July 1st, 2010
Refresh your creativity at the AIGA Vermont speaker series featuring Scott Stowell…
Thursday, July 22, 2010
5:30–7:00 PM
ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center
Leahy Center for Lake Champlain
1 College Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Register Online Here
Members* $5, Non-Members $15, Student Members Free
*Members, bring a friend to join AIGA at the event and you both attend for FREE.
Pay Attention
Since 1998, designer Scott Stowell has been doing business as Open—and as such has survived by staying small, specialized in not really specializing in anything in particular, and (as described in the Cooper-Hewitt’s Design USA show) embraced “an open notion of the term ‘office,’ inviting different participants to every project.”
As it turns out, everything is connected and everything is an opportunity—if you’re paying attention. Please join Scott for a fresh talk full of new (and old) stories about new (and old) work from over ten years of making “design for people.” There may also be prizes and there will surely
be distractions.
Scott is the proprietor of Open, an independent design studio that has made a lot of things, including the editorial design of Good magazine, short films for Google and Jazz at Lincoln Center, signage for the Yale University Art Gallery and the new AIGA membership cards. In 2008, Scott was the winner of the National Design Award for Communication Design.
Visit AIGA Vermont online at: http://vermont.aiga.org
Tags: AIGA, Refresh Speaker Series, Scott Stowell
Posted in AIGA, Design, Uncategorized | No Comments ›
May 25th, 2010
Here are a few highlights from my trip to CYTO 2010 in Seattle this month.
Tags: CYTO, Seattle, trade show
Posted in Trade Shows, Travel | No Comments ›
April 13th, 2010
AIGA Vermont will launch its Refresh Speaker Series Thursday, April 15, 2010, with guest Michael Hendrix. The event will take place from 5:30 to 7:00pm at the Firehouse Center for the Visual Arts. Please visit vermont.aiga.org for more information.
Tags: AIGA, Michael Hendrix, Refresh Speaker Series
Posted in AIGA, Design | No Comments ›
March 22nd, 2010
Exhibitor 2010 was a great experience. What better place to have a conference about exhibits than a city that is a living exhibit? Everything in Las Vegas is bigger, louder, flashier and over the top in more ways than I could have imagined.
The Mandalay Bay was a wonderful setting for the informative conference with its spacious accommodations and wonderful restaurants. (I must also add that the light reflecting off of the building at sunrise is nothing short of spectacular.) The sessions offered many insightful strategies, and the exhibit hall inspired numerous ideas for upcoming projects and provided connections to make them happen. The single drawback was the few aggressive vendors that chased victims down the aisles of the exhibit hall. You’d think that at a trade show about trade shows, all of the vendors would have more of a clue about not scaring off their prospective customers.
Even the travel to and from this event was an experience. I flew Southwest again for the first time since my recent years as a Silver Preferred passenger on US Airways. My bags flew free, I was allowed to leave my iPhone on in airplane mode and the crew dressed up for St. Patrick’s Day. Sweet.
Tags: Exhibitor 2010, Las Vegas, trade show
Posted in Trade Shows, Travel | 1 Comment ›
March 2nd, 2010
The Office Manager
The Night Shift
Security
Posted in Animal | No Comments ›
March 1st, 2010
Another trade show, another adventure. The Biophysical Society’s 54th Annual Meeting in San Francisco just ended. Finding where to set up and getting home afterwards were the only snags. Most of the shows I’ve been to at the Moscone Center have been in the South Hall. I assumed this one would be no different, but either way there would probably be ample signage outside on Howard Street. It turned out that it was in the North Hall and there were no signs outside. What the meeting lacked in signage, it made up for in blog coverage. The official blog team team seemed to do a great job covering everything from news about the show to where to eat.
After visiting the city a month before during the January rains, I took advantage of the opportunity to get out and enjoy some California sunshine this visit. After setup was complete on Friday, I spent Saturday making a pilgrimage to the Golden Gate Bridge. I’ve had a long-time fascination with the International Orange-colored bridge. So I challenged myself to walk to it from my hotel near Union Square. Stops at Ghiradelli Square on the way out and Fisherman’s Wharf for lunch on the way back were musts. I especially enjoyed watching all of the dogs playing on the beach at Crissy Field. My shepherd mix would have loved it. Ten miles later I was exhausted and recharged all at the same time.
