CIVILIZATION

Location
The Branch Museum of Architecture + Design

Characters: Type + Progress is on view at The Branch Museum of Architecture + Design in Richmond, Virginia until March 12th, 2023.

Characters explores the power of typography, interrogates its troubled past, and shows how characters–both people and typographic letters– throughout history are inspiring the movements of today.

There will be free public workshops, lectures, film screenings, and more throughout the run of the exhibit.

Characters features typography and research by Vocal Type. The exhibition was created in collaboration with Civilization.

Feature by Steven Heller

Location
The Branch Museum of Architecture + Design

Characters: Type + Progress is on view at The Branch Museum of Architecture + Design in Richmond, Virginia until March 12th, 2023.

Characters explores the power of typography, interrogates its troubled past, and shows how characters–both people and typographic letters– throughout history are inspiring the movements of today.

There will be free public workshops, lectures, film screenings, and more throughout the run of the exhibit.

Characters features typography and research by Vocal Type. The exhibition was created in collaboration with Civilization.

Feature by Steven Heller

Location
USA Today - Sunday Subcriber Edition

“History is not the past. It is the present. We carry our history with us. We are our history.” – James Baldwin

Present History – a 12-page insert appearing in today’s issue of USA Today for all 2 million subscribers. A collaboration with @smithsonian & @usatoday, title and concept inspired by the words of James Baldwin.

Present History seeks to show how moments in history have pushed or altered the trajectory of the Smithsonian, through the opening of new museums, additions to the collection, research, and initiatives, and in turn, how these moments in history impacted the way we live in America. This year marks the 175-year anniversary of the Smithsonian, with origins before the Civil War. To date, the Smithsonian has 19 museums, 9 research centers, a zoo, 154 million artifacts, and affiliates around the world.

The insert uses two timelines to tell the Smithsonian’s story. The first spotlights People, Places, Objects, and Events that were emblematic of the cultural, societal, economic, and political shifts of the time, illustrated through images or artifacts from the Smithsonian’s collections. The second timeline, running across the bottom of each page, celebrates the significant milestones of the Smithsonian over its 175 year history. Interspersed throughout the insert are games and activities that celebrate unexpected stories, roles, or artifacts from the Smithsonian.

A collaboration with the @smithsonian & @usatoday USAToday.Name, concept, co-curation, production, and design by @builtbycivilization

Location
Aids Memorial Pathway

In 2019 we were awarded The AMP: AIDS Memorial Pathway project – a commission to concept and create large scale public artworks to memorialize and celebrate the legacy of our community affected by HIV/AIDS in Seattle, Washington. As a majority queer-identified studio that has made Seattle our home, the story of how HIV/AIDS has impacted our community is deeply personal. Our studio was born from a history of others working at the intersection of design, art and activism–Maya Lin, Gran Fury, Guerrilla Girls, Robert Indiana, Judy Chicago–who proved how visual creative works have an unparalleled ability to connect with people. The project is currently underway and will be fabricated and permanently installed in the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Seattle in 2020.

The AMP: AIDS Memorial Pathway was initiated by a passionate group of volunteers and community leaders. With support from Seattle City Council, Seattle Parks Department, Sound Transit and Gerding Edlen, developer of the Capitol Hill Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), The AMP secured its physical locations at the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) and the northern edge of Cal Anderson Park along E. Denny Way.

Seattle Times - Aids Memorial Pathway

In hopes of helping slow the spread of COVID-19, the Non-Breaking Space gallery at the front of our studio has been closed temporarily. Our boarded-up windows now display a quote from Shirley Chisholm, a woman who spent her life fighting for justice and change. This crisis is exposing the flaws, inequities, and corruption inherent in our economic, political, and healthcare systems. No matter who you are, you have a right to health care.

View Exhibit

Time
11:00AM – 12PM PST

Location
Zoom

The Civilization Design Lecture Series is closing out Design for America’s summer Sparks Series with a conversation with Sadie Red Wing and Saki Mafundikwa.

