Your community—where you share your common cultural and historical heritage and work toward similar goals. For designers and design educators, the design community fills the role of inspiration, collaboration, friendship, and support. Connect with your community this October in one of America’s success stories: Baltimore, Maryland. When the fog rolls into harbor, you can almost hear the past through the masts of tall ships and the beat of waves in one of America’s great seafaring cities. The vibrant, multicultural Charm City is a perfect setting for the community of UCDA.
 
UCDA is your community: your welcoming space to share your experiences and learn from the lives of others. Discover how your colleagues meet the challenges of communicating to multiple audiences through an array of media, and immerse yourself in solutions and innovations together.
 
As communicators, community is critical. The 47th Annual UCDA Design Conference provides you an opportunity to get an in-depth look at the issues facing the design and communication communities, both in and out of educational institutions, and gain inspiration for better collaboration.
 
The design community awaits you in Baltimore.

5 REASONS TO INVEST IN THE UCDA DESIGN CONFERENCE
1. Learn from others in your industry so you can face challenges with the right knowledge and support.
2. Hear creative inspiration and hard-hitting instruction from our stellar lineup of speakers.
3. Connect with the design community to build a successful career.
4. Gain inspiration from the award-winning work in the UCDA Design Show.
5. Attend some of the 30 sessions that cover the gamut of work you do—from print to web to interactive and integrated marketing.

REGISTRATION FEES

See UCDA’s cancellation policy.

THREE WAYS TO REGISTER
1. Online
Click the “REGISTER NOW” button at right to register online. You will be able to register for the conference as well as any optional activites (add-ons) including pre-conference workshops, publication swap shop, guest meals and more. Once registered, a link will be provided for you to select your sessions.

2. Printed Registration Form
Download a PDF of the registration form, complete and mail, fax, or email to UCDA. Once registered, a link will be provided for you to select your sessions.

University & College Designers Association
199 Enon Springs Road West, Suite 400
Smyrna, TN 37167
615-459-5229 fax
info@ucda.com

3. Call Us
Call us at 615-459-4559 and we can register you by phone. Please have your payment information available. Once registered, a link will be provided for you to select your sessions, or you may tell us those over the phone.

VOLUNTEER
For more information or to volunteer, contact the UCDA Home Office at 615-459-4559, info@ucda.com or contact Brian Sooy, 2017 conference chair at brian@aespire.com.

SPONSORS AND EXHIBITORS
See full list of this year's conference sponsors and exhibitors.

For more information on sponsorship or participating in the UCDA Resource Center, contact the UCDA Home Office at 615-459-4559, info@ucda.com or contact Brian Yohn, 2017 conference co-chair at byohn@vt.edu.

SCHEDULE

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7

8-9 a.m.
Early Registration for Pre-Conference Activity Attendees

9 a.m.-12 noon
Hot Off the Press at MICA (Optional Activity/Add-on $) SOLD OUT
Visit Maryland Institute College of Art for a tour of the Globe Collection and MICA’s letterpress studio. After an insider’s tour of Globe, famous for its vivid music posters, participants will learn about the letterpress revival in higher education and experience firsthand the inky arts by printing a poster with Globe materials.

Join Globe at MICA manager and coordinator Allison Fisher and letterpress printer and instructor Mary Mashburn for this hands-on, inky extravaganza!
Fee: $80 (attendee); $90 (guests). Pre-registration required and space is limited. Includes transportation, supplies, and instructions.

9 a.m.-12 noon
Creative Blocks (Optional Activity/Add-on $) SOLD OUT
As designers and artists we’ve all been there. Totally stumped on a design idea. Searching for something new and unique in our quest for keeping the creative juices flowing and our work fresh. Fighting those barriers to inspiration when those creative thoughts are just non-existent and the deadline is looming. You can’t seem to figure out how to access your internal creativity because you’re exhausted, overworked, burnt out, or that elusive creative energy has decided to go on vacation, without you. Most of what you need to remedy this situation, you already have.

