less
http://www.manystuff.org/?p=5349
When: February 12, 2010 5:30pm
Where: Pratt Institute, 144 W 14th St, New York, NY
Price: Free

2010 Whitney Biennial
This year marks the seventy-fifth edition of the Whitney’s signature exhibition. While Biennials are always affected by the cultural, political, and social moment, this exhibition “simply titled 2010” embodies a cross section of contemporary art production rather than a specific theme. Balancing different media ranging from painting and sculpture to video, photography, performance, and installation, 2010 also serves as a two-way telescope through which the Whitney’s past and future can be observed.
http://www.whitney.org/Exhibitions/2010Biennial
When: February 25, 2010–May 30, 2010
Where: Whitney Museum, 945 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10021
Price: Free members, $12 students, $18 general public, Pay-as-you-wish Fridays 6–9pm

MUSE's Art on Screen Film Festival
The Center for Architecture will host a series of international productions on architecture.
http://cfa.aiany.org/index.php?section=calendar&evtid=1421
When: February 26, 2010 3:00 pm–8:00 pm
Where: The Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place, New York, NY 10021

Storytelling Wisdom

2010-01-26T18:35:16Z

It's officially February, and we’re seventy some days away from the final thesis forum. Stories, narratives, and storytelling are central aspects of thesis. Below are concise and well articulated overviews of storytelling by Ira Glass, the host of This American Life. Glass discusses the building blocks of storytelling and gives profound pieces of wisdom for storytellers of all kinds. If you’re looking to develop your sense of narrative, take a few minutes to watch these. I included some notes I jotted down about each video.

Part 1: On the Basics

The building blocks of stories:

1. Anecdote – a sequence of actions. The story in its purest form.
2. Bait – raise question from the beginning. Constantly ask and answer questions.
3. Moment of Reflection – the point of the story. Why am I listening/watching this?

Be ruthless. "Have the perseverance to get an interesting anecdote with a supporting moment of reflection. The two interwoven will make something larger than the sum of its parts."

Part 2: On Finding Great Stories

The amount of time finding a decent story is more than the time to produce the story. Set as much time looking for stories as producing them.

"Not enough gets said about the importance of abandoning crap."

If you’re not failing all the time you’re not giving yourself opportunities to get good.

Part 3: On Good Taste

If you're doing creative work, you will go through years of producing work that falls short of your ambition. "The most important possible thing you can do is do a lot of work. Do a huge volume of work." Only by doing a huge volume of work will you be able to catch up and close the gap between the work you make and your ambition.

Part 4: On Two Common Pitfalls

Don’t imitate: Be yourself.

"Everything is more compelling when you talk like a human being, when you talk like yourself."

Don’t leave out interaction: What’s interesting isn’t just your take on things, but seeing the interaction with other people.

More Ira Glass:
This American Life Radio
This American Life TV

///// Design in January

2010-01-04T21:34:29Z

We're giving away several free ticket to our readers: ~~AIGA/NY Scott Stowell Pay Attention~~, ~~One ticket to the Sagmeister event~~, four tickets to the One That Got Away, and four tickets to Collaboration: Dress Code & Friends. Post a comment with an event we can share on our blog to get a ticket. Please indicate which event you'd like to attend. First come first serve.

1. Stefan Sagmeister
In the spirit of RMA's exhibition The Red Book of C.G. Jung, personalities from many different walks of life will be paired on stage with a psychoanalyst and invited to respond to and interpret a folio from Jung's Red Book as a starting point for a wide-ranging conversation. This event features Stefan Sagmeister, a New York-based graphic designer and typographer and Patricia Llosa, a Jungian analyst in training, who received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts and B.A. In Art History and Archaeology from Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
http://www.rmanyc.org/events/load/519
When: January 6, 2010, 6:00–8:00 pm
Where: Rubin Museum of Art, 150 West 17th Street, New York, NY
Price: $22.50 members, $25 general public

2. The One That Got Away
Come and commiserate with four designers who will share with you the one that (sob) got away. This will be another fast-paced, action packed evening full of surprises, fun, and a little shared failure, from the likes of Carin Goldberg, Mike Essl, Jeffrey Zeldman and even a mystery guest.
http://www.aigany.org/events/details/10D3/
When: January 12, 2010, 6:30–9:00 pm
Where: Galapagos Art Space, 16 Main Street, DUMBO, Brooklyn
Price: $13 members, $23 general public

