Glow Images Blog

HOW Design Conference Highlights

Posted on 08. Jul, 2009 by Glow Images in Interesting News, Stock Photography News

Glow was delighted to be a sponsor at the just completed HOW Design Conference in Austin, TX. With daytime temps reaching 107 degrees, we were only too happy to spend our days greeting designers eager to learn more about Glow within the comfortable confines (read: deeply air conditioned) of the Austin Convention Center.

Designer and HOW Conference attendee Darcey McCormick, one of three free Glow subscription winners, is flanked by Glow Images staffers (l-r) Mariana Rebolledo, Erik Hackett and Alanda Hunt © glowimages.com

Three of our guests (Micki Ward-Fields, Darcey McCormick and Corey Bates) were lucky enough to walk away with free one year subscription to Glow Images.

In addition to the talented designers we met, there were some terrific exhibitors introducing some very cool products that we think everyone should take a look at. Our short list of favorites include:

Ansca: iPhone application development platform makes creating iPhone apps a snap and once complete Ansca can even help you get your new app published to Apple’s appstore.

Blurb: book publishing made easy — and low cost– with beautiful results. 

Sappi Fine Paper: the folks at Sappi brought a community feel to the conference with their “ideas that matter” program. Sappi in partnership with Project M invited HOW attendees to share their idea for changing the world through design. Attendees filled out a form at the booth which they posted to the wall of the booth, and then—on the last day—a panel of judges including Michael Osborne, Peleg Top and Mark Randall selected a winner. Jenny Leonard from Houston was selected with her idea titled “Living Life to Its Fullest.” Jenny’s idea will now become a Project M “grenade.” For more information on the program visit Ideas That Matter. Additional applications are being accepted through July 17th.

Standard Deluxe: Just for fun check out this cool t-shirt designer who was hawking their wares– and watched them fly off the shelves during HOW.

Designer Jenny Leonard recognized at the Sappi booth during HOW for her winning submission to "ideas that matter" © glowimages.com

 Moo.com clearly has won the hearts and minds of designers with their low cost/design friendly business card products. We picked up dozens of snazzy cards from designers throughout the show who are clearly fans of Moo, too.

Now for the conference highlights: While it would have been terrific to attend all the wonderful seminars and workshops, we did a pretty good job following virtually through twitter chat rooms (#howconf) that attendees thoughtfully set up to share their HOW experience with both fellow attendees as well as folks who could not make the trip to Austin. At one time there were about 150 of us posting tweets so the coverage was pretty comprehensive. Here are some of the highlights @glowimages was posting throughout the show:

Daniel Schutzsmith’s “Design Business Bootcamp” delivered exactly as advertised. Daniel centered his comments by grounding designers around the business drivers of commercial design: “understand that clients hire you not only for your skills as a designer, but also for the additional value you bring to THEIR business.” You can download Daniel’s presentation slides at http://how.graphicdefine.org/

The WOW Factor: Susan Murphy delivered an engaging, interactive session that helped designers do a better job at effectively presenting their ideas in face to face meetings and group presentations. Top tip: When you are meeting with client, your goal as a designer is to get the CLIENT to talk. Susan recommends the “Automatic Opener” technique:  

1.  Show that you are ready and establish yourself: “I’m prepared to show you the storyboards we discussed last week.”
2. Invite the client to speak: get them to tell you what’s on THEIR minds “Before I begin, let’s start by giving me your thoughts about this project.”
3. Then LISTEN and probe: “Tell me more” “How will that effect you?” etc.

Thursday’s keynote address was Scott Belsky on “Making Ideas Happen in the Creative World”. Scott’s insights on creative collaboration are borne not only of his personal experience in managing design teams, but also from research conducted among 700 creative professionals to find out the common elements among creative teams that consistently deliver highly effective results for their clients. 

Scott Belsky talking with HOW attendees after delivering his keynote address "Making Ideas Happen in the Creative World" ©glowimages.com

Scott’s top tips included: 

1) Creativity x Organization = Impact. Organization is a competitive advantage. Designers who stay organized and carve out specific time each day to execute the ideas that are important to you

2) Keep two lists in front of you at all times: one that is all the big picture, macro, vision you have; the other is your task list that you need to get done today. Keep your vision “alive” while also delivering expectations for the work that is due today.

3) Prioritize Projects Visually: Create an Energy Line – assign projects a value that allocates project energy from “extreme” to “idle”

4) Develop others through appreciations: if you hear someone’s story, tell them the 5 things you appreciate most:  Appreciations help designers naturally develop and re-inforce strengths (always being critical often takes creativity backward)

5) When hiring creatives, judge candidates based not only on their “experience” but also on the initiative they take in getting things done.