San Francisco is a great city to host a conference. In addition to the the sights to be seen and the hotels within walking distance of the convention center, the restaurants are absolutely amazing. This time around I enjoyed drinks at the View Lounge on the top floor of the Marriott, steak at John’s Grill, seafood at Alioto’s, Vietnamese at the Slanted Door and good pub fare at Johnny Foley’s.
Difficulty returning home from the show seems to be a recurring theme for me. Last year I was stuck in Boston trying to get home to Tucson a few days longer than planned due to a winter storm. This year I was stuck on the other coast for a few days thanks to a snow storm in Philadelphia. The few days of extra sunshine didn’t go to waste though.
I’m grateful for yet another travel adventure and the creative inspiration that it provided. I would also like to congratulate 89 North and their visiting friend Cairn Research for another great show.
Posted in Trade Shows, Travel | No Comments ›
January 31st, 2010
I enjoyed the opportunity to attend the Photonics West 2010 exhibit in San Francisco last week. This year was quite successful for the event. After being held in San Jose for many years, the show moved to San Francisco’s Moscone Center. This relocation made it possible for more companies to comfortably exhibit. It was also a pleasant experience spending time in a more modern facility and the great city of San Francisco with its wealth of hotels, shops and restaurants. There were 1,147 exhibitors at the main show and 178 at the BiOS pre-meeting. Attendance for the event was also up with 18,327 people attending. Also impressive was the fact that over 200 products were launched at the show.
After a successful BiOS meeting over the weekend, the Cirque du Lasaire opening reception kicked off the main event on Monday night. It was an unexpected mashup of cirque meets laser light show meets clips of the laser scene from Goldfinger. I especially enjoyed the guy on stilts dressed like a tree. He reminded me of an Ent from Lord of the Rings.
A nice exhibit “Advancing the Laser: 50 Years and Into the Future” was on display throughout the event. It was educational and amusing with a collection of larger-than-life (well at least larger-than-me) historic lasers.
A nice side show took place on Wednesday. While the show was underway, Steve Jobs was next door at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts announcing Apple’s new iPad. With a decorated building and a flurry of media, excitement was in the air.
The grand finale of Wednesday was the 2009 Prism Awards for Photonics Innovation sponsored by SPIE and Laurin Publishing. The winners were announced at a banquet held at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. Congratulations to Agilent Technologies, Hamamatsu Corporation, Infra Tec Infrared LLC, IRphotonics, Laser Operations LLC, LightLab Imaging Inc, Lehighton Electronics, Linden Photonics, National Semiconductor, and Swamp Optics on their victories. I can’t wait to see who wins next year.
The successful show wrapped up after another day of exhibits on Thursday. I’m already looking forward to next year. See you in 2011, San Francisco!
Tags: Photonics West, San Francisco, SPIE, trade show
Posted in Trade Shows | No Comments ›
January 15th, 2010
Here is my latest piece of artwork. It originated as a pencil drawing of two of my friend’s horses who I hang out with up in Isle la Motte, VT. Then I scanned the drawing and had a little fun in Photoshop. Gotta love a little color…
Tags: Art, color, Horses, Isle la Motte, pencil, Vermont
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments ›
January 15th, 2010
An early nickname for the locomotive was the “Iron Horse”. In the spring of 2009, I followed the path of the first Transcontinental Railroad as I moved from California to Arizona to Vermont. The sale of railroad land grant lands had lead to the settling of the “Great American Desert”, and I was thankful for the opportunity to pass back through my once desert home on a farewell tour.
Horsepower is a term that was originally meant to compare the power of engines and other machinery to the power of draft horses. My 2008 Toyota Matrix proved to be no match for a draft horse. With just a few miles over 100,000, the transmission died just after the move to Vermont. An unplanned automotive purchase resulted in a 2008 Scion xB. It’s a great little car – plenty of room for the people and the dog. The built in iPod dock is also a nice touch. Especially after you buy the Griffin adapter so that it charges your new iPhone 3GS.
2003 Toyota Matrix
Cosmic Blue Metallic
123 HP
2008 Scion xB
Blackberry Crush Metallic
158 HP
Tags: Arizona, California, color, Horses, iPhone, Relocation, transportation, Vermont
Posted in Horses, Relocation | No Comments ›