You need a medium in order to develop the skills of improving how you think, creatively or otherwise. In this workshop, we will talk about the creative process—just a bit—then we get to work, get creative, and make things! We will be creating our very own “creative block” using hand decorated papers, drawing, painting, photography, and collage. Julie Spanos will show a variety of techniques that allows participants to create a finished piece to take home. Participants are also encouraged to utilize this process for their design work—backgrounds, illustrations, and images.
Fee: $60 (attendee); $70 (guests). Pre-registration required and space is limited. Includes supplies and instructions.

2:30-3 p.m.
Volunteer Meeting

3:45-4:30 p.m.
Presidents Reception and Networking Reception

4:30-4:45 p.m.
Welcome

4:45-6 p.m.
UCDA Foundation Krider Prize for Creativity Presentation and
General Session
1. Paint outside the Lines: Awareness and Prevention Through Art (aptART) Building Community through Street Art
Samantha Robison, UCDA Foundation Krider Prize for Creativity Recipient
Samantha Robison is out doing good in the world through art. Working in conflict and post conflict areas she promotes community cohesion and helps youth find their voice through street art. 

Samantha’s goals are jump-start conversations on important topics that may be hard to broach, to give kids living in tough circumstances a creative outlet for expression while amplifying the voices of people who are often ignored.

6-7 p.m.
Dinner

7-7:30 p.m.
UCDA Awards Show

7:30-9:30 p.m.
UCDA Design Show with Dessert Reception

7:30-9:30 p.m.
Silent Auction Opening
Donate an item to the Silent Auction to help build a strong organization. This is a highly anticipated event at every conference and your contributions help make it fun! The sky is the limit on what you can contribute: nostalgic, handmade, silly, beautiful, practical, impractical. Have fun and help support the UCDA Foundation at the same time. To donate items, contact UCDA  at 615-459-4559 or info@ucda.com. Items can be brought to the conference or shipped ahead. Get ready to bid on the unique array of items that will be on display.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 8

7-8 a.m.
Harbor Walk, Coffee Talk, and InstaMeet (Optional Activity)
Why not enjoy an early start with a walk around the Inner Harbor? Join UCDA leaders, colleagues, and friends for an invigorating beginning to your day.

More interested in coffee at 7 a.m.? Come join colleagues, friends, and UCDA leaders for some down-to-earth coffee talk.

Are you an Instagrammer? Bring your camera for a stroll through Baltimore as you discover and share your photographs through Instagram. Tag your pics with #UCDA2017. This year, be sure to find the solo designer InstaMeet!
Included in registration fees.

8-9 a.m.
Breakfast on Own

9-10:15 a.m.
General Session
2. Design for the Senses
Ellen Lupton, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)
Design is about more than looking. Designers in today’s cross-disciplinary, multimedia world create objects, images, and brands that activate all the senses. Writer, designer, curator, and critic Ellen Lupton will engage you in active experiences. How can designers engage the senses to create richer and more inclusive products and communications?  How do vision and language interact with taste and smell? How does a Nina Simone song taste? This presentation draws on Ellen’s ongoing research on design, storytelling, and multisensory experience.

10:30-11:45 
Breakout Sessions
3. Marketing to Millennials (and Preparing for the Next Wave)
Trish Witkowski, Fold Factory
Millennials are elusive, perceptive, and hard to reach. They’re social, socially responsible, and tech-savvy. So, how can we attract and engage 80+ million young people who defy traditional marketing tactics? And what’s to come? Will Millennial marketing strategies work on the next generation of young people? Trish Witkowski will cover it all.

4. Pics or It Didn’t Happen:
How to Get the Most Out of your Photos and Videos
Brian Carey, Libris by PhotoShelter
You need images and videos for every aspect of your school’s online communications, but the process of finding, organizing, and sharing your visual assets can be challenging. Join Brian Carey to explore how educational institutions across the country get more value from their photos and videos on social media, their websites, and in marketing campaigns.

5. Materials Matter: Why Paper is the Secret Power of Print
Chris Harrold, Mohawk Paper
Print on paper is re-emerging as a powerful way to cut through a din of texts, likes, and social posts. Chris Harrold will provide an insider’s “director’s cut” of the development and creation of Mohawk’s Makers Field Guide to Texture and Color, and how it can help you rediscover paper’s pivotal role in every print project you create.

