2016 AIGA Design Conference
Oct 17-19, 2016 @ The Mirage Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada

My first AIGA conference is a wrap. It was a fun and super informative event full of interesting and inspiring content. I enjoyed hanging out with Stefanie, a fellow grad student from JSU, and the many wonderful people I met during the convention. Some great conversations were had, the speakers were fantastic, cool swag was collected, and I even won an awesome VR Headset. This was also my first visit to Vegas and it was a bit overwhelming. I enjoyed seeing the sights, but I’m not sure the atmosphere suits me. It’s nearly impossible to avoid cigarette smoke around the casinos, and the atmosphere, while impressive, is super fake.

Sunday

  • Flight: ATL to LAS
  • Lunch at Grand Lux Cafe & resort tour with Fred
  • Checked into Harrahs
  • Wine and Type Pairing
  • Walked around the strip with Stefanie
Arrived in Las Vegas
The Mirage (conference hotel)
Grand Lux Cafe with Fred
Resort Tour
The Venetian
Wine & Type Pairing
Type Pairing Challenge
So fancy!
The craziness of the strip.

Monday: AIGA Day 1

  • Design Fair
  • General Session
  • Opening Night Reception
  • Grand Lux Cafe
Design Fair
The Pantone booth has tons of cool swag.
So many awesome books!
Amazon Design
David Carson & Stefanie
Your Call to Design
Roman Mars
Amber Case
Julie Anixter, AIGA Executive Director
Christopher Simmons, Conference chair and found, MINE.
Diogenes Brito, Product design, Slack.
Stefanie & Me
Conference Badge
Evening Reception
The legendary David Carson
Grand Lux Cafe with Stefanie
Stefanie
The Strip

Tuesday: AIGA Day 2

  • General Session
  • Happy Hour / Design Fair
Coffee from The Roasted Bean
Day 2
Design Fair
So many people!
Roman Mars, 99% Invisible
Jonathon Lee, Google
Keira Alexandra, Kodak
Pat Kelly
Sebastian Padilla, Anagrama
John Maeda, Automatic
Command X
Command X
Command X
Quindar (music performance)
Gemma O’Brien (MrsEaves101)
Design Fair Reception
Met Roman Mars
Learning about Adobe XD
My first slot machine.

Wednesday: AIGA Day 3

  • Education Symposium
  • Design Powers Workshop
  • Design Fair (won a VR headset!)
  • California Pizza Kitchen with Gina & June
  • Design Fair Poster Show
  • General Session
Education Symposium
Design Powers Workshop
I won a VR Headset from Taylor Box Company.
Met up with Gina, a fellow JSU alum.
Poster Exhibit
Roman Mars: Unpleasant Design
Catt Small, Product designer @ Etsy
Michelle Stanek, Poledance Performance
Terry Irwin, Transition Design: Design for systems-level change
David Pescovitz
Command X
Amos Kennedy Jr, Printer
Chuck D
New friends

Thursday: Exploring Vegas

  • Exploring the strip on foot and by bus
  • Senor Frogs
  • The Beatles: Love @ The Mirage (Cirque du Soleil)
Exploring the strip
Lunch at Senor Frogs
The Beatles: Love
Such a fun show!

Friday: Last Day in Vegas

  • Fremont Street
  • Exploring the Strip
  • Battista’s Hole in the Wall with Ron, Debbie, and Becky
  • Flight: LAS to ATL
Downtown Las Vegas
Fremont Street
Container Park
Inside Container Park
Riding the bus.
Pretty fountain.
Dinner at Battista’s with family
Debbie, Ron, Becky, and Me
My ride home.