J H I Blog

For a moment, I thought I was dreaming on the 2.5 hour car ride from Austin airport to Waldemar ranch. The desert was expansive and the landscape idyllic even if it was composed of mainly dirt, rocks, and cacti. I appreciated the calming effect it had on me, in a way foreshadowing what would be a relaxed and rustic experience during the next 4 days.

AIGA Austin’s Design Ranch is not your typical slide and lecture conference. In total there were about 125 people in attendance including the staff and workshop leaders, which provided a level of intimacy that is difficult to achieve at the more “popular” conferences. No, here the opening remarks were with an old transparency machine and throughout the next 4 days no laptops or cellphones were in sight. The food was great and definitely lived up to, if not exceeded, their statement – “This isn’t cafeteria food”. The nights were lively with music, drinks and dancing. Then, there were the afternoon workshops, all away from the computer, which we all as designers have formed a love/hate relationship with. You found yourself in the woods looking for materials to build a boat, in a room deconstructing sweaters to make something new, slicing book covers to bring them life in awesome 3-D scenes, experimenting with polaroids, or using nature and some sort of rainmaker type contraption to build your own printing press! There were other workshops too that i wish i could have taken as i saw the fruit of their work produced in the form of watercolor paintings, screen prints, markered t-shirts, and abstract lamps.

It’s hard to sum up the whole experience in a blog post but in all, this experience further proved that often times it’s good to get away from the computer, get your hands dirty, and seek creativity through nature and other materials you lost touch with. It also reminded me that being in a relaxed environment that nurtures and encourages spontaneous creativity and thinking is so important and good for the design soul.