In between sessions, Glow images were broadcast to the audiences attending the keynotes:

Cameron Moll delivered a compelling presentation of “Good v Great Design”. Cameron’s key insights to the difference between good v great design is for designers to be solution focused v. problem focused. Quoting from Bryan Lawson, Moll reminded the audience that “design is as much a matter of finding problems as it is solving them.”  Look for practical applications of this principle as demonstrated in this article about “the $3MM Button”

I highly recommend downloading Cameron’s entire presentation as it is packed with terrific tips and inspirational quotes: 

Most surprising session: hoops&yoyo: Mike Adair and Bob Holt are the creative minds behind this very popular e-greeting site sponsored and owned by Hallmark. 

Mike Adair & Bob Holt autograph complimentary hoops&yoyo posters after their hilarious and informative presentation at HOW © glowimages.com

Not only was their presentation beautifully produced and filled with great humor, Mike and Bob provided terrific coaching for designers trying to keep their sanity, as well as they personal and creative integrity, while working within the context of a major corporation. 

It was especially touching for these artists to share the personal feedback they receive from cancer patients and those suffering from illnesses of every kind to learn how their gift of laughter has helped these people regain their spirit and remain in touch with their humanity. Talk about doing work that is fun AND makes a difference in the lives of others. These guys are hitting home runs every day.

Need a dose of laughter today: Check out hoops&yoyo. It’ll do ya good.

Best in Entrepreneurial Designer: Want to learn how a guy’s passion for design fuels a multi-million dollar business? You would then be wise to study the work of  Mitch Nash visionary founder of  BlueQ. 

BlueQ is a creative hot shop producing a portfolio of highly successful consumer products

Mitch and his talented team take mundane products like soap, gum and breath spray, and leverage the power of kitsch to engage customers through humorous visual design. Catch taglines and slogans don’t hurt either: “Instant Irish accent breath spray” and ”Happy Gum for a crappy life”.

When hiring talent, BlueQ looks for illustrators who not only do great design, but also tell stories with their work. As BlueQ grows they work hard to “look small and feel small” as that is something that resonates with consumers (evidenced also in their logo of a small, retro building at right springing forth with fresh ideas).

Kudos to Mitch for not only following profits, but following his heart & values. He personally traveled to China to observe the manufacturing processes and safety standards before awarding contracts. 

Marc English closed Friday’s breakout sessions with certainly the most irreverent as well as highly entertaining seminar of the week. You know a session is going to be interesting when it starts with the “speaker” delivering a mando/banjo solo performance of the theme song from “The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.”

Marc English coaches designers to recapture their innocence and use epic influencers to stimulate creativity.

Drawing from his background as traveler, musician, writer and designer, Marc served up a mojo of ideas to stimulate discovery and creativity. Marc implores designers to stimulate creativity, “imagine what it’s like to be 10 years old… again.” Marc referenced his awe in his first watching of Clint Eastwood’s performance in “Good, Bad & Ugly” when he was 10 years old as inspiration for a book cover design recently completed for his client. 

Need influence: think epic influencers. For Marc his epic influencers were musicians: The Clash, Beatles and Per Ubu.  Then answer: what is your personal quest, just as these great artists did, and let your quest inspire your work. Marc cited typography on a Clash t-shirt he purchased in 198o for inspiring the design for Criterion Films promo poster “Walker”.

Marc challenged designers to raise the bar and not do work to complete a deadline, but do work to change people’s minds. His credo: “if people aren’t going to steal your sh*t it ain’t worth hitting ‘print’.” A commemorative poster design for Cormac McCarthy shows that Marc practices what he preaches. Powerful stuff for sure.

Before leaving the Convention Center, I made a point to stop by the Type Director’s Club exhibit on the 4th fl. I was sure glad I did: this work will serve to inspire me in the year ahead. Thanks to all the artists who were recognized in this terrific exhibit.

Selection of work selected by the Type Directors Club exhibited during the HOW Design Conference

What were your favorite take aways and highlights? Please share your comments below.

Thanks to everyone – especially the good folks at HOW – who helped to make this years conference memorable for all. We look forward to seeing you at HOW 2010 next year in Denver!

The Team at Glow Images: http://www.glowimages.com

Tags: #howconf, Ansca, Austin, Blue Q, Blurb.com, Cameron Moll, Daniel Shutzsmith, Glow Images, glowimages.com, Hallmark, hoops&yoyo, HOW Design Conference, Marc English, Mark Randall, Michael Osborne, Moo.com, Peleg Top, Project M, Sappi, Scott Belsky, Standard Deluxe, Susan Murphy, TX, Type Directors Club