I just wanted to share what a great time I had last week, accepting the invitation of AIGA Oklahoma to speak before before their membership and students of two Oklahoma City area college design departments. My host for the trip was Brian Mays, president of the AIGA chapter.
I first "met" Brian on a design newsgroup about seven years ago. For the past couple of years he's hinted at getting me to Oklahoma City to speak to the revived AIGA OK group. Well, last week it happened.
On Wednesday I flew out to OKC (of course, my luggage went to Dallas, Texas!) and Brian picked me up at the airport. He checked me in at the The Grandison Inn (a great B&B), took me out to lunch and then to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. A long-time collector of Western memorabilia, I really enjoyed the museum - especially the Charles Russell art exhibit. That evening I met several of the AIGA Board members for dinner and drinks at RedPin - a new restaurant and bowling lounge. We drove by the National Memorial - which was really impressive with the glowing chairs representing those killed in the Federal Building bomb blast (below left). Later board member Suzanne Green took me back out to the airport to pick up my stray luggage - which came in on a totally different airline from Texas.
Thursday was a busy day. In the morning I spoke to the majority of the graphic design students from Southern Nazarene University It's a fairly new program with incredibly enthusiastic instructors and students. I especially enjoyed meeting Marcia Feisal, Chair of the Art and Design Department, and Adjunct Professor Whitney Porch. After making an identity design presentation at the university, I went out to lunch with Brian and a group of the students.
My mid-afternoon engagement was at Oklahoma Christian University for reviews of four very impressive graduating senior portfolios and another presentation to a large group of design students. Department Chair Michael O'Keefe heads a very thorough and strong design program at the school.
After a quick freshening up at the B&B, it was then off to the great public space and auditorium facility at the offices of The Oklahoman - the newspaper and media corporation where Brian Mays works - for a reception and my presentation with the largest audience of the day. I signed posters and a lot of copies of my book Identity Crisis! - and The Savvy Designer's Guide to Success - and met many wonderful people.
In the middle of the night I heard freezing rain hitting the windows of the B&B and was a little concerned about my early morning flight back to P-land. However, by the time Brian picked me up at about 5:30 the roads were clear and he got me to airport with no problems. It was a relaxing, uneventful and sunny trip back home.
The entire trip was a very enjoyable - and somewhat exhausting - venture. It was really a pleasure getting to meet Brian and the rest of the AIGA gang. He was an amazing host and I really appreciate all he did. Any design industry speaker making the trip to Oklahoma City could easily get very spoiled by the Oklahoma AIGA group!
Image © Oklahoma City National Memorial
© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
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