The [WO]MAN UP! Conference exists to celebrate and empower women in the world of art and design. AIGA Iowa is committed to empowering creative women and advancing the vital discourse on issues facing professional women today without generalizing or segregating female creatives. Instead, through this event, we aim to address persistent biases and inequities inclusively and constructively, while also providing a fun atmosphere for attendees to meet, mingle, and inspire one another.
This year, the conference will be hosted at Mainframe Studios. Antionette Carroll of Creative Reaction Lab will kick off the event with a presentation on creative problem solving for social justice. Attendees can then choose from a variety of break-out sessions ranging from participatory panels to hands-on workshops. The event is capped off with a keynote presentation by the acclaimed greeting card designer, Emily McDowell of Emily McDowell Studio.
9:00 AM
COFFEE AND CONVERSATION
9:30 AM
INTRODUCTION
AIGA Iowa Board of Directors | The Big Room
9:50 AM
OPENING SPEAKER
Antionette Carroll | The Big Room
11:00 AM
BLOCK 1
Think Before You Pink | The Big Room
A Social Media Guide to Killer Content | Room 103
Pushing Boundaries | Room 108
Business of Design | Room 121
Letterpress Workshop | Room 120
12:00 PM | LUNCH
1:30 PM
BLOCK 2
Think Before You Pink | The Big Room
Hidden in Plain Sight | Room 103
Pushing Boundaries | Room 108
The Art of Website Psychology | Room 121
Letterpress Workshop | Room 120
2:30 PM
BLOCK 3
A Social Media Guide to Killer Content | Room 103
Creating Collective Genius | Room 108
The Art of Website Psychology | Room 121
Letterpress Workshop | Room 120
3:30 PM
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Emily McDowell | The Big Room
4:30 PM
CLOSING COMMENTS
AIGA Iowa Board of Directors | The Big Room
4:45 PM
OPEN STUDIOS
Lower Level, Floor 1 & Floor 4
6:00 PM
AFTER PARTY
Ticket holders and special guests | The Big Room
Emily McDowell
Emily is a writer, illustrator, and entrepreneur who specializes in chronicling the human condition. In 2012, she launched Emily McDowell Studio, making cards for the relationships we really have. Today, Emily McDowell Studio cards and gifts are sold online at emilymcdowell.com and in nearly 2,000 stores worldwide. Her work has been featured by The New York Times, Good Morning America, NBC Nightly News, BBC News, and NPR's All Things Considered, among many others, and in 2015, she was named one of Slate's 10 Designers Who Are Changing the World. Emily’s first book, There Is No Good Card For This: What To Say and Do When Life Gets Scary, Awful, and Unfair To People You Love, coauthored with empathy expert Dr. Kelsey Crowe, was released in January 2017. In January 2018, Emily McDowell Studio was acquired by Knock Knock, creating two distinct brands under the umbrella of The Who’s There Group. Emily now serves as partner and SVP of strategy at Who’s There, while remaining creative director/founder of Emily McDowell Studio.
Antionette Carroll
Antionette is the Founder and CEO of Creative Reaction Lab, a nonprofit social enterprise that educates, trains, and challenges cities to co-create solutions with Black and Latinx populations to design healthy and racially equitable communities. Within this capacity, Antionette has pioneered a new form of creative problem solving called Equity-Centered Community Design. Throughout her career, Antionette has worked for non-profits working for social justice, human rights, and diversity and inclusion. These experiences led to her background as a social entrepreneur, non-profit leader, and design activist.
Antionette is a Next City Vanguard, 2017 Essence Magazine #100 Most Woke Woman, 4.0 Schools Fellow, Subject Matter Advisor for Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities, StartingBloc Fellow, and an American Express/Ashoka Emerging Innovator.
Antionette also is an international speaker and facilitator, previously speaking at Microsoft, NASA, TEDxHerndon, AIGA National Conference, The Ohio State University, and more.
Breakout Sessions and Panels:
#YESKINDNESS
CHRISTINE HER | ARTFORCE IOWA
Join ArtForce Iowa in their #YESKINDNESS campaign to spread kindness and
promote empathy throughout Iowa. #YESKINDNESS aims to educate everyone
about the health benefits of empathy and compassion, while fostering positive
self-expression through the arts. Learn more about the campaign and write your
own kindness letters to spread the word.
