Big thoughts. Little time.

This post is being written from the great heights of the John Hancock Tower in Chicago. It's amazing what a change in scenery can do to a person. Getting above the chaos of downtown Chicago has allowed to us to take in the great beauty of the city, seeing how the lake, river and land connect. We can see beyond the great towers and architectural marvels, out to the massive expanse of suburbs and neighbourhoods. This view is being etched into our minds, so that we go back to ground level, we'll have that bigger picture in our heads, reminding us that there is more to this city than the crowded city blocks upon which we walk.

In some ways, the conference has been like our visit to the JHT. In the bustle of everyday life, the rush of deadlines and angst of committee and client buy-in, we opt for a sense of tunnel-vision and push through details to get to the end of the line. But away from it all, we gain a sense of perspective over our jobs; we look from the nitty gritty details and see the big picture. And when we step back and really take stock of our situation and the overall goals of the institution, clarity hits us like a tidal wave.

In the words of Sam Harrison, one of the speakers this weekend:
"If you want something but don't go out and get it, it's like sitting on a pig waiting for it turn into a ham sandwich."

We want the university to succeed, but if we merely sit around waiting for someone else to find the solution, we're going to be waiting a long time. From the perspective of the in-house designer's conference, we need to be on the ground level, researching and find creative solutions to our company/institutions' problems. Our job should not involve the last, aesthetic coat of paint upon a project, nor should our titles just be "graphic designers." We need to think outside the box, and gain the trust, responsibility and authority as creative problem-solvers in our respective workplaces.

This sounds like pie-in-the-design-sky kind of talk, doesn't it? But if we don't set a goal for ourselves, some challenge that we strive towards, then what is the point of our job? We may be descending from heights of design utopia back into the everyday world, but that doesn't mean we need to leave the lessons and advice on the 94th floor. No, we will etch these ideas into our brains so that when we are back in the fray we will remember there is more to this job than what we deal with daily.

We are not alone

On Saturday, Alyssa and I spent most of our day in a large boardroom (the size of two CMU Great Halls), listening to various experts within the in house design community. By the end of the day, our brains were full to overflowing and we had to hop aboard a boat and float around the Chicago shoreline to decompress.
More importantly, we had to take in the fact that we are not the only ones who deal with serious process/policy problems. The issues our department faces on a daily basis are what every other design department is facing. Every time I nodded my head in agreement to something I read/heard during the session, I saw a large number of people nodding too.
We are not alone.

In Search of a Connection

Second day in Chicago.
Alyssa and I checked into the lovely Hyatt Regency around 5 PM, and were pleasantly surprised to find they had upgraded our room to a junior suite. It pays to have a social media savvy colleague, one who follows the hotel on her Twitter feed. About half an hour after getting into the room, we were gifted with drinks and popcorn, as a thank you for being actively involved in the hotel's social media world.
Points for Hyatt Regency.

Unfortunately, their internet connection has been anything but spectacular. Alyssa and I have tried numerous times to connect and the internet has loaded about as fast as Heinz ketchup coming out a bottle. Chalk it up to a large crowd of designers all converging on the hotel and swamping the free wi-fi. Instead of sitting in the comfort of our plush hotel room beds updating our blogs/twitter feeds, we opted for the speed and convenience of the nearest Starbucks.

Hopefully this explains the lack of activity in the last 24 hours. In that time, Alyssa and I have:
- gone through the Art Institute of Chicago (hello Gustave! You beautiful, beautiful artist!)
- visited the State Street Macy's, originally the flagship store for Marshall Fields & co.
- walked up and down Magnificent Mile, stopping for a banana split at Ghiradellis.
- walked through Millenium Park.
All of this in 24 hours!

But now down to business: we have just come from the opening keynote speech which was anything but design and interesting. Two women standing up on stage telling a room full of cynical, introverted graphic designers to "breathe in the second circle." The speech was about being creative in the moment but as I sat there half listening to the speakers, half watching the fierce twitter feed from designers in the room, I realized that I have developed ways of "being creative in the moment." Yes, of course there are times of great stress as a designer but I have figured out ways to balance out my life by doing Pilates, baking bread, reading books and being part of the "Crossword Crew" at work. Thank you HOW Design for telling me stuff I already know. Now, let us get down to the nitty gritty of in-house design issues. I am still optimistic that you can turn this conference around. I mean, come on—Andy Epstein is speaking tomorrow! I want to leave knowing something more than how to "breathe onto the person behind me."