I just returned from a trip to Poland and was thrilled to see Polish poster art alive and thriving.
A few months ago a few of us here in the office were bemoaning the fact that cursive handwriting is no longer taught in elementary school. And with our constant communication via Facebook, Twitter, and email very few of us send or receive handwritten letters. Last week I was extremely fortunate to get a special visit to the University of Michigan Library’s Papyrology Collection.
As a member of the Marketing Roundtable presented by Ann Arbor SPARK, I was recently invited to speak to a group of entrepreneurs and business professionals at one of the organization’s monthly programs. I chose this opportunity to share some of what I’ve learned and observed after 20 years on the creative and strategy side of marketing communications, and dispel a few myths about creativity and the creative process.

Last night, a group of Q folk attended 826 Michigan’s Storymakers Dinner at Zingerman’s Roadhouse in Ann Arbor. This is the third annual and it has been our pleasure to be involved from the start.
For me, as well as many others, the Internet is an endless space where I can become distracted for hours on end. My recent visual explorations have been through the world of packaging design. Being a person that thinks two dimensionally, the actual construction of the various pieces often baffles me. Wine label design has been one of my favorite categories to browse because I can’t imagine there are too many complications with the construction of these labels. Plus, what designer is not guilty of selecting a wine based purely on the aesthetic of the label?
Here’s a round-up of some of my recent favorites.
Today we received our own Q-designed invitations to the 826 Michigan Storymakers dinner. We are proud to be design sponsors once again for this annual event. 826 is such a wonderful group, supporting and inspiring young children in their creative writing.
AIGA Detroit hosted an early premiere of the film Linotype: In Search of the Eighth Wonder of the World. The venue was Signal-Return, a letterpress studio that recently opened in Eastern Market. I was curious about both the film and Signal-Return.
Last Thursday I was honored to accept a last minute invitation from the University of Michigan School of Art & Design to lunch with Matthew Carter and Roger Black (thank you Mary Alice Bankert!). Carter and Black were in town last week as part of the Penny W. Stamps Speaker Series – one of the best things the School has done for the Ann Arbor community.

Each year, we have the very good fortune of working on the promotional materials for the Ann Arbor Folk Festival. This year we focused our concepts on letterpress. There were so many good reasons to go this route, and of course our dear friends at The Ark gave us the freedom to follow our interests and make it come to life.
A few weeks ago, I drove 30 minutes to the east coast listening to classic calypso tunes on my favorite radio station (Q FM), bought a bottle of water, and ran a few kilometers along this beach:

It was good to be back at the North American International Auto Show during industry preview days visiting our client, Clark Hill PLC. And it was encouraging to see that the reigning Detroit-based auto show was up to speed with more of the energy and excitement of new vehicles and new ideas that were missing a few years ago.
OK, I’ll admit it. I’m not a car gal even though I was born and bred in the Motor City.
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Just finished Aarron Walter’s Designing for Emotion this Thanksgiving weekend. What a treat! I was happy to see that Q implements a number of his suggestions in our web site design process: personas, mood boards, digging into the personality traits of the companies and organizations we work with, but what inspired me the most was the reminder to design for “delight” and don’t forget about the human connection.

Q recently turned 30 years old. In honor of this momentous occasion, we’ve spent the last few months putting together a project and planning a party, both of which focused on the various people that have made Q the company that it is today.
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