Workshops

Pre-Camp Workshop Adobe Creative Suite: 10 Things Every Designer Needs to Know

Presenter: Keith Gilbert Adobe

This workshop is especially for designers and art directors! We will explore features and techniques in Adobe Creative Suite that will help streamline the design process and enable you to be more creative, including:

Keith Gilbert has worked as an independent consultant and educator in the design industry for 24 years for clients such as Apple, Adobe, Best Buy, Cargill, General Mills, Lands’ End, Medtronic, Target and the United Nations. His work has taken him throughout the US and Canada, as well as to Barbados, Kenya and Monaco. He is an Adobe Certified Instructor in InDesign, InCopy, Illustrator, Photoshop and Acrobat, and the Chapter Representative for the Minneapolis InDesign User Group. You can read his Tips & Techniques Blog at blog.gilbertconsulting.com.

Workshop 1 Merge: The Workshop

Presenter: Doug Powell Merge Blog

A challenging economy presents a perfect opportunity for innovative entrepreneurs, but why have so few communication designers ventured beyond the (relative) safety of the design studio business model? This is a question that designer, strategist and entrepreneur, Doug Powell ponders on his blog, Merge. In Merge: The Workshop, you will get a deep dive on the topic of entrepreneurship, with practical information on business planning, funding, and networking. And in the spirit of the potluck, bring your own ideas! There will plenty of time for open discussion and Q&A.

Workshop 2 Legal Basics for Running Your Own Shop

Presenter: John Pickerill Fredrickson & Byron

This workshop is designed for freelancers, small firms and anyone else interested in exploring basic legal steps for maximizing business success. Learn important tips and strategies for setting up your business, structuring deals, preserving your copyrights, minimizing risks, and protecting your interests.

John Pickerill is an attorney in Fredrikson & Byron's Advertising, Marketing & Trademark Law Group who specializes in helping creative professionals. John was an advertising account executive at Carmichael Lynch for 5 years before going to law school. For the last 7 years, John has been practicing law in the only dedicated advertising/design legal practice in the state, handling creative issues most attorneys never encounter. This legal experience, coupled with John's creative background and common-sense approach, provide designers with a true ally in the legal world. He's a creative with a law degree, not just a lawyer moonlighting in the creative world.

Workshop 3 Foresight: From Soil to Bottle

Presenter: Jason Lindke AVEDA

Not your everyday “Green washing” discussion. Jason Lindke will discuss his journey as a product designer moving into the world of sustainable packaging design. Now leading the packaging efforts as Creative Director at Aveda, packaging design and outlooks on sustainability take on a whole new meaning. Jason will discuss his new views on design and what its like to live the “Aveda Mission,” while continuing to push the edge of what sustainable design should look like in the future.

Workshop 4 Marvelous Marbling, Secrets to Beautiful Cover Sheets

Presenter: Kent Aldrich Nomadic Press

Master Letterpress Printer and book binder Kent Aldrich of the Nomadic Press will conduct a workshop on paper marbling. This is a hands on, get down and dirty workshop where participants will learn some of the history of paper marbling and explore some stone and combed patterns and then pull a number of sheets for themselves. Things could get messy.

Workshop 5 Old Dogs and Interactive Tricks

Presenter: Ed Klemz and Bill Wendlandt Central Coast Solutions

What you need to know to successfully navigate the path from print to interactive media. We’ll give you the information you need to leverage your skills and be part of a successful web project. Course presentation and open forum Q&A to get the creative juices flowing!

Workshop 6 Designers and Photographers on the Collaborative Road Trip. Staying out of the Ditch. (I thought you brought the map!)

Presenter: Chris Sheehan Sheehan Photography | Shelter Studios

When to drive, when to ride shotgun. From planning to execution, there are a lot of things you can do to ensure a successful photo shoot and create the strongest image for your project. I’ll discuss the ways you can get the most from your relationship with a commercial photographer. (Sorry, there’s never a good time to take a nap in the back seat, you’ll wake up in Toledo).

Workshop 7 Social Media: The New Creative Conversation

Presenter: Nancy Lyons and Meghan Wilker Geek Girls

Social media is the buzzword to end all buzzwords. So, what does it all mean? Beyond all of the hype, how can brands, brand thinkers and creatives use these tools to connect with consumers, clients and their peers?

The Geek Girls, Nancy Lyons and Meghan Wilker, will give an overview of the social media sphere and discuss how to create a social media strategy that really works. They’ll also walk through real-world examples of businesses, people and organizations finding value with these tools.

Workshop 8 Designing Between the (Paper) Lines, 20+ years of Promotions for French Paper Company

Presenter: Erik Johnson Charles S. Anderson Design

As a small family-owned company without the huge corporate advertising budgets, French Paper Company has built it's brand with good products and smart, scrappy promotional design. Designers from Charles S. Anderson Design Company will show more than 20 years worth of promotions created for French and discuss what's next for it's long-running and unusual relationship with the mill.v

Workshop 9 Minnesota mosquitos and other things that bite. Creative Accouting 4 Creative People

Presenter: Rick Krolak and Pam Lesch The Clarion Group and P.A.M. Lesch LLC

Creative people primarily use the right side of their brain. You see concepts & layouts, we see numbers, records and spreadsheets. Does the right side of your brain know what the left side needs to know? Rick and Pam have worked together for 20+ years specializing in taxes & accounting for creative individuals and businesses. Attend this workshop to learn how we can help you to be more creative with your money and make dealing with the IRS less taxing. A good accountant can be the difference between being successful & falling on your face. We’ll compare the different business models with their advantages & disadvantages to determine which is the right one for you. Which accounting system is best for you? Good record keeping is essential to your financial health. Daily records are the best way to insure that you get the most out of your deductible expenses at tax time. Profit & loss statements are also essential to your business. Learn why they are important and how they can help you in dealing with banks & creditors. Cover your assets: learn about depreciation, gain and losses, and the importance of separating personal & business expenses. We will present insight on these topics and also allow ample time to answer as many of your questions as possible.

Workshop 10 Your Design Process is Killing You

Presenter: Sara Summers Microsoft UX Array blog

Are we in the business of changing the world, or not? Designers have gotten too comfortable. We have accepted defeat; embracing the failures of the design and production processes that were created for a different world. Our creation process should be better. It should mimic the true iterative, fast paced nature of not just our industry and the visual communication artifacts we create but, increasingly, the products, services and businesses that designers influence. Learn how to collaborate, recognize and work out frustrations and create an effective process that suits not only the personalities on your team but the hectic nature of application design and development.

Sara Summers is a User Experience Evangelist for Microsoft based out of Austin, TX. Sara is currently coauthoring a book for experience designers, entitled Dynamic Prototyping, expected to be on bookshelves by early next year. She has a personal mantra of design democracy – happy, healthy designers and developers working and playing together to create beautiful, inspirational products. In search for the best design process recipes she has worked for several renowned agencies; Frog Design, Young Rubicam, Projekt202, and with good people like; AMD, HP, Logitech, Microsoft, Motorola, NFL and Sony. For over 14 years, she has been deeply involved in the production and development of product strategy, vision and design, guiding and influencing design process with each team and project.

Workshop 11 Creating Interactive Flash and PDF files with InDesign

Presenter: Keith Gilbert Adobe

Did you know that you can add interactivity and multimedia to InDesign CS4 layouts, and export that content to an interactive Flash or PDF file? This workshop will show you how. You will learn: