Dialogue

Thanks to the team at Adobe, the New York State of Design competition has three (3) copies of Adobe CS5.5 Design Premium (valued at $1,899 ea.) to giveaway to three lucky designers. To enter, simply follow the instructions below.

And just think how awesome it would be to upgrade to Photoshop® CS5 Extended, Illustrator® CS5, InDesign® CS5.5, Dreamweaver® CS5.5, Flash® Professional CS5.5, Flash Catalyst® CS5.5, Fireworks® CS5, Acrobat® X Pro, Bridge CS5, Device Central CS5.5, bringing your creative ideas to life in a variety of media including smartphones and tablets.

THE NEW YORK STATE OF DESIGN DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED! Entries due Friday, February 17, 2011.

For further information about Adobe Corporate or Product join Adobe on Facebook or Adobe Students or on Twitter @adobe.

HOW TO ENTER

Download the Entry Form and get ready to fill in the blanks.

1. Get your entry fee ready: it's $25 per entry if you're an AIGA member, $50 if you're not (p.s. it's not too late to become a member, click here).

2. You'll need to include 3 Entry Forms; 1) save one interactive .pdf file to your CD/DVD, 2) attach one copy to the back of the mounted entry, and 3) include one with your entry fee payment.

3. Mount your original work or just send us your work - we'll mount it for you - FREE!

4 .Provide high resolution files and entry form .pdf on CD/DVD

5. Ship your entry to: AIGA Upstate New York, Chris Goldan, 137 East Ave., Suite 201 Rochester, NY 14604

 
Do you have more questions? See our FAQ.

DOWNLOAD AN ENTRY FORM

Continue reading "Letter from AIGA Upstate New York President"

Posted by upstatenewyork | February 7, 2012

NEW YORK STATE OF DESIGN: AIGA Upstate New York celebrates NY Design Communications

I want to invite you to join the hundreds of creative professionals who have been part of our chapter for over two decades. The goal of this competition is to spotlight areas of growth and opportunity for graphic designers, recognizing the best work being done, and emphasize the value of design to business and society, culminating in an opening exhibit and an accompanying catalog.

This competition celebrates design communications, of course, but more importantly, the power of AIGA Upstate New York - our ability to advance our profession, coming together for one night, and forge new relationships with one another.

NEW YORK STATE OF DESIGN strives to produce more than a collection of beautiful work, asking all entrants “why is this an example of excellent design?” Each entry into the exhibit is required to submit a brief description underscoring the relationship between their design and their client’s goals.

The call for entries extends to the entire state, open to members and non-members, individuals, and businesses. The only requirement - you must reside in New York.

Please join us for what will surely be a beautiful experience.

Yours,
Chris

Questions?
Email me president@upstatenewyork.aiga.org

Posted by upstatenewyork | January 10, 2012

On Wednesday, Nov 30th, 30+ graphic designers had the pleasure to meet Allan Chochinov of SVA and Core 77, for a Living Principles event at the The Foundry for Art Design & Culture in Cohoes. Not only did we get an evening event, but Allan gave two other presentations earlier in the afternoon to design students at Sage College of Albany and The College of St. Rose. This was a great opportunity for our student groups to have a one on one interaction with a featured speaker in the comfort of their classrooms. While giving his presentation he was also able to share information about his new MFA program, Products of Design, with prospective students. Not many speakers would commit to speaking three different times in the span of an afternoon, so we are very grateful to Allan for taking the time. This is hopefully an experience we can repeat with future speakers.

Allison VanHouten

AIGA Upstate New York would like to thank Mohawk Paper for sponsoring this Living Principles event and for their continued support of our chapter.

Living Principles - http://www.livingprinciples.org
The Foundry - http://www.thefoundrysite.com Mohawk Paper - http://www.mohawkpaper.com

Posted by upstatenewyork | December 6, 2011

You say tomato, I say in-house design.

A significant percentage of our design community work in-house at large corporations. HOW Magazine April 2008 issue featured a survey of readers. Here’s what they found.

46% Solo design practice or full-time freelance business
17% Graphic design firm
31% In-house design department

The fundamental principles of design communication remain constant regardless of organization size and expertise, or computing system. However, within larger organizations, the act of applying these principles, the ability to produce quality design communications, and overall job satisfaction are challenging at times. Learning how to hone your technical skills, or more importantly your soft skills, to effectively maneuver the politics and red tape that are common at larger organizations is often difficult and overlooked.

In my opinion, we’re a little late in focusing on in-house design, and I’m excited to take a shot at addressing it.

But I’d like your help. What can you add?

We’re going to conduct an online survey of AIGA Upstate New York's approximately 300 members and 500 friends. Our goal is to identify designers and gather information to assist in developing programming specific to their needs.

Join us in January for In the House, when leaders of three successful Kodak in-house design departments - Product Design, Web Design, and Social Media - will share their experiences and talk about how their teams work, what they love about their jobs, where unique challenges lie, and how working for an internal client is both similar to and different from the client-studio/agency relationship. A members-only Q+A session will follow the presentation.

To register for the event, visit this link: http://inthehouse.eventbrite.com/

Email me your reaction to this letter, or post something to our Facebook page. Simply put, your participation goes to the core of many of our activities and assumptions; we cannot help but pay it some mind.

Have a safe and enjoyable holiday season!

Yours,
Chris

Mark your calendar: Business of Design - January 26, 2012

Posted by upstatenewyork | December 5, 2011

Many of you may already dispense mentor-like encouragement and advice. Take the next step, be recognized for your contributions, become a mentor in the SPARK program.

On January 30, 2012, the AIGA Upstate New York is launching a mentoring program -- SPARK. The program is a statewide initiative designed to connect emerging graphic designers with established design professionals in mentoring relationships, encouraging the future success of the design industry in New York.

Propelled by the expertise and advice of established professionals, mentees who participate in SPARK will further their knowledge of the business of design and the establishing of career goals. Both Mentees and Mentors will learn and grow together.

A compact, four-month program ending in April 2012, the SPARK program is intended to be a benefit of membership for those who will soon be entering our profession, welcomes current student members and recent graduates, as well as Member & Non-Member professionals.

If you'd like to be involved and aren’t a member, you can join now or get info on membership at http://www.aiga.org/join/

Mentors & Mentees: The last day to register is Dec. 23, 2011.

Hurry, space is limited. Click here for more information.

Yours,
Chris

Posted by upstatenewyork | November 2, 2011