HOW Conference in ATL just happened to rule.

HOW's design conference this year was held in Atlanta, GA--the land of Lil' Jon and Peaches. I must say it was the best design conference I've ever been to. More accurately, it was the first design conference I've ever been to. But none the less, I had been excited about it for days and it lived up to my expectations for sure. I left inspired at the end of it all, and now I feel like such a better designer from associating with some of the best people of the industry. Here are some of the highlights:

Steff Geissbuhler was awesome.

Corporate ID is my first love, and this cat has some of the most recognizable logos to his credit; the NBC peacock, Barneys New York, and the Time-Warner "eye-ear" mark to mention a few. He had a lot of good things to say about the client/designer collaboration part of making a successful logo, but the main thing he wanted us to all know is the importance of really, truely listening to the client. I also loved how he considers a logo to be something organic; it must evolve and grow. He brought this up toward the end of his shpeal on the design process when creating a logo for a big corporation, because once we're done with the our part we have to hand the logo off to the company's in-house design department and it's out of our hands from then on. It's like having a kid, then watching it go off to college. Lord knows we don't all turn out the way our parents want us to!

This guy named Armin Vit from some studio somewhere.

Armin gave a fantastic presentation detailing the pain and the pleasure gleamed from his career thus far. While there were many, many presenters at this conference, Armin's stood out particularly because of his casual style of presenting; he didn't take himself so seriously and he urged us all to do the same, with speach outline headings like, "You're not that good," and "75% of your files are trash." It felt more like a conversation than a lecture, and I left with the confidence that comes with knowing ALL of us have to slave over the design to be able to get lucky sometimes. Also dispencing similare wisdom was the man named Chip Kidd who I did not get a picture with, however I did get to joke around with him at the big conference wrap party at the Georgia Aquarium.

More than a funny last name, it's Grip's Kevin McConkey!

The Grip principal shared with us his methodology for making burnout delicious. His big deal was how we need to manage client's expectations and keep our priorities straight. With this knowledge I'm sure I will never feel the pain of burn out. Ever. :)

The Type Director's Club exhibit

Of all the cool sideshow exhibits to see, they had the most interesting work on display. The typography in this show was amazing.


There was a ton of other great things going on at the HOW conference, but there were too many things to mention here, besides, I'm trying to keep my entries BRIEF for chrissakes. Basically, I want you to know that if you weren't there, you totally missed out and should go eat a half-gallon of sorbet to console yourself. I suggest peach, it's what they eat in Georgia.