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To kick off the week of ImagineUpstate, Greg Holliday, IT2PI instructor, programmer, and Beer and Napkins Board member will be highlighted Maker tools and skills at our Monthly Meetup

 

Beer and Napkins Ideas Session: Telling Your Story Across Platforms

Are you getting your story out?

Social media, pictures, video, print, and word of mouth,  we are inundated with so many choices and techniques to share our personal and business stories. Join us for an interactive idea session on February 24th 6:00 pm at The Community Tap, Greenville SC.

For tickets visit Eventbrite Beer and Napkins: Storytelling Across Platforms 

For those who cannot attend. We will be using #BandN_Storytelling for the event.

The expert panel representing education and media outlets will share their experiences in various mediums and will facilitate a fun interactive discussion with participants.

 

Jordana Megonigal– Publisher Business Black Box

 

 

 

Jay Spivey- Publisher Fete Greenville

 

 

 

Jeremy Boeh– Business Advisor and Storyteller at Jeremy Boeh

 

 

Tickets will include choice of craft beer and pizza

For more information contact Phil McCreight or Tony Miller 

November 11, 2014 Meetup: How Can We Use Art to Convey Ideas

One of Beer and Napkin’s purposes is to provide learning opportunities to expand our understanding of “visual literacy.”  At the November 11, 2014 Meetup Bridget Kirkland, Designer at Kirkland Designs and Instructor at USC Upstate and Designer Russell Tripp facilitated thought-provoking dialogue on How We can use Art to convey Ideas. Thanks to Russell for outlining some of the thoughts below from the session. Also, thanks to B&N advisor Paul Hebert for sharing his thoughts and sketchbook from the session.

The conversation started with Bridget sharing a number of personal visual and creative resources:

  1. Here is a list of Bridget’s book suggestions in case anyone missed them (Bridget, please correct/add if any are wrong or missing, thanks.):
  • Ways of Seeing by John Berger
  • The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp
  • Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon
  • The Art Spirit by Robert Henri
  •  Drawing From Life: The Journal As Art by Jennifer New

In addition, Russell mentioned the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. This is an excellent book for people who think they can’t draw. Anyone who can learn any other skill can learn to draw as well.

2. Set a regular schedule to practice, grab a journal and start sketching regularly

3. Be vulnerable and share your work with others. Learn from others on techniques, style, and general approach.

4. Act like you are 5! Bridget shared her experience being hypnotized by an artist into thinking she was actually 5 years old. She said the spirit in which she drew an image without inhibitions was the best ever!

5. There is no truly “universal” imagery or visual language beyond the most fundamental geometric shapes and primary colors (see Piet Mondrian). To create imagery that is readable (understood to mean the message you are trying to convey) to a particular audience, you must first understand that audience and their “lens”. That audience can be expanded by finding some, perhaps not immediately obvious, common ground within the diverse group you are trying to communicate with.

6. Understanding of your visual message can often be enhanced by simplifying the images used. Less unnecessary data means less chance of personal differences in interpretation.

7. Visual literacy incorporates a set of skills that can be trained just like any others, and which, combined with an analytic mindset, determine our level of visual literacy. Russell’s personal recommendation for improving visual literacy is to learn the fundamental elements and principles of design – there really aren’t that many – (http://goo.gl/1EcUK) and use that knowledge to analyze what you see and when you’re discussing it with other people. One way to have the opportunity to do both (and learn a surprising amount about human history and human nature) is to study art history (http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/).

8. When creating a visual that we wish to convey a clear message, the onus is on us as the sender/creator of the message to be sure the visual message is understandable to the audience. Audience matters – design your visuals in terms of the recipient not the creator.

9. When developing any sort of visual message, sketch/try/work out lots of ideas before deciding on what to use. Get the obvious ideas out of the way first. You might come back to them, but give yourself options to choose from to find what’s right for your audience.

10. Remember that everyone projects their own emotions, experience, and understanding onto visual imagery when interpreting it. This can be valuable knowledge in designing specific visual messages when you understand your audience and simplify the design to allow this kind of projection.

Sample of Paul Hebert’s Sketchbook notes from the evening

BandN Nov 11 page 1BandN Nov 11 page 2BandN Nov11 page 3

Phil McCreight’s Sketchnotes

ART_1

 

Weekly Challenge 6/8/14: Bobby Rettew: Get your Story in the “Zone”

Quote: “TheA little brainstorming zone is the place where the author meets the audience, and they dance to this merry little song where you can recite the words just the way the writer meant for you to sing. That moment at a concert where the singer on the stage pauses during a common part of the song and the audience sings without skipping a beat…you know the zone.” -Bobby Rettew

Challenge:  To get your idea in the zone so others will listen, consider three key elements to your story, your purpose, your audience, and your delivery.

Bobby Rettew is the “Chief Storyteller” for Gray Digital Group, based in San Antonio, Texas. Bobby works with groups all over the country and is based in South Carolina where he calls home. (btw…bobby loves writing about himself in third person…not!)

Bobby is a multimedia producer known for his creative talents, interpersonal communication skills, and new media experience. His background includes corporate marketing communications, PR, social media, new media, television news and expertise in producing compelling visual stories on all digital platforms.

Bobby works with hospitals, higher education institutions, healthcare advocacy groups and small businesses to identify compelling messages and communicate these messages at the right place and the right time. His background in multimedia development, video production, web delivery, and email marketing are the many tools Bobby uses to help build communities around a message.

Bobby has won 6 Emmy’s for his creative work at KPHO-TV and WCNC-TV. He has also been awarded the International Best of Show for Online Communication by the Society of Technical Communication.

Bobby also serves as an Adjunct Instructor at the Arthur M. Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership at Clemson University and Clemson’s MBA Program. He also serves as Visiting Adjunct Instructor in the Advanced Writing Program in Clemson University’s in the Department of English.

Bobby was educated at Clemson University with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics in 1997 and a Master of Arts in Professional Communications in 2003. His graduate work specialized in audience analysis and user-centered design. He has been trained by the Poynter Institute in Storytelling and Visual Communication and by the National Press Photographers Association in Visual Storytelling.

You can reach and learn more about Bobby at  www.graydigitalgroup.com