6. Narrative in Motion Design
James Pannafino, Millersville University
James Pannafino will go beyond the technical aspects of moving graphics on a screen and will discuss the principles and factors to visually design for motion. He will cover motion design language, the creative process, and how to effectively plan a motion design narrative.

12-2:30 p.m. 
Networking Lunch and UCDA Business Meeting

2:45-4 p.m. 
Breakout Sessions
7. Marketing to Millennials (and Preparing for the Next Wave)
Trish Witkowski, Fold Factory
Millennials are elusive, perceptive, and hard to reach. They’re social, socially responsible, and tech-savvy. So, how can we attract and engage 80+ million young people who defy traditional marketing tactics? And what’s to come? Will Millennial marketing strategies work on the next generation of young people? Trish Witkowski will cover it all.

8. Pics or It Didn’t Happen: How to Get the Most Out of your Photos and Videos
Brian Carey, Libris by PhotoShelter
You need images and videos for every aspect of your school’s online communications, but the process of finding, organizing, and sharing your visual assets can be challenging. Join Brian Carey to explore how educational institutions across the country get more value from their photos and videos on social media, their websites, and in marketing campaigns.

9. Materials Matter: Why Paper is the Secret Power of Print
Chris Harrold, Mohawk Paper
Print on paper is re-emerging as a powerful way to cut through a din of texts, likes, and social posts. Chris Harrold will provide an insider’s “director’s cut” of the development and creation of Mohawk’s Makers Field Guide to Texture and Color, and how it can help you rediscover paper’s pivotal role in every print project you create.

10. Understanding UX Methods for Better User Experience
James Pannafino, Millersville University
What is user experience (UX)? James Pannafino will cover various UX methods from the ground up and give you a base understanding of how to plan different UX scenarios, context on which stage each method is used, and how to best approach them.

4:15-5:30 p.m. 
General Session
11. Featured School : Johns Hopkins University
SAIS Magazine: Change Agent and Community Builder
Margaret Hardt Frondorf, John Hopkins University and Beth Singer, Beth Singer Design
It was new. It was a big change in editorial gestalt and design tradition... and yet it was embraced by the entire community. How did the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University take a 40-year old well-regarded foreign policy magazine and transform it into an equally-as-stimulating, alumni-centric publication that continues to showcase its thought leadership? It was accomplished through engaging internal and external stakeholders to build a new paradigm grounded in their good ideas. This is a story about fostering community, finding a voice, and illuminating talent through a bold shift in content and visual convention. Margaret Hardt Frondorf and Beth Singer will discuss the combination of strategic vision and design thinking, and the key ingredient of TRUST for breeding artistic innovation and inspiring all stakeholders to move in new and ever bolder directions.

5:45-6:15 p.m.
Publications Swap Shop (Optional Activity)
Share your work and pick up some samples for inspiration in this limited-time event. Doors will open for 30 minutes, and once the samples are gone, they’re gone! Bring or send ahead approximately 30 samples (or as many as you can spare). The Publication Swap Shop is a run and get ‘em sample exchange. The doors open, and it’s a free-for-all. Sort of like a bride’s bargain basement sale, only with publications instead of dresses, designers instead of brides, and the publications are free.

Those bringing or sending materials for the swap will receive a “priority pass” to be at the head of the line!

6:15 p.m. 
Dinner on Own—Build Your Community!

MONDAY, OCTOBER 9

7:30-11 a.m.
UCDA Resource Center and Breakfast
The UCDA Resource Center includes an exhibition by companies and resources of interest to college designers. Visit with company representatives, get answers to your most pressing questions, and see the latest techniques, products, and services.

11 a.m.-12:15
Breakout Sessions
12. Meet Your Newest Audience: Generation Z
Kelly Viancourt and Ryan Sprowl, Oberlin College
Today’s high school and college students, known as Gen Z, have been shaped by social media, technology, and the deepest recession since the Great Depression. Kelly and Ryan will walk you through the strategy behind Oberlin College’s award-winning Gen Z-focused admissions recruitment materials and provide examples of how other colleges are using their print pieces to capture the eight-second attention span of this tech-dependent and marketing-savvy population.

