AIGA HOUSTON | the channel newsletter | March 2007
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CONTENTS
AIGA Houston Design Legends Gala
Getting to know your Design Legends Gala honorees :
An Interview Session with Cheryl Beckett and Chris Hill, by Kirsten LaBarbera
Announcements
Upcoming Events Calendar
Advice Column: Dear AIGAbby
Helvetica Documentary
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AIGA HOUSTON DESIGN LEGENDS GALA
an event honoring Cheryl Beckett, Chris Hill and Walter P Moore :
On Saturday May 5th, 2007 AIGA Houston will honor two individuals and a corporation from our great city for their considerable contributions to design. In naming the chapter’s very first Fellows, Ms. Cheryl Beckett of Minor Design Group and the University of Houston and Mr. Chris Hill of Hill, Texas State University, and the Creative Summit. Inspiring students for 30 years, Cheryl Beckett is in her 20th year at the University of Houston. Over the past two decades, more than 500 graphic design graduates have passed through her classes. Known throughout the country, the Creative summit—now in its 22nd year—and founder Chris Hill have become synonymous with creativity and education. We are acknowledging not only their advancement of the design profession but also their dedicated support as mentors to aspiring designers.

With the inauguration of our Corporate Design Leadership award, we are recognizing the critical role of the business community in creating a demand for good design. The first recipient of this award is Walter P Moore, the nationally known engineering firm who opened its doors in Houston over 75 years ago. Both through its design of landmark projects across the country and the value it places on design as a strategic communications tool, Walter P Moore has exhibited an understanding of the possibilities inherent in good design.

Together, our honorees exemplify the highest aspirations set out by the AIGA, the nation’s oldest and largest association of design professionals: to demonstrate the value of design to audiences outside of the profession.

We hope you will join us for this very special occasion at the Houstonian. For more information on how to preregister for the Gala and on how you can help sponsor the event, please contact Bo Bothe of Brand Extract at 713/943-7959 or Robin Tooms of Savage Design at 713/522-1555.

We look forward to celebrating with you the role of design in our communities and lives.

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GETING TO KNOW YOUR DESIGN LEGENDS GALA HONOREES :
An Interview Session with Cheryl Beckett and Chris Hill, by Kirsten LaBarbera :
The Design Gala is just weeks away. We know these highly regarded honorees as illustrious professionals in the field of design, socially and environmentally aware, humorous and philanthropic while maintaining an exceptional level of design excellence to which many people aim. But what kind of music do they listen to? Are leopard print seat covers on their mind at all? Can we ever catch one of them dancing in their studio when seeking creative inspiration? On some of these inquiries we can only speculate, unless nanny cams are hidden on their bookshelves, but in an effort to gain a little different insight into these special people, I asked a couple of questions recently:
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Kirsten:
What project, such as an advertisement, commercial or product impressed you the most in the
last year?

Cheryl:
As an educator, I am always searching for new projects that build better citizen/designers. A project out of the Art Center in Pasadena caught my attention as particularly notable. Shipping crates from reclaimed lumber harvested from homes slated for demolition in New Orleans are used in an identity program for the Katrina Furniture Project. This project contains many valuable lessons in a designer’s contribution to community, social issues, recycling and the environment. It also holds the potential of a good collaboration, in this case with industrial designers creating the furniture.

Chris:
The Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibit at the MFAH
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Kirsten:
What is your favorite car and why?

Cheryl:
I am not a car buff. Most important is mobility, safety and the ability to haul stuff. I am looking forward to the move away from oil/gas dependent vehicles. My husband used to ride his bike 16 miles to and from work each day. I admired that.

Chris:
The Maybach. One of my favorite evenings was spent in a Maybach.
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Kirsten:
How do you work the best? Quiet atmosphere or do you thrive on chaos?

Cheryl:
Chaos or quiet seems less important than having an engaging task ahead of me—that focus overrides the surrounding conditions. However, if I am writing, I like quiet. If I am teaching, some level of enthusiastic chaos is good. If I am designing, neither quiet or chaos is good—energy, enthusiasm, humor.

Chris:
I work best in the quiet of my office listening to the blues and surrounded by my collections of art, toys, antiques, folk art, and memorabilia from my past.
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So maybe next time you get the opportunity to talk to any of the honorees, elaborating a little more on their answers to these questions could lead to another dimension of their unique experiences and personalities.


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ANNOUNCEMENTS :
Welcome new and re-newed AIGA members!!
New : Arron Barnes, James Blunt, James DeLaney, Aydee Garza, Cami Gueguen, Anthony Hernandez, Tommy Leo, Kelly Musebeck, Sara Nerio, Brandice Newby, Allison Rachuig, Daniel Vega, Laura Waldusky Renewed : Noora Alsalman, Nicole Bent, Chuck Drumm, Anne Eastman, Shannon Harris, Sara Kennedy, Michele Sandusky, Jo-Anne White, Shawna Murland, Maria Vidal, Douglas Yohance

FedEx offers discounts to AIGA members
AIGA and FedEx provide deep discounts on select FedEx® shipments to AIGA members. FedEx Express®: save up to 21 percent on select services; FedEx Ground®: save up to 20 percent on select services; FedEx international shipments: save up to 18 percent on select services. Savings from this program can quickly cover the cost of your AIGA membership. This valuable member benefit requires no fee and no shipping minimum. For more information or to enroll and begin saving, call a FedEx Association Advantage customer specialist at 800 345 6227. www.aiga.org/memberbenefits

AIGA achieves carbon neutrality
AIGA is now an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Green Power Partner. This designation signifies that AIGA has purchased 100 percent of its annual headquarters electricity from a Green-E certified wind power provider to minimize its reliance on fossil fuels. AIGA recognizes the importance of buying green power whenever possible to promote new technologies, encourage investments in renewable power, grow the environmentally-responsible power market and reduce the environmental impacts of its operations.

