Tag: Design Week Portland

There seems to be a new rule in PDX.

If you want to create an unforgettable festival, it must have a three letter name.

We had TBA pay a visit. And now DWP has come and gone.

Both of these masterfully organized landmark events on the fall Portland calendar illustrate (as if there was any doubt) that when the show is on, the world comes to Portland. When there’s action, they – the audience – will always turn out and wait in line up and down the street.

Because they have to get in. They’ve gotta have it.

TBA and DWP embody much of what the future of successful entertainment looks like. An event worth the audience’s time has to be so much more than just some random place to go where stuff happens. There should be excitement, food, drink, top shelf content you can’t find anywhere else. And perhaps most important: There has to be an audience as well as a show to die for.

In the case of DWP, the subject of Portland’s creative present and future takes center stage. And with seemingly every other Portlander starting their own restaurant, studio, publishing house or creative agency – it’s no surprise that DWP’s content connects with many.

The takeaway: Find where the people are – and bring the show to them.

There was some cracking good craic with Vancouver’s (B.C.) Eric Karjaluoto over bahn mi in the basement of east side talent curators 52 Limited.

Are there too many bells and whistles on how design happens today, and is the whole enterprise perhaps a wee bit more precious than it needs to be? Let’s remember, design is a job, not a mountain top vision quest. @karj puts his money on disciplined, repeatable process – not inspiration or “ideas”.

Here’s where you need to be tonight.

Shaver Locomotive
2537 NW 29th
7-11p

On the RIGHT side of the tracks.

It’s the opening night party for #dwpdx.

Oops – and it’s sold out.

It’s just one thing after another.

To get the on season going, there was TBA.

After a brief rest to de-glitter-ify, now we’ve got DWP bearing down.

For the next 8 days, the biggest show in town is the town itself. Behold as events, seminars, workshops, parties and more from Design Week Portland fill the air with a creative hum.

As someone once said, everything is designed. But not everything is designed WELL.

What is design, and how is Portland becoming a design center? Come find out.

As with the TBA example, if you are in the business of messaging and marketing, of trying to move an audience to engage with your brand and do something – like come to a show – watch everything DWP does throughout the week. From the web site to the daily email to the experience at events, to the overall design aesthetic. Listen for that unified voice of the brand. And note the many thousands of people it activates.

In theatre as in business – the show is never not on. The show is ALWAYS on. If not the one on stage, then the more important one of trying to get the audience to come see the show on stage.

The customer is always watching.

Is your show on?

How does your design support your brand and the overall experience you want the customer to have?

#dwpdx

These days, life is busy in Portland. It’s just one darn thing after another (to quote Woyzeck).

No sooner does one music fest or film fest or tech fest or art fest end – than another one starts up. Or another five. And they all go on simultaneously. Non stop. Year round.

As our faire city warms up to her starring role on the national and international stages, the list of unmissable events grows ever longer. Someone needs to invent an app to track all this stuff.

Meanwhile, even as TBA is reaching a crescendo pitch, there out on the horizon already the next ship is visible sailing this way. And it’s named DWP.

You’ve got just enough time to wash the glitter out of your hair and put on your design hat before it gets here.

Blow horns: Design Week Portland is October 4-11.

You’re not gonna wanna miss this one. Oh no.

So saddle up.

@DesignWeekPDX