The 2009 National AIGA Conference, MAKE | THINK, was in Memphis, TN and so were we. Over the next couple days we’ll post some of the nifty things we saw and learned. For three solid days, we were surrounded by some awesome people. Here is a small taste.

(music by rachael monet beavers)

So, every two years AIGA hosts a design-oriented/mind-altering/mind-rejuvenating/mega conference. We think it’s a pretty big deal and we’re pretty freakin’ stoked to be able to go. We magically got hooked up with some tickets and we’ve been giddy since we found out. This year it’s called Make/Think. It’s in Memphis, TN (still need a place to stay). It starts Thursday, Oct 8th and goes till Sunday, Oct 11th. We’re going to take over. Here’s the plan:

We are going to connect with every single person that goes to the conference. No seriously, we’re serious. We’re going to take our Flip camera and track down everyone and ask them three mind-boggling questions. This is where we need your help. We want to ask two questions that have yes/no responses and one question that has a fairly short answer. One question should be hilarious, one should be controversial and one should be personal but unrelated to design. We have a few thoughts, but we’d love to hear what you guys think we should ask.

So if you have a question that you’d like a ton of designers to answer, please comment! We really need your help.

Oh and check it out, Obama flew over us when we were in DC. Hi!

Don’t even read this post if you don’t have time, just spend what time you do have checking out Nicholas Di Genova’s site. Seriously, quit reading this and go look at his website. Okay, that’s a lie, you should also watch the video. When we were in Toronoto, we got a chance to hang out with Nicholas for a bit, see some of his latest work and chat about his process.

(music by rachael monet beavers)

Here is some of his work from his site. The detail and time that goes into each of his pieces is unreal. So Nicholas has two different styles. In one he draws collections of creatures, usually fantastical and strangely cross-pollinated with other animals/plants and the other style is his grid work. I think I remember a quote of his from another interview where he says that he wanted to see what 8,000 birds look like just in one place and so a lot of his work is just that. Titles like, 315 canines, mixed flock of 315 birds, 88 fiercest amphibians in the animal kingdom, again, check out his site — be amazed. His latest show is going to have a massive piece with 20,000 different butterflies. We didn’t get a chance to see it but he said it was about 4′ x 6′. He said that from about 5ft – 10ft away it looks just like a gray scale. The detail in his work is unbelievable. Another crazy thing is that he draws everything twice. Once in his sketch book and then the final. That’s not too crazy, to have a sketchy version and then the final thing. He tried to tell us the ones in his sketch book are rougher, but then he showed one of the “sketch book” versions…it was beautiful and it may as well have been the final.

One of the awesome perks about this trip is that we’ve been able to meet a lot of the people we looked up to in school. Nicholas is no exception. Martin and I actually started a project where one of us drew a monster and then passed it off, redrew it/evoled it, then passed it back. The cycle continued until we created the perfect monster. This was something we did in school and it was purely inspired from a project Nicholas Di Genova was involved with called the road of knives. The blurb from their site describes it as, “Zak Smith, Shawn Cheng, and Nicholas Di Genova take turns drawing monsters fighting each other… ” It’s that simple but it’s an epic battle, check it out sometimes.

Nicholas is a super chill guy, really down to earth and incredibly passionate about his work. We were so stoked to be able to hang out with him for a bit. He also hooked us up with two of his books that he has published. Imagine some delicious chocolate that tastes magical in your mouth, well that’s what every page of his book is except for your eye balls. One is about 5in x 5in and we keep it on our dashboard and look at it when we get bored. Clearly we’re huge fans, we just don’t want anyone else to miss out on this dudes work. If an Eggtopus Borg can’t inspire you, something is wrong!

Grab your tees here. Help us get enough gas to get back home!
We really appreciate your support. Thank you!

