Design meets Sustainability @ Compostmodern, SF

I had the privilege of attending the Compostmodern conference in San Francisco this weekend. The conference was Saturday and Sunday and then we spent all day Monday and Tuesday sight-seeing. I went with four other students, our design professor and PLU's sustainability manager who funded our way. The conference brought into question how to create sustainable thinking in people. It also just opened our minds to the possibilities of sustainability. It kinda felt like we were all getting together to come up with ways to "save the world."

We stayed in a gold LEED certified hotel, with a zero carbon footprint. It was a beautiful hotel with an Arabian twist and rooms that smelled like lavender. We made record speed each morning getting up early for the conference. We felt quite accomplished that we could get four girls ready for the day in 30 minutes!

After the conference was over we spent the rest of our trip exploring SF. We walked Fisherman's Wharf, where we met up with a friend of Chrissy (PLU's Sustainability Manager), who was nice enough to have us all over for tacos. On the way to tacos our cab driver drove us down Lombard street (how fun!). Homemade tacos after eating out for every meal was definitely a treat! On Monday we explored China Town, ate lunch on top of one of the downtown buildings, met with the MBA Program Director at California College of the Arts (which is the coolest art school ever) and took BART under water to Oakland. We flew home Sunday night but that didn't stop us from making use of the entire day. We actually ended up using every form of transportation on Sunday: 3 busses, 1 trolley, 2 ferries, 1 taxicab, 1 airport shuttle, 1 airplane (with only 20 people), another airport van and then finally our car. We visited Dolores Park, ate the most delicious brunch, and ferried to Sausolito where we walked around the neighborhoods and drooled over the most beautiful properties.

I had such a great time visiting SF again, what a diverse city! If anyone is visiting SF in the near future I highly recommend Brenda's French Soulfood for a large breakfast (on Polk and Eddy), Mission Beach Cafe for brunch, they have the best eggs, bacon and potatoes I have ever tasted (on 14th and Gerrara) and Fly (on Sutter and Larken). Those were a few among the many gourmet meals we treated ourselves to.

Enjoy my photos!

Getting hops on the rooftop

Our design prof Jp Avila (Dolores Park)

Waiting for the ferry to leave!

PLU Students in Sausolito

On for his free ride

SF at night, Ferry back from Sausolito

Holly and design bud Nicole on a SF building rooftop

Bringing in the New Year

I can't believe it's already the New Year, what a busy semester. What with being a full-student and working 20+ hours at the magazine, I've kept myself busy. I am so thankful that I get to participate so fully in both being a student and having a fun job. I will post some of my latest designs soon. We just published the Jan/Feb issue of 425 magazine which includes a bonus Bridal issue, where I had the pleasure of designing the Real Wedding section. I was able to include Heather's close friends' wedding, which was absolutely beautiful and so much fun to design since I knew the couple. Anywho I will post those next.

A while back right before Thanksgiving it snowed. School was canceled almost the entire week, which meant we had time to play and enjoy the snow. I went out with my roommates and some friends to toss a few snowballs.

On Christmas Eve, our family took a hike in the Mountains on a trail my Dad mountain bikes. We only passed four people the whole hike! We finished the afternoon with a tasty meal at Triple X in Issaquah.

Over break I spent a few days in Portland visiting Dustin and his family, but didn't take any pictures. We went to Sushi (which is rare for me), learned how to play Darts the real way and overall had a relaxing time. Dustin drove me back to Seattle for New Years Eve where we met up with my roommates and some friends. It just so happens that my roommate Katie's birthday is New Years Eve as well. She picked out a restaurant/bar for her birthday where we spent the evening until midnight when we wandered over (in 20 degree weather) to the Space Needle for the countdown and fireworks. I've watched the Space Needle fireworks on tv since I was little but have never had the chance to see them in person. It was definitely one of those things you have to do at least once. It was awesome to see it in person and we were able to watch it from the grass below the Space Needle. Mom and Dad were kind enough to pick Dustin, Kristen and I up afterwards as cabs on New Years Eve are literally impossible to find.

Katie the Birthday Girl

Me and Dustin right before the fireworks started

Me and Alex my best friend from high school

Kristen, Alex and I

I'm looking forward to what 2011 brings! I am doing some traveling soon and am excited to get out and about. I have the privilege to attend another design conference! This upcoming design conference is called Compostmodern, and will be held in San Francisco in the middle of January. It is a Sustainability Design conference, where I hope to be inspired on how to incorporate new sustainable practices and ideas into future design projects/campaigns. These conferences have proved to be so valuable in the means of inspiration and the people I meet along the way. They get me more and more excited to be a graphic designer. I will be traveling with three other girls, one of which is Nicole who I traveled with to our last conference. I'm excited to also visit San Francisco again! I also will be visiting Washington D.C. with Heather in February. It will mark my first time on the East Coast! I can't wait to visit with the Uncs, see all the museums and of course visit the White House thanks to Senator Patty Murry. Will keep everyone posted on my travels!

AIGA Into the Woods

I had the privilege to attend AIGA's Into the Woods. It is a design conference that happens about every 2-3 years in Leavenworth, WA and brings together all sorts of design professionals from Seattle and a handful of lucky students. My design classmate, Nicole and I signed up to be student volunteers which helps pay the way and then sent proposal after proposal to get further funding from our school for the conference. We were so thankful to be successful with the financial side of it because the conference turned out to way exceed our expectations. It was a weekend full of workshops, important speakers, meeting cool design professionals and eating amazing food. We stayed at the Sleeping Lady, which was perfect for a conference, we actually felt like we were at camp. The resort is equipped with clusters of cabins (5 star cabins to be exact), a dining hall, a chapel, spa/pool/hot tub/, recroom and mini cabins for workshops. Overall it was a wonderful place to stay at.

The conference itself was so inspiring, I came back from the weekend refreshed and ready to plunge into all my design, personal and at the magazine.

Here's a few photos of some of the fun we had. Friday night was a costume party themed to Oktoberfest (which is huge in the german Leavenworth town). On a college budget, Nicole and I decided to twin yodeler boys...also pictured was our conference roommate from Chicago who was a beer maiden. And the last picture is us with the beer glasses we received at a workshop on package design--specifically beer packaging labels. All in all, we came to the conclusion that designers really like beer.

Birthday celebration

LasSaturday I celebrated my 22nd Birthday with my roomies and some close friends at the Rock in Tacoma. Then on my actual birthday (Tuesday the 21st) I went to the Matador downtown with some of my design buddies who I have worked with at the magazine. Overall I had a lot of fun celebrating and got tons of birthday love. Thanks to everyone who mailed cards and gifts or celebrated with me in person, it was a great 22nd!!!

Oh and not pictured because we forgot to take pictures :( but Dustin and I headed to Kirkland this weekend to have birthday dinner with the fam. Our birthdays are 8 days apart, his is the 29th. We were treated to Zeeks pizza, which is one of my favorites!! 

425 on Groupon

425 Magazine is on Groupon today! $8 for a year subscription...check it out if you were looking to get one :)

http://www.groupon.com/deals/425-magazine?utm_campaign=425-magazine

Kitties!

I know Heather has shared the news, that Mom and Dad adopted kittens (yay finally!). So, I thought I'd share some more photos, because you can never see too many cute kitten photos, right? :)

If you look close you can see Zoe (all black) on my lap.

Aren't they just adorable? I had to bring Dustin home to meet them as well! Now I'm just hoping that Mylee will accept them, I've left her in Kirkland to have bonding time with her new siblings :) Zoe and Silus aren't afraid of her at all, but Mylee is still making sure they know their place in "her house." 

425 Sept/Oct

Because I'm in the process of building my personal web page, I thought I'd share a couple of the articles I designed for the latest 425 Magazine. It was our largest issue ever! Be on the lookout this fall for my website...I'm part way there as I've purchased my domain name (www.hollydunning.com) which is under construction. 

Below: This is the second page of an article on the Puyallup Fair, front page to come too!