Nate Burgos's Blog, page 14

Pride, Work and Necessity of Side Projects: Amy Papaelias Co-Founded Alphabettes.org to Promote Women’s Work in Type Design, Typography and The Lettering Arts

What are you working on—on the side?

I help run Alphabettes.org, a network and blog that promotes the work of women in type design, typography and lettering. Alphabettes is very much a collective and collaborative effort. Members of the network run different initiatives such as developing ideas and articles for the blog, organizing events and activities at conferences, and organizing and maintaining the mentorship program. Our lack of structure can sometimes be chaotic, but it also allows for...

Contemplating CreativeMornings and Zooming in on the Chicago Chapter

CreativeMornings is an international series of monthly talks dedicated to creativity and its community. There are currently chapters in 164 cities—in 2011, it came to Chicago, “My Kind of Town.” And CreativeMornings is my kind of design conference: local, no-frills and grounded. What I find in CreativeMornings is the same renewable source of vitality that drives my passion project of Design Feast: creative culture.

Having started in January, designer and Chicagoan Jen Marquez is the new organi...

Argent’s Sali Christeson and Eleanor Turner Make Functional Work Clothes with Attitude

At first look, I was drawn to the design of Argent’s clothes—practical and chic. Founders Sali Christeson and Eleanor Turner talk style and starting up a business focused on making, embracing and advocating better workwear for working women.

How did you arrive at making clothes? Who/what/where 
was the epiphany toward this creative commitment?

Sali: As a woman working in finance and tech for years, I was both frustrated and bemused by the lack of options. Getting dressed for work every day...

Pride, Work and Necessity of Side Projects: Hands-On Creativity by Pam Daniels and Brandon Williams of Welcome Industries

What are you working on—on the side?

Our side project is making more makers and designers—We teach! We love unlocking people’s potential to imagine and create. We have a unique role as designers in residence at Northwestern University, where we built a working studio on campus to make the messy, playful design process more visible to students. In addition to leading our design practice Welcome Industries, we each teach a range of courses in human-centered design. The course we teach together i...

Pride, Work and Necessity of Side Projects: Poet Hannah Stephenson’s Paging Columbus for the Literary Community

What are you working on—on the side?

Paging Columbus is a project I’ve been working on since 2011. It has evolved since then, but I describe it as a literary event series with a local focus. We hold themed events (mostly readings) every other month, at OSU Urban Arts Space, which is a lovely, large gallery in downtown Columbus, Ohio. At each event, 3–5 writers (mostly those from central Ohio, although we sometimes feature visiting writers and artists) share some poetry or prose that somehow re...

Audience Takes the Stage at the 60th monthly CreativeMornings in Chicago

Photograph by Chris Gallevo, Volunteer

In the final CreativeMornings/Chicago meeting of 2016, three creative folks spoke for the third “Audience Takes the Stage” gathering. Started by former chapter organizers Knoed Creative, applicants vie for the opportunity to speak about what they’re enthusiastic about in this annual event. It’s proven to be a great way to wrap the year with a trifecta of creative voices.

This third go-around felt like a movie with a bold start, a fulfilling middle, but a c...

Pride, Work and Necessity of Side Projects: Web Developer Sasha Endoh’s Mentoring of Girls and Ladies to Achieve Digital Skills

What are you working on—on the side?

I have a few side projects.

First, I try to spend some time volunteering my time for Ladies/Girls Learning Code, a Canadian non-profit organization teaching women digital skills. Some folks might not think of volunteering as a side project, but if you’re consistently giving your time to an organization or a cause, I’d say that totally qualifies as a side project.

I started out as a workshop mentor about a year and a half ago, then went on to leading/teaching...

Pride, Work and Necessity of Side Projects: Jarrett Fuller Podcasts about the Intersection of Criticism & Practice for Graphic Designers

What are you working on—on the side?

I host a weekly interview podcast, Scratching the Surface. Each week, I talk to designers, writers, curators and educators about the intersection of design criticism and practice, and the role of a critical and theoretical discourse within and around the design profession. My hope is to demystify design criticism, and make it something assessable and interesting to all types of designers. (I also keep a continual writing practice where I publish essays abou...

Foresight Design Initiative’s Lyndon Valicenti on the Inspired Practice of Design Methods, Systems Thinking and Inclusion

Lyndon Valicenti is Principal of Foresight Design Initiative, a multidisciplinary non-profit studio that collaborates to make sense and tackle tough challenges, such as “building climate change resilience and realizing Illinois’ smart grid-enabled energy future.” Here, she shares her perspective on intellectual rigor and mindfulness in designing, through design methods, systems thinking and giving a damn.

I’ve been curious about the term “design methods.” I was struck by your use of it in your...

Pride, Work and Necessity of Side Projects: Product Designer Elayna Spratley’s Balance in Mind, Body, Style and Spirit

What are you working on—on the side?

“Balance: Mind, Body, Style, Spirit” (#BalanceMBSS) is a lifestyle project that focuses on promoting higher mental, physical, fashion and spiritual well-being. After years of going in and out of depression, anxiety, worry and self-hate, I found a book that helped me learn how to tune in and train my emotions to a place of peace. In February 2016, my best friend Missy Yarbrough introduced me to the book “The Inner Matrix: A Guide to Transforming Your Life an...