This year I was able to serve again as reviewer #35 at the AIGA Student Portfolio Review in Jacksonville. Its always nice to see work from other schools and to meet-up with faculty from the area like Claudia Scaff at UNF. Also attending were UF alums Selin Ozguzer (Jacksonville University), Dennis Eusebio, and Mike Neutzel (FCCJ).

Prof. Qianshen Bai of Boston University delivered a talk at the Harn Museum on calligraphy, seals and the scholar-officials of the Qing era.

Prof. Guolong Lai says the talk was innovative "...because the conventional wisdom in the field was that Mao and other, like the emperors of the Qing and other dynasties, emulated the traditional literati's taste and skills of calligraphy. He looked at instead the practice of using seals on calligraphy, and argued convincingly that modern calligraphy at least those practiced and promoted by the communist leaders are very different from the traditional calligraphy."

After the talk, Prof. Bai did a demonstration of his own calligraphy technique.

Over the summer I've done a good amount of inspiration posting on the social-net site for designers — Design:Related — on topics like typography, animation, and design stuff from the 1980s. The site was launched by UF alum Matt Sung and is edited by UF alum Karen Horton.

I spent a day at the recent powwow, a competitive dance and drumming event, in North Carolina. Interesting to see both traditional and "fancy" dress.

Last night in Atlanta I attended a lecture by motion designer Kyle Cooper, founder of Imaginary Forces and now a smaller studio, Prologue Films. On a side note, Mikon van Gastel has also spun off to establish a new firm called: A Very Small Design Office.

The talk was sponsored by AIGA Atlanta and I was able to meet up with UFGD alum Rebecca Klein Ganz who teaches design at the SCAD Atlanta campus.

Later this week I will give a talk on the UF campus at the Center for Latin American Studies as part of their 56th Annual Conference themed this year as In-digenous People, In-Digital Cultures.

Sam Houston State University in Texas is interested in setting up a "computer-integrated studio" similar to the plan which we enacted at UF back in 1995. I was invited as a consultant to relate how we began at UF, our successes and challenges over the past decade and advise on what might be transferable to their institution.

While on the SHSU campus I also lectured on my research related to the Cherokee Printing Press. It is interesting that Sam Houston, the namesake of the school, was a friend of the Cherokee.

I also conducted a two-hour typography workshop for the graphic design students about "integrating type with image". This included a 30-minute presentation on "five ways to improve your typography".

I've been spending time collecting printing type from 19th century foundries. Or more precisely, metal cuts used for illustration. They are easier to find than entire fonts of type.

Here is one mark from MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan which operated in the late 1800s. Some say it is an early version of the mark that is associated with the L. Johnson Foundry around 1860.

I wrote a five page review of the graphic design curriculum at Sessions.edu in support of New Jersey State Board of Education certification. Of course, I was once an instuctor and course developer at Sessions.edu so I had keen insight into the challenges and benefits of learning online.

I will have a sabbatical leave from usual university duties like teaching, service and administration to research and rejuvenate.

The summer didn't start well with an old water oak collapsing on my house.