HOW Design 2011 in review: Part one
Friday, June 24, 2011
I am attending the HOW Design Conference 2011 in Chicago, Illinois. Below are my notes from the workshop and opening session I attended on Friday.
9:00 am-12:00 pm – Morning Pre-Conference Workshop – Vector Basic Training – Von Glitschka
Whether you’re a student or a veteran, it’s well worth it for every designer to spend some time improving their skills when it comes to creating and building vector shapes in Adobe Illustrator®. And that’s where illustrator Von Glitschka comes in.
He’ll show you how to create a systematic creative process for building precision vector artwork, and explain why it’s important to create a process that relies on good research, sketching, refined drawing and plugins. There will be plenty of time for Q&A, and the best questions will get a free license to a second-party plugin for Illustrator, as well as a book that exhaustively covers all of the info you’ll learn in this session.
- Removing visual tension from your work (where lines/edges overlap). About simplicity and clarity.
- VectorScribe plugin for Illustrator
- PathScribe – Dynamic Corners Tools
- Smart Remove filter to remove points without affecting the integrity of the shape
- Other plugins: Xtream Path and Better Handles
- Redundant point bug in Illustrator – PathScribe can remove these
- Clockwork method to discern where point locations should be on a shape.
- Organic shape creation: (1) rough build (anchor points in right positions), then (2) using PathScribe tool, mold the paths and push them closer, then (3) Refinement.
- Get away from using strokes and think in just fills/shapes.
- Creating the monster – IllustrationClass.com
- Halftone effect – search for Big Dot at IllustrationClass.com
6:30 pm-8:00 pm – Opening Keynote – 1. Being Available in the Moment – Kristina Robbins & Jo McGinley
No doubt you’ve heard that living in the moment will benefit your health and well being. But, according to Juice’s Jo McGinley and Kristina Robbins, it’s equally important for your creative process and collaborations. In fact, being open to your own deepest insights and the inspirations of your collaborators is the best way to kick-start the creative process. Unfortunately, looming deadlines and client expectations can cause you to lose sight of the moment.
In this session, Jo and Kristina will show you how to bring yourself back into the moment whenever you feel yourself getting off track. You’ll learn:
- how to identify the physical and mental signs of being in the moment
- how to bring yourself back into the moment using specific tools
- how to apply your awareness of the moment to the creative process and your collaborative relationships
Continue to HOW Design 2011 in review: Part two »