Giving Back at Thinking Creatively Design Conference

On Friday and Saturday I attended and volunteered at the seventh annual Thinking Creatively Design Conference. This year, the conference partnered with IDSA expanding the content of the event to industrial and interior design. The days were filled with inspiring stories of success and creative professionals ready to improve their know-how.

My involvement started in the beginning of the year when I met with Rose Gonnella at an Art Directors Club meeting to discuss volunteer opportunities within the event. I patiently waited for a rewarding task as several of the event design and marketing tasks were accepted. I was offered and eagerly accepted heading up the Student Portfolio Review during the conference.

After the meeting, I reached out to fellow creative directors, art directors and other design and marketing professionals to create an arsenal of talented experts to help the students. Together we would offer them precious and invaluable feedback on their best portfolio pieces and presentation skills. In the end, the review was rewarding to many. Helping organize an event that helped upcoming designers and giving back to students is something I recommend doing.

At the last minute I was also asked to fill in and be a professional mentor to an eight-student team during the design charette. The event gathered almost one hundred industrial design, graphic design, interior design and interactive design students to solve a common problem…to create a store within a store for an obscure product. My team was an eclectic group of talented designers from New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. They pulled together well and developed a great retro experience to sell Blue Q Banks—small vintage tin banks with a modern flare—within 3 hours.