When Michael Osborne asked if I’d come up to San Francisco in late November to judge at Academy of Art University Design Show I assumed it was for his design students. But after he repeated to me five times that this was their inaugural alumni show for practicing alumni- it finally registered- alumni not students- got it. I spent three days in San Francisco with Mary Scott their graphic design director, Michael Osborne and fellow judge from Wells Fargo Bank creative, Michele Ronsen. We had dinner at Bix, I visited with design friends at 11 and MethodHome and even got around to judging and attending the opening of a very strong design show.

The quality of student work I saw at the Academy was beyond my expectation.  The level of thinking and quality of execution was beyond what I’m accustom to seeing at college level. Mary has that place on the right track and I’m looking forward to scanning their graduates. The alumni from the Academy are now scattered around, working everywhere from Nike and Disney to Tolleson Design and Cahan Associates. Our best of show award when to Cahan designer and alumni Erik Adams.

Learn more about the show and see more pics at The Academy of Art University site.

See more photo-booth candid captures from the opening on Flickr.

Jonathan Harris created an amazing web application that explores and tries “to explain the human world” via the human emotions and messages it collect 24/7 from around the world. What makes his site, www.wefeelfine.com, work is the graphic display and presentation of the content. It’s an example of how data is only as valuable as our ability to understand it. Harris takes seemingly unrelated and random input and forces a basic order upon it, a gauge or trend-check, that is nothing short of fascinating to explore.

His site says: “At its core, We Feel Fine is an artwork authored by everyone. It will grow and change as we grow and change, reflecting what’s on our blogs, what’s in our hearts, what’s in our minds. We hope it makes the world seem a little smaller, and we hope it helps people see beauty in the everyday ups and downs of life.”

Check it out and add your input at: www.wefeelfine.com

As client directed innovation becomes harder to come by, the self-directed approach of Subliminal and Shepard Fairey is more important than every to maintaining innovation among creatives. Why wait for a patron to use your inherent skills.

Shepard and Amanda Fairey continued to host and curate exhibitions that featured artists such as Ryan McGinness, HunterGatherer, David Ellis, Doze Green, Aesthetic Apparatus, Space Invader, Jim Houser and Andrew Jeffery Wright. In 2003, the Subliminal Projects gallery was officially opened in the Los Angeles offices of Studio Number One. The scope of the gallery remained true to its roots while embracing new forms of graphic art, illustration, photography and time-based media.

Subliminal is now located in the historic Los Angeles neighborhood of Echo Park, Subliminal Projects continues to offer a platform for artistic exploration and innovation. The 2008 schedule is on their website and includes art exhibitions by established and emerging artists, as well as a lecture series, workshops and artist publications.

The letter forms are a collaboration between Subliminal and Delaware-based House Industries.

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Share in the confusion at Top Estate’s website : http://www.top-estate.com.ua

As part of AIGA’s goal to empower the success of designers across the arc of their careers, designer and editor Petrula Vrontikis has curated several series of essays, written by influential and established designers, in order to inform and inspire the next generation.

The twelve new essays include writings from;  Jim Ales, Marian Bantjes, Craig Clark, Dori Drimalas, John Foster, Steve Gordon Jr., Stanley Hainsworth, DJ Stout, Debbie Millman, Ron Miriello and  Yolanda Santosa.

Read the essays at http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/the-quality-makers  

In some ways Houston was what I expected, a city shaped by the oil industry, big money and conservative politics. But it was also a place of cool surprises, risk-taking creativity and reinvention. The ADCH kept the five judges running all weekend. If we weren’t huddled in a print warehouse evaluating Houston’s creative work, we were eating BBQ or becoming best friends with Houston artists, print makers and designers. With a largely traditional client base, the ADCH has a vital purpose in the Houston design scene where a creative community helps in the role of inspiring, promoting and pushing. Especially critical when the marketplace itself isn’t doing the pushing for them. And let’s face it, the marketplace is rarely the driving force for new creative invention in the end.

The judges group was stellar. It included art director Michael Borosky from Eleven, photographer Jeffrey Brown, illustrator Sterling Hundley and web expert Molly Holzschlag. Saturday night was a blow-out event with Houston artist Wayne Gilbert, a painter and Houston original whose pigments are made from human remains.

The last morning I spotted a bar room sign on the side of the road, ripped-down recently by the devastation of hurricane Ike. 10 minutes after I’d said, “I’d love to have that sign”, ADCH leader Jamie Farquhar was on the phone to her brother, “Get your truck out to highway 56 where it jogs south - right now. I need you to pick up something for a friend of mine.”  I was getting another glimpse of what makes Houston. . . Houston.

Scheduling a major party on the first day of the stock market’s downturn and the Vice Presidential debates might seem like its own form of social-suicide. Instead, the opening party of The Logan building was exactly what the masses needed. A place to meet, share, commune and understand that we are all in this together. And quite possibly, the innovation and problem-solving skills of the creative community may be more essential to the national dialogue than ever.

Ron Miriello toasted the crowd, “Our shared abilities of creativity and collaboration are fast becoming a new and important currency-type. As the financial markets waver and the myopic drive for individual wealth is paused, there’s an opportunity for the creative mindset and their unique abilities of invention, collaboration and informed risk-taking. The unique abilities of the people in this room are needed at a time like this.”

The celebration brought over 300 designers, architects, politicos, writers, artists and business people together to enjoy an evening in the creative beachhead neighborhood of Barrio Logan. The hosts – Miriello Grafico and LJG Partners – invited friends, clients and community members to a celebration – and celebrate they did. The Barrio restaurant, The Guild, managed the food and Temecula Valley ConVis organized the wines, all offerings from Temecula Valley. The Barrio Logan spokesperson Rachael Ortiz, arts tagger Crol, and the Mariachi Juvenil helped first-time visitors better understand the rich culture and history of the neighborhood. San Diego architects were plentiful, including the designer of The Logan, Jonathan Segal, who created a space where people obviously love to linger, share and invent.

Watch the party video on YouTube created by Jeff Durkin.                                                                        Find incriminating party pictures on Flickr.

The Sanctuary 143 nomadic artist collective opened their Reinventing The Wheel artist installation at Miriello Grafico’s Logan warehouse to over 700 people. “It felt more like New York than San Diego”, “I’ve never seen so many people into an art event in San Diego before”, and “I was blown away to find this level of energy, and in Barrio Logan of all places.”–were some of the comments coming out of the din.

Several artists and bikesmiths, including Ron Miriello of Miriello Grafico, contributed to the show pieces, all based loosely on the theme of reinventing- rethinking- the wheel. Velo Cult of South Park San Diego had 100 night-riding bicycle members arrive in mass to swarm the show and further expand the eclectic crowd of artists, designers, politicos, media, kids, dogs and hipsters.

Sanctuary 143 is an artist group, masterfully driven by Sean and Stacy Kelley and Jeff Faeth, with an approach to arts events founded on low egos, true collaboration and hard work. You can see photos of the Reinventing The Wheel event on Flickr.

Learn more about Sanctuary 143 and their next event  at : http://www.sanctuary143.com/category/events/

9/18/08 New York:  At the 2008 AIGA Annual Design Legends Gala, Ron Miriello was honored as an AIGA Fellow for his career accomplishments as a designer and his contributions to the design profession. Also honored from San Diego|AIGA was MaeLin Levine of Visual Asylum. Ron and MaeLin were two of twenty-one designers who were recognized at the national event held on the Hudson River at Chelsea Pier 60 in New York. Other 2008 Fellow inductees included Jennifer Morla/AIGA San Francisco, Art Paul/ AIGA Chicago and Terry Marks/ AIGA Seattle.

Harley-Davidson Motorcycles and Design Within Reach were recognized for their corporate design and brand leadership at the event.

Ron said, “I could see the lights of Jersey City across the Hudson River from my table at Chelsea Pier, where my Italian grandparents came to in the 20’s and where my dad grew up. They would have enjoyed the evening too.”

See photos and details of the event at: http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/fellow-award