Sadie Red Wing
Sadie Red Wing is a Lakota graphic designer and advocate from the Spirit Lake Nation of Fort Totten, North Dakota. Red Wing earned her BFA in New Media Arts and Interactive Design at the Institute of American Indian Arts. She received her Master of Graphic  Design from North Carolina State University. Her research on cultural revitalization through design tools and strategies created a new demand for tribal competence in graphic design research. Red Wing urges Native American graphic designers to express visual sovereignty in their design work, as well as encourages academia to include an indigenous perspective in design curriculum.

Saki Mafundikwa
Saki Mafundikwa is a graphic designer, art director, and design educator. He is the founder of the Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts (ZIVA) a design and new media training college in Harare. He has an MFA in Graphic Design from Yale University. His book, Afrikan Alphabets: the Story of Writing in Afrika, was published in 2004 and is the first book on Afrikan typography. He has been published widely on design and cultural issues and is currently working on a revised edition of Afrikan Alphabets which he hopes will be published in 2021. Saki leads workshops and lectures globally.

Sponsored by Blu Dot, Hemlock, Mohawk Paper, Rudy’s, Design Within Reach, Muuto

Get Free Tickets

Time
6:30–7:30PM

This month we’re featuring galleries and arts orgs from across the city, including Hjacob.lawrence.gallery, Oxbow Seattle, Seattleartmuseum, The Factory Seattle, Wing Luke Museum, Henry Art Gallery, MadArt Seattle, studio e gallery, Traver Gallery and so many more. Plus new special segments!

Watch

Time
6:30–8:00PM

In this time of isolation, let’s come together to show our support for galleries and artists as they weather the storm of this pandemic.

By The Hour, hosted by Lauren Gallow of Gray Magazine and Gabriel Stromberg of Civilization ,is a live broadcast showcasing art, gallery tours, interviews and more. Produced by Civilization, with livestreaming by Reel Magic Studio.

Watch

Northwest Film Forum’s physical space is closed to help curtail the spread of COVID-19.

ByDesign Festival is a cross-cultural exploration of people, structures, and ideas at the intersection of design and the moving image. ByDesign recontextualizes the global to the local and examines pressing issues such as sustainability, affordability, indigeneity, and infrastructure, as they relate to design thinking.

Festival Schedule & Tickets

Time
12PM

Location
Jacob Lawrence Gallery

A zine-making workshop with Jerome Harris, curator of As, Not For. Jerome Harris is a graphic designer, educator, writer, and curator. He holds an MFA from Yale University and a BA from Temple University. Harris is currently the Design Director at Housing Works.

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Time
6:30–8:30pm

Location
Seattle Public Library – Central Branch

The four-part Design Lecture Series brings world-class designers to the stage to share their knowledge for free. Our aim is to stimulate conversation around design, share its rich history and inspire our communities.

Jerome Harris is a graphic designer, educator, writer, and curator from New Haven, CT, and currently based out of New York City. He holds an MFA in graphic design from Yale University and a BA in Communications from Temple University.

Harris’ research into the exclusion of African-American graphic designers has manifested as an exhibition which is showing at multiple universities and arts organizations throughout 2019. The exhibition, As, For Not: Dethroning Our Absolutes: an incomplete historical survey of work created by African-American graphic designers over the last century, was originally mounted at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and went on to show at RISD, and the Jacob Lawrence Gallery and Non-Breaking Space in Spring 2020.

Get Tickets

Time
6:00–8:00PM

Location
Non-Breaking Space

The Seattle presentation of As, Not For is co-organized by the Jacob Lawrence Gallery and Non-Breaking Space. Half of the exhibition will be shown at Jacob Lawrence Gallery, with a focus on graphic works in the realm of parties, protests and musicality, and half will be shown at Non-Breaking Space, which will place a focus on Black Data.

As, Not For: Dethroning Our Absolutes – An incomplete historical survey of work created by African-American graphic designers over the last century.

On view March 5 – April 23, 2020

Special thanks to The Mountaineering Club, The Graduate, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, and Jerome Harris

—

As, Not For: Dethroning Our Absolutes is an incomplete historical survey of work created by African-American graphic designers over the last century. These practitioners are absent in too many classroom lectures, and their methods are mostly invisible or uncredited in the field. This exhibition aims to promote the inclusion of neglected Black designers and their developed methodologies and challenge the ubiquity of White and anti-Black aesthetics in our designed world.

