Read Time: 6 minutes
This past June I had the delight of touring the Eames Institute led by Ray and Charles Eames’ grand daughter, Llisa Demetrios. Llisa showed us stacks of hand illustrated letters that Ray and Charles sent to her as a child. Throughout the tour she spoke of how her grandparents were always the most gracious hosts, sharing their passion, creativity and love with all their friends, family and peers. Llisa’s generosity to take the time to personally tour our family with little advance notice was a terrific reminder of when you design an experience that is giving and authentic, everyone feels a much deeper connection and appreciation.
Read Time: 5 minutes
On July 3, 1973, John Berry, head of graphics and signage at Smith, Hinchman & Grylls (now SmithGroup), called on fellow designers to form a national organization of architectural sign designers. Five heeded the call: John Berry, Richard Burns, Jim Glass, Chuck Byrne, and Phil Meathe. Now, 49 years later, we have brought together many thousands — having just concluded our 41st SEGD Conference and our 35th year of celebrating excellence in design with our SEGD Global Design Awards.
Read Time: 4 minutes
Happy New Year to our SEGD community!
As we turn off our holiday “away” messages and begin to scribe new 2022 “to-do” lists, let’s take a brief moment here to look back and celebrate all that we accomplished in 2021, despite its numerous challenges. We ended last year on a high note, coming off our first in-person SEGD Conference in Philadelphia after a two-year hiatus. Despite our distance, one thing continues to rise to the top about SEGD: our organization is filled with impassioned hearts, minds and creative excellence! Energized from reconnecting and the inspiring content shared, we embark on the new year, set to expand our outreach, programming and impact.
Read Time: 5 minutes
"It's through mistakes that you actually can grow. You have to get bad in order to get good." Paula Scher, SEGD Fellow
I have always been an advocate for experimentation and allowing ourselves to be vulnerable in order to be truly creative. I think that Paula Scher’s quote is a good reminder particularly in these times for doing just that. We are all yearning for a crystal ball to understand what our workplaces will be like and how our businesses will need to adapt in the future. I’m guessing that over the last 18 months many of you have tried something new with your clients and peers. Most likely some things failed and others resulted in new ways of thinking and doing.
Like many of our member firms, SEGD is a small business. We have eight employees; half worked remotely prior to COVID-19 and now the other half work remotely as well. In the new normal, we’re working hard to stay healthy, stay sane, and stay productive. We’re learning how to keep our personal world small, meanwhile letting everyone zoom in to see us—cats and pajama bottoms and all.
The SEGD Board of Directors and SEGD staff are thrilled to announce that as of November 18, Ann Makowski has rejoined the SEGD team as Interim Chief Executive Officer.
This has been an interesting quarter defined by the term "change is our only constant." As a designer by training and probably a lot like you, I would not want it any other way. We believe that you can always improve. It is what we do. However...
There is an SEGD event somewhere in the world every 2.4 days. And, with 38 Chapters currently and more coming this year, it's become one of the liveliest design communities you can join.
