Schedule: Sunday, September 30

SCHEDULE: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
SCHEDULE: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 30
SCHEDULE: MONDAY, OCTOBER 1
SCHEDULE: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2

7-8 a.m.
OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES
City Walk, Coffee Talk, and InstaMeet
Why not enjoy an early start with a walk around downtown Grand Rapids? Join UCDA leaders, colleagues, and friends for an invigorating beginning to your day.

More interested in coffee at 7 a.m.? Come join colleagues, friends, and UCDA leaders for some down-to-earth coffee talk.

Are you an Instagrammer? Bring your camera for a stroll through Grand Rapids as you discover and share your photographs through Instagram. Tag your pics with #UCDA2018.

8-9 a.m
Breakfast on Your Own

9-10:15 a.m. (General Session)
2. Education in an Era of Choice
Kevin Budelmann and Yang Kim, Peopledesign
“Every two days now we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003.” (Eric Schmidt, Google, 2010). Many of our institutions today are a product of the industrial era. Today, the knowledge era is upon us, challenging institutional orthodoxy. We may not fully understand the impact of this change, but there is evidence for how we will need to think, work, and learn differently. Schools need to view how they connect with students, parents, donors, and alumni differently. The critical issues are for many brand builders and communicators today are nobody’s job, but new skills and practices will help institutions adapt.

10:30-11:30 a.m. (Concurrent Breakout Sessions)
3. Design for Immersive, Mixed, and Virtual Environments
Meaghan Dee, Virginia Tech
Three projects that demonstrate how design can be integrated across immersive, mixed, and virtual environments will be showcased.

The first piece is Shakespeare’s Garden: An Immersive Sound Stroll Through his Sonnets, Soliloquies, and Scenes, in which a team of designers and performing artists created a typographic experience that reimagines traditional theater, utilizing spatial audio and flexible video projection.

The second work is the visual interface design for the FutureHAUS, a prototype for an integrated smart home, in which designers developed visual displays for screens, wearables, mirrors, and other interactive objects.

The final example is a virtual reality piece on the poem Forgetfulness, by Denise Duhamel, in which users can walk through the larger-than-life text, which is displayed in the form of a giant möbius strip.

4. Higher Ed Marketing Across the Generations: Winning Over Students of All Ages and Life Stages
Daniel Dejan, Sappi and Trish Witkowski, Fold Factory
Today, higher education is facing a unique and multi-dimensional challenge: as Gen Z rejects traditional education paths, Millennials and Gen X can exist as both parent and prospect for continuing education, and as Baby Boomers are going back to school for personal enjoyment and enrichment. So, the question becomes, can colleges and universities attract and engage younger generations without alienating valuable Gen X and Boomer prospects? If so, how can we develop marketing materials that are relevant to the needs and preferences of different generations without producing silos of content for every identified group? Is there a common ground? Daniel Dejan and Trish Witkowski are back to join forces and share their insights, research, and examples of higher-ed solutions that work.

5. “How do I make the angry tweets stop?” and Other Lessons Learned
Erika Forsack, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)
In her years as a social media strategist, Erika Forsack has faced her share of challenges. With a background in design, she started working in the ever-changing field of social media and digital communications five years ago with no formal training. This retrospective of skills she has picked up throughout her journey starting out as a one-person team for VCUarts to her current position at the university level offers tips and tricks to answering the real questions you’re dying to ask, like “Help! Someone made a fake account of our Dean!” or “It’s 2 a.m. and the trolls won’t stop angry tweeting.” If the role of social media manager fell into your job description, this session is for you.

6. There’s No Textbook for Life
Shauna Lynn Panczyszyn, Shauna Lynn Illustration
School gives you the base knowledge of what you need to know to be a successful designers in the industry, but what about after school? Let’s face it, we all learn on the fly as we go. We make mistakes, and more often than not, we keep those to ourselves. Discover lessons that Shauna learned freelancing and all the mistakes she’s made.

11:45-2:30 p.m. (General Session)
Roundtable Discussion Lunch and UCDA Business Meeting
UCDA Foundation Krider Prize for Creativity Presentation
7. Designing Tegu
Nate Lau, Tegu
UCDA Foundation Krider Prize for Creativity Recipient
Packing the power to dream, Tegu believes that every child possesses the ability to build, create, and imagine. Tegu blocks are a canvas for their imagination. No instruction manuals or electronics, just toys that inspire limitless creativity across all ages.