More Information

Time
5:00–8:00pm

Location
Jacob Lawrence Gallery

5–8pm Opening Reception at Jacob Lawrence Gallery
8–10PM After-Party at The Mountaineering Club

As, Not For: Dethroning Our Absolutes – An incomplete historical survey of work created by African-American graphic designers over the last century.

The Seattle presentation of As, Not For is co-organized by the Jacob Lawrence Gallery and Non-Breaking Space. Half of the exhibition will be shown at Jacob Lawrence Gallery, with a focus on protest materials and music, and half will be shown at Non-Breaking Space, which will place a focus on Black Data.

On view March 5 – 26, 2020 at Jacob Lawrence Gallery

Special thanks to The Mountaineering Club, The Graduate, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, and Jerome Harris

—

As, Not For: Dethroning Our Absolutes is an incomplete historical survey of work created by African-American graphic designers over the last century. These practitioners are absent in too many classroom lectures, and their methods are mostly invisible or uncredited in the field. This exhibition aims to promote the inclusion of neglected Black designers and their developed methodologies and challenge the ubiquity of White and anti-Black aesthetics in our designed world.

More Information

Time
5:30 — 8:30 PM

Location
Design Within Reach, 200 Kansas Street San Francisco, CA 94103

Tickets are free!

Join us for a reception and lively conversation, moderated by Corey Gutch of Civilization (2018 Communication Design Award) with 2019 National Design Award winners:

Lisa Iwamoto, IwamotoScott Architecture (Interior Design Award)
Susan Kare (Lifetime Achievement Award)
Ivan Poupyrev (Interaction Award)

5:30 p.m. Arrive early to engage with NDA winners in short interactive sessions (space is limited)
6:30 p.m. Reception
7:15 p.m. Panel

Find out about additional education programs in San Francisco: www.cooperhewitt.org/sf

Read more about previous National Design Award winners.

The National Design Awards is the museum’s largest and most prominent education program, broadening access nationwide to the vision and work of the country’s design leaders and inspiring people of all ages to engage with design and design thinking. As part of the National Design Awards, Cooper Hewitt travels to various cities each year, connecting winners, past and present, to local communities.

Learn more at CooperHewitt.org

Time
6:30–8:30pm

Location
Seattle Public Library – Central Branch

Tickets

The four-part Design Lecture Series brings world-class designers to the stage to share their knowledge for free. Our aim is to stimulate conversation around design, share its rich history and inspire our communities.

Sheila Levrant de Bretteville is a graphic designer, artist and educator whose work reflects her belief in the importance of diversity and equality in graphic design and celebrating diversity in local communities. Since 1990 she has directed Yale University’s School of Art’s graphic design area of study, one of the oldest and most important design programs in the country. While the California Institute of the Arts was being planned in 1969 Sheila was asked to create the graphics that represented this new institute. She did her first teaching there and in 1971 founded the first Women’s Design Program. Two years later she left to co-found the independent Los Angeles “Woman’s Building,” a public center for female culture, and its Women’s Graphic Center. In 1981, she left the Woman’s Building to the next generation and initiated the Communication Design and Illustration program at the Otis Art Institute of the Parsons School of Design.

She is the recipient of five Honorary Doctorates by schools of Art and Design on both coasts. The AIGA Medal recognizes her exceptional achievement in the area of graphic design. In 1985, Sheila began her career in public art. Betye Saar and Sheila, neighbors and friends, each did works to commemorate Biddy Mason, the midwife and influential matriarch in the black community who lived at the site in the mid-nineteenth century. Betty Saar created the “House of the Open Hand’ her last public artwork, and Sheila created her first, “Biddy Mason: Time and Place,” an 82-foot-long mural. Sheila’s next site-specific project was in the old Little Tokyo neighborhood, “Omoide no Shotokyo” delivering the voices of four Japanese generations who lived and worked at that site in Los Angeles.

