12/10/09
Minnesota Scholastic Art Awards
pop-up design store
Interesting idea?
A temporary design practice in New York City offers
free design consultation.
Nice article in NY Times.
12/9/09
december commencement 2009
A hearty congratulations to the December 2009 graduating class, and good luck in your future endeavors. Now go out into the world and make some magic!Commencement materials designed by Aimee Gauthier.
posters 'n postcards
The DesignWorks studio is bustling and busy as usual, creating printed materials for upcoming events and happenings at MCAD. Here's a small sampling of new work (in order of appearance):National Portfolio day poster by Alexandra Roche, admissions & financial aid postcards by Katie Evans, and a postcard for the highly-anticipated Studio Furniture show opening here in January, designed by the dynamic duo of Ted Guerrero and Ryan Hageman.
12/1/09
11/30/09
Pie Lab and Hale County, Alabama
I had the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving break in Greensboro, Alabama. MCAD Design Chair, Bernard Canniffe and MICA faculty Ryan Clifford invited me to come participate in the grand opening of Project M Lab's Pie Lab. I also had the chance to meet Pam Dorr
at HERO, Project M founder John Bielenberg and tour the sites of Sam Mockbee's Rural Studio.
I'm still digesting what I saw and heard. I will post some more about this experience soon. Until then, check out the Tumblr of our trip.
10/25/09
pics in the woods
Nothing like a forest photoshoot on a crisp fall day in Minnesota! Here's a peek into shots for the DesignWorks Capabilities piece that I'm designing, coming to you in early 2010!
10/20/09
help desk vinyl
New wall and window vinyl for the Computer Support Help Desk went up this week––a part of the office's much-needed facelift. Design by Aimee Gauthier and Jenna Brouse.
10/16/09
preparing for the new viewbook
Designers Matthew Rezac and Eric Carlson work with photographer
Caitlin Longley to capture assets for the upcoming MCAD Viewbook.
10/14/09
10/9/09
tim brown talks to ted
The latest TED talk from Tim Brown discusses the re-emergance of design thinking in contemporary culture, urging designers to go beyond the production of aesthetics and objects, and utilize their creative abilities in order to solve problems for the greater cultural good–– "understanding culture and context before we even know where to start to have ideas."
Watch Tim's previous TED talk here, wherein he bounces about and discusses the integral relationship between creative thinking and play.
10/7/09
10/1/09
Studio Furniture: Type Studies
Starting a new project; what better excuse to experiment
or rather devising something innovative.
9/22/09
all-day (and night) press check
on-press images: caitlin longley
The brand new MFA Catalog (designed by M. Butterfoss) is almost done!
9/18/09
the future
Roland Tiangco's dirty poster. See it in action here. Happy Friday everyone! Now step away from your MacBooks for a moment and get those hands dirty!
9/14/09
jay on the radio!
on Minnesota Public Radio's Midmorning show, President Coogan will be speaking with Marianne Combs. You can listen to the hour-long conversation by visiting MPR's website at http://www.mpr.org
9/11/09
Self Portrait Poster/Mailer
2009 Self Portrait Poster/Mailer
The poster was made for high school teachers and students so they can be kept up to date with what we as a school are producing. The poster features work from MCAD students from the self portrait show/contest last year. The type was made from Black Slabbath.
Design By: Ted Guerrero
9/9/09
process/practice/action
Currently on view in the MCAD Main Gallery: Process/ Practice/ Action: MCAD Faculty Responds. Featuring work from current MCAD faculty members, the exhibition "focuses on the artistic process as a material practice of making and doing," writes Patricia Briggs, MCAD Liberal Arts Professor, "Offering a glimpse of the activity of the studio, installations incorporate sketchbook pages, studies, unfinished works, prototypes, shipping crates, process models, and artist statements concerning process..."
For more information, check here. And be sure to stop by the opening reception this Friday, September 11th from 6 to 8pm, wherein you can take part in the process, practice, and action, and become an integral part of the exhibition space.
Faculty show postcard and exhibition title graphic by Aimee Gauthier.
9/1/09
goodbye & hello
Goodbye Blue House, hello Gateway Garden! MCAD's infamous Blue House was rolled away this past week to make room for the new Gateway Garden, a 9600-square-foot sculpture garden that will inhabit the space along 26th street between 2nd and Stevens avenues. Blue House video courtesy of Caitlin Longley, with a video introduction by Dylan C. Lathrop.
