The conference provided the opportunity to participate in many thought-provoking workshops, listen to some very talented speakers, talk to vendors, and mingle with the design elite. These conferences, in their basic form, allow us as an industry to share stories from our practices, discover new inspiration, discuss design theory, and develop new skills with the hope that everyone returns to the office with renewed passion for the design process.

This hope was realized in the office of Tobin Lehman. With numerous ideas to integrate into our clients’ projects, and new tools to create more successful work, this conference may be a turning point in our work.

Interested in seeing it for yourself? Check out the following links to some of the conference’s best speakers. (Videos will be posted soon via AIGA, so many of these are simply for reference.)

David Butler, VP of Global Design, Coke
Roger Martin, Author
Al Bell, Founder Stax Records
Stefan Sagmeister

So to mark the year in which IE6 will finally fall below supportable levels, I have compiled a list of links to remember this fallen giant and the hordes of people who couldn’t wait for it to pass on. The following links are organized by death-scale, starting with “why is should die” to the more active “campaigns trying to kill it.” Whatever may happen this year, IE6 and I will still have those memories of broken mice and expletives that we shared many a night past.

Why it should die:

1. The weird and wonderful world of Internet Explorer
2. IE CSS bugs that’ll get you every time
3. 119 Bugs in Internet Explorer 6 for Windows

Why it won’t die:

1. The Slow Lingering Death of IE6
2. Campaigns to kill the web browser that just won’t die: Internet Explorer 6
3. Why won’t IE6 die already!?

How to deal in the mean time:

1. How I Might Deal with IE6
2. ie7-js
3. Transparent PNGs in Internet Explorer 6

People who are watching, waiting for it to die:

1. Bring down IE6
2. 6 Reasons Why IE6 Must Die

Campaigns trying to kill it:

1. Stop IE6 script
2. Kill IE6
3. IE Death March

The same needs exist with the construction of HTML email. Standards for HTML emails is not a new idea in the least, but it is an idea that needs more and more awareness to have momentum. Standards for HTML emails would allow the creative industry to perform a greater service to their clients by providing a quality product time and time again. Currently, the HTML email arena is lacking these standards, which make the creative industry at ends with the software developers who produce the industry’s leading email clients. These independent spirits, the Outlooks, Eudoras, and faction of webmail clients such as Google and Yahoo, all abide by their own definition of what HTML markup is acceptable in our communications. Under the guise of protecting the consumer, they actually produce a cost to the consumer in the increased time and effort required by companies to send truly permission-based communications.

Its time for all users of email to start looking into what they can do to help the cause. W3C, the standards group for the web is a great place to start thinking about this topic. The last meeting on the conversation about HTML was in 2007. In addition there are other groups like the Email Standards Group who are putting on a great campaign to help raise awareness. Lend them your contact list, or see what you can do to help bridge the divide. Every step will bring us closer to a safer, more productive means of communication through email.

Last night, the event Campaign:Digital, which I hosted for the Greater Frederick Advertising Federation showcased three speakers, in three different areas of online marketing. The audience of the event was filled with eager to learn GFAF members, but also some of my Hood College MBA classmates as well.

David Gurzick, from Hood, gave a very insightful talk on the emergence of bad advertising in social networks. It seemed that the theme in the conversation was that no matter what network you work with, the method of advertising to that audience has not been perfected. The various iterations of Facebook’s ad injections, have only bother or lightly inconvenienced its users, not driven them to click on ads.

Jason Gindele, from Real Magnet, reminded us all of the true effectiveness of email marketing. I had almost forgot about the power this medium has not only the awareness marketing, but in relationship marketing as well. The tool his company provides, Magnet Mail is a simply amazing and worth checking out for large scale email campaigns. I think its time to look at email again.

And finally, Justin Seibert of Direct Marketing Online, gave a fun and insightful primer in the SEO and PPC. It was basic, but did explore some of the tactics and general state of the market in search. The field is getting so broad and competitive that I forecast that more SEO and PPC marketing firms like his will be come fixtures in advertising, if they are not already.

All three of these speakers did a wonderful job of working the audience and delivering some great information for everyone. Hopefully we will present another event like this with the GFAF for the local advertising community. If you attended this event and have feedback, please let me know.

This is Pigtail101, a top pick on FontStruct.

Geotypografika.org is the blog of my mentor, design hero, and friend Erik Brandt. He is now stationed in Minnesota, at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and his students are producing some amazing typefaces. Check these out and go make the download.

 http://geotypografika.com/2008/11/06/typonauts-in-space/