Get Tickets

Time
9:00 – 10:30AM

Location
KEXP Gathering Space

The Shape of Sound is a survey of 100 record covers by 20 iconic graphic designers from the 1950’s. In the era of hard-edge painting, Abstract Expressionism, and other Modernist art movements, non-representational abstraction provided an alternate way for designers of the period to communicate the feeling of the music, and use shape to describe sound. The Shape of Sound is a survey of these types of works from Scott Lindberg’s personal collection, gathered over the years.

Time
6–7PM

Location
Fruitsuper/Foundry Vineyards

Join Kate Long of the Letterform Archive in San Francisco, Graphic Designer Scott Lindberg, Sallyann Corn of Fruitsuper, and Sean Wolcott of Rationale Design for a conversation moderated by Gabriel Stromberg around design collecting. How do you start a collection? Who are designers worth collecting? Panelists will share some of their personal favorite objects from their own design collections.

RSVP

Time
12–5PM

Location
Non-Breaking Space

Shop open: November 30, 2019  — January 30, 2020

GRAND OPENING 
Small Business Saturday
November 30th from Noon — 5PM

DECEMBER SHOP HOURS
Monday — Friday 11AM — 6PM
Saturdays Noon–5PM

The graphic design objects and ephemera featured in this pop-up have been collected over the years by our friends and fellow designers from auctions, flea markets, thrift store bins, and other passionate collectors. The work was created by some of our graphic design heroes who made their mark on history by using visual communication to influence culture.

Collecting isn’t an act reserved for art. Graphic design is worth archiving, celebrating, framing, flipping through, enjoying, and collecting. This show aims to inspire visitors to start their own collections; whether that collection is of one or of many.

Special thanks to Scott Lindberg, Meredith Macleod, Briar Levit, Sean Wolcott, Gretchen Krich, and Christopher Ozubko for including their collections in this pop-up.

More information

Time
Doors at 6:00PM / Talk at 6:30PM

Location
Knack Coworking

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Moderated by GRAY’s editorial director Tiffany Jow, the discussion will focus on the role design plays in the face of demise—be it at the end of a life, an industry, a city, or otherwise. We’ll ask about how design plays a role in bringing people together and how Civilization’s projects facilitate community in difficult subject matter. A portion of this conversation will be recorded for a future podcast episode.

When: Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Where: Knack Coworking – 2132 3rd Ave, Seattle, WA 98121

Doors open at 6:00PM

Talk begins promptly at 6:30PM

Tickets: $20 non-member, $10 Gather Seattle Community Members

Light bites and drinks will be served. As an additional perk for event attendees, Knack is offering a free day of coworking at their space. Mention your name and the event at the front desk and receive a complimentary day pass.

Time
5:00–8:00PM

Location
Non-Breaking Space

On Display – A sampling of graphic works from the Herman Miller archives closes October 16th!

Herman Miller was founded in the small Midwest town of Zeeland, Michigan and started out manufacturing antique reproduction furniture. At the height of the Great Depression, the company stared down bankruptcy, but was saved by an industrial designer from New York City named Gilbert Rohde who convinced founder D.J. De Pree to instead manufacture modern furniture for the masses.  George Nelson eventually succeeded Rohde as Design Director of Herman Miller, and ultimately lead the way to defining mid-century modern design in America.

This era included collaborations with some of the greatest designers of our time – Charles and Ray Eames, Irving Harper, Seymour Chwast, Tomoko Miho, Alexander Girard, and Deborah Sussman. Fortunately, the company preserved not only the furniture and products but also the promotional materials. Today this immense archive is overseen by Amy Auscherman. The collection provides a glimpse into the history of modern design and tells Herman Miller’s 100 year story.

Time
Doors at 6PM

Location
Fruitsuper

Ted & Angie of Poketo, Sallyann Corn & Joe Kent of Fruitsuper, and Gabriel Stromberg of Civilization will discuss Poketo’s new book, creative spaces, the design community, and more.

