UCDA : connecting, inspiring, and supporting a creative community in education
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7-8 a.m.
OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES:
City Walk, Coffee Talk, and InstaMeet

8-9 a.m.
Breakfast on Your Own

9-10:15 a.m. (Main Stage)
2. Little Brown Girl Rising
Aldrena Corder
Aldrena Corder’s award-winning thesis work, Little Brown Girl, is a series of essays and stories centered on her experiences as a Black woman in America. As she discusses the political and personal nature of hair, skin, respectability, and self-love, Aldrena recognizes the power and worth of her own narrative filled with trials, being silenced, resilience, and triumph. Join Aldrena as she shares how Little Brown Girl set her on a path to champion the importance of incorporating personal story, identity, and self-love in one’s creative work.

10:30-11:30 a.m. (Concurrent Breakout Sessions)
3. No Budget. No Resources. 
No Time. No Problem!
Simon Sung and the PLU Marketing Team, Pacific Lutheran University
Join the Pacific Lutheran University marketing team along with Hemlock printers as we share some no-excuse strategies to achieving creative excellence. Learn how to break through the creative constraints that can prevent us from doing great work. Together we will commiserate, commemorate, and celebrate all the amazing things we do.

4. Becoming Amazing! Using the Power of Perspective and Engagement to Unlock Creativity
Eric Hansen, San Diego State University
We yearn for meaningful work and a meaningful life. We want our creative talents to flourish and for our work to make a positive impact. Simply put, we want to be amazing! So what’s stopping us? In this session explore how shifting our perspectives and engaging in new ways are key ingredients for unlocking potential.

5. Creating the WOW Factor with Graphics in Adobe Illustrator
David Creamer, IDEAS
Go boldly beyond the ordinary to create more compelling illustrations when you learn the secrets of “the WOW factor” in this advanced session. Visualize and then communicate your special effects with a single click while keeping your text completely editable for future changes. Learn powerful skills when you discover the intricacies of the Appearance and the Graphic Styles panel. You will see how to direct the tools of Illustrator to elicit seemingly complex art with mechanical precision. While the nuances of Illustrator can be challenging even to seasoned graphics professionals, once you master these crucial techniques using the latest tools of the craft, you will find yourself creating even more impactful graphics!

6. External Agencies and Internal Creatives: A Love/Hate Story
Jennifer Alvarado, University of Redlands
Any university’s in-house creative team knows that working with an outside agency can be a major challenge. They might develop great design concepts and help with your workload, but they don’t understand the university like you. And sometimes they seem more worried about making themselves look good rather than making the university look good. And then there is this underlying perception that in-house design is for those with less talent or expertise. This session explores the love/hate relationship between external/internal designers that can result in award-winning and memorable creative work, teams who learn from each other and feel valued, and creative partnerships that thrive.

11:45 a.m.-2:30 p.m. (Main Stage)
Lunch
UCDA Business Meeting 

7. Tavern Painters Become an Art Department
McMenamins Artists Olivia Behm, Cleo Hehn, Lyle Hehn, Jennifer Joyce, and Myrna Yoder (Moderator: Eric Hansen)
McMenamins is a Portland-based company that brings together food, lodging, spirits, and entertainment at over 60 locations in the Pacific Northwest. The McMenamins brand is based in an elaborate visual world that features an occasional cast of trademarked characters portrayed on historical murals and illustrations, decorative architectural painting, logos, labels, and signs. McMenamins artists have been creating this distinctive style of historical realism for over 30 years, and will share their creative experiences, insights, and inspirations as in-house designers for a company that continues to evolve in unusual directions.

2:45-3:45 p.m. (Concurrent Breakout Sessions)
8. Reflections on Identity Through Writing and Visual Communication
Aldrena Corder, Aldrena Corder LLC
Recently, Aldrena Corder completed a visiting professorship at New Mexico Highlands University as the Nina Tesla Ballen Scholar. She collaborated with students and faculty to produce writing, multimedia, and graphic design works centered around identity, culture, and personal story. The resulting exhibition, I AM (inspired by Chimamanda Adichie’s Danger of a Single Story), features participants’ work that speaks in the affirmative, declares pride in oneself, and combats the negative impacts of stereotypes, racism, and bias. Corder will share work from the powerful exhibition and provide insights about how projects like this can improve the authenticity of communications and marketing.

9. Adobe InDesign: Maximizing Styles for Advanced Workflows
David Creamer, IDEAS
Styles are a critical part of using InDesign effectively. You already know that InDesign supports so many styles and presets—Paragraph styles, Character styles, Nested Styles, Object styles, Table styles, Cell styles, TOC styles, and more. The beauty of “Styles” is that they allow consistent formatting and global updates—often cutting production time in half not to mention making future changes easier. In this fast-paced, focused session, David will demonstrate the power of the time-saving “single click”—how to combine type styles and apply complex formatting; how to format pictures; and how to link to Excel files while keeping your InDesign formatting. Even seasoned InDesign users won’t want to miss this session to elicit the most out of InDesign’s styles.

10. External Agencies and Internal Creatives: A Love/Hate Story
Jennifer Alvarado, University of Redlands
Any university’s in-house creative team knows that working with an outside agency can be a major challenge. They might develop great design concepts and help with your workload, but they don’t understand the university like you. And sometimes they seem more worried about making themselves look good rather than making the university look good. And then there is this underlying perception that in-house design is for those with less talent or expertise. This session explores the love/hate relationship between external/internal designers that can result in award-winning and memorable creative work, teams who learn from each other and feel valued, and creative partnerships that thrive.

11. Photo Exclusive! Hot Insider Tips to Make the Most of Your Image Budget
Nina Johnson, Nina Johnson Photography
Go behind the scenes with professional photographer Nina Johnson as she gives you a unique look into bringing an outside contractor up to speed quickly and efficiently. See a photo session from the photographer’s point of view and get tips for communicating your vision efficiently with your photographer. Learn how to hone your ideas ​in order to ​get photos that will make your campaign shine. Set yourself up for a successful photo session, get natural looking photos from subjects who aren’t models, and learn how to prevent common problems during the photo session.

4-5 p.m.
OPTIONAL ACTIVITY:
Publication Swap Shop

5 p.m.
Dinner on Your Own