I just finished writing this month's Welcome column for Boxes and Arrows. I tried to kill two birds with one stone—give some thoughts to the recent DUX conference as well as impart some deep thoughts about the profession. I think I succeeded a little bit on both parts. Call me sappy and overly optimistic, but I came away from DUX feeling good about things, about the state of the industry. The biggest takeaway for me, was a feeling a subtle shift in the attitudes of the attendees. Several other conferences in the past—the AIGA Advance comes to mind as does past years IA summits—were rippling with the whining and depressive undercurrents of folks out of work or if working feelings of being extremely marginalized. I didn't get that sense here. While there were one or two outbursts of whining from a panelist or two—most notable was an audience that wasn't about to tolerate it. We came to share knowledge and to learn new things to take back to our respective organizations and not to hear folks whine about the same old thing. And we did. We conversed and shared and laughed and I for one felt optimistic again.

I have been feeling rather blase about the state of things lately, my job, the organizations I belong to, my commitments to AIFIA and Boxes and Arrows, and I know others have been feeling equally burnt by the overload. I have even unsubscribed from some of the lists because they were just too overwhelming to deal with.

The couple of days being inspired at DUX, which shortly followed a brief vacation, has done wonders for my outlook on things and I feel energized again to take on the hard problems.

I wrote up a lengthy review/overview of the summit for Boxes and Arrows. So it won't be on this site - but do go over there and check it out and leave comments if you wish.

My summary from the ASIS IA Summit March 15-17 is now up and posted on Boxes and Arrows. The piece is long so it is split out over two articles - one for each day. There were contributions from other staff members to cover parallel sessions and links and photos from attendees as well. Check out the groovy photo albums, too.

As promised, a blow by blow of the Advance Summit #4 along with some of my thoughts and conclusions. I will not repeat, in detail, the formal presentations since they will be posted on the Advance web site within a week or so. When they are posted, I will link each section with them. Between each formal presentation was a brief 10 minute show and tell of an example or artifact. Most were related to the presentation before but not all were. They are very interesting and a good chance to see other people work. Conclusions follow brief thoughts and descriptions of the two and half days of work.

Just returned from the AIGA Advance for Design summit meeting and have tons of notes and impressions to post about that experience later this week (maybe later today).

Some noted impressions:
Interaction designers are sometimes no better at figuring out how stuff works than "real" people in the world. Several of us got lost in the hotel due to lack of signage and meandering hallways, and the doors with the cryptic green and red lights and card keys actioned by time in the slot were difficult to work consistently.

Lou Rosenfeld was one of the most mentioned, non-attending participants of the conference. Word was he was white water rafting.

Members of the late firm HannaHodge were in attendance and still full of enthusiasm for the field.

The discussion of Brand was contentious, visual design is not a dirty word and 90 degrees at 7am is cool compared to 110 in the afternoon. Yikes!

Also of note: A visit to Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West is a must see example of rich Experience Design and was not far from the summit hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona. Pics going up in the photolog.

I started this column after attending the AIGA Looking Closer conference on Design History and Design Criticism back in February of this year. The AIGA has just recently posted notes from the conference, PDF files of some of the presentations as well as recommended readings, design history archive collections and suggested curricula for educators. I highly recommend taking a look at Jeremy Aynsley's presentation - presented as a PDF - if you are interested in German Graphic Design from 1890-1945. In addition to the notes, each presenter has contributed a reading list. Good stuff.

2.25
Thoughts on the Design History discussions:

The theme for the day: Design History - was loosely held to, with the discussions touching criticism, the roll of the musem and musem curator as well as discussions of compiling histories and biographies.

2/24 Thoughts on the AIGA: Looking Closer Conference
I have spent the last two days immersed in discussions and discourse around Graphic Design Criticism and History. It has been extremely stimulating and encouraging.

The event: Looking Closer: AIGA Conference on Design Criticism and History
The place: New York City

The range of speakers included Elvis Mitchell (New York Times film critic), Rick Poyner (former editor of Eye Magazine), Ellen Lupton (curator of the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum), and a lawyer specializing in copyright and fair use law.