3. Dot Dot Dot Lecture: The Storytellers
People are natural storytellers, and interaction design navigates the relationship between people and the objects they use every day. Do interfaces tell a story? Should we be designing with a narrative in mind? Join SVA MFA interaction Design to hear short lectures from Cindy Chastain, Creative Director of Experience Architecture at Rapp, David Womack, writer, editor and digital strategist, and Ian Curry, Senior Interaction Designer at Local Projects on their of the role of the story.
http://interactiondesign.sva.edu/events
When: January 13, 2010, 6:30–8:00 pm
Where: Galapagos Art Space, 16 Main Street, DUMBO, Brooklyn
Price: $6 general public

4. Collaboration: Dress Code & Friends
Music has been the core of dress code from the start. Founders, G. Dan Covert, an Ohio native, and Andre Andreev, from Bulgaria, will discuss how they collaborate with music. The duo began working together on short-run, screen-printed posters and cd packages. Now, they are venturing into directing music videos and short spots. Their list of collaborators includes sound designers, animators, cinematographers and always music. Their work has been recognized by numerous awards, appeared magazines, books and three museums. Covert and Andreev co-teach Design, Type and New Media classes at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and authored a book about transitioning from school to work in the field of graphic design, entitled Never Sleep.
http://www.aigany.org/events/details/10C1/
When: January 14, 2010, 6:30–8:00 pm
Where: Museum of Arts and Design, 2 Columbus Circle, New York, NY
Price: $13 members, $26 general public

5. Making Ideas Happen: Getting Organized & Using the Action Method
In the creative world, organization is a competitive advantage. Behance is hosting a small-group (10-12 people) session held at their office and lead by senior team members. This session will start with an overview of Behance’s action-oriented approach to project management (e.g. the Action Method) and then move into a discussion of best practices for prioritization, execution, and maintaining focus. Based on the research in Behance founder Scott Belsky’s forthcoming book, Making Ideas Happen, the session will focus on the first component of making ideas happen: Organization. A tour of the Behance office and a wine reception will follow.
http://the99percent.com/sessions
When: January 14, 2010, 7:00–9:00 pm
Where: Behance, 530 Broadway, 8th Floor, New York, NY
Price: $99 general public

6. Mixtape Club
Too technical for the arts, too creative for the sciences, Chris Smith, Jesse Casey, and Michelle Higa knew they had to work together as soon as they met. They funneled their collective love of music, computer science and semiotics into the world of animation, and Mixtape Club was born. With a fondness for character-based storytelling, Mixtape Club has created work for a wide variety of clients, including music videos for TV on the Radio, J Dilla, Yeasayer, My Morning Jacket, and most recently Passion Pit. They are part of the ADC Young Gun 7 class of winners, honored in 2009.
http://www.adcglobal.org/adc/events/calendar/
When: January 25, 2010, 6:30–8:00 pm
Where: Apple Store SoHo, 103 Prince Street, New York, NY
Price: Free, no reservation required

7. The Storyteller Exhibition: Art for Political and Social Events
This traveling exhibition focuses on artists who use the story form in contemporary art as a means to understand and convey political and social events. Featured artists include Omer Fast, Cao Fei, Ryan Gander, Lamia Joreige, Steve Mumford, and Michael Rakowitz.
http://parsons.edu/events/event_detail.aspx?eID=1171
When: January 29, 2010, 6:00 pm, Opening Reception (through April 9, 2010)
Where: St. Anna-Maria Kellen Gallery, 2 West 13th Street, New York, NY
Price: Free, no reservation required

8. Scott Stowell: Pay Attention
Designer Scott Stowell invites different participants to every project because everyone is connected and everything is an opportunity--if you're paying attention. Join AIGA/NY to hear Stowell's new and never-before-seen talk about his past 10 years of making "design for people." Stowell was the winner of the National Design Award for Communication Design in 2008.
http://www.aigany.org/events/details/10PA/
When: January 28, 2010, 6:30–8:00 pm
Where: Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street, New York, NY
Price: $20 members, $10 students, $30 general public

///// Below are events suggested by our readers!

