AIGA Make Think Wrap-up

October 13, 2009 • 2:27 am • POSTED BY kdorsey

That’s right, once you get a few beers in you at a Design Observer party, you’ll talk to anyone. I met so many great people last week in Memphis and was reunited with a ton of friends who I met last time around in Denver. And, surprisingly, many of the best learning experiences I had occurred outside of the regular programming of the conference itself. That’s why it becomes such a rich experience, in addition to the insanely well-thought out scheduling and speakers– it’s the conversations after sessions, sharing ribs with new friends and discovering a city with other curious thinkers that really sticks with you, especially the ribs—hey-o.

Hands down the best thing I did was visit the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel on Saturday. If you are ever in Memphis, be sure to take the time to visit.

I find that a lot of times when I’m in museums, I get distracted by the design of the exhibits. I’m constantly scanning everything with an extremely critical eye. This isn’t a shiny new museum; the exhibits aren’t displaying information in any new exciting way, but at the same time, I’ve never been to a museum that evoked so much emotion. I was familiar with most of the events and stories from history class, but nothing can prepare you for the videos. It’s not the moving image that makes it more real for me, what I find disturbing I think is the audio. It’s difficult to listen to fear and hate.

Which is why I was extremely curious about the gigantic shipping container that was parked outside the Rock and Soul Museum Saturday night at the sappi party. This vessel represented possibility and hope. Basically, we conference attendees were greeted with an appearance of (blank)LAB, a mobile studio created through Project M to build relationships within the creative community and work on projects for the greater good. How refreshing.

So, it was a great last day in Memphis. Another conference, another success— another two years till next time. Here are some of my favorite moments from the conference, enjoy. Oh, and videos, documenting both the conference and Memphis moments.