Our Guide to Design Week Portland 2017
Next week, Portland’s annual design celebration will light up our city, even if the sun won’t.
With hundreds of events, lectures, workshops, open houses, and even a puppy-petting party—it’s time to make a plan! Here are our picks for what’s worth circling on your DWP calendar this year.
Kicking things off is a two-day, main stage conference where you can join presenters in rethinking the meat industry, or even learn to find your own unique superpower. As the festival HQ, The Redd will be home to a week-long exhibit featuring prototypes of The Green Loop, and host events like this one for all you boss ladies who run the show.
Open Houses
This year, I plan to hit up the orange bikes and arrange a four-day, design week open house pub crawl situation. No ticket needed. DWP open houses are the best way to get a sneak peek inside your favorite shop like Citizen, Giant Astronaut, Kat & Maouche, Enjoy the Weather, Sockeye or Simple.
While perusing the scene, don’t forget your guest etiquette. Remember that “thanks, awesome party, dude!” goes a long way.
Individual Events
Hmm…let’s just agree that it’s complex. In fact, I have questions! No matter what industry you’re in, sustainability is likely to become more integrated into your process. This lecture will go over how different disciplines think about sustainable design, and share frameworks for success.
Sunday, April 23, 2:00 PM
at Hatch Innovation
Working Together / Differently
If you’ve thought about jumping to the other side, come learn if the grass is really greener, whether in-house or at an agency. Senior designers from Instrument and Google will talk about the differences between their shops, how they sync-up, and how product and brand teams can collaborate.
Sunday, April 23, 4:00 PM
at Instrument
Behind the Interface: Connecting People through Design
There’s always room to squeeze in more knowledge about UI design. I can’t wait for R/GA to show us the inspiration and connections behind some very cool products, like the Nike+ FuelBand and the Apple Watch Nike+ software.
Monday, April 24, 6:00 PM
at R/GA Portland
Work Hard and Be Nice to People: An Evening with Anthony Burrill
Typography mixed with Schoolhouse Electric mixed with Korean tacos? Sounds good to me. Legendary print maker Anthony Burrill––the man behind the iconic “Work Hard & Be Nice to People” print––will be there to answer all of your questions, sign your book, and reveal a never-before-seen design for you to take home.
Tuesday, April 25, 5:00 PM
at Schoolhouse Electric
Through the Forest, to the Mountain
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned? In this session, 360 Labs and Connective DX will remind us that learning from each other has no limitations. With VR, we’ll be taken on a mixed-reality adventure through the forest, and to the mountains, to hear wisdom from strategists at Airbnb, Uniqlo, Salt n Straw, Ziba and more.
Tuesday, April 25, 6:00 PM
at Connective DX
Be celebrated! The Rosey Awards revel in our city’s finest creative talent, from experiential and identity design, to photography and social content. There’s even an award for dead work that never saw the light of day. Get ready to eat, drink, laugh, cheer and fist pump.
Wednesday, April 26, 7:00 PM
at The Bison Outpost
HQ: The Pressure Is Good For You, A Talk Show
Is this a talk show or a comedy show? Either way, it sounds just obscure enough. There will be microphones…there will be special guests. Plus, it’s at 9pm, which is late enough for me to think that there will be plenty of entertainment.
Thursday, April 27, 9:00 PM
at The Redd
As we head into Friday, my sweet tooth will probably start to kick in. Lucky for me, Jami Curl, our resident candy connoisseur and founder of QUIN candy, will share her story at Creative Mornings. BYOC.
Friday, April 28, 8:30 AM
at The Armory
Final Tips
No matter if you’re a graphic designer, strategist, copywriter, architect, macrame enthusiast or mad scientist, there’s something planned for you. Don’t worry about what you’re missing. Join the conversation, make new friends, get inspired and most of all, have fun.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
