Tuesday, March 13, 2007

mid trip update

So it's day 4 of our trip and we have squeezed in a month's worth of activities.

SATURDAY
We arrived at Newark around 6pm, took a shuttle into the city and we checked into our hotel The New Yorker. It's a pretty old historical hotel, very NY. The hotel itself is a beautiful art deco building created by the same firm that designed the Empire State building and built at the same time as the Chrysler Building. Our room has a view of both (check out the older post).

Everyone quickly dropped off their bags, walked across the street for Metro Passes AND then we dispersed to seek out food. Because it was late - I opted for a NY deli.

SUNDAY
City tour through the city, walk through the Park, visit to Ground Zero then on to MoMA. Sherin and I also squeezed in a visit to the Museum of Art and Design (MADMuseum) to see the Subversive knitting show.

A quick walk down 5th Avenue then on to Ali Baba's for dinner with a USC alumni - Emmitt Dzieza. He's become quite an accomplished interactive designer. Students enjoyed the yummy Turkish food, esp. their delicious desserts and picked Emmitt's brain for details on what happens after leaving school, life in New York and what it means to be an interactive designer.


MONDAY
Early morning (5 am - LA time) and we're off to our first appointment, AND what an appointment. Pentagram!. The students got an overview of the company's history, partners, and the projects that made Pentagram so famous. Thanks to our fabulous guide Kurt.

Brisk walk to Paper Magazine. Overview of the publication, including a souvenir of the latest issue, then the group had lunch on the run. We took the subway to uptown and had our last appointment at Wallace Church. Jodi and Maritess - designers extraordinaire, overviewed the company's amazing package designs. The group loved the designers, loved the company, loved their work... it was a love fest. They were incredibly generous with their time and their passion for design. Many people left wanting to pursue careers as package designers.

TUESDAY
über packed day
First appointment at Courtney & Company. AND to our surprise Mark Courtney hosted the tour! He talked about his company's projects and shared some truly amazing work. Many, many thanks to Mark for his generous time and sharing the work. Really inspiring.

Second stop and design mecca - AIGA. David Hall, membership, led us through the hallowed halls. Many of the tour members are AIGA USC members and officers. The officers are still pining over their amazing archives and research library. Hmmm... sounds like a Roski project to take on at home.

Quick lunch then on to Ogilvy and Mather, the quintessential advertising agency. Our host, Adam overviewed some of the most recent Ogilvy projects and shared some interesting Ogilvy-isms. See newer post for examples of their outstanding work.

Back to the hotel for a quick change of clothes AND then the festivities began.

Dinner with the entire group at Trattoria Daniel. It was nice to see everyone dressed up. It was a very pleasant dinner then around the block for the Broadway production - Avenue Q. Very funny and entertaining musical involving puppets... it's best not to say more.

Loads of discussion throughout the evening about design, companies and the city. Everyone has a favorite place and lots of opinions on the many different company cultures.

More to come...

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