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Location
KEXP Gathering Space

The 1950s were a pivotal time for record art. The music industry was just beginning to establish rules for how the LP format could (and should) be merchandised, which left quite a bit of room for experimentation with cover graphics. Most were designed to appeal to Middle America, with a simple masthead across the top detailing the artist and title and, more often than not, a photograph of that artist to fill the space. But in some places — mainly Jazz releases, but also some Classical titles — a Modernist approach was able to seep into the lexicon.

A few record publishers were willing to give their designers the leeway to emote the music through sleeve graphics. In the era of hard-edge painting, Abstract Expressionism, and other Modernist art movements, non-representational abstraction provided an alternate way for designers of the period to communicate the feeling of the music, and use shape to describe sound.

The Shape of Sound is a survey of these types of works from my personal collection, gathered over the past couple decades. It is by no means a comprehensive study of abstract record sleeves, but simply provides a window of 100 examples through which we can view some of the solutions that 20 designers came up with to solve increasingly complex problems, resolving formal Modernist approaches with a need to connect with the consumer.

– Scott Lindberg, Curator of The Shape of Sound

Time
5:00–9:00PM

Location
Non-Breaking Space

Herman Miller was founded in the small Midwest town of Zeeland, Michigan and started out manufacturing antique reproduction furniture. At the height of the Great Depression, the company stared down bankruptcy, but was saved by an industrial designer from New York City named Gilbert Rohde who convinced founder D.J. De Pree to instead manufacture modern furniture for the masses.  George Nelson eventually succeeded Rohde as Design Director of Herman Miller, and ultimately lead the way to defining mid-century modern design in America.

This era included collaborations with some of the greatest designers of our time – Charles and Ray Eames, Irving Harper, Seymour Chwast, Tomoko Miho, Alexander Girard, and Deborah Sussman. Fortunately, the company preserved not only the furniture and products but also the promotional materials. Today this immense archive is overseen by Amy Auscherman. The collection provides a glimpse into the history of modern design and tells Herman Miller’s 100 year story.

Time
4:00–7:00PM

Location
Non-Breaking Space

Herman Miller: A Way of Living – A chronicle of the rich history of this innovative furniture company, from its founding in the early twentieth century to today

Edited by Amy Auscherman, Sam Grawe, & Leon Ransmeier

Books will be on sale by Fruitsuper.

Time
6:30PM–8:30PM

Location
Seattle Public Library – Central Branch

Herman Miller archivist, Amy Auscherman, will speak about managing a collection spanning Herman Miller’s 100 year history and the company’s role in helping to define mid-century modernism through their collaborations with some of the greatest designers of our time, including Charles and Ray Eames, Irving Harper, Isamu Noguchi, Tomoko Miho, Alexander Girard, and Deborah Sussman.  The lecture will be followed by a conversation between Amy and Llisa Demetrios, Registrar of the Eames Collection and Granddaughter of Charles & Ray Eames. Books will be on sale through Fruitsuper Design following the event.

This event is in collaboration with Herman Miller and Civilization.

Tickets available August 1st at Noon.

Get Tickets

Time
5:00–9:00PM

Location
Non-Breaking Space

Herman Miller was founded in the small Midwest town of Zeeland, Michigan and started out manufacturing antique reproduction furniture. At the height of the Great Depression, the company stared down bankruptcy, but was saved by an industrial designer from New York City named Gilbert Rohde who convinced founder D.J. De Pree to instead manufacture modern furniture for the masses.  George Nelson eventually succeeded Rohde as Design Director of Herman Miller, and ultimately lead the way to defining mid-century modern design in America.

This era included collaborations with some of the greatest designers of our time – Charles and Ray Eames, Irving Harper, Seymour Chwast, Tomoko Miho, Alexander Girard, and Deborah Sussman. Fortunately, the company preserved not only the furniture and products but also the promotional materials. Today this immense archive is overseen by Amy Auscherman. The collection provides a glimpse into the history of modern design and tells Herman Miller’s 100 year story.

RSVP

Time
5:30–7:30PM

Location
Henrybuilt

Tickets

In partnership with Henrybuilt + Space Theory, ARCADE brings together speakers from diverse design disciplines to explore how design increases accessibility, creates equitable spaces and work, redefines aesthetic awareness, and empowers communities.

