opens at 8:00 a.m.
archer>malmo
Pre-registration is required for all studio tours. Please stop by the registration desk to check on availability of remaining tours.
A trolley pass is included in your name badge if you purchased studio tour tickets. Please arrive at the studio
15 minutes prior to the start time of your selected tour.
Downtown Memphis boasts myriad cultural attractions including the national civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, cotton Row and world-class barbeque. Downtown is also home to diverse pockets of creative advertising and design firms that add to and carry on the voice of the Memphis culture. Visit one, two or all three of the studios opening their doors to Make/Think attendees.
The largest advertising firm in Memphis, Tenn., archer>malmo is located in the historic Memphis Cotton Exchange Building. See why they are one big happy family, and experience the amazing creativity that flows from within.
Advertising powerhouse Red Deluxe is known for its innovative, cost efficient programs produced from a beautiful office space on Front Street in the heart of downtown Memphis. Learn how they live up to their motto and “make bold progress refreshingly easy.”
Located in Pembroke Square, the award-winning ODEN is a tight knit group of more than 40 people dedicated to finding the simple truths in a brand and persuading others to believe. ODEN is the design team behind the “Make/Think” conference identity.
Stefan Sagmeister
AIGA Executive Director
Moderator
Chairman, Memphis Music Foundation
Memphis, Tennessee has always been a rebellious, innovative river town, from the founding of FedEx to the country’s first self-service grocery store. But nowhere is this unbridled spirit more evident than in its music industry.past, present, and future. Stax Records, which launched the likes of Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Sam & Dave and dozens of other music icons, started in a tiny garage and grew to become one of the most important labels in the world.
Graphic Designer, Typographer and Founder, SAGMEISTER, Inc.
Hear and see why Stefan Sagmeister thinks it’s a good idea to close his studio every seven years for 12 months and spend it trying out various little design experiments, for which there is never enough time while running a regular practice. Coming to Memphis by way of Bali, he will show envy-inducing photography of his experimental outpost in Indonesia, explain the structure behind it and touch on some of the pitfalls and many highlights. He will show how his studio’s work changed following his first sabbatical in 2000, as well as introduce some recent work as proof that he did not spend the year slurping tropical drinks by the pool.
The Office of Kate Bingaman-Burt
The Student Symposium is free to all registered “Make/Think” attendees; pre-registration for this event is not required. Seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Alissa Walker of Gelatobaby will moderate a conference-within-a-conference tailored to student designers about to enter the competitive, creative, crazy profession of graphic design. Be inspired, informed and entertained by accomplished designers in all stages of their careers who will discuss how to make the transition from school to studio and the ups and downs of making it in the real world.
AIGA President
Writer, Gelatobaby, Moderator
Graphic Designer, The Office of Paul Sahre
“A Designer and his Problems” is an inspirational journey through one designer’s typos, questionable color choices and poor font selections. Sahre grapples with the feeling that everyone has from time to time—that something is wrong, but we don’t know quite what. Or maybe we do know, but it’s too late to do anything about it. Heartwarming and refreshingly honest, Sahre identifies problems in all their different forms and urges us to accept them, nurture them, caress them.
Partners, Dress Code, and Adjunct Assistant Professors, Pratt Institute
There is a major disconnect between the life of a design student and the transition to becoming a design professional. To demystify this transition, Andreev and covert will share the failures, successes and surprises of their journey—from their college years to scoring their dream jobs at MTV and then venturing out to start their own studio. They’ll discuss what they learned about self-promotion, interviews, internships, monetary problems, personal relationships, prison time, first jobs and the all-around hustle of making it happen.
Writer, Graphic Designer, Illustrator and Founder, Obsessive Consumption
Bingaman-Burt addresses the importance of making by any means necessary, while remaining smart and not over-thinking. She’ll offer advice about Beanie Babies; Branson, Missouri; defending your concepts; working for yourself; working for others; working with others; saying “yes” too much; being nice; coffee and energy drink consumption; networking in a nongross (sincere) way; and naturally developing a distinctive voice. She will talk about her journey so far in this confusing yet exciting world of making stuff for yourself and other people, and why you should never underestimate the power of working insanely hard.
Emily PillotonSenior Design Manager, Nokia
Martin, senior design manager at Nokia, offers this advice for young designers: Set goals that are unreachable. create work that is meaningful. Take on challenges that are impossible. And conquer them all. Join him has he discusses the steps towards a meaningful career in design.
Founder and Executive Director, Project H Design
Pilloton wants to recruit you to join the industrial design revolution. She believes that industrial design is a tool for individual, community and economic empowerment, and will challenge you to work as an activist rather than an aesthetician, to redefine the nature of the client relationship and shift values and business practices to maximize social impact. Building on tactics outlined in her recently published book, Design Revolution: 100 Products That Empower People, and using examples of Project h initiatives (solutions for education, foster care, homelessness, water systems and more), Pilloton will make the case for design that improves lives, addresses basic human needs and solves personal and urgent problems in efficient and graceful ways.
