Ellen Lupton :: Session Topic – Typography: More Than Words
Ellen Lupton is curator of contemporary design at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution in New York City and director of the Graphic Design MFA program at MICA in Baltimore. She has produced numerous exhibitions, including the National Design Triennial series and Skin: Surface, Substance + Design. Her book Thinking with Type (2004) is a basic guide to typography directed at everyone who works with words. She has produced a series of publications with her graduate students at MICA, including D.I.Y.: Design It Yourself (2006), Indie Publishing (2008), and Graphic Design: The New Basics (2008). Ellen has contributed to various design magazines, including Print, Eye, I.D., and Metropolis. She is a 2007 recipient of the AIGA Gold Medal. A frequent lecturer around the U.S. and the world, Lupton will speak about design to anyone who will listen.
Jill Tanenbaum :: Session Topic – Networking 101
Jill Tanenbaum is the President and Creative Director of Jill Tanenbaum Graphic Design & Advertising Inc. (JTGD&A), an award-winning full-service marketing, advertising, and graphic design company located in Bethesda, Maryland since 1982. JTGD&A specializes in strategic marketing and branding, print and broadcast advertising, e-marketing, public relations, print collateral, direct mail, exhibit design, multimedia, and website design.
Jill is a seasoned marketing professional with experience in product and brand management. Her experiences include working with government, association, education, and non-profit and private markets. Her firm has been listed as one of the top graphic design firms in the prestigious Washington Business Journal Book of Lists since 2002. In 2007 and 2009, DiversityBusiness.com awarded her firm one of the top woman-owned, multi-cultural earners in the state of Maryland. Jill teaches a graduate course called Branding and Advertising at Johns Hopkins University. Work her firm designed can be seen in design books worldwide. She is also a studio glass artist at the Art Glass Center in Glen Echo, Maryland and shows her works at galleries in and around Washington, DC. Jill has an MA in Publications Design from the University of Baltimore.
Meg Touborg :: Session Topic – The Business of Design
Meg Touborg is a Managing Partner in Design Investors, LLC, a private equity firm dedicated to the design industry. In this capacity, she serves as CEO of Rose Tarlow Melrose House, a pre-eminent home furnishings company headquartered in Los Angeles and sits on the company’s Board of Directors, as well as the Boards of Waterworks, Twill Textiles and Kooba Holdings. She is also an operating partner and co-host of the Design Leadership Summit LLC, an annual conference of the nation’s top architecture and design principals.
Prior to forming Design Investors, Meg held a distinguished career building brands for industry leaders for over 20 years. These experiences provided her with exceptional know-how in brand management practices, including strategic planning, product development, marketing, licensing and sales. Her previous executive positions span premium companies in both interior design and fashion, and include Waterworks, kate spade and Coach. Meg earned her Bachelors of Arts degree from Harvard College magna cum laude in History and Literature, and has completed Executive Education in marketing and strategy at the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University. She has 3 children and lives with her family in Connecticut where her community involvements include volunteering in the public schools.
Eric Miller :: Session Topic – The Client Is Always Right
Eric Miller is a graphic designer and web developer with more than 12 years of experience in the field. He runs his own studio, Eric Miller Design, and is the guide to graphic design on about.com, a NY Times company. From 1999 to 2008, Eric was the full-time designer and developer for BMI, giving him a great deal of experience working as an in-house designer for a large company. As a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, Eric serves as a Webby Awards judge.
Eric Miller Design is a Brooklyn-based studio with a wide range of clients that includes nonprofit organizations, local artists, small businesses and large corporations. Through this work, Eric has the opportunity to take on a variety of projects, including posters, book design, CD packaging, logo design and websites.
Stephen Beals :: Session Topic – Transition From Print to Web
Stephen Beals is the founder of Printoolz.com and a well-known award-winning contributor to leading printing industry publications including Graphic Arts Monthly, the Seybold Report, Electronic Publishing, The Big Picture, X-Ray, Printing News and many others, with hundreds of articles in print. He has written White Papers for print vendors including Scitex, Presstek, Markzware, Pantone and Ennovation and has served as presenter, panelist and moderator at industry conferences like VuePoint and Print Oasis. He has also written several on-line courses for Prepress Training, and is the author of “A Practical Primer for Painless Print Production”. With more than 30 years of pre-press experience, he retired in 2007 from Finger Lakes Press in Auburn NY after 26 years with the company, most recently as pre-press manager. In his spare time he also founding director of Private Eyes Unlimited, for which he has created or helped create dozens of murder mystery dinner theatre musical comedy productions. He also serves as a Presbyterian minister.
