Schedule: Tuesday, October 2

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

8-9 a.m.
Continental Breakfast
Silent Auction Pick-up

9-10 a.m. (Concurrent Breakout Sessions)
22. Building a Culture of Universal Design to Enhance Access
Rob Fentress and Mark Nichols, Virginia Tech
This presentation will explore how individuals with different sorts of disabilities access the web, and the implications this has for how you design and develop web pages and other web-based resources. You’ll also be introduced to the laws and standards governing web accessibility, and be shown basic techniques for enhancing the accessibility of your web sites based on these standards. Learn about the strategies Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University has been using to encourage the adoption of Universal Design principles by developers, designers, and content creators throughout the university in order to build an online presence that is accessible to the largest number of people.

23. Resourceful Art Direction Ideas to Stretch Your Budget
Kat Braz, Purdue Alumni Association
Executing engaging visuals in your alumni magazine issue after issue can be daunting when you have a lean team and limited resources. This session offers oodles of examples pulled from benchmark publications that illustrate different approaches to art direction that make the most of your money and elevate the mundane. Plus, Kat shares a couple of personal attempts that were epic in conception, but flopped in execution.

24. Using Analogies to Explain Design to Clients and Students
Diane Gibbs, University of South Alabama
Design is about clearly communicating concepts in a clever way. As designers and professors, we can harness the power of analogies as we explain design concepts to students and clients. A designer’s ability to explain their work with and without using design terminology is vital to their education and their professional life. Analogies are the perfect tool for explaining design do’s and don’ts.

25. The Process is the Inspiration
David Dodde, House Industries
There’s an element of art in everything you do. For House Industries art itself is not the final product; art lies in the process of making that product. And that’s where we find our inspiration.

10:15-11:30 a.m. (General Session)
26. Handcrafted: Local Makers Panel
William Campbell, Anvil Goods; David Dodde, House Industries; Josh Morey, Michigan State University; and Kyle Van Strien, Long Road Distillers
Four Grand Rapids-based makers from various industries gather to talk about the importance of craft in today’s digital world. Moderated by Jason Frostholm, host of the Creative South Podcast, representatives from Anvil Goods, House Industries, Long Road Distillers, and Michigan State University talk shop, and share what craftsmanship means to them in their day-to-day work.

11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Lunch on Your Own

1:30-2:30 p.m. (Concurrent Breakout Sessions)
27. Building a Culture of Universal Design to Enhance Access
Rob Fentress and Mark Nichols, Virginia Tech
This presentation will explore how individuals with different sorts of disabilities access the web, and the implications this has for how you design and develop web pages and other web-based resources. You’ll also be introduced to the laws and standards governing web accessibility, and be shown basic techniques for enhancing the accessibility of your web sites based on these standards. Learn about the strategies Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University has been using to encourage the adoption of Universal Design principles by developers, designers, and content creators throughout the university in order to build an online presence that is accessible to the largest number of people.

28. Resourceful Art Direction Ideas to Stretch Your Budget
Kat Braz, Purdue University
Executing engaging visuals in your alumni magazine issue after issue can be daunting when you have a lean team and limited resources. This session offers oodles of examples pulled from benchmark publications that illustrate different approaches to art direction that make the most of your money and elevate the mundane. Plus, Kat shares a couple of personal attempts that were epic in conception, but flopped in execution.

29. Design Leaders: Why the Best Leaders Eat Last
Diane Gibbs, University of South Alabama
Leadership is not a position of power but rather a position of service. Learn the characteristics of a good leader and attributes of a great team. We will talk about ways to get involved in leadership within a creative group (whether at work or outside work). Is leading a design team different than leading others? How do we motivate the people around us?

30. Outside the Artboard
Doc Reed, Reedicus
Far more goes into our work than the finals we export. Better experiences lead to better ideas; which give us more compelling outcomes. How do we engage, encourage, and learn from the marvelous people that make up our community? Learning to take care of business starts with our community and blossoms when we deliver value with the solutions we present.

2:45-4 p.m. (General Session)
31. The 5 Hottest Print Design Trends of 2018
Sabine Lenz, PaperSpecs
Each year a handful of printing and finishing developments set the design world on fire, transforming the way creatives present their work, spread their message, and even the way they think. At this session we will explore 2018’s hottest print design trends, including one trend that has the likes of Google and Ogilvy very excited indeed.

Whether you’re crafting invitations, brochures, packaging or something else entirely, discover how these on-trend methods can utterly transform your work into masterpieces of design.

4-4:15 p.m.
Closing Remarks and Prize Drawings