UCDA : connecting, inspiring, and supporting a creative community in education
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Join Book Club Coordinator Erin Dixon and other UCDA members for our virtual book discussions. Book Club is FREE and for UCDA Members only. UCDA members come together to read and discuss a book over several weeks via Zoom. We are planning to offer two or three per year.  We hope you will join us! 

Erin Dixon
UCDA Book Club Coordinator
Art Director, University of Tampa

I manage the University's visual identity and brand, art direct and design the alumni magazine, and oversee the design of admissions, advancement, and presidential marketing materials. 


2025 Book Club: Fall

First Meeting: October 22
Second Meeting: November 5
Third Meeting: November 19
Time: 11 AM-12 PM (Central) / 12 PM-1 PM (Eastern)
Location: 
Zoom (Virtual)

Book: In Progress: See Inside a Renowned Lettering Artist's Creative Process

by Jessica Hische

This revised edition of design-world darling Jessica Hische's career-spanning art book offers a fascinating inside look at her work in progress, featuring highlights from her most exciting recent projects and new tips for lettering with digital tools.

"In Progress" is an inspiring and informative book that showcases the creative prowess and technical expertise behind artist, author, and type designer Jessica Hische's distinctive lettering and typography styles. In explanatory captions throughout these pages, Hische guides readers through the phases of each hand-lettered project—for major clients such as Wes Anderson, NPR, Nike, and more—from gathering inspiration and sketching out rough ideas to revising and refining final designs. (Description via Amazon)

About the Author
For nearly 15 years Jessica Hische has had the pleasure of collaborating with amazing clients—creating custom lettering artwork for established brands, classic books, postage stamps, and so much more. She's travelled the world speaking at creative conferences and colleges, and befriended innumerable internet strangers while navigating the depths of social media. Jessica cut her creative teeth in Philadelphia and Brooklyn but is now (and forever) based in beautiful downtown Oakland, California. When I’m not drafting letterforms, manipulating beziers, writing kids books, or letterpressing on her Vandercook, Jessica is doing her best to help others find the same happiness and fulfillment that she's found in her work.


2025 Book Club: Summer

Book: Baseline Shift: Untold Stories of Women in Graphic Design

by Briar Levit

Amazon Description: Baseline Shift centers diverse women across backgrounds whose work has shaped, shifted, and formed graphic design as we know it today. From an interdisciplinary book designer and calligrapher starting out in Harlem's Renaissance, to the invisible drafters of Monotype's drawing office, the women represented here include auteurs, advocates for social justice, and creators ahead of their time. The fifteen essays in this illustrated collection come from contributors with a variety of backgrounds and perspectives. Baseline Shift is essential reading for students and practitioners of graphic design, as well as anyone with an interest in women's history.

About the Author
Briar Levit is an Associate Professor of Graphic Design at Portland State University. Levit’s feature-length documentary, Graphic Means: A History of Graphic Design Production follows design production from manual to digital methods, established an obsession with design history—particularly aspects not in the canon. She currently collaborates with Louise Sandhaus & Brockett Horne on The People’s Graphic Design Archive. https://www.pdx.edu/profile/briar-levit


2025 Book Club: Spring 

Book Club Attendees will register for each meeting date as a separate event. The Zoom link is the same for all three meetings. 

Book: Steal Like An Artist

by Austin Kleon
https://austinkleon.com/steal/

Dates: March 26, April 9, and April 23
Time: 11 AM-12 PM (CST) / 12 PM-1 PM (EST)
UCDA Members only. 

Amazon Description: An inspiring guide to creativity in the digital age, Steal Like an Artist presents ten transformative principles that will help readers discover their artistic side and build a more creative lifeNothing is original, so embrace influence, school yourself through the work of others, remix and reimagine to discover your own path. Follow interests wherever they take you—what feels like a hobby may turn into you life’s work. Forget the old cliché about writing what you know: Instead, write the book you want to read, make the movie you want to watchAnd finally, stay Smart, stay out of debt, and risk being boring in the everyday world so that you have the space to be wild and daring in your imagination and your work.

About the Author
Austin Kleon is a writer and artist living in Austin, Texas. He's the author of two bestselling books: Steal Like an Artist, a manifesto for creativity in the digital age, and Newspaper Blackout, a collection of poetry made by redacting newspaper articles with a permanent marker. He speaks about creativity for organizations such as Pixar, Google, SXSW, TEDx, and The Economist. Visit him online at www.austinkleon.com.


Past Book Clubs

DESIGN IS STORYTELLING

October 20-December 15, 2021
Join UCDA members Vanessa Harris and Christine Prado for an 8-week book discussion around Design Is Storytelling, a book by past conference speaker and honorary member Ellen Lupton.

When
Wednesdays, 11 a.m.-12 noon (Central)

  • October 20, 27
  • November 3, 10, 17
  • December 1, 8, 15

FIND YOUR ARTISTIC VOICE

January 13-March 3, 2021
Join UCDA members Gina Gray and Amy Drill for an 8-week book discussion around Find Your Artistic Voice, a book by past conference speaker and honorary member Lisa Congdon.

Are you like us and bought the book (or meant to buy it), but haven’t read it and haven't done the work yet? Or is someone looking for a last minute gift for you? This 8-week program begins Wednesday, January 13 from 11 a.m.-12 noon (Central) via Zoom.