13. Big Video Impact on a Small Video Budget
Adam Perry and Ben Wehling, Taylor University
Most institutions can’t or won’t allocate sufficient resources to higher full-time video staff or purchase the latest, state-of-the-art equipment to get the job done. Hear from Adam Perry and Ben Wehling who manage to produce high-quality video content with limited resources for staff and equipment, and how they justify small video investments that have huge video impact. It’s time to stop saying “I can’t” and start saying “I phone” (or “And Roid” if you prefer).

14. Transition Your Position: Moving from “The Type Nerd” to a Strategic Partner
Amanda Gingery Hostalka, Stevenson University and Matt Laumann, University of Maryland
While job titles communicate important messages about responsibilities, titles can limit our perceptions of ourselves, undermining our influence outside of our cube, our department, or our university. Learn how to harness your value and influence by examining the pivotal steps that allowed one graphic designer from the Marketing and Digital Communications department to become a strategic partner (designer, curator, and educator) in the School of Design.

15. Leaving a Legacy
Beth Singer, Beth Singer Design
How will you make your mark on the world? Can you create a lasting effect on others using design? And how will you ensure your efforts thrive beyond your lifetime? Beth Singer will discuss the powerful intersection of inciting a culture shift with a passion for design. Prepare to be inspired and to make the world a better place before you leave it!

12:15-1:45 p.m.
Lunch on Own—Nurture Your Community!

1:45-3 p.m.
Breakout Sessions
16. Meet Your Newest Audience: Generation Z
Kelly Viancourt and Ryan Sprowl, Oberlin College
Today’s high school and college students, known as Gen Z, have been shaped by social media, technology, and the deepest recession since the Great Depression. Kelly and Ryan will walk you through the strategy behind Oberlin College’s award-winning Gen Z-focused admissions recruitment materials and provide examples of how other colleges are using their print pieces to capture the eight-second attention span of this tech-dependent and marketing-savvy population.

17. Big Video Impact on a Small Video Budget
Adam Perry and Ben Wehling, Taylor University
Most institutions can’t or won’t allocate sufficient resources to higher full-time video staff or purchase the latest, state-of-the-art equipment to get the job done. Hear from Adam Perry and Ben Wehling who manage to produce high-quality video content with limited resources for staff and equipment, and how they justify small video investments that have huge video impact. It’s time to stop saying “I can’t” and start saying “I phone” (or “And Roid” if you prefer).

18. Transition Your Position: Moving from “The Type Nerd” to a Strategic Partner
Amanda Gingery Hostalka, Stevenson University and Matt Laumann, University of Maryland
While job titles communicate important messages about responsibilities, titles can limit our perceptions of ourselves, undermining our influence outside of our cube, our department, or our university. Learn how to harness your value and influence by examining the pivotal steps that allowed one graphic designer from the Marketing and Digital Communications department to become a strategic partner (designer, curator, and educator) in the School of Design.

19. How to Present Yourself and Your Work—Inside and Outside
Brenda Foster and Domenica Genovese, Greatest Creative Factor
This presentation will provide best practices in presenting yourself and your work to win approval at your current job or to win a new job.

The first half, lead by Domenica Genovese, will help you prepare your portfolio and your presentation skills for winning a new job.

The second half, lead by Brenda Foster, will provide insights on winning approval for your work from an internal audience.

3-3:30 p.m.
Walk or Shuttle to American Visionary Art Museum for General Session

3:30-4:45 p.m.
General Session (at American Visionary Arts Museum)
20. Finding Its Groove: Globe, Baltimore, and a Comeback in Six Tracks
Allison Fisher, Globe Collection and Press at MICA, and Mary Mashburn, MICA
Globe Poster, best known for its iconic R&B posters, promoted the greats from B.B. King to James Brown to Aretha Franklin. The posters dominated rural crossroads and city walls with bold wood type, fluorescent colors and vivid lettering. When Globe closed in 2011, MICA purchased the collection. Using some of the classic music tracks Globe promoted during its 80-plus-year history, Allison Fisher and Mary Mashburn will explore the art of the “people’s posters” and how community saved a printing and design legend.

4:45-7 p.m.
American Visionary Arts Museum Museum Open to Conference Attendees

6:30 p.m.
Shuttle to Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor

6:30 p.m.
Dinner on Own—Explore the Baltimore Community!

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10

8-9 a.m.
Continental Breakfast

9-10:15 a.m.
Breakout Sessions
21. Seeing Your Campus in a Fresh New Way
Peter Finger, Peter Finger Photography
Using plenty of examples, photographer Peter Finger will show how to capture your campus from a fresh new perspective including HDR and drone photography. HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography, which uses a technique that combines a series of images, can represent a greater range of luminance levels than can be achieved using more ‘traditional’ methods. Learn when HDR photography is particularly effective while shooting. Also learn how to capture images artistically with a drone and the current FAA guidelines regarding drone photography.

22. The Marketing of Higher Education
Daniel Dejan, Sappi Fine Paper
The competition between colleges and universities to enroll the best and the brightest is intense. Daniel Dejan will examine the unique challenges, traditions and idiosyncrasies recruiters and marketers face when communicating to potential students and their parents. Understanding how to engage this market involves tracking trends, behavior patterns, preferences, misconceptions and best practices—all while trying to find an effective balance between print, digital and social media. In this informative talk Dejan will share industry statistics while blowing up marketing myths and sharing cross channel marketing tips.

23. Big Projects, Small Shop: Workflow Management and Timesaving Techniques
Kristin Cruser, University of Kentucky
Larger staff! More time! We all have these on our wishlists. But, with workflow management and a few timesaving techniques—a small communications staff can accomplish more with fewer resources. Organization tips and software shortcuts will help you cross projects off your to-do list more quickly and efficiently.

24. Campus Community by Design
David Ashton, Ashton Design
David Ashton, founder of Ashton Design, has been designing for educational institutions for over 50 years. From the invention of the school viewbook in the 1960s to the recent proliferation of branded environments, he has witnessed the ever-expanding role graphic design plays in institutional recruitment, marketing, and development. Learn how every aspect of design can help you speak to visitors, students, alumni, and staff.

10:30-11:45 a.m.
General Session
25. Creating Opportunities for Community Impact
Mark Randall, Worldstudio
Many design professionals seek to turn their efforts to self-generated projects, geared toward positive community impact. If you struggle with how to do this from within the institution in which you serve, Mark Randall and this interactive workshop will introduce ways in which to launch entrepreneurial activities from inside your organization: from ideation and partner engagement to strategies for leveraging limited time and resources.

11:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m.
Lunch on Own—Explore The Community!

1:45-3 p.m.
Breakout Sessions
26. Seeing Your Campus in a Fresh New Way
Peter Finger, Peter Finger Photography
Using plenty of examples, photographer Peter Finger will show how to capture your campus from a fresh new perspective including HDR and drone photography. HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography, which uses a technique that combines a series of images, can represent a greater range of luminance levels than can be achieved using more ‘traditional’ methods. Learn when HDR photography is particularly effective while shooting. Also learn how to capture images artistically with a drone and the current FAA guidelines regarding drone photography.

27. How to Make Friends (Give) and Influence People (to Give More) 2017
Nils d’Aulaire and Charles Coxe, Saga Content
Purdue University shattered records for single-day educational fundraising (then beat their own mark) by taking what’s traditionally been serious, donation-focused communication, and instead shifting the focus to fun, attention-grabbing content and social challenges designed to spark engagement, sharing, and, ultimately, giving. The creatives behind Purdue Day of Giving will detail how putting your audience first can drive results far beyond expectations.

28. Big Projects, Small Shop: Workflow Management and Timesaving Techniques
Kristin Cruser, University of Kentucky
Larger staff! More time! We all have these on our wishlists. But, with workflow management and a few timesaving techniques—a small communications staff can accomplish more with fewer resources. Organization tips and software shortcuts will help you cross projects off your to-do list more quickly and efficiently.

29. Campus Community by Design
David Ashton, Ashton Design
David Ashton, founder of Ashton Design, has been designing for educational institutions for over 50 years. From the invention of the school viewbook in the 1960s to the recent proliferation of branded environments, he has witnessed the ever-expanding role graphic design plays in institutional recruitment, marketing, and development. Learn how every aspect of design can help you speak to visitors, students, alumni, and staff.