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We were just so excited about this we had to share. When we were in Phoenix, AZ we were lucky enough to meet up with Jim Nissen. (We’re posting his interview today) Jim hooked us up with an interview/photoshoot and bam, magazine feature! The photographer, Mark W. Lipczynski, took some pretty epic photos and Michelle Jacoby wrote a delightful story. Seriously, we found the article yesterday morning and we’ve been giddy since. So check it out here: Process Mag

Also, notice the cover, we’re mentioned on the front page, right next to Debbie Millman. We’re practically sitting right next to her.

Minneapolis. A homeless guy asked us to sign his shirt and then convinced us to pay him for it. We rocked out at a Ferry Corsten concert because Tony, the designer we stayed with, was a baller and did the promotional posters for the concert. It wasn’t really our scene but good times were had by all. We found a sweet designer toy shop called Robot Love. We went to an AIGA meet-up at a swanky bar, something that still boggles us. We’ve been able to attend quite a few AIGA meet-ups and they all seem to be in expensive bars. We’ve also noticed half the people that go to these are freelancers that recently lost their job. AIGA: designers don’t have the cash to spend nine dollars on a drink. Try going to a dive bar, so the broke dudes can get drunk enough to network. We met a ton of cool young designers, some still in school and some killin’ it professionally. It was super inspiring. We also met up with Mr. Bolger. We were able to set up a time to meet him at his print shop. “Shop” isn’t the right word, this place was huge. Check out the video for a little tour.

What is ZAAZ? We’re still not sure what the name means, but they are a pretty good sized interactive agency based out of Seattle, WA. These guys don’t mess around, we had a chance to take a little tour of their studio, thanks to Rachel Elkington. She was awesome. We learned a bit about optimization, Rachel is an online test designer which is like user interface optimization. They essentially launch different versions of an interface/website and test to see which performs best. We can only imagine that this creates an interesting dynamic between optimization designer and interface designer. When do you compromise?

Be sure to watch the video, near 3:15ish in the timeline, you can see their interrogation room. The clients and designers will sit on one side and a targeted user will sit on the blind side of the room. The clients/designers can then watch the users interaction via multiple cameras, the one-way mirror and eye tracking software. We were pretty blown away when we saw that, very cool stuff. It’s all about the details.

Anyone have any good books/sites for interface optimization testing?

Round I
We recently ran into Nate Voss of 36point.com while touring the Willoughby design firm in Kansas City. They seemed nice enough and were doing something similar, interviewing designers for their podcast. We talked to them for about 2 minutes, briefly explained our epic journey and were gone.
We ran into them again — online this time — when they tweeted about one of their latest posts and nonchalantly mentioned we were in it. “Oh awesome!” we thought…an established, very well connected couple of designers mentioned us in one of their blog posts, “sweet!” And in fact, it was pretty awesome, we made it into Nate’s cartoon. Check it out here.

Martin’s character was pretty legit looking and mine (Gavin) had a soul patch. I only wish I could grow facial hair, so thank you Nate for that addition. Although the comic was an inaccurate depiction of what we are doing (see graph below), we really didn’t mind the attention. This is the internet — uneducated opinions run rampant. Another reason we didn’t mind is because we’ve worked with enough people that would vouch for us and if Nate isn’t a fan, we’re okay with that. If you’ve read the comic, then our response will make sense, so check it out first. This is what we responded with.

Round II
Nate responded with another post which you can read here if you really want to. After reading the comments, which we really appreciate, we decided we may as well write a little something. We completely agree with what everyone has said, we value our work just as much as the next designer. We also expect to be paid what it is worth. This cross-country drift has quickly tossed us into the freelance world and has given us a true taste of what it means to be paid what you are worth and what it means to go without (read – car wash showers and 89cent taco bell).

The whole premise of Nate’s blog post and some of the comments was that we undercut design firms. Most of our work comes from design firms, where our work is valued. We’ve been able to build relationships with designers through-out this trip across the country. Sometimes they throw some freelance work our way. Sometimes they’re just stoked about our journey and want to help us out by giving us a project to work on. The rest of our work comes from back in texas, where we are from. Where we bill our normal rate.

