Born in 1948, graphic designer and artist Paula Scher never wanted to go traditional or play nice in print. Scher studied at Philadelphia's Tyler School of Art, created album covers for CBS and Atlantic Records, and moved into art direction for magazines before launching her own design firm.

From Scher's memorable cover art for The New York Times Magazine to her promotional artwork for artists such as Billy Joel and Elvis Costello, Scher's imagination runs wild, what many know best as "creative messiness." Her work for the identity of The Public Theater in New York City was a loud, bold assertion of words, and her Shakespeare In The Park campaign was considered by some to be the first truly "American" design promoting Shakespeare performances. Paula Scher's work was plastered all over New York until the visual identity she made for the Public Theater turned into its own genre in poster design.

Paula Scher is a legend in graphic design and has a permanent collection at the Museum of Modern art, but her accolades go far beyond those you'd expect to find on the mantel; in addition to being a Chrysler Award winner and an inductee into the Art Director's Club Hall of Fame, Scher is also a four-time Grammy nominee for her work in album cover design. You can read more about Paula Scher's work on the AIGA site: http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/medalist-paulascher.

Are you going to PhizzPop? 

In a nutshell: five interactive teams compete in each of the six cities where the PhizzPop Tour stops and the winning team goes onto the national competition that will take place in Austin at a SXSW event.  Interested team register online, five are chosen, trained in the latest Microsoft technologies and then are given a creative brief.The teams pitch their work at an event where the winner is chosen by a mix of professional judges and audience members who are invited to text in their choices.

The next event is in Chicago on November 20^th at the Chicago Cultural Center from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. PhizzPop is coming to Chicago after its round in New York back on Tuesday, November 4^th.

PhizzPop is an event created by Microsoft to engage designers and promote their interactive design software. I first heard about it last year at the Future of Web Design conference  in NYC when Sean Seibel, a User Experience Evangelist (yes that is his title, listen to the video, he explains) spoke. The crowd of interactive design professionals where less then warm when he started and coolly polite as he explained that Microsoft is working hard to reach out to creatives and to make Microsoft Expression Studio, Silverlight, and other products the best design tools around. It is not the easiest sell. Sean also announced the first PhizzPop challenge in which teams would be given the opportunity to use those technologies in a design competition setting.

Last year was their first year and the hosts were adamant that they wanted honest feedback and encouraged criticism on the products. It was impressive to see that the sort of dialog Microsoft said they wanted with creatives was actually encouraged. The comments made it clear that designers where not going to be seduced away from their Adobe products just yet (especially not by Microsoft) but programmers generally had very positive thing to say.

This event promises to be very exciting!

“The Match that Gives Back” party was a huge success. Not only were the winners of the design contest announced, but graphic designers from across the city had the opportunity to mix with extremely prominent members of the design community. Hiring managers from such esteemed corporations such as Motorola mixed and mingled with the crowd. All this happened while fine artist Pete Nawara provided fine art entertainment.

Over 200 freelancers, clients, representatives from the selected nonprofits, and judges munched on bacon-wrapped dates and spring rolls while Nick Gerber from Orange2 Photography and Brenda Moore from Columbia College graciously captured our evening. Psymbolic provided visual and audio entertainment while Pete painted. At the beginning Pete stood before a blank canvas and at the end of the party his portrait revealed his end piece: two beautiful children. Pete's passion and talent added amazing energy to our evening and we were very fortunate to have his participation. Thanks, Pete!

 

 

Photographs by Nick Gerber

ABS Graphics is a Chicago-area company that has decided to contribute an additional $5,000 toward printing costs for the winning non-profit organization! This company has enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with Artisan, and has stepped up to support the "Match That Gives Back" creative competition with their generous donation.

Serving the area for over 30 years, ABS Graphics is an integrated marketing, communications and print media company that has designed many award-winning brochures, annual reports and magazines. Their many areas of expertise include direct mail and marketing collateral, among other things, and they have spearheaded projects for various clients large and small.

Again, the donation by ABS Graphics helps to underscore how having good connections in the industry can be beneficial. Artisan has worked hard to earn their reputation, and the formation of long-term relationships is something that can't be underestimated when it comes to business. We'd like to send out our sincere thanks to ABS Graphics for their generous donation and continued support.

ABS Graphics: (l-r) Seve Vanderveen and Brad Burker
Photograph by Nick Gerber 

We did it—Artisan not only threw a smashing party but our “Match that Gives Back” ultimately contributed $25,000 to an outstanding charity: Snow City Arts. This amazing charity provides artistic outreach to hospitalized children who due to their hospitalization are lacking access to school and art programs. The program stays with the children through their return home—it truly is a program that instills a love of expression through the arts.

