The recent Digital Arts Conference, held on March 1, brought together many leaders in Digital Arts, and packed a lot of learning experiences for graphic and web designers, digital photographers and filmmakers, into one day.
The keynote presentation by Bart Cleveland of McKee Wallwork Cleveland, was told from a perspective gained in his experience leading major-award winning campaigns around the globe. He touched on great insights in the course of telling his stories. It was more than a keynote, it was an inspiring education for designers and marketers alike.
The general session by Jason Hariton of the recently built Albuquerque Studios, a premiere film production facility, explained its mission and the economic benefits to the Albuquerque community, as well as granting the audience a virtual “inside look” at the studio.
And that’s just the beginning! There was a host of digital arts topics in the breakout sessions and networking opportunities at lunch and throughout the day. To the right, Maggie Macnab, Digital Arts Program instructor and recently published author of a book on design, answers a student’s questions about his project.
Keynote Presentation:
“Why Design and Advertising Are Not Mutually Exclusive in Successful Branding”
Bart Cleveland,
Partner, Creative Director, McKee Wallwork Cleveland
Bart Cleveland, a creative leader in his field with a wealth of advertising and marketing experience to share, delivered an exceptional keynote presentation with astounding visuals for an audience of designers. He began with a discussion of the development of common symbols, explaining how major brands such as Nike and Coca Cola have made icons of simple yet effective design, earning their brands recognition around the world.
Bart also told the story of highly successful marketing campaigns for Target, Macintosh, and the Bahamas, and explained the elements of their success.
The highlight of the keynote was a visual presentation and discussion of McKee Wallwork Cleveland’s recent major campaign for the Taos Ski Valley. This campaign, “The Purification,” was targeted to appeal to the impulses of the pure skier. It unrolled as a less expensive viral campaign that created a mystery around the concept of “The Purification.” Without revealing the actual subject of the concept and the logo, appearances of the symbol created a buzz on the internet and great attention and traffic for the later rollout of a new website for Taos Ski Valley. The buzz caused many people to focus on the decoding of their new logo and tied in a deeper message to connect with the intended audience of pure skiers.
General Session:
“Albuquerque Studios: Studio Operations”
Jason Hariton, Director of Operations, Albuquerque Studios
Jason invited the audience to get to know the new Albuquerque Studios, a recently constructed state-of-the-art movie production studio located in Albuquerque’s new Mesa del Sol subdivision. While other cities like Austin, Texas have had growth in film production, Albuquerque is more suited for large-scale productions due to accessibility (proximity to Los Angeles), great weather and the best tax break incentive in the country.
The audience enjoyed a computer animated “flyover” of Albuquerque Studios, which first highlighted the entrance, as Jason stated “every good studio needs a great entrance.” He pointed out the studios were built using green building practices, and the benefits to the local employment scene, with their emphasis on contracting local unionized labor and companies. Above, Jason shows some of the great press and excitement being generated by New Mexico in the film industry.
Along with many other leaders in the local digital arts scene, the Apple Store hosted a booth in the lobby, where people enjoyed trying out the new MacBook Air! The Digital Arts Program also thanks the Apple Store for their donation of an iPod shuffle as a door prize for one of our early-enrolling students.
Breakout Sessions:
Understanding Symbolism in Visual Communication
Maggie Macnab, Macnab Design, and Digital Arts Program instructor
Maggie has been an instructor with the Digital Arts Program for many years, and is celebrating the recent publication of her book, Decoding Design, by How Magazine.
Maggie discussed the history and relevance of shapes, numbers and symbols in design, and the strength of symbols tied in to the natural world and archetypal meaning. Maggie used a number of examples of her own work to illustrate her concepts, including logo design for a local veterinarian, Presbyterian Heart Hospital, a New York City Bank and more.