20% of the work we’ve done, we would consider under-billed. 10% of that was work done for close friends and for charity groups. We have no problem working for charities for a reduced rate/free. We do however make sure to let them know what the value had been if we were charging them our regular rates. As for the other 10%, this is not work that was stolen from any design firm or designer. This is work that we’ve found in small towns or small start-ups that 99% of the time wouldn’t go to a designer for work. In fact, we’ve been able to educate a few clients about the importance smart design can have on their brand. We’ve been able to introduce design to smaller companies in tiny towns that have had the D.E.Y. (Do Everything Yourself) mentality.

Here is an example of work we’ve done that was under-billed: The mind-bandit t-shirts we did, you can see them on our work page , was billed for $300. Five t-shirts for 300 bucks — incredibly low. The client was an awesome girl, still in high school, in Charleston, SC. She asked if we could help her start a line of clothing to sell to some of the local board shops around her town. We were stoked by her entrepreneurial spirit and the style of tees she wanted. So we took the job and had a great time working on it. We made a stop in SC and her family let us stay with them while we were there. Amazing people! Do you really believe we stole this work from any designers? Do you really think this means we don’t value our work?

If you’ve been able to read down this far and you can remember back to when you started freelancing, did you ever do work that you felt was under-billed for whatever reason? What % of your work would you say was under-billed, if any?

Okay, one last thing, Nate Voss we don’t care about your comic. We get that it was just a joke. But if you are going to continue to make nonsense claims about us, please spend more than 2 minutes talking to us. Do a little research, especially when you have such a large audience.

One of the perks of meeting with tons of designers is checking out their incredible work. At Turnstyle, we met with, Matt Diefenbach and it was really inspiring to listen to him talk about the work they’ve done. Just watch the video and it is easy to see how stoked he is about each project. Turnstyle is about a 10-man shop. They focus on brand identities, web/interactive and print/packaging. They are located in Seattle, WA.

Definitely go check out their website. Seriously, if you need inspiration, they’ve got some sick projects and the interface is delightful to navigate. turnstylestudio.com/

Oh and check out the sweet car-fresheners they hooked us up with. The smell of innovation is pretty intense, but so much better than the sweet smell of two dudes that have been living out of the car for about a month.
We also found a bottle of Dry soda at a coffee shop when we were in Hayden, ID — right after meeting the guys that designed it. We got excited and told the barista all about it, but he really didn’t care.

A couple weeks ago I decided that I wanted to write a post on who inspired me. We always ask designers who pushed them or got them started, and I finally decided to turn the question around upon myself. Through school I worked a few design jobs, including some in house jobs with other designers that I didn’t get along with. I was quickly falling out of love with design when I got an e-mail from Roby. I’d been recommended to him by a mutual friend and I started work at Always Creative a week or two later.

Roby pushed me to learn and progress while I was working at AC and kept me motivated. During our smoke breaks we talked design and dreamed big. Through those 10-15 breaks I fell back in love with design. Roby also pushed me to start DC, and has been a great cheerleader and mentor throughout our trek. So a week or so ago I sent Roby and email with some questions that I thought would be cool to share.

Born in Houston and now residing in College Station, Roby Fitzhenry is one busy dude. He has been a (graphic) designer for eight years with a love and focus on identity and print design. He is a self-taught web designer and brand strategist who also does a variety of event planning and promotion. Roby is co-founder and Creative Director of Always Creative, a Bryan Texas based brand and web development company as well as co-founder of The Creative Space, Texas’ first co-working space. He’s won a few (lame) awards and has been featured in LogoLounge Volume Five which is his biggest honor to date. Besides these things, he is also serving as Creative Director of Desired Hearts, a small fashion label focused on passion and the entrepreneurial spirit. Roby’s designs focus on simplicity through purity and the goal of creating design that survives the test of time. His career goal is to be a respected and trusted designer that creates designs and strategies that change the way people look at things, especially business owners towards their business and the way people revere designers/design in general. He also drinks way too much coffee, loves sneakers and fashion as well as loud music of all varieties.