Eryn Willard :: Session Topic – The Green Movement & The Creative Industry
Eryn Willard is the founder and design sherpa of Studio 22, an award-winning graphic design firm that opened in Thurmont, MD in 2005. Inspired by client experiences with the National Recreation and Park Association, President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, and the National Park Service earlier in her career and by her personal passions, Eryn decided quickly that Studio 22 would specialize in working with outdoor industry and environmentally-focused companies.
Eryn has a BA in Graphic Design from McDaniel College and is currently pursuing her Certificate in Sustainable Design at Minneapolis College of Art & Design. She is a past president of her regional chapter of the American Advertising Federation and currently serves on the national board of directors for Outdoor Industries Women’s Coalition as their Brand Manager. Her work has been recognized regionally and nationally in design books, publications and competitions, and in corporate reporting awards. She is passionate about promoting sustainability to not only her clients, but to anyone who will listen.
Ross Nover :: Session Topic – The Designer and the Community
Ross Nover is a Social Media Specialist and Graphic Designer. Ross knew he wanted to work at Free Range Studios after seeing The Meatrix in 2003. Since becoming a part of the team in 2005, he has brought caffeine-fueled wit and humor into his designs to get people motivated about progressive change. In the past three years, Ross has been an integral part of the design and development teams for the “The Story of Stuff” and “Feed the Pig,” projects at Free Range. As a member of the strategy team, Ross keeps his fingers on the pulse of online technology, and is one of Free Range’s primary “Twitter” writers. Ross is a graduate of American University’s graphic design program, where he is now an adjunct professor. In his free time, he keeps a blog full of graphic design humor at www.systemcomic.com.
Brian Hock :: Session Topic – Branding You
Brian Hock would probably tell you that he is a passionate and award- winning designer with over 20 years of business design experience. Brian’s active in the Cincinnati design community having served many positions with the AIGA Cincinnati Chapter including President from 2002 to 2004. Brian’s a graduate of Bowling Green State University and the AIGA | Harvard Business School “Business Perspectives for Creative Leaders” program. Brian’s taught senior-level design at Northern Kentucky University and regularly lectures about design at various universities in Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. If Brian’s not at the office then he is spending time with his family or training for his second Ironman Triathlon (Swim 2.4 miles, Bike 112 miles & Run 26.2 miles).
But what Brian really enjoys is connecting to design and to you – the designer. That’s why in late 2006 Brian launched designerID.com as a tool for designers to promote themselves and share their work online. The site now showcases over 2,500 designers with over 10,500 design works.
Marisa Peacock :: Session Topic – 140 Characters or Less
Marisa Peacock is the Senior Marketing Manager at Sisarina Inc, a full service web marketing company in Bethesda, MD. With a strong background, experience and interest in social media, emerging web technologies, web design and multimedia, Marisa has defined and developed web, social media and multimedia marketing strategies for non-profits, small businesses and independent schools.
In addition, she is a contributing writer for CMSWire.com and EdSocialMedia.com, covering stories related to web publishing, usability experience and design. Marisa holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Mount Holyoke College and a MALS in American Studies from Georgetown University. Having met her boyfriend on Facebook and found her job on Twitter, Marisa proudly supports the merits of social media, personally and professionally.
George Stephenson :: Session Topic – Will It Print?
George W. Stephenson, a native Washingtonian, studied printing in school and, at the age of 15, worked part time in printing nights and weekends. After leaving high school early and working as a pressman for eight years, George opened his own one-man print shop in 1959 with one small press. In 1968, George became the first commercial printer in the entire Metro Washington area to install a 4/c press. By 1972, two more 4/c presses had been added and Stephenson was well on his way to being recognized as the area’s highest quality printer. In 1977, it was no surprise George’s extensive knowledge in color printing led him to be the first to announce the installation of a laser dot-generated color scanner.
In 1980, with his client base quickly growing and the desire to enter the web press market, George decided to build a new facility in Northern Virginia just inside the DC beltway. Today, George operates one of the most fully equipped & capable companies (Stephenson Printing) in the country. Over the years, George and his company have garnered a myriad of local, regional, national and even world awards for best color and best printing. George has been inducted into NAPL’s prestigious Soderstrom Society and, most recently, given the highest honor in printing by being inducted into The National Printing Hall of Fame.