As the design director at Tegu, Nate is responsible for all the products they develop, as well as making sure everything comes out looking beautiful, all while continuing to grow a brand and shepherding Tegu’s design team and its capabilities.

Tegu is a toy company based in Honduras and the United States that sells simple magnetic wooden blocks and toys. The company was founded in 2006 by brothers Chris and Will Haughey. The company aims to help Honduras through positive employment opportunities, tree-planting efforts, and by funding days of school.

Tegu blocks are the first magnetic wooden blocks on the market and are manufactured using Huesito, Mahogany, Beech, and Primavera woods. The company name is derived from Honduras’ capital, Tegucigalpa.

2:45-3:45 p.m. (Concurrent Breakout Sessions)
8. The Role of Graphic Design in Smart Built Environments
Meaghan Dee, Virginia Tech
The Internet of Things enabled Smart Built Environments and both have the potential to improve the lives of individuals, groups, and communities. Smart Buildings incorporate sensors and actuators into the built space to either provide new functionalities or enhance current capabilities. These spaces require new multi-modal user interfaces and interaction techniques. In addition, the amount of information generated by a Smart Home can be overwhelming. To that extent, it is necessary for graphic designers to explore how to communicate and how to provide user feedback in such environments.

9. Higher Ed Marketing Across the Generations: Winning Over Students of All Ages and Life Stages
Daniel Dejan, Sappi and Trish Witkowski, Fold Factory
Today, higher education is facing a unique and multi-dimensional challenge: as Gen Z rejects traditional education paths, Millennials and Gen X can exist as both parent and prospect for continuing education, and as Baby Boomers are going back to school for personal enjoyment and enrichment. So, the question becomes, can colleges and universities attract and engage younger generations without alienating valuable Gen X and Boomer prospects? If so, how can we develop marketing materials that are relevant to the needs and preferences of different generations without producing silos of content for every identified group? Is there a common ground? Daniel Dejan and Trish Witkowski are back to join forces and share their insights, research, and examples of higher-ed solutions that work.

10. Working Across Departments Case Study: GVSU Laker Effect
Kevin Budelmann and Yang Kim, Peopledesign with Grand Valley State University
How do you create a cohesive brand that’s contextualized to specific audiences? From recruiting to fundraising, academics to sports, college and university brands have different requirements. At the same time, brands need to take on a recognizable identity. Learn how Grand Valley State University teams worked together in new ways to develop a unified new program that has been well received by all audiences.

11. Surprisingly Nimble: Building Creativity Through Passion Projects
Brian White, TriLion Studios
Are you stuck in a rut, loosing creativity and momentum in your design job? Brian White will talk about how to better your on-screen design by getting your hands dirty. With real-world case-studies, Kickstarters, art projects, passive income, tips and tricks, and creative processes, you will leave with a quiver full of creative arrows—to fell your biggest projects.

4-5:15 p.m. (General Session)
12. Huggin’ Necks and Breakin’ Bread
Mike Jones, Aflac
Mike Jones is the Head of Design at Aflac, co-founder of Creative South, and the Founder of Serve Studios, and to all of this work he brings a spirit of southern hospitality and humble service to the people around him. Mike treats every design project like an opportunity to make the world more positive and beautiful for the people who encounter it. He has been drawing since he could eat crayons, and this passion led him to The University of West Georgia’s graphic design program, and a professional design career that has spanned 17-plus years and included work for brands like Alfac, ESPN, WWE, Realtree, and the Atlanta Falcons. Although his taste in art and food have diverged since his crayon-eating days, the same spirit of creativity that fuels his work is also evident in his love of food (especially good southern barbecue) as an outlet for nourishing relationships with family, friends, and strangers alike.

5:30-6 p.m.
OPTIONAL ACTIVITY
Publications Swap Shop
Share your work and pick up some samples for inspiration in this limited-time event. Doors will open for 30 minutes, and once the samples are gone, they’re gone! Bring or send ahead approximately 30 samples (or as many as you can spare). The Publication Swap Shop is a run and get ‘em sample exchange. The doors open, and it’s a free-for-all. Those bringing or sending materials for the swap will receive a “priority pass” to be at the head of the line!

6 p.m.
Dinner on Your Own