On May 21, our design team attended the How Design Live conference in Atlanta, an internationally recognized graphic design conference filled with breakout sessions, world-renowned keynotes, and innovative workshops. Our team got to hear from iconic graphic designers like Antionette Carroll (speaker of From Ferguson to Gun Violence: Redesigning Communities with Inclusive Design and Design Thinking), Pum Lefebure (Design Your Life So You Can Kick Ass 365), and Sagi Haviv (Design Globally-Think Locally).
We sat down with Nicollette Boydstun and Heather Waldron to discuss their takeaways from the conference.
“The common theme in my favorite talks all pointed to passion. As designers, we have our craft, but we need to determine our passion. Then, we must integrate our passion into our everyday life,” Nicollette explained. “As Antionette Carroll discussed, as designers, we are more than our craft. We are problem solvers and we can change the world by designing for good.”
For Heather, the idea of passion also stood out. She was challenged specifically by Pum Lefebure to integrate passion into our everyday life—NOT to separate work and life, but rather, to balance the two.
A project that caught Heather’s attention was the Washington Ballet’s ALICE (in Wonderland) designs. The typography for the ballet’s spread in the Washington Life Magazine was custom-made, and very specific to the client.
“You can see how the designer incorporated the queen of hearts/deck of cards theme from Alice in Wonderland and carried it throughout the entire editorial. So, it serves as a common thread to unite all the pieces and emphasizes the designers’ understanding of their client and the ballet itself,” Heather said. “It takes the look to another level, adding more visually interesting elements and character, while staying true to their clients’ identity.”
Nicollette discussed applying what they soaked up and channeling it into projects for M&R’s clients. “This passion for design and its impact spreads into every project we touch. We not only want the piece to be aesthetically pleasing, but to truly impact the eyes that view it. That comes from really understanding the client, their needs, AND their audience and their audience’s needs.”
Overall, it was an invigorating experience for our design team, and they’ve come back to the office ready to get creative and try new, innovative ideas in the world of graphic design.
Here’s a few pics from the conference! You can tell, we had a blast.
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