This February, AIGA made its second annual CO2 offset purchase as a way of countering all of its annual carbon dioxide emissions. Working with Carbonfund.org, AIGA calculated the amount of carbon dioxide emissions the organization is responsible for in terms of its office, operations, employee travel and all travel by participants of national events ad chapter activities. AIGA funded the planting of 400,000 fruit and nut tree seedlings in several towns in Nepal. This planting will generate an equivalent the reduction of CO2 in the earth’s atmosphere. With this investment, which totals less than one half of one percent of the annual budget, AIGA’s activities are certifiably carbon neutral.

Individual members and studios will be able to offset their own travel and other activities by purchasing certificates through the AIGA online store later this spring.

For more information visit sustainability.aiga.org or email sustainability@aiga.org.

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UPCOMING EVENTS
March
Fri 30 - Sat 31
Regional Event :
Creative Summit Design Conference www.creativesummit.com
April
Fri 6
AIGA Houston presents :
REACH Student Series : Meet, Greet, Movie and BINGO
Thurs 12
AIGA Houston presents :
IGNITE Speaker Series : Helvetica Documentary
Wed 18
AIGA Houston presents :
Nitty Gritty Teleforum **FREE for Everyone **
Thurs 19 – Sun. 22
AIGA Austin presents :
Design Ranch 2007 Design Conference. SEVEN years of creative re-inspiration with SEVEN workshops from SEVEN dynamite speakers. (more info below) or visit http://aigaaustin.org/events/2007/04/detail/276 for more details.
Fri 20
AIGA Houston presents :
REACH Student Series : 9th Annual Student Portfolio Review
May
Sat 5
AIGA Houston Design Gala, The Houstonian Hotel and Resort
Fri 18 - June 16
Rice Design Alliance presents:
Snapshot 2007 : Houston Design on View Exhibition
TBA
University of Houston Graphic Communications Student Exhibition
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ADVISE COLUMN : Dear AIGAbby :
Dear AIGAbby,
After four years of active business with one of our top clients, the relationship has taken an interesting twist. Their entire marketing department (our main contacts) suddenly left the company! Now our client is left with an internal marketing department in disorder. They are looking to us for assistance in running that department while providing our usual design guidance. Assume they don’t find some replacements within the next three months... How much delegating and insight should we (the design firm) give to keep order within their business? How do we control their chaos, and where do we draw the line?

- Control Issues

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Dear Control Issues,
What a dilemma... or is it opportunity knocking? This might seem like a problem that can cost you the account, and if not handled right, it might. However, I see a great opportunity to strengthen your relationship with this client.

Depending on who you’re talking with now at the company, consider one of these two solutions.

Solution 1: If your contact is the owner or an executive, and they are looking to you for help and advice, this could be an opportunity for you to suggest a marketing person with which you have already established a good working relationship. If this is the case, assuming you know someone and they take over the reigns you would now have an additional ally or advocate within the company. Where, if the client has to find someone on their own who is to say what the outcome will be.

Solution 2: If your contact is just a worker bee that is left holding things together, you might do a little digging to see where things are going. Are they looking for replacements? Are they looking to outsource their marketing? Are they expecting you to assume control? Do they even know where they are heading? It might be worth while to set up a meeting to better serve them in the interim. I would approach it from a trying to help them position, something like “I understand your marketing department is in a transition phase. I would like to meet with you to discuss what we can do to make the transition as smooth as possible.” If you aren’t comfortable providing them with marketing or other types of service, do not promise to provide that service. I would also try to isolate a new decision maker on their side to champion the work, even if it’s only for the time it takes to find a replacement.

In any case most clients want you to help them solve their problems not create more for them. If you approach it with a “How can I help” as opposed to, “That is not my job” attitude, the relationship should come out stronger in the end and you will have increased your perceived value.

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Send your hard-hitting design related questions to aigabby@houston.aiga.org.

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AIGA HOUSTON PRESENTS : IGNITE SPEAKER SERIES : Thursday, April 12
Helvetica, A Documentary Film by Gary Hustwit
Helvetica, a feature-length documentary about typography, graphic design, and global visual culture directed by Gary Hustwit, had its World Premiere at the South By Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, on March 13th, 2007. The film is part of the festival’s “Emerging Visions” program for first-time feature directors.

Helvetica looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which celebrates its 50th birthday this year) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and discussions with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.

Helvetica invites us to take a second look at the thousands of words we see every day.

Why make a film about a font? “Every day we see words on signs, advertisements, emails,” said Hustwit, “but we rarely stop to think about the typefaces in which those words are presented, the fact that people actually designed them, or how those typefaces affect the way we process the information they’re delivering. I chose Helvetica because it’s the most ubiquitous typeface in our lives, and Helvetica’s ‘career’ also made it a great structure to look at the last fifty years of graphic design. The advancements in computer technology have now made us all graphic designers in a sense.”

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For More Information on this event, contact Purvi Baron at events@houston.aiga.org or Robin Tooms at president@houston.aiga.org

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To submit comments or requests for this enewsletter, please send an email to: info@houston.aiga.org


Special thanks to: Jeff Stark, Charles Houser, Michael Castro, Ken Bullock and Edmee Micheli