Sunday, October 3, 2010

Design Marathon

In spring of 2010, I had wandered into the second floor of the cool building in downtown. I had walked in because it looked modern, classy and had the word "design" hanging in the large, glass windows. No one challenged me as I passed the double glass-door threshold so I tried to look like I fit in this chic, modern space. There were a couple of desks and monitors clustered in the corner, but the majority of the space was open and inviting. I think there was a photography exhibit, but I don't remember exactly. What was this place? Who worked here? What did it do? I wasn't able to find anyone unoccupied to ask my questions, so I just signed up my name on the newsletter email list and left.

Thank goodness I walked in.

I received several emails from Charlottesville Community Design Center (CCDC), one of which was for the Design Marathon. "Calling all Nonprofits and Designers!" it said and I called. For those of you who don't know, the Design Marathon is an annual event where teams of talented designers (architects, landscape architects, planners, and graphic designers) donate 12 hours of professional services to ten competitively selected local non-profit organizations. That happened October 1st.

Hmm, how to describe the intense time-crunch to provide innovative and creative solutions to design problems? Absolutely fun. I want to be a graphic designer.

While I won't post the ideas and works that I came up with, I must say that this event has enormously boosted my ego. Down, girl, down. I barely noticed the time flying by and truthfully it was fantastic. All the designers were coddled with free coffee (apparently necessary), complimentary pizza lunches, access to a high-tech printer, and attentive volunteers who catered to all your needs. It was a designer's heaven.

You can check out the final designs of the Design Marathon at their blog: http://designmarathon.wordpress.com/.