Gateway Garden postcard design by Aimee Gauthier.
8/28/09
ikea drops futura
for matthew carter's Verdana. Goodbye geometric utopia,
hello Default City. More info at Business Week.
(above image from Please Copy Me)
8/27/09
8/22/09
ultralight : harmen liemburg
The summer DesignWorks crew had the recent opportunity of curating an exciting new exhibition now on view in MCAD's Concourse Gallery: Ultralight, a selection of work by graphic designer/printmaker Harmen Liemburg. We spent a morning with the white gloves on and sleeves rolled up, sifting through stacks of over ten years of Mr. Liemburg's work. The resulting exhibition is a glimpse into the many layers of this inspiring, creative mind. Please stop by and check it out! For more information, look here. 
(Harmen Liemburg at a MCAD workshop last summer)
8/21/09
farewell, graduates!
Today we said goodbye to our CLASS OF 2009 co-workers (with a delicious potluck, of course)! The studio will feel a little empty, but they will surely be moving on to great things! And new DW employees are joining us next week...
8/16/09
unbundling the housing crisis
ome.jpg)
Unbundling the Housing Crisis is an intriguing exhibition currently on view at the Form+Content gallery in Minneapolis, featuring "eight collaborative works by multi-disciplinary teams investigating the housing crisis in acts of civic engagement." It includes work by MCAD BS visualization professors Jerry Allan and Kevin Byrne, and is a relevant and exciting example of how a community of creative thinkers has the power to work together in order to inspire, innovate, and instigate social change..."We commonly confuse house and home. The house––the physical structure in which we live––is necessary, but not sufficient for us to feel at home. Having a home goes far beyond having a place to call our own; it means having a sense of security, comfort, and belonging, of having a history and a foreseeable future in a particular location. As Robert Frost put it, "Home is a place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in." This distinction between house and home has more than academic interest. In this period of record foreclosures and rising homelessness, we need to see that fourfold nature of the problem, and respond in ways different from recent past."
--Thomas Fisher, Dean of the College of Design
University of Minnesota
8/8/09
newly-installed
Stop by and take a peek at the newly-installed DesignWorks window vinyls––adding elements of both privacy and festivity to the bustling DesignWorks studio and the surrounding student workspaces.8/6/09
Colophon Foundry
Colophon Foundry is making some of the most attractive typefaces I have seen in a while.
From their profile:
Colophon is an independent type foundry set up by Brighton based design studio, The Entente. As well as distributing and acting as a platform for fonts designed by the studio, it selects fonts designed by others to distribute and create products for.
Working in a similar way to that of a publishers, each typeface that is released by Colophon will be in a limited edition. Each font will be unique in its edition, ranging from 50-500. A specimen book will also be produced for each typeface, and can be purchased as an additional item. These specimen books will always be printed in an edition of 50.
8/5/09
7 am press check
We've been experimenting with replacing one of the four colors
with PMS colors. On this job, the black was switched out for a metallic.
Thanks to pressman Chuck for locking it down on the quality control.
7/30/09
7/29/09
fukuda x brandt
MCAD Asst. Professor of Design Erik Brandt and his contribution to
the BICeBé 2009 exhibit honoring Japanese designer Shigeo Fukuda.
This sure would look fantastic hanging in DesignWorks
(or my living room).
7/28/09
for immediate release
Now seeking applicants.
Full-time design internship for the 2009—2010 season.
The position begins September 1st and ends in May 2010.*
Internship candidate should posses either an undergraduate or graduate degree in design from MCAD and have graduated within the last 2 years.
Qualities include:
• proficiency in design skills, software and production
• efficiency in time management and resources
• organized
• curious
• desire to be challenged
• desire to work with students
• able to contribute to the studio culture
• able lead by example in a professional studio environment
The internship year will build on a foundation of achievement in the MCAD academic program; projects will support both MCAD’s advancement and may include work with external clients. Rolls will include working with and directing DesignWorks creative staff and acting as a steward of the MCAD brand identity.
How to apply:
Please submit a letter of interest, a curriculum vitæ and a pdf containing 8–10 examples of graphic design work to catherine_grothe@mcad.edu.
