Guest Post by Kara Basabe // Artwork by Carlos Basabe
We’re 5 months in and still holding strong. AIGA Orlando’s fifth community meeting was held on October 6, with lots of new (and familiar) faces in the mix. As news of our community travels through the grapevine, we continue to see new people at each meeting and hope they spread the word and come back. With no ice-breaker activity this time around, we launched right into meeting the President of the AIGA Charlotte chapter, Adam Iscrupe, via video chat.
Adam gave us the low-down on his chapter’s involvement in the original GUTS event, the annual pumpkin-carving-for-good festivity that AIGA Orlando is bringing to us later this month. Adam’s chapter got involved with GUTS 7 years ago, and helped broaden its reach in the community. The first year they participated in the event, there were only 10 carvers—and in 2014, they had 90, and raised close to $30,000 for Make-A-Wish! Hearing Adam speak about the GUTS event, you could tell he and the Charlotte chapter are very passionate about it and want it to succeed at a national level. He left us with a great piece of GUTS advice: Don’t drink and carve.
We heard about several exciting meetups happening in the Orlando Design community. Mark Bunker hosts the Design with a Purpose Meetup, which meets at the Purple, Rock Scissors office every first Thursday at 7pm, and features a variety of design professionals speaking about the process and psychology of design. Design Orlando is hosting the final leg of their 3 month design sprint next week, and Matt Lavoie, who organizes the Downtown Orlando UX Meetup, stopped by and let us know that they are celebrating their one year anniversary this month. Check out the upcoming events section for details.
Upcoming AIGA Events
GUTS: Creatives Carving for Kids – Sunday, October 18, 3:30pm – 8pm – Orlando Brewing
Get your sharp objects and power tools ready, y’all. It’s time to carve some spectacular pumpkins to be auctioned off for a good cause. There’s still time to participate: GUTS still needs carvers, volunteers, in-kind donations and sponsors! Carve with a team of up to 4 people or as an individual. All proceeds benefit Make-A-Wish Central and North Florida. Winners get all the pumpkin-spiced glory and bragging rights for a year. More details at gutsorlando.com.
Scream Printing Workshop and Brewery Tour – Friday, October 30 – Lure Design, Inc.
This is a limited-seat, members only event! Tour Ten10 Brewing, and then participate in a screen printing workshop at Lure. At the end of the night you’ll take home a screen-printed poster designed by Lure and printed by you! Be on the lookout for the event announcement to reserve your spot. More information coming soon.
Orlando Creative Women Panel – Thursday, November 12
A panel discussing successful women in creative fields across Orlando. Kristy Pennino will moderate. More information coming soon.
AIGA Mentorship Program – Announcing on October 12
AIGA’s annual Mentorship Program is about to kick-off again. Mentees and Mentors will work closely together for four months to create a self-promotional project. If you’re interested in becoming a Mentor or a Mentee, look out for upcoming details on the application process and deadlines. More information coming soon.
Design Orlando: A UX/UI Initiative Design Sprint 3 of 3- Tuesday, October 13, 7pm – Code School
Design Orlando is wrapping up their final sprint for this project. Come out and see the final designs and see what’s coming up for the next round of sprints. More information here.
Upcoming Community Events
Downtown UX Meetup DUX Turns 1 – Panel on UX in Central Florida – Tuesday, October 20, 6:45pm – PowerDMS
To celebrate their one year anniversary, DUX is hosting a panel of UX professionals from the Central Florida area. Panelists include professionals from OUC, Pentaho, NASA, and The Walt Disney Company. More information here.
Design with a Purpose Meetup – Thursday, November 5, 6:45pm – Purple Rock Scissors
This month’s meetup will feature Michael Parler, Purple Rock Scissors’ VP, presenting a case study of the OUC website re-design. More information here.
Kara Basabe is a designer and art director at Brand Architecture, Inc, an Orlando-based branding and design consultancy. You can find her on the internet most days, tweeting, dribbbling, or getting her pop-culture fix.