Green Printing Practices
Mike Sherwood and Blake Thies, Cottonwood Printing
Mike Sherwood and Blake Thies discussed their approach to green printing practices through the use of recycled paper, the use of less toxic inks, including soy and linseed oil inks, minimizing the generation of waste paper, and the proper handling of the print waste that is produced. The linseed oil based inks work better at high altitudes than the soy.
A Brief History of New Media
Mary Tsiongas
Mary Tsiongas is an artist and Assistant Professor in Electronic Media at the University of New Mexico. Mary overviewed the impact of the advent of technology on the art-making process, literally creating a new medium for artists. Using video clips with sound to demonstrate early to present video art, Mary discussed the history of technology from the first television and computer. She also touched on “internet art” and other ways artists are working with new media.
Careers in Make-Up and Costume Design for Film and TV
Liz Marshall, Digital Arts Program instructor
Make-up and Hair falls under the Production Designer/Art Department of the film. Wages are not high. To supplement wages, Liz suggests becoming an independent contractor. The audience enjoyed an overview of a typical day on the set. She suggested that a good way to learn about entry into the business is to visit filmnewmexico.com, become an extra, or visit iatselocal480.com
UNM Continuing Education’s On Camera! Program has the only class in the state whose subject is devoted to costumes and make-up. CNM has a class which goes over make-up as one aspect of film training.
The Art and Craft of Screenwriting: Concept and Story
Stephanie Kuehn, critically-acclaimed screenwriter and Digital Arts Program instructor
This storyteller was a natural at making screenwriting seem exciting and compelling. Stephanie covered some of the basics every screenwriter needs to know:
A screenwriter needs to be able to “pitch” their play. Be able to tell your story in one line! There are four things every great screenplay needs:
• Story idea: Every story is about the character losing control of his life and then getting it back again.
• The screenplay needs an exciting incident.
• The screenplay needs a climax.
• The screenplay needs a great character.
An effective writing technique is to shift the story from narrative (especially useful for subtext) to visual writing, which uses imagery to show, don’t tell.
Direct Your Video Editing Career
with Apple Certification
Brad Stoddard, award-winning filmmaker and Digital Arts Program instructor
Brad is one of the first Apple Certified Trainers in Final Cut Pro in New Mexico. He has been an instructor with the Digital Arts Program for many years. He owns his own multimedia company and is an award-winning film editor. His most recent awards were two Bronze Tellys earned during the 28th Annual Telly Awards. Read more about Brad’s award here.
With great visuals, including film clips and a powerpoint presentation, Brad shared the basics of a film editing career, from a big picture of the entire field to examples of how projects may be carried out day-to-day. Students learned about the education they might need, anticipated pay scale, working conditions and the exciting future of the industry in New Mexico.
Zac Van Note, Digital Arts Program instructor, a web designer and developer with extensive experience, whose own site, creativefuel.org, is a resource for his digital arts students and for anyone in the field, was a star of the day with three breakout sessions:
Website Design and Search Engine Optimization
Zac engaged the audience with very useful and clear information.
He gave many examples of how different search engines read the information that is programmed into a site, and how to get sites closer to the top of the results when people search for them.
Color Finesse in Photoshop
Step by step, through many different methods of adjusting color in Photoshop, Zac shared great examples of color “tweaking,” with before and after photos. Students learned the basics of creating files for the press, and how to tell if files were out of gamut for printing.
Information Architecture for Web Design and Multimedia
With many web design and development questions from the students, Zac shared his wealth of knowledge very willingly. His presentation on web site architecture included topics such as navigation and site maps. He also showed many online resources to be used in search engine optimization and information architecture.
Bonus
In addition, attendees at the Digital Arts Conference enjoyed open access to our Digital Arts Lab to preview the latest multimedia and design software, enjoying the rich visuals of 23″ active-matrix liquid crystal Apple Cinema Display monitors.
Interested in the Digital Arts Program?
Learn more here.
Questions about next year’s Digital Arts Conference or about the Digital Arts Program? Contact the Program Supervisor at digitalarts@dce.unm.edu or 277-6037.