Do you remember the first time you had the desire to be a designer?
Absolutely. I was 15 and an avid BMXer that created my own fake company and started sketching bike frames, pedals and other components. I named the company, developed a marketing strategy, focused service offerings and even designed a (crappy) logo. This all started without me even knowing that graphic design and branding were actual career options… However, I remember lying in my bed when I was 17 and just finished high school. Had to choose between graphic design or culinary arts as a career. As you can see, design was my decision and from that point on I’ve never looked back.

What is the first project you remember completing for money?
Latham, a local punk rock band of my youth, was my first client. I designed a CD and some t-shirts. The funny thing is that their lead singer Jeff is now my business partner. We been friends for a longgg time though.

If tomorrow the entire design/branding field went away. What job would you pursue and why?
Event promotion, writing, teaching or open a streetwear/sneaker shop. Hell .. maybe all of them.

What would you do differently if someone gave you the
chance to start AC again?
Save up a ton of working capital, clearly define all of our processes, develop a marketing strategy and work up a simple business plan. Beyond that, I would sit down and design the hell out of everything from stationery to the website so we had it from day one. All of those things are VERY important .. trust me.

Can design save the world?
I use to think it could but not anymore. It’s more about the message behind the design, not the design itself. I think conversation can save the world and graphic design is just a different form of having a conversation. Hippie propaganda FTW?

If you had to pick 3 typefaces to use for the rest of eternity
what would they be?
Easy. Gotham, Helvetica and my own handwriting. Handmade type is very important to me. Still can’t decide who would win in the epic battle of Gotham vs. Helvetica (so I’ll take both). [cheater]

Name one designer that has shaped your work more than any other.
Paul Rand deserves credit for my overall aesthetic. Benny Gold is currently the designer that I’m following because his work, client list, approach to projects and overall lifestyle are all something to look up to.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Where will AC be?
Where will design be?
I don’t know where I’ll be nor Always Creative. If things keep going the way they are, hopefully Always Creative will be a big name in the design field. Design will continue to expand within mobile devices, their applications and overall uses. I’m confident that crappy web design will continue to be frowned upon by users (potential customers) and good design will help companies command a premium.

A man’s closet says a lot about him. What shoes are you
rocking these days?
I own the Skate or Die dunk lows and the Tie Dye mids. My other kicks are the Stubbs x Supra Skytops, Air Max Lights (my beaters), and of course a wide variety of Vans. The Dunk Hi Caution Quickstrikes and the Air Royal Mid Premiums are my next to cop.

If AC had to have a highschool style mascot what would it be?
A dodo bird or a duckbill platypus? We’re a bit of a hybrid team that can’t be categorized per se.

You and Jeff grew up together and you worked around Travis before starting AC. Do you find it hard to take/give criticism to and from your friends?
Any designer should value their network of friends and family. Running a business with friends can be tough at times but I really enjoy the mood it creates in our office. We don’t really act like a company, we’re more like a tight knit team that likes to have fun, pay bills and do great work. Having a network of friends, especially designer friends, is awesome because we share ideas, tell someone when they need to step it up and give each other the necessary props. That’s really what it’s all about.

If you were offered a job where you had to wear a suit to work, but made 200K a year would you take it?
What time would I have to get there? I’m an insomniac. Plus, no one will pay me $200k .. I’ve asked. haha

You are really involved in the design community even helping put together things like Design Camp. What motivates you to do more than the typical 9-5?
Bryan/College Station is awesome but lacks a lot of things I need. So, I decided to do them with my friends rather than complain about their lack of existence. “Shut up and do it” is my new motto. The list includes: The Creative Space, Desired Hearts, IS Conference, RefreshBCS, Rock The Republic and Big Ass BarCamp. And people wonder why I’m always working …

And finally….
Can you handle the truth?
The truth shall set you free.

I just wanna say thanks to Roby for being an all around good dude, great friend, and bad ass designer.