9. LAVA at 100B
The Art Primo 100B Store is hosting graffiti legend, LAVA, who was featured in a recent book by Keith Bauch, entitled Early New York Subway Graffiti 1973-1975
http://1hundredb.blogspot.com/
When: January 16, 2010, 5:00–10:00 pm
Where: 100B Forsyth Street, between Broome and Grand, New York, NY
Price: Free

10. Thom Mayne: Performalism
Engineers Without Borders is a non-profit humanitarian organization, established to partner with developing communities worldwide in order to improve their quality of life, by providing sustainable engineering designs to those who need it and supporting community-driven development programs, while fostering responsible leadership. The event will highlight their work designing the Belen Clinic Project as well as previous work constructing a Library in Usalama, Kenya. What is the nature of the relationship between environmental performance and formal architecture? How can the boundaries between performance drive design and formalism be broken down? Join the American Institute of Architects, and speaker Thom Mayne will discuss his evolving integrated approach to design and environmental performance.
http://cfa.aiany.org/index.php?section=calendar&evtid=1400
When: January 20, 2010, 5:30–8:00 pm
Where: 536 LaGuardia Place, New York, NY 10012
Price: $15 students and members, $30 general public

11. Wilhelm Staehle’s Widows and Orphans
Wilhelm’s morbid yet charming works, such as original silhouettes and fanciful letterforms are displayed along with selected pieces from his infamous Silhouette Masterpiece Theatre, and the Dollar Dreadful Family Library.
http://tdc.org/tdc/archives/1510
When: Now through January 29, 2010
Where: Type Directors Club 347 West 36th Street, Suite 603, New York, NY
Price: Free, viewing by appointment only. Email director@tdc.org or call 1-212-633-8943 for an appointment.

12. Who Shot Rock & Roll
From its earliest days, rock and roll was captured in photographs that personalized, and frequently eroticized, the musicians, creating a visual identity for the genre. The photographers captured images that communicated the social and cultural transformations that rock has fostered since the1950s. The exhibition covers the photographic history of rare and revealing images taken behind the scenes from 1955 to the present.
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/rock_and_roll/
When: Now through January 31, 2010
Where: Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY
Price: Suggested Contributions: $10 adults; $6 students

13. Digital Life Design 2010 Conference
This three-day experience held in Munich, Germany, gathers 800 entrepreneurs, investors, philantropists, scientists, artists and creative minds from all over the world. With global diversity in attendees and an interdisciplinary perspective of digital, media, design, art, science, brands, consumers and society.
http://www.dld-conference.com/
When: January 24–26, 2010
Where: HVB FORUM - Kardinal-Faulhaber-Strasse, Munich
Price: Email for application. Limited number of free conference passes for students and start-ups available.

14. The Oldowan Series by Keith Sonnier
In this exhibition of sculptural neon works by Keith Sonnier, the artist employs cloth, neon light, screening, and visible electrical circuitry, in the Oldowan Series. The work combines sexually charged and psychologically loaded fabrics like gauze and satin with steel armatures, as well as enduring natural materials such as wood and stone. Oldowan is a term applied to the earliest manufactured stone tools in Africa. Also on view are works from Sonnier’s Chandelier Series. Sonnier designed a series of chandeliers to be used in the home, and later expanded the concept to produce larger works for public spaces.
http://www.maryboonegallery.com/exhibitions/2009-2010/Keith-Sonnier/index.html
When: January 7–February 6, 2010
Where: Mary Boone Gallery, 745 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY
Price: Free and open to the public.

15. Sketch Nights at Bodies Exhibition
The Sketch Night program was created to give artists unfettered access to the Bodies galleries in order to explore the possibilities and practice their mastery of human anatomy drawing. A special guest artist will be on hand to answer questions and provide informal teaching sessions with attending sketchers. Sketch Night are held after regular operating hours (7:00 PM - 10:00 PM). Artists are allowed to set up easels and bring chairs to help facilitate their work. Dry media only. Space is limited. Artists must arrive at 7:00 PM sharp, latecomers cannot be accommodated.
http://www.bodiesny.com
Where: Bodies Exhibition 11 Fulton St, New York, NY
Price: $26 general public

NYU ITP Show

2009-12-19T20:25:52Z

The NYU Interactive Telecommunications Program was founded in 1979 as the first graduate education program in alternative media. Over the past 30 years it has grown into a living community of technologists, theorists, engineers, designers, and artists uniquely dedicated to pushing the boundaries of interactivity in the real and digital worlds.

Don't miss the ITP Winter Show this Sunday and Monday, a 2-day exhibition of interactive signt, sound and physical objects by the student artists of ITP.

Free and Open to the Public, no RSVP required

Sunday, December 20 from 2-6pm
Monday, December 21 from 5-9pm

ITP
721 Broadway, 4th Fl
at Waverly Place
New York, NY 10003

More information here:
http://itp.nyu.edu/shows/winter2009/

Goodbye I.D.

2009-12-16T15:42:45Z

As 2009 draws to an end, we said farewell to several publications (Metropolitan Home, Gourmet, Vibe, Portfolio, Blender, and Domino) due to the recession and digital media take-over. Now, I.D. is among the list. It’s sad news, but F+W Media announced yesterday that after 55 years, I.D. Magazine has folded. In a press release, I.D. publisher Gary Lynch cited the decision to the overall advertising downturn and the fragmentation of the readership due to the “the plethora of information resources available to them—some for free”.

I started reading I.D. when I was in college—flipping through the annual review was a highlight. The magazine was definitely part of my informal education and formation as a designer. I recently picked up the current issue, and wonder if the cover was a prediction of its demise?

F+W will continue to hold the Annual Design Review competition online. The January/February 2010 issue will be the magazine’s last. Their sister publication Print, will stay open.

Read more

Paper-Cutting Ingenuity

2009-12-15T20:04:09Z

I’m amazed by this beautiful paper craft stop-motion animation. Created by New Zealand agency Colenso BBDO and London firm Andersen M Studios, this film promotes the New Zealand Book Council, and features a classic New Zealand novel, Going West by Maurice Gee. The concept is showing Gee’s classic coming to life through hand-cut pop-up scenery springing up from the pages.

The two minute film took eights months of hand-cutting, plenty of x-acto blades, paper and a lot of patience. “The idea that lies at the center of this project is that reading is an activity that surprises, delights, challenges and ignites the imagination,” said Noel Murphy, chief executive of the New Zealand Book Council.

This film reminds me of the incredible and inspiring paper sculptures at the Slash: Paper exhibition I recently saw at MAD. It’s one of the best shows I’ve seen this year. The intricate pieces are created with a range of techniques, including burning, laser-cutting, tearing, folding, shredding, but mostly hand-cutting. My favorite pieces were the modified books that were transformed into sculptures.

The Story of Art, 2006 by Georgia Russell

Peaceable Kingdom (Evening Land), 2008 by Lane Twitchell

Your House, 2006 by Olafur Eliasson

A History of Flight by Lizzie Buckmaster Dove

If you haven’t gone yet, definitely check it out before it closes—the installations will leave you inspired to see what can be done with paper. I recommend going Thursday nights between 6 and 9 p.m., when admission is “pay-what-you-wish”.

///// Design in December

2009-12-12T20:41:44Z

1. Design to Activate
Masamichi Udagawa and Sigi Moeslinger, co-founders of Antenna Design, speak about their belief in design’s power to activate people, both physically and intellectually, and to stimulate social interaction. For Antenna Design, “people-centered” design means recognizing people as complex beings with the potential to learn and grow, to be responsible, creative and reflective. http://dcrit.sva.edu/view/events/lecture-antenna-design/
When: December 15 2009, 6:00–8:00 pm
Where: MFA D-Crit Department, 136 West 21st Street, 2nd floor, NY, NY
Price: Free, RSVP to dcrit@sva.edu

2. AIGA/NY Holiday Party
Be merry and bright at the AIGA/NY Holiday Party. Admission includes a drink. http://www.aigany.org/events/details/10SP/
When: December 15 2009, 6:30–9:30 pm
Where: Galapagos Art Space, 16 Main Street, DUMBO, Brooklyn
Price: $12 All attendees (includes a drink)

3. WWW.DESIGNBLOGGINGISCHANGINGEVERYTHING.COM
We're giving away FREE tickets! Just post a comment with your favorite design blog and we'll randomly select winners!

Four design blog luminaries, Khoi Vinh of subtraction.com, Josh Rubin CoolHunting.com, Tina Roth Eisenberg of swiss-miss.com, and our faculty Allan Chochinov of Core77.com, will discuss today's most prominent design trends, including example projects, critical discussion of how design blogs are changing design, the unintended consequences of self-publishing, and what blogging can achieve for its readers, writers, and the design community at large. Moderated by Alice Twemlow chair of the SVA MFA D-Crit and contributing editor at DesignObserver.com Questions for the discussion will be taken via Twitter leading up to and during the event. To pose a question, use the hashtag #freshd or address @freshdialogue.
http://www.aigany.org/events/details/10FD/
When: December 16 2009, 6:30–8:30 pm
Where: Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12 Street, New York, NY
Price: $20 members, $10 student members, $35 general public, $10 Non-member students

4. SPD Holiday Party
SPD is holding a holiday part at Retreat, a sleek design-y lounge, complete with drinks, food, great tunes, sweet prizes, free cocktails & Secret Santa fun! http://www.spd.org/2009/12/tis-the-reason.php
When: December 15 2009, 7:00–Midnight
Where: Retreat, 37 West 17th Street, NY, NY
Price: Free for members, $10 for non-members in advance, $15 at the door (Open bar 7–9pm)

5. Exhibition: December Editions, Limited Edition Prints
Printmaking has been the backbone of counterculture art and design movements for decades, and even in today’s digital age, the process is still very much alive amongst many young designers. December Editions aims to provide a platform for designers who have produced their work through a variety of limited edition printmaking processes. View works by ADC Young Guns Andrio Abero, Paul Pope, Chris Rubino and ADC Hall of Fame Laureate and winner of the ADC Design Sphere Award Paula Scher. http://www.adcglobal.org/adc/events/calendar/?id=139
When: Now through December 23, 2009
Where: ADC Gallery, 106 West 29th Street, NY, NY
Price: Free

6. Exhibition: Widows and Orphans
View a selection of Wilhelm Staehle's charming works, such as original silhouettes and fanciful letterforms along with selected pieces from his infamous Silhouette Masterpiece Theatre, and the Dollar Dreadful Family Library. http://tdc.org/tdc/archives/1510
When: Now through January 29, 2010
Where: Type Directors Club | 347 West 36th Street, Suite 603 | New York, NY
Price: Free, viewing by appointment only, email director@tdc.org or (212) 633-8943

2010 SVA Masters Workshop in Venice and Rome

2009-12-07T05:18:04Z

If you've ever wanted to study with the best typographers in Italy while eating gelato and overlooking beautiful Italian scenery, then sign up for the 2010 SVA Masters Workshop in Venice and Rome.

For two weeks, students will be immersed in multidisciplinary design: architecture, art, literature, and typography. As the website states, "Our workshop in design history, theory and practice is an intensive period of study that enables students to research and analyze the roots of typography, draw type and letters from the classic models while practicing contemporary design with Italian and American designers and design historians."

2010 SVA Masters Workshop
Design History, Theory and Practice in Venice and Rome
May 30–June 5, 2010: Venice
June 6–12, 2010: Rome
Program Tuition: $6,700
Tuition includes all accommodations, continental breakfast, workshops, transportation for off-site visits, guided tours of architectural and archaeological sites, train from Venice to Rome, receptions.

The application deadline is March 15, 2010.

However, if the $6,700 tuition sticker shock leaves you paralyzed, you can still embody la dolce vita by becoming a fan of the SVA Masters Workshop Facebook Fan Page.

Publishing in the Age of the Internet

2009-11-23T15:38:50Z

After wrapping up classes a couple weeks ago, I dashed to Bumble and Bumble's auditorium to attend AIGA/NY's Small Talk No. 3: Tony Brook and Adrian Shaughnessy. Together, they were on hand to present Studio Culture, the premier book from their latest undertaking, Unit Editions, a new publishing house.

Initiating the discourse was Tony Brook, illustrating a peek into Spin, his London based design agency where he resides as creative director. Tony revealed a look into Spin's creative process for their roster of clientele. Including cultural work for art the international gallery Haunch of Venison, and the Proa Foundation in Argentina.

Next in Spin's timeline was a look at their entrepreneurial break into motion graphics. Specifically for the British television networks, Five and Channel 4 and Discovery. Concluding his talk about Spin, Tony presented a look into their self-publishing venture, Spin papers, self-generated, cheaply produced papers on the subject of their choice.

Adrian Shaughnessy took over reflecting on his 15 year career at Intro with a look at their monograph, Display Copy Only. Similar to Tony, Adrian also began in the music industry, at a time when record companies encouraged full use of photographers and large budgets. Adrian's work included art for Howie B., Stereo Lab, and Primal Scream.

Following his time at Intro, Adrian scratched his itch to write and theorize about design and produced How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul. Over his reflection, Adrian spoke of his experience as the client for the book's design and the lessons he learned being on the other side of the designer-client relationship. To wrap-up Adrian presented his work at Vroom, a illustration magazine, where he was schooled in being an editor and it's similarities to being and a creative director.

For their final act, Tony and Adrian talked about their collaborative endeavor, the publishing company Unit Editions. At a time when everything is just a mouse click away, and the book has supposedly died, they spoke to utilizing the internet for the benefit of publishing a book. For Unit Editions a customized WordPress blog site was created to document the publishing process, such as trips to the printers and shipping warehouse. To continue sharing content, generating buzz and engaging in conversation over the internet, Unit Editions also created a Flickr group.

Studio Culture is the first specimen to come from this effort. Adrian and Tony's book welcomes readers into the ever mysterious life of graphic design studios around the world. Studio Culture provides an incredible opening of doors to what has been a mystery for years. Very little has been published before about the studio set-up or how they are conducted, and while some of the stereotypes of white walls and Eames furniture remain, it is clear that there is no one way to run a successful studio.

To conclude their presentation, Tony and Adrian discussed the design of their book. While publishers believe in a large logo running down a book's spine, Studio Culture employs a graphic spine of two black half circles which wrap around onto the cover, creating a memorable image on it's own. As oppose to an oversized title, the cover has a series of distinct shapes with a discrete title, developing a graphic presence that remains intact even when shrunk down to a thumbnail for amazon.com. Another distinct feature is a dust jacket which wraps around the cover from top to bottom, rather than side to side.

While Tony and Adrian recognize that the internet is not going anywhere anytime soon, a desire for books that are well designed and art directed remains. And after getting my hands on a copy of Studio Culture I couldn't agree more. I can hardly wait for the next book to come out of Unit Editions!

Be Inspired

2009-11-17T18:15:30Z

Elizabeth Scharpf, founder and Chief Instigating Officer of Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE), spoke last Monday to Allan Chochinov’s class in the MFA Design program. The goal was to inspire students as they embark on a final project about women and girls in his 3D design class.

Armed with both a Harvard MBA and MPA in International Development, Elizabeth left school with enough credentials to take on the world. Serendipitously, her work at the World Bank in Mozambique, Africa led her to coach a girl’s soccer team. It was here that she first learned of the lack of access to sanitary pads, when one of the girls had to miss practice because she was menstruating. Elizabeth went on to found SHE and started the first business model in Rwanda, where she helped local women jump-start their own businesses to manufacture and distribute affordable, quality, and eco-friendly sanitary pads.

The high cost of the sanitary pads were attributed to three crucial factors: tax, distribution and raw material costs, which Elizabeth and her team in turn tackled. After a period of research and experimentation, they came through with a lower cost, locally produced material developed from the bark of the banana tree, and have trained a network of women on hygiene and care to start manufacturing and distributing the pads on the ground. SHE reduced the cost of a sanitary pad from $1.10 to $0.70, and is hard at work lobbying local legislators to remove or reduce the tax on the product to lower the costs even further.

Elizabeth’s passion and energy for this cause reverberated in SHE’s landmark successes thus far. To find out more, please visit SHE at: http://sheinnovates.com/ and take a look at the campaign here.

Web Design Demystified

2009-11-13T00:48:35Z

For me, and perhaps other designers with both feet still firmly rooted in print, the transition to web might be as daunting as email to a septuagenarian. It’s clear by now that the web is here to stay, so I decided it was time to confront my timidity and attend AIGA/NY’s Member Series: Print to Web 101 on November 5. Four designers came together to offer up a comprehensive crash course in web design. Each speaker addressed a different aspect of the web, providing an all-angle view of the unfamiliar terrain—to embolden us novices to go ahead and take the plunge.

Kevin Barnett (NYMag.com, MenuPages.com, GrubStreet.com) kicked off the evening by laying out the nuts and bolts of web design, from HTML to gifs and pngs to Java Script. Next up was print designer turned interaction designer, Bek Hodgson (Blurb.com, Etsy.com), who outlined the parameters of the web in terms of document size (pixels vs. inches), colors (RGB vs CMYK), and fonts.

In a highly entertaining report from the field, Mandy Brown (Creative Director at W. W. Norton & Company; AWorkingLibrary.com) described to the audience her first foray into web design—as a means of advising us on what not to do. And finally, a seasoned designer of both print and web, Nicholas Felton (Feltron.com; Daytum.com) rounded out the talks with a walk through the self-publishing model for his annual reports, in order to demonstrate how we might utilize the web to cycle back around to print.

So in the vast and wondrous ocean of the web, where is a designer to start?

The overarching theme of the night was simply to quit stalling and just dive in...or at least get your feet wet. According to these guys, the water is warmer than you think.

In case you missed the talk and are still waiting for a little nudge to make the leap, check out AIGA/NY for more upcoming events.