Juliet D'Ambrosio - Iconologic - Atlanta, GA
Juliet D’Ambrosio is Editorial Director at Iconologic, a 26 year-old Atlanta-based brand design firm with an international client roster. For the past decade, Juliet has overseen creative strategy and content creation for some of the world’s leading brands. Currently, Juliet works with clients that include The Coca-Cola Company, the International Olympic Committee, the NFL, Chick-fil-A, Volkswagen, Standard & Poor’s, the United Way, UPS, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and Outkast’s André Benjamin. Her editorial and ethnographic approach to brand development helps clients create compelling brands based on truth and a strong point-of-view.
Juliet’s work has garnered frequent recognition in all major design competitions and publications, and has appeared in design anthologies and textbooks. She helps lead the Design Writing program at Atlanta’s Portfolio Center, is a frequent contributor to online and print periodicals, and is a regular speaker at corporate and communications industry conferences on brand design issues. A former writer and editor of Jazziz Magazine, Juliet attended the University of Florida, where she received B.A.s in English and Religion. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and children.
Chris Komnick - Redmark - Cincinnati, OH
Building a business is not unlike restoring a vintage motorcycle, and Chris knows a lot about both. Each takes dexterity, patience, and a know-how for implementing the best approach for the best outcome. Chris has been building businesses for over 20 years and understands what it takes to get them humming. He has a talent for dissecting problems, identifying solutions, and influencing results; skills that serve him in building a business or the occassional vintage bike. Chris is a founding partner and the chief strategist at Redmark.
Kevin Stohlmeyer - C2 Graphics - Milwaukee, WI
Kevin Stohlmeyer is an Adobe Certified Instructor for C2 Graphics Productivity Solutions in Milwaukee, Wisconsin's only Adobe Authorized Training Center. Kevin also serves as the higher education coordinator, working with secondary and higher education institutions assisting in the development of graphic design curriculum. Kevin serves on the Advisory Boards of MATC-Milwaukee, ITT Tech, and WCTC. He is also the co-manager of the Milwaukee Adobe Users Group, leader of the Milwaukee Graphic Design Meetup, an Adobe Community Expert and so much more.
His background in design and publishing complement his knowledge of all things Adobe. His devotion makes for fabulous classroom performances, has landed him invites to Adobe summits and appearances at numerous conferences and webinars.
Tim Decker - UWM Visual Art Department - Milwaukee, WI
Tim Decker has played an important role in children's entertainment over the past decade. With extensive experience in game animation, character design and children's television, Tim has taken on the roles of Animation Supervisor for Disney Interactive, lead animator for Knowledge Adventure, and layout artist/animator for the award winning television series "The Simpson's!" He has also appeared on many episodes of the "Imagination Station" as a guest artist inspiring children in the art of animation and cartooning. He has extensive experience directing animation in Canada, India, Korea and the United States.
Throughout his career, Tim has won numerous gaming awards from PC Magazine, Communication Arts Magazine, Family Magazine and the Academy of Arts and Sciences. Tim has a Bachelor's degree in Character Animation/Film from California Institute of the arts (CalArts) and an Associates degree in Illustration from Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. Tim is enjoying a second career as a Lecturer at Peck School of the arts. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Tim teaches Animation, character development, Puppetry, Claymation and Drawing for animation. His Student's films have been featured across the nation for the National Poetry Foundation. He enjoys working with the artists of tomorrow.
Bill Bensman - Spreenkler - Milwaukee, WI
Bill is a graduate of Indiana University - Bloomington with a Telecommunications background in Advertising and Marketing. Day to day, he coordinates, executes and manages social media campaigns for Spreenkler as Social Media Campaign Coordinator. Amongst other initiatives at the agency, Bill also travels to area colleges and universities to speak with students about Spreenkler's New Age Networking workshop: an online social image consulting presentation about creating and using a personal brand to find that first job.
Spreenkler is a creative services agency powered by the energy, ideas and innovation of the area’s most talented young professionals. Composed of college students, Spreenkler brings the best new ideas - and the voice of the next generation to the workforce. Students have the opportunity to grow their portfolio with real client work ranging from web and print design, web development, social media campaigns and branding and make professional connections to launch their career. Spreenkler’s overall mission is to retain creative and technical talent in the region.
Sara Gehl - Spreenkler - Milwaukee, WI
Working full time at Spreenkler as Director Marketing & Client Services, Saraʼs passion for the Milwaukee region brings an energy for success to Spreenkler. Recruiting, training and retaining college students in the Milwaukee region, and outlining a path for growth, assures that each student is fully prepared and that their career is launched immediately after graduation. Saraʼs role also involves developing and guiding marketing initiatives and maintaining client relationships.
Jeff Ganger - Freelance Designer - Milwaukee, WI
Jeff Ganger is a freelance designer based in Milwaukee. He has over 8 years of design experience in a wide variety of fields, including marketing, publishing and advertising, working in both corporate and agency settings. He has worked for leading ad agencies, publishers, and marketing firms, helping to shape national brands like Prudential, Move.com, Great Clips and Home Magazine. Now he runs his own design studio and works with small businesses and nonprofits, offering growth support in the form of visual communications which help them achieve brand success. Jeff will talk about his background and his work, the evolution of his freelance career, how he promoted himself, and how he deals with the various aspects of his business. He will also include helpful advice and resources to aid in successfully establishing and maintaining a freelance career.
David Baskin - Industrial Designer - Auburn, AL
David Baskin started his undergraduate studies as a pre-medical student. After realizing medicine did not express his capacity for creativity to it’s full potential, he became an industrial design major. Since beginning his path toward an industrial design degree at Auburn University, which has been continually ranked in the top ten design schools for industrial design, David has created and presented projects to many well-known companies. Such companies include: American Greetings, Nintendo, Akzo Nobel (Glidden Paints), Microsoft and will be working with Viking and Galati Yachts.
David will be discussing what it has been like as a student to be presenting to these companies, as well as designing for them. When David is not working in the design studio, you usually find him teaching Scuba Diving classes to many of Auburn’s students.
The Little Friends of Printmaking
The Little Friends of Printmaking are a husband-and-wife team of silkscreen artists living and working in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Emerging onto an already crowded poster art scene in early 2003, The Little Friends quickly established themselves as an indispensable new talent. They are best known for the interplay of layers in their prints, and a playful looseness that leads the viewer to consider the process by which the image was created. This notion is central to their work-- as commercial screenprinting becomes practically obsolete, the Little Friends do their part to demystify the process and re-affirm the qualities that make screenprints desirable and unique among works on paper.
The Little Friends were recently profiled in the new book New Masters of Poster Design (Rockport); their work can also be seen in Beasts! (Fantagraphics), The Darkening Garden (Payseur & Schmidt), and Two Faced: The Changing Face of Portraiture (IdN).
Carol Kerr - Ises Design - Milwaukee, WI
Carol Kerr began her career in graphic design during the early 1980's in Sydney, Australia. Her path has been diverse, awarded, and includes lecturing as well as design education development. She now has a design practice and art studio - Ises Design - in Milwaukee and is working both locally and internationally.