To kick off the Democratize by Design Series, Arcade is bringing together design professionals who come from nontraditional design backgrounds to explore what it means to enter the professional world of design without having a degree or working for a firm.

Moderator: Gabriel Stromberg, Civilization

Speakers: Tamara Codor, Codor Design; Scott Hudson, CEO Henrybuilt; Jeremy Price, Price Ericksen Design; Curtis Steiner, Curator/Designer/Artist

More Information

Time
5:00–8:00PM

Location
Non-Breaking Space

The 1950s were a pivotal time for record art. The music industry was just beginning to establish rules for how the LP format could (and should) be merchandised, which left quite a bit of room for experimentation with cover graphics. Most were designed to appeal to Middle America, with a simple masthead across the top detailing the artist and title and, more often than not, a photograph of that artist to fill the space. But in some places — mainly Jazz releases, but also some Classical titles — a Modernist approach was able to seep into the lexicon.

A few record publishers were willing to give their designers the leeway to emote the music through sleeve graphics. In the era of hard-edge painting, Abstract Expressionism, and other Modernist art movements, non-representational abstraction provided an alternate way for designers of the period to communicate the feeling of the music, and use shape to describe sound.

The Shape of Sound is a survey of these types of works from my personal collection, gathered over the past couple decades. It is by no means a comprehensive study of abstract record sleeves, but simply provides a window of 100 examples through which we can view some of the solutions that 20 designers came up with to solve increasingly complex problems, resolving formal Modernist approaches with a need to connect with the consumer.

– Scott Lindberg, Curator of The Shape of Sound

More Information

Time
6:00–9:00PM

Location
Vashon Center for the Arts

Taking the arboretum as its inspiration, Tree celebrates the community that sustains studio e. Through an eclectic group of works united by a common theme — “tree-ness”— the show emblemizes their makers’ connection to studio e as both gallery artists and talented friends of the gallery. The contrasting and varied approaches to the subject offered by these 20 or so artists range from new abstract expressionism to color field painting, to conceptual, video work and design, all of them contributing to and coalescing in the ecosystem of Tree.

Artists include: James Arzente, Brian Beck, Cat Clifford, Brian Cypher, Michael Doyle, Warren Dykeman, Marilyn Frasca, Damien Hoar de Galvan, David E. Kearns, Paul Komada, Molly Magai, Kate Murphy, Sarah Norsworthy, Tuan Nguyen, Sue Rose, Brian Sanchez, Gabriel Stromberg, Emily Tanner-McLean, Gillian Theobald, and Cappy Thompson.

Gallery hours:
Tuesday-Friday 10- 3 pm
Saturday 12 – 4 pm
Sunday & Monday CLOSED

More Information

Time
5:00–8:00PM

Location
Non-Breaking Space

The 1950s were a pivotal time for record art. The music industry was just beginning to establish rules for how the LP format could (and should) be merchandised, which left quite a bit of room for experimentation with cover graphics. Most were designed to appeal to Middle America, with a simple masthead across the top detailing the artist and title and, more often than not, a photograph of that artist to fill the space. But in some places — mainly Jazz releases, but also some Classical titles — a Modernist approach was able to seep into the lexicon.

A few record publishers were willing to give their designers the leeway to emote the music through sleeve graphics. In the era of hard-edge painting, Abstract Expressionism, and other Modernist art movements, non-representational abstraction provided an alternate way for designers of the period to communicate the feeling of the music, and use shape to describe sound.

The Shape of Sound is a survey of these types of works from my personal collection, gathered over the past couple decades. It is by no means a comprehensive study of abstract record sleeves, but simply provides a window of 100 examples through which we can view some of the solutions that 20 designers came up with to solve increasingly complex problems, resolving formal Modernist approaches with a need to connect with the consumer.

– Scott Lindberg, Curator of The Shape of Sound

More Information

Time
1:00 – 2:00PM

Location
studio e

Current exhibition at studio e gallery
On View: April 11 – May 18, 2019
The Perfume Counter: Dawn Cerny & Damien Hoar de Galvan
A collaborative 2-artist, 2-gallery exhibition.
“Dawn Cerny and Damien Hