Monday, October 6, 2008

Design Camp 2008






I just got back from a weekend at Design Camp in Nisswa, Minnesota. The overarching theme of the weekend revolved around the idea of change. It was all about taking chances, looking at things in new ways, and restoring the powers of the undo and redo commands. The highlights of my weekend included:

- An Adobe presentation on CS4. My friend and fellow designer Jen Young of KiK Associates who is infamous for winning Apple products, managed to win a copy of CS4, as well as winning a fish-naming contest! Long live the Red Eyed 2 Ply Southern Fried!

- Amazing, unique and inspiring speakers. We heard very different vantage points from Jen Trolio of Readymade magazine, Brain Collins of Collins Design Group, The Art of Chase and Tronic Studios (Theo Daley is our fellow Canadian from Torontonia). All though their paths are all very unique, their messages all revolved around change for a better world and the importance of following your personal convictions!

- A Silkscreen workshop with Aesthetic Apparatus

- Discovering my "katra" and dominating the dojo! I participated in a workshop about leveraging my strengths. I learned that I am a mouse, who can work well with a group, stays out of the limelight, and who can bring out the strengths in others. I have an opinion, but I am not quick to form one, as I like to take everyone's views into consideration.

- Morning cinnamon rolls!

- Grandview Lodge, for all of it amenities and beautiful fall surroundings. 

- All of the really cool people that I met over the weekend. There ARE other designers out there, dealing with the same things that we all deal with. We emerged from the glow of our computer screens for some much needed fresh air.

- The really cool people that I knew were cool all along. My weekend cohorts were Jen Young and Ana Morgan of KiK Associates.

-  And the mandatory stop at Target on the way home!!!!

Design Camp happens on the same weekend every year, so mark it on your calendars for 2009! I guarantee that you will have the time of your life and come back refreshed and ready to change the world with the click of your mouse!

2 comments:

neilio said...

Wow, aesthetic apparatus. JEALOUSY.

Karla said...

that sounds awesome, I'm sorry to have missed it.