We’re looking for 8 teams to participate in AIGA DFW’s very first Ball Brawl™ competition. Put your pencils aside, and get ready to compete for a trophy with another meaning for “annual” attached to it.

The first Ball Brawl™ happening in late July/early August will see (at least) 8 teams compete in a game involving — obviously — balls. For August, our balling of choice will be bowling.

The Ball Brawl™ Final Four competition will be in late September/early October, with the 4 winning teams from Ball Brawl™ competing to play for the two spots in the Ball Brawl™ Fall Championships in late November/early December.

Winners will be crowned. An inappropriate trophy will be awarded. All proceeds will go to developing AIGA DFW’s Kiddie Design Camp Program for summer 2014.

If your shop/group of buddies is interested in being one of our (8 minimum) teams for the first Ball Brawl™, or if you’d like help putting a team of single players together, contact frances@aigadfw.org.

Thanks to our friends at BrandCory for designing our Ball Brawl™ logo + materials.

PS:

We’re excited to announce the following shops have already signed up to brawl:

• Matchbox Studio
• Caliber Creative
• Switch Creative Group
• Squires & Company
• Tractorbeam
• BrandCory

Good design inspires people to take action.
Great ideas change the world.
14 years of giving.
Over 500 programs funded.
Over $12 million in support.
Submit an Idea that Matters by July 19, 2013.
Because there is still work to be done.

More than a decade ago Sappi Fine Paper North America— the maker of McCoy, Opus, Somerset and Flo — established the Ideas that Matter grant program to recognize and support designers who use their skills and expertise to solve communications problems for a wide range of charitable activities in North America.

All communication projects that support the needs of a nonprofit and meet the conditions and requirements of the Ideas that Matter program will be considered. Grant awards range from $5,000 to $50,000 per project. At least a portion of the project must be printed, though additional elements may include a variety of communication mediums such as outdoor signage, t-shirts, banner advertising, print advertising, websites, html campaigns, or other media. And, for the first time in 2013, proposals may include up to 10% of the total budget as an honorarium designer fees.

Applications are reviewed by an annually selected, independent committee comprised of leaders in the design industry. Judges for the 2013 program include: Bill Drenttel, President of Winterhouse Institute based in Connecticut; Erin Huizenga, Director of New Business Development at Remedy in Chicago; Jennifer Kinon, Founding Partner at Original Champions of Design/OCD based in New York City; Michael Lejeune, Creative Director at Metro in Los Angeles; Alissa Walker, freelance design writer in Los Angeles. Evaluation of projects is based on creativity, potential benefit for the nonprofit, impact on the nonprofit’s target community, and effectiveness of the implementation plan.

To learn more about the program and to apply for a grant visit www.sappi.com/ideasthatmatterNA

Back after popular demand, AIGA DFW, along with PK Dallas put on another night of creative people giving creative presentations. Let’s celebrate our city and our neighborhoods with answers to the theme: “This Is My City.”

Our speakers include:
Lily Smith-Kirkley
Stefan Reddick
Tom Dennis
David Hopkins
Angela Mondragon
Catherine Cuellar
Cone Johnson
Robbie Good
Jenn Dunn
Alan Lidji
Jim Hart
Fred Holston

$10 members + nonmembers
$5 students + emerging designers

Lakewood Theater
1825 Abrams Rd  Dallas, TX 75214

Guests will also be able to vote on our Neighborhood Postcard Contest finalists. Finalist art will be displayed for voting at the event and online.

AIGA DFW continues our mission to call attention to the people who helped shape DFW’s design aesthetic, community and strength with our Seasoned Pros speaker series. Each season, we’ll be hearing from those with the expertise, experience, personality and style that helped shape our city’s design community. For the Spring Seasoned Pros speaker, we are honored to have Doug May of May & Co. share his wisdom:

Uncertainty warrants creativity.

For over three decades, Doug May has worked on design assignments for numerous clients ranging from The Washington Opera to Zebco Fishing. He and his firm May & Co. have received numerous awards for creative excellence from professional organizations and international competitions, including Communication Arts, D&AD and Graphis, CIO Magazine, CA Interactive, Graphis New Media, the Web Marketing Association. A native Texan, Doug holds design degrees from the University of North Texas and Art Center College of Design. He began his career in New York in 1980 before returning to Dallas to eventually open his own design office. Doug was honored as an AIGA Fellow in 2011 by the DFW Chapter, for his contribution to the North Texas design community.

Join us as at our next Seasoned Pros AIGA/DFW talk, as Doug examines how it has become more challenging today for a communications design practice to innovate and add economic value in this age of uncertainty. Doug says, “Our design community must strive for a more complete understanding of its value. Creative minds have much more to offer business and society at large than aesthetics alone. We need to identify and address the obstacles that are restricting the creative community’s full economic potential”.

$10 Members / $20 Nonmembers / $5 Students & Emerging Designers (Membership ID Required)

Blanks Printing & Imaging / 2343 N Beckley Ave, Dallas, TX

Wednesday, April 17, 2013
6:00 PM : Reception
7:15 PM : Talk

A special thanks to Big Box Little Box and Blanks Printing & Imaging for helping us put on our Seasoned Pros series.