3:15-4:30 p.m.
General Session
30. Designers (Should) Run the World
Tracey Halvorsen, Fastspot
Until you start acting like a true leader or CEO, your design work and your job will suffer. If you want advancement and personal fulfillment in your work, you need to find ways to take ownership over the responsibility of your designs to affect positive change. This means you might have to step up and transform your team, your department, or your organization. Don’t wait for someone else to pave the path forward for you. Do the hard work that happens around the boundaries of the actual design work, and extends beyond the beginning and end of the time you create the design work. Tracey Halvorsen will show you how to invest in your work (and your life) the way a true leader would invest in their company. If you think you’re truly talented and creative and have great ideas—it’s time to prove it—or else go back to decorating other people’s ideas and hating your job and your life.

4:30-4:45 p.m.
Closing Remarks and Prize Drawing

CONFERENCE SITE
The conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland.

A blend of urban luxury and local charm, our Baltimore hotel is the perfect business and vacation destination on the picturesque Inner Harbor.

Explore the wonders of the Inner Harbor and Charm City. Walk to museums, historic landmarks, and attractions like the National Aquarium—or catch a Baltimore Ravens game at M&T Stadium.

Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor
300 Light Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21202

DISCOUNTED HOTEL RATES
The hotel stay is not included in the conference registration fees. You are responsible for making your own hotel reservations. Room blocks may fill before the hotel deadline and have sold out the last few years, so please make your reservation immediately to ensure the discounted rate and availability.

HYATT REGENCY BALTIMORE INNER HARBOR—HOST HOTEL
300 Light Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21202
$199 (single or double) 
Reservations: 410-528-1234 or tinyurl.com/ucda-baltimore
Deadline to receive this rate is September 9

ROYAL SONESTA HARBOR COURT—OVERFLOW HOTEL
550 Light Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21202
$179 (single or double) 
Reservations: 410-234-0550 or tinyurl.com/y9sapukl
Deadline to receive this rate is September 14

TRAVEL
Getting to Baltimore
Baltimore Washington International Airport is the closest airport to the hotel.
Airport/Ground Transportation

SUPREME SHUTTLE SERVICE: Advance reservations for trips from the airport may be placed via the website or 24-hour customer service line. Call 800-590-0000 or visit supremeairportshuttle.com to reserve in advance.

LOCAL TRANSPORTATION: The Hyatt Regency is conveniently located only four blocks from the Metro subway system and only three blocks from the Lightrail. BUS-MTA picks up right outside the hotel, making it easy to explore the area.

CARBON OFFSETS
For $18, you may purchase and offset the CO2 created by your travel and conference attendance. All participants will receive a luggage tag and will be purchasing 1-1/2 tons, no matter the distance.

WORKSHOP SPEAKERS
Julie Spanos, Marketing Manager for Student Affairs, University of Texas at Dallas
Allison Fisher, Manager, Globe Collection and Press, MICA
Mary Mashburn, Graphic Designer, Letterpress Printer and Instructor, MICA

BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKERS
David Ashton, Founder, Ashton Design
Charles Coxe, Co-founder, Saga Content
Kristin Cruser, Director of Creative Services, University of Kentucky
Nils d’Aulaire, Co-founder, Saga Content
Daniel Dejan, Print and Creative Manager, Sappi Fine Paper North America
Peter Finger, President, Peter Finger Photography
Brenda Foster, Partner, Greatest Creative Factor
Domenica Genovese, Partner, Greatest Creative Factor
Chris Harrold, Vice President and Creative Director, Mohawk Paper
Amanda Gingery Hostalka, Dean, School of Design, Stevenson University
Adam Perry, Creative Director, Taylor University
Matt Laumann, Director, Cultural Programs and Exhibitions, Stevenson University
James Pannafino, Associate Professor, Millersville University
Beth Singer, Founder, Beth Singer Design
Ryan Sprowl, Graphic Designer, Oberlin College
Kelly Viancourt, Director of Print and Publications, Oberlin College
Brian Carey, Account Executive, Libris by PhotoShelter
Ben Wehling, Executive Director of Marketing, Taylor University
Trish Witkowski, Chief Folding Fanatic, FoldFactory.com

GENERAL SESSION SPEAKERS
We have gathered some of the best and brightest—hear creative inspiration and hard-hitting instruction from our stellar lineup of general session speakers.