Seek Conference
Several members of the One Design team headed to Northern Illinois University for the SEEK Conference on Saturday, November 22. In its 14th years, SEEK is NIU's annual graphic design conference, bringing in both regional and national design thought leaders for a day of presentations, discussions and workshops.
Why was ODC in attendance? - Team building - Design nerdiness - The alluring draw of Dekalb - Staying in touch with what’s happening in the design world beyond our River North walls
What did we do?
The pixel type installation was the result of a breakout workshop presented by ODC friend Bob Faust.
His workshop prompted attendees to "tag" an environment with a word that prompted some sort of response using sticky notes rather than ink.
Planning, inspiration from the Dekalb landscape (there's some wonderful chicken restaurant signage) and a love of ornate pixel type lead to a fun ODC team creative jam that went down without the aid of a computer (well, just barely without the aid of a computer).
What did we take away?
- Take time to step away from the screen to brainstorm and work as a team.
- Conferences are a great way to get to one another and to integrate new members of the team.
- Seek inspiration from those following a personal path in design. When you can, go listen to them talk instead of relying on reading their blog. Give a face and personality to that known name.
- Good, hands-on workshops are awesome.
- These types of design conferences still need to integrate more thoughtful discussion of interactive work.
- Get out of the city sometimes. Really.
- It was great to see learn how Chicago agencies of all sizes are coming up with new ways of introducing design into the everyday lives of non-design folks and to see the scale/processes of those agencies.