AIGA DFW wants to show the people who live here, and the people who don’t live here yet, just how cool, colorful and creative DFW is by producing a set of 12 postcards celebrating DFW and its cities, districts, and neighborhoods. This first set will include postcards for the following:
- DFW : (the whole Metropolitan area)
- The city of Dallas
- The city of Fort Worth
- Downtown district
- Fair Park district
- Oak Cliff district
- Deep Ellum neighborhood
- Lakewood neighborhood
- Uptown neighborhood
- Oak Lawn neighborhood
- West End neighborhood
- “You Call It”

From your entries, our judges will pick their top 5 postcards from each neighborhood, and everyone will be asked to vote for their favorite postcards by “liking” their favorite cards on our facebook page, and in person at our May PechaKucha event at the Lakewood Theater. The winning postcard for each neighborhood will be produced and included in our DFW Postcard set that will be shared at our future events and national conferences.

A special thanks to our judges ahead of time for helping us narrow down the postcard entries:
Christine Allison, President of D Magazine
Brent Brown, Founding Director of bcWorkshop and Dallas CityDesign Studio
Jason Roberts, co-Founder of Better Block

Each winner will receive 5 sets of DFW Postcard set and a full-week pass to Design Week 2013 where their blown up artwork will be displayed at DW13 events.

To enter:
1. Register for the neighborhood(s) you’ll be designing a postcard for (at the bottom of the registration form).
2. Design your postcard in illustrator or photoshop at 5×7 300 dpi.
3. Send your postcard design(s) to frances@aigadfw.org by midnight on May 1.

Entries are free for members and nonmembers, and you can enter as many postcard designs as you want.

Thanks to M&S Graphic Arts, Millet and Ussery Printing for producing our postcards!

(1) custom made Warstic baseball bat (engraved name and choice of color) : Hon Mok
(3) pairs of tickets to a Dallas Stars game : Chester Sikorski, Ryan Short and Jimmy Squires
(1) $100 gift certificate to Ocean’s Prime : Cheryl Mendenhall
(4) pairs of full-week passes to Design Week 2013 (September22-28) : Clifton Caster, Kimberly Daniels, Tabitha Salazar & Zack Davis

Are you one of our winners? Click here to arrange to pick up your prize.

Wondering what other benefits you can receive the whole year round by being a member? Watch the 60 second video below, or email whitney@aigadfw.org.

AIGA DFW is Calling All Recruits
Wednesday, March 20 at Mudsmith on Greenville
6:30pm – 8:30pm : Happy Hour & Information Session

AIGA DFW is calling for new recruits to serve on our committees and board for 2013-2014. 
Our chapter has more than doubled over the last two years, and for us to continue that growth, 
and put on exciting and relevant events, we need you to come join and bring your 
excitement to the circle of leaders that helps bring it all together for our design community.

According to an InStep Consulting online survey, 69% of professionals said volunteering 
helped them enhance their leadership skills, and 72% said it improved their communication skills. 
Volunteering can be a viable way to develop your leadership abilities.

Opportunities range from doing just a little to doing a whole lot. Come and find out more about what you can offer, and all the benefits of being involved at our informal happy hour on March 20th.

Mudsmith is located at 2114 Greenville Ave, Dallas, Texas 75206

You can become a member starting at $50 or $13/month. And if you become a member by March 31st, 2013, you qualify for our drawings for the following of which we will announce the winners on April 2:

• (1) custom made Warstic baseball bat (engraved name and choice of color)
• (3) pairs of tickets to a Dallas Stars game
• (1) $100 gift certificate to Ocean’s Prime
• (2) pairs of full-week passes to Design Week 2013 (September22-28)
• More prizes to be announced soon.

Click here to register for our drawings.

What are the benefits to membership besides winning any of the above? Watch the 60 second video below, or email whitney@aigadfw.org

On Wednesday, March 20, 2013, AIGA DFW invites you to a city-wide celebration of Design. From our CD/AM series to an informative happy hour about opportunities to get more involved to a whole day dedicated to sharing our Design love online, we aim to show the world just how great this Design community can be.

8:30 AM : CD/AM Creative Director Breakfast at Brand Cory sponsored by Vitamin T
Start your day with the city’s design leaders at our trimonthly creative director breakfast series stimulating engaging conversation. Seats are limited.

ALL DAY SOCIAL MEDIA CONVERSATION
Join us via twitter, vine, facebook and pinterest for our first-ever city-wide social media celebration of Design in Dallas. Let’s show the world what the design conversation in this city looks like. Tag us all day March 20th with your answer to the question “Why DFW design?” with #AIGADFW1DOD. Post your videos via vine. Post to the AIGADFW Facebook page. Or sign up yourself or your studio to pin to our boards by emailing frances@aigadfw.org.

6:30 PM :  AIGA DFW Recruitment Happy Hour at Mudsmith on Greenville
Service. Commitment. Leadership. Come learn about all our upcoming events and the opportunities to serve and grow. Opportunities range from doing just a little to doing a whole lot at our informal happy hour. Want to help us spread the word? Download and post our posters around your office.

All participants in 1DOD (online and in-person) will be entered into a drawing for 2 all access passes to AIGADFW’s Design Week coming Sept 23-28, 2013.

Just how big can “Big D” get?
Give us chapter bragging rights and help us grow our chapter during March’s membership drive. Become a member of AIGA DFW. Individual memberships are now only $50 per year. Contact whitney@aigadfw.org for information on group memberships. Click here for member benefits.

Spread the word. Download a printable pdf flyer for 1 Day of Design.