MAKE YOUR MARK: LETTERPRESS WORKSHOP
TAMMY & ADAM WINN | THE RED DOOR PRESS
Get your hands dirty (or should we say inky?) with The Red Door Press, resident
letterpress studio at Mainframe Studios. Participants will print their own set of
cards and a poster, the former of which can be used to pen a note for ArtForce
Iowa's #YESKINDNESS campaign!
THE ART OF WEBSITE PSYCHOLOGY
COLLEEN KINSEY | KINSEYCO
You only get one chance to make a first impression. Is your website effectively
engaging your audience and representing your business? Join this session and
you’ll walk away with key tactics to maximize your web presence, create clarity for
your customers, and achieve conversion goals.
BUSINESS OF DESIGN
BRIDGET DRENDEL | STEPHANIE MAJERAN | HOPE WOOD
Calling all freelancers and small business dreamers. Learn the ins and outs of
starting your own business from a designer, accountant, and attorney. This
session will cover the nitty gritty of client relationships, finances, contracts and
much more!
PUSHING BOUNDARIES: STRATEGIES TO MOVE YOUR CAREER FORWARD
LYNNE BELKNAP | HEATHER HARDT | LAURA CHRISTENSON | LAURA WILKENS
Ready for a shift in your career? Join four design veterans as they share how they
adapted to face new challenges, explore new fields, and achieve new heights
in their creative careers. Whether you're interested in striking out on your own,
leading the pack, or simply reinvigorating your current practice, this panel will
help you push past any boundary that may lie ahead.
A SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDE TO KILLER CONTENT
GABY GAASS | JESS HALE | LAUREN MATYSIK
Social media is where it's at these days! One billion users are on Instagram
alone on a monthly basis. Are you optimizing your content to stand out from
the crowd? Gaby, Jess, and Lauren sit down to chat about what your brand
can be doing to up your social media game. They'll cover topics ranging from
consistency of Instagram filters to creating a killer Facebook ad. This session will
have something for everyone, touching on content to design to execution. By the
end of this session, you'll feel confident enough to slay your social media!
THINK BEFORE YOU PINK: MARKETING TO WOMEN WITHOUT STEREOTYPES, TROPES OR SEXISM
E.B. UPDEGRAFF
Put down the wine, stop with the chocolate, and please stop putting glitter
on everything – if you're creating for an audience of women, we need to talk.
Messaging that relies on cultural shorthand for "feminine interests" can be
alienating, sexist, or even damaging to the audience you're trying to reach. In
this session you'll earn how to avoid sexist or alienating messaging and create
inclusive campaigns that will increase audience engagement and connect your
brand to women and minority audiences better than ever before.
HIDDEN IN PL AIN SIGHT: USING UX RESEARCH TO INFLUENCE DESIGN
KATRINA REGER | BRADY REBHUHN
As a designer, how do you really know what your users want and if your design
is working for them? When you're designing a website, UX research will help
you create a product that's easy to use and meets your users' expectations and
needs. In this session, you'll learn how to uncover hidden insights about how your
users interact with your website and how to translate the user data into actionable
takeaways that you can use to influence your designs in the future.
CREATIVE COLLECTIVE GENIUS: STRATEGIC AMERICA PANEL
LISA HOLTORF | COURTNEY SHAW | WHEATEN MATHER | BRUCE GANZER
Bringing together multiple points-of-view to get to creative solutions is hard work
but today’s world demands that it happens – and it’s so rewarding when it does.
In this session, a panel of creative collaborators from Strategic America will share
some tips and tricks they have learned over the years to creatively solving clients’
business challenges. While creating collective genius is an on-going process, this
session will provide you with perspective to approach it in a fresh way.
Your registration constitutes permission to use photos, audio and video recording taken of you at the event for promotional and educational purposes in connection with AIGA Iowa conferences and activities, in corresponding publications, in AIGA Iowa's archives and on AIGA Iowa's website.
Become a volunteer! Interested in being an Event Chair or volunteering the day of the conference? Email programs@aigaiowa.org.
