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Salt Lake City's first Design Week aims to bring creativity to the forefront, with more than 25 events scheduled for the weeklong community event.
The event offers designers of various disciplines — graphic, product, architecture, as well as emerging areas such as design thinking and design research — the opportunity to tell their collective story. It's also a way for designers to connect with a variety of audiences.
Hosting the event is the local chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, in partnership with the American Institute of Architects and the Society for Environmental Graphic Design. Progran events include Lab @ Leo, featuring daily hands-on design workshops at downtown's The Leonardo museum, plus a film series at the Salt Lake Main Library, a lecture series at .the Salt Lake Art Center, nightly open studio tours and Pixels of Fury — a Shutterstock live design tournament.
Software developer Adobe will offer two workshops, and The Leonardo will offer half-price museum admission to participants.
Designers Kevin Perry and Molly Mazzolini are co-leaders of the week. "Design Week is about raising the public awareness that the impact of all design has in our community," Perry said. "It's about celebrating excellence and demonstrating the role that designers can play in addressing social problems as well as the challenges in business and culture."
One highlight of the week is expected to be the closing-night reception at the Utah Museum of Natural History on Friday, Nov. 18, said Mazzolini, a Kentucky native who moved to Salt Lake City to work as brand manager for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games before she and her partners launched Infinite Scale, a sports design company.
The event will mark the museum's opening, featuring a panel of designers who worked on the museum. "It is a transfer of knowledge to the local design community from the museum's design collective," she said.
Among the events will be a presentation about the Design for Good initiative at the Salt Lake Art Center on Tuesday, Nov. 15. The effort aims to activate the 22,000 members of the association toward design-driven social change. National AIGA president Doug Powell, who has a background in communication design, will discuss using creativity to improve the human experience culturally, socially, environmentally and economically.
Powell works with his wife, Lisa, at Schwartz Powell, a Minneapolis company that works with companies in the health and nutrition industry. That specialization came about after the couple's daughter, Maya, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2002. In 2004, they launched a line of products called Type 1 Tools.
Utah's creative industry includes some excellent designers with national reputations, including McRay Magleby, who was an art director at Brigham Young University in the late '80s and '90s and also taught at the University of Utah.
"He was one of the most influential designers of that era on the national scene — he was a real hero of mine," Powell says. "Magleby consistently demonstrated how smart, creative, well-crafted design could elevate a seemingly mundane message to a higher and more successful level."
Creativity on display
Salt Lake City's first design week features studio tours, labs, lectures and competitions, and a panel about the designers who worked on the new Museum of Natural History.
When • Monday-Friday, Nov. 14-18
Where • Various downtown locations
More info • For a complete event schedule, registration information and how to get involved, visit sldesignweek.org. Find Salt Lake Design Week on Facebook and follow @SLDesignWeek on Twitter.
Also • Design for Good initiative presentation by national AIGA president Doug Powell
When • Tuesday, Nov. 15, 7-9 p.m.
Where • Salt Lake Art Center, 20 S. West Temple, Salt Lake City
Info • $10; $5 for AIGA, AIA, SEGD and IDSA members
Wrap up • Closing-night reception with a panel on "The Integrated Approach to Design"
When • Friday, Nov. 18, 7-10 p.m.
Where • Natural History Museum of Utah, 301 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City
Info • $45; $35 for design group members