Art director and graphic designer David Weik of Studio VIK was announced the winner of a $25,000 project benefiting Snow City Arts. The winners were announced on stage in front of over 200 influential guests of our party.

Artisan’s team members were overjoyed to witness such an amazing act of generosity and we thank our founder, Bejan Douraghy, for the outstanding contribution to not only the creative community, but the nonprofit community as well.

"Match that Gives Back" Winners:   (l-r) David Weik, Vik Design; Kate Neisser, Board Member, Snow City Arts; and Bejan Douraghy, Founder and CEO, Artisan - toast with master mixologist and author, Bridget Albert's, "Artisan's Muse" signature cocktail for the event 

"Match that Gives Back" Judges (5 of 22 judges at the event):  (l-r) Motorola's Frank Lawlor; Unilever's Kathleen Powers; Alberto Culver's Glen Spurrier; United Way's Lynda Jorgensen; and River East Art Center's Mikki Markowicz with Artisan's Founder, Bejan Douraghy.

Artisan's Chicago Team: Rachel Grimm, Talent Representative; Lindsay Mitchell, Office Administrator; Suzanne Shannon, Talent Representative; Doug Wolterink, Controller; Bejan Douraghy, Founder and CEO; Liz Dierbeck, Talent Representative; Sharon Potsch, Talent Representative; PC Singsuwan, Accounting Lead; Nena Girsch, Account Manager; Bridget Verdun, Account Manager; Adrienne Burke, General Manager NY Office.

Photographs by Nick Gerber

Interactive talent--are you going to go for it? Communication Arts announced their latest interactive design contest today. Artisan is proud to represent some of the best interface and online designers in Chicago, New York, LA, and San Francisco. We'd love to see some of you putting your work out there. You can read more about the design contest on Comm Arts' website.

Born in 1952, Ahn Sang-Soo is a major figure in graphic design, especially at home in Korea, where his work in typography forever altered the way people view that particular alphabet. Traditional printed Korean or Hangul was once almost stodgy with its squared-off presentation. To western eyes, old Hangul looks exotic, but it was in desperate need of a re-think; enter Ahn Sang-Soo. His breakthrough in re-thinking Hangul included taking the alphabet's design beyond a square frame, making it far more edgy and visually engaging. Previously, the squared-off look of Hangul was considered one of its major limitations, but with a fresh pair of eyes and a sharp wit, Ahn Sang-Soo took the square and turned it on its head. Since then, he's responsible for 15 books on design and has received accolades including Design Magazine's Designer of the Year award for 1983.

For westerners, one of Ahn Sang-Soo's most well-known images is "Bomb Fishes", which has circulated as a poster or art print since 1991. It's a great example of his style and individualism. Ahn Sang Soo has invented a number of typefaces, but the one he named after himself is an excellent introduction to the mind of this brilliant designer. Cover up an eye and click here to learn more about this amazing graphic designer.

You may wonder what good it would do you as a hiring manager to tell your internal creative team about Artisan. What if you knew about an impending layoff? Artisan can partner with your organization to be your ally in protecting the creative talent who mean so much to you because they mean that much to us, too. While it’s true that Artisan is in the business of placing creative talent on jobs, we can also offer talent (and clients) with portfolio reviews and resume advice if downsizing or layoffs are forecast for your organization. Let us know if we can be of help during this market slow-down.

Contact your account manager or get in touch with us here to learn more http://www.artisantalent.com/knowledge-center/contact-artisan/.

The talent representatives at Artisan rock. That's right, I sincerely believe that we are the best team of creative recruiters in the business. We're not in this profession just to hunt heads, we're in this business to better people's professional careers. We always do our best to help our freelance and fulltime creative talent put their best foot forward in the job market. A slow, competitive market makes it the right time to evaluate your presentation materials and get up to speed with interviewing—even if you have a job.  We can help you revitalize your book, resume, and interview style so that when things pick up you’ll be ready to hit the market.

Along with learning about new available opportunities, registered clients and talent of Artisan have access to:

•    Expert portfolio reviews and evaluations.
•    Targeted resume tips and advice.
•    Industry insights and perspectives.

We are always open to new ideas on ways that we can better serve both our clients and the creative community we represent. Are there other services we could provide you? Let us know if there is another way we can help.

We’re here in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, to do our best to help you. Give us a call or send us an email. You can contact us here:  http://www.artisantalent.com/knowledge-center/contact-artisan/ .