16. Youth is not a period of life,
it is a condition of the spirit
17. Second & Fourth Tuesday
Second Monday at Switch
Third Thursdays at fractal.
The idea that you make an experience that
requires a conversation in a public place is training
for the fact that culture is collective
18. Education is for improving the lives of others and for
leaving your community and world better than you
found it.
Notas do Editor
Hello, I am Andrew Coppola, this is Mark Dudlik and we are here today representing the Phoenix Design Community.
Recently, we've been trying to answer the question: What is Phoenix Design
Well, Some people believe that it's this: stereotypical desert iconography. This image is from a design annual that lumps Phoenix into a generic Southwest category. This reputation Arizona has, is unfitting and does not represent the true talent in Phoenix.
We really only had one thought about this. It needed to change.
In order to find Phoenix's true design identity and turn that terrible reputation around we had to first find its designers. This began our search for community.
About a year ago, this is what the design community in Phoenix seemed like. Barren, empty, impossible to find our fellow designers. Our national organizations seemed completely inactive and there was little, if any, connection between the designers in our city.
In trying to find our local designers, we thought of the idea of creative a week long series of events that celebrate design. This could act as a rally call for our local creatives. This eventually turned into the idea of Phoenix Design Week.
We sent out a call for volunteers and received a tremendous response. You see here a photo from one of the first design week planning meetings. Over 100 people across multiple disciplines responded and came together to help plan this week of events from the ground up.
(Quote by Georgia O'Keefe)
As a result of their dedicated efforts, the week was successful and culminated in a weekend conference with national and local speakers, 4 different tracks, and over 400 people in attendance and was an incredible success.
One of the best parts of Design Week, was finding out there truly WAS an active and engaged design community. AIGA stepped up to help in a big way. It turned out they had been going through a resurgence after some new leadership came in, and they were making waves in Phoenix and beyond.
(Quote by Howard Thurman)
They went from 8 events a year to 8 events last month. The success of AIGA Arizona has been so great, they are being used as a national example for successful community building and are one of the only chapters thats been increasing in membership.
AIGA is not the only thing from Phoenix making national waves. Creative Connect, a monthly gathering of creatives, has been so successful in its vibrant community building that its become a template for other cities, now expanding to places like Portland and Salt Lake City.
(Quote by Albert Schweitzer)
We also created PHXLAYERS. A design competition centralized around a theme of collaboration. Basically, 2 designers swap a file back and forth in real time consecutively building upon each round to finally end up with a singular design. These final pieces were then exhibited at Phoenix Design Week.
PHXLAYERS had over 40 designers sign up and was largely popular. So much that we decided to bring it back for a second season. If it is currently before April 30th, sign ups are open, if not, watch the season happen live at http://phxlayers.com
And thats not all thats on the horizon. Real quick though, we'd like to disclaim this a bit. This is just stuff we're directly involved in. Even with all the success of the past year, our design community is still disconnected, is still in need of a way to connect with each other.
The Design Culture Coalition is an organization dedicated to bringing the design community together. Using tools like an aggregated event calendar, designer directory and design resources.
The DCC seeks to help local designers get out and speak at events, help promote Phoenix design on a local and national level, and finally to help designers become proud of being from Phoenix.
I'm also involved in a startup called Dojo Collective, which hopes to bring both a Design Museum and Library to Phoenix. We're also developing youth design mentoring and professional development programs.
(Quote by Douglas Mac Arthur)
Some things you can get involved in now: MAKESHIFT is basically an open studio session where creatives are free to come, hang out, and work on projects they enjoy and might not have time to work on during the day. There is also Say Anything which is a creative roundtable discussion about various important design topics.
(Quote by Edwin Schlossberg)
Now, since this event is about ASU connecting with the community, I thought it'd best we end by talking about how ASU can get involved with the design community. A large amount of the organizers and attendees of Phoenix Design Week were from the school of design. Now, its changed its name a few times in the last couple years...
(Quote by Marian Write Edelman)
I think this is the current iteration of its name. The school of design at ASU is one of the best and most underrated programs in the country. Its not enough for ASU to support design excellence, it also has to continue to produce it, and the school of the design is the best way to do this.
WE (points to slide) are not the community. All of us together form a community. It doesn't just exist on its own though, you must go out and create it. With that, we'd love to hear your ideas, feedback, and suggestions. Thank you.