Seattle, as captured by MILKOVĂ. Via Unsplash.
I just returned from a full seven days in Seattle—my first time visiting. I was attending CreativePro Week, a fantabulous conference I highly recommend for graphic designers. (Next year's will be held in Austin.)
Here are a few things I loved about it.
Here are a few things I loved about it.
- Within my first fifteen minutes at the conference, I ran into one of my favorite former colleagues from Publix Super Markets, Inc., dynamite designer and lovely human Neal Mitchell. As you can see, we were a good distance from the office we used to work in together. Small world and all that.
- I learned many great tips and tricks in Illustrator, my favorite Adobe program. Even though I've only been playing around with it for two or three years, when I attended what was called a "deep dive" by Laurie Ruhlin, I was thrilled to discover I didn't get overwhelmed, but was able to follow along just fine. (Thank you, LinkedIn Learning and SkillShare!)
- I got to spend hours and hours learning about typography and lettering, which I find ceaselessly fascinating, from John D. Berry, Nigel French, and Laura Worthington.
- I also attended TypeThursday Seattle, where designers shared typefaces they're working on and received thoughtful and wise feedback from other designers.
That's me in the lower right-hand corner looking all fascinated by a presentation at TypeThursday. Photo by John D. Berry.
- I gave an Ignite talk (20 slides auto-advancing every 15 seconds over 5 minutes) about the history of "lorem ipsum" placeholder text and many other topics having to do with English, etymology, printing, and the like. I learned SO MUCH preparing this talk. Did you know, for example, that the man who gave Timex its name, according to his son, liked to read Time magazine and used a lot of Kleenex, so he put the two names together? (This is a slide from my presentation.)
- I saw all sorts of neato flowers—some in front yards, some at Pike Place Market.
- I met people from all over the world. Including New Caledonia, which I will admit I hadn't even known about. Sorry, New Caledonia—I am now properly enchanted by you.
- I ate ever so well. I kid you not—those CreativePro people lay out a fabulous spread. Several times a day. And the Westin Seattle did an impeccable job of coordinating everything. It was like clockwork. Delicious clockwork.
- Speaking of cuisine, I ate dinner at a place called Din Tai Fung. I was dubious when I learned that it's located in a mall (Pacific Place), but I was quite pleasantly surprised. As you can see from this photo, Din Tai Fung takes food preparation *very* seriously.
- I got to see my college roommate. Twice! One evening, she prepared a lovely meal that we, along with her husband, enjoyed alfresco on their balcony. Here was the view, overlooking Lake Washington.
That photo is a pretty good representation of my trip: just lovely. I'm so glad I went, and I'm looking forward to CreativePro Week 2020!
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