Interviews will begin on August 10th.
*For the 09-10 season, the DesignWorks Internship position will only run 3/4 of the normal year-long term.
7/27/09
7/24/09
evelin kasikov
Evelin Kasikov is a fellow lover of cross-stitch, and a designer after my own heart. It is always interesting to see how influences outside the realm of traditional graphic design can inspire and drive a designer's work. As our visual language continues to expand, and creative occupations grow increasingly multidisciplinary, designers can embrace all these influences in order to become truly effective and dynamic communicators––able to possess a genuine empathy for any given audience. View more of Evelin's work here.
7/21/09
music
Crystal Castles is an electronic music duo from Toronto The band consists of multi-instrumentalist Ethan Kath and vocalist Alice Glass. New album is out, go and listen to them!
* My favorite songs
Untrust Us
Crimewave
Magic Spells
Air War
7/20/09
7/16/09
cannon valley trail
Remeber this project?
After almost two years, the installation for the Cannon Valley Trail
is seeing some great progress. Abbi Allan & Ben Reed,
under the direction of Jerry Allan, are creating a donor wall that will
live along the Cannon Valley Trail. The 20-mile multi-use public trail
runs through the towns of Red Wing, Welch, and Cannon Falls, MN.
This sculptural wall will commemorate those who have donated to
the trail's development.
Completion is estimated for Fall, more updates soon!
peter seitz redux
TIm Brunelle and his team of super smart B.S. Vis helped MCAD to "re-introduce" Peter Seitz, Designing A Life* to the creative culture. Do you know about Peter Seitz?
*Edited by Andrew Blauvelt and Pamela Johnson
Designed by Andrew Blauvelt and Ryan Nelson
Winner of the AIGA 50 Books/50 Covers award
7/15/09
hands-on
Graphic Designers––we work with our hands! Dylan C. Lathrop paints the giant MCAD "A" for an upcoming project, plus a glimpse into Molly Butterfoss's hand-cut handicraft created for the recent MCAD/McKnight exhibition.
mcad bistro punch cards
Coming this Fall: Handy punch cards for the MCAD Bistro. Save a little $$ with these wallet-sized wonders...Buy ten combo meals or eight coffees and get ONE FREE!mcknight magic
Exhibition catalog & postcard for this year's MCAD/McKnight Exhibition, currently on view in the MCAD Main Gallery. Check out pictures of the McKnight gallery opening here. Designed by DesignWorks' own intern extraordinaire, Molly Butterfoss. Cut paper type, stitched binding, and french folds––oh my!
designworks mail bag
some postcards we didn't design but are
even better 'cause they're from friends traveling far away.
jenny tondera
7/14/09
made @ mcad alternate design
This is from the ideation process on the Made @ MCAD postcards I did this past spring semester. We went with two separate and distinctive approaches in the design presentations, and this iteration was focused on the idea of process, both in terms of how it was made and how things are made at MCAD. This direction was scrapped, as some directions sometimes are in graphic design. Being a sustainable studio though, we might just recycle some of these ideas at a later date.
Here is the final Made @ MCAD postcards that were completed for the exhibition.
rob roy kelly / wood type collection
A fantastic site for Rob Roy Kelly's amazing collection of
American wood type from David Shields at the U of Tx in Austin.
Also, there's a couple of copies of "Everything is a work in progress" in the library (Book Stacks NC1000 .K455 2001). Great tales of very early days in MCAD, including Mr. Kelly propping open basement windows in Morrison so he could sneak back in to the studios after hours to continue his grind.
And if anyone has a copy of Design Quarterly No.56, let me know.
More info here
Also, there's a couple of copies of "Everything is a work in progress" in the library (Book Stacks NC1000 .K455 2001). Great tales of very early days in MCAD, including Mr. Kelly propping open basement windows in Morrison so he could sneak back in to the studios after hours to continue his grind.
And if anyone has a copy of Design Quarterly No.56, let me know.
More info here
summer kisoks
in full summer mode.
Designed by Jacey Braband, Alex Roche, and Aimee Gauthier.
Photography by Erin Nicole Johnson (people) and Aimee Gauthier (paper).
Creative Direction by Molly Butterfoss.
And some process shots from Caitlin Longley.
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