Graphic Arts Triple Play

Join Maggie Macnab, Joel Nakamura and John Langdon on Saturday, September 19 from 9:00am to 12:30pm for a half-day seminar that explores the fascinating relevance of symbolism to effective and engaging visual communications. Seen from the unique angles of decoding design, visual myth and the found symbol, this experiential event will educate attendees on symbolic influence in graphic design, illustration and lettering from three experts who use it regularly. Attendees will also have an opportunity to start personal projects to complete outside the seminar.

Saturday, 19 Sept. 9:00am to 12:30pm
AIGA members $15, non-members: $25, AIGA student members: Free, Student non-members: $8
for info , click below:
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About the presenters:

Decoding Design :: Maggie Macnab
Effective design begins with understanding connections. Join Maggie Macnab, identity designer, educator and author of Decoding Design: Understanding and Using Symbols in Visual Communication as she examines the significance of patterns and shapes we encounter in everyday life, and articulates their relationships to natural processes we all intuitively know. Exploring a spectrum of interdisciplinary practices that have common ground in design, this presentation offers the designer, creative professional, student, artist, or lay person a powerful and eclectic approach to creative process and understanding of how design impacts communication. Maggie speaks for national conferences, guest lectures for colleges in the US and abroad, and provides internal training for communications departments on the value of designed communications. Her presentation is mind-stretching, informative, and not like any you’ve seen before. Attendees will identify both their preferred and disliked traits in symbolic terms and learn what it says about them in universal principles, and begin work on a fusion of the two in balance as a workshop take-away.

Visual Myth :: Joel Nakamura
Ever since the village went global, just about everything can be part of a cultural, visual, and ephemeral stew. The more digital and technological a society becomes, the more it longs for primitive imagery. The more automated, impersonal, convenient or abbreviated our lives get, the more we yearn for storytelling. We will examine visual story telling–the juxtaposition of ancient and modern through symbols and media. How can we use myth, fairy tales, pop culture as sources for communication and expanded creativity?

The Found Symbol :: John Langdon
The yin/yang symbol is arguably one of the most effective logos ever designed. Central to the ancient Chinese philosophy Taoism, the yin/yang symbol was the ultimate inspiration for my entire approach to art and design. This is especially the case for my ambigrams, which are linguistically representative of many of the universal concepts that yin and yang implies. My ambigrams employ bilateral, or mirror-image, symmetry as well as yin/yang’s rotational symmetry to symbolize the physical makeup of the universe and the processes that keep it running. Plus, ambigrams are fun.

AIGA is the professional association for design, is the place design professionals turn to first to exchange ideas and information, participate in critical analysis and research and advance education and ethical practice. AIGA sets the national agenda for the role of design in its economic, social, political, cultural and creative contexts. AIGA is the oldest and largest membership association for professionals engaged in the discipline, practice and culture of designing. Founded as the American Institute of Graphic Arts in 1914 as a small, exclusive club, AIGA now represents more than 21,000 designers through national activities and local programs developed by more than 55 chapters and 200 student groups. Click here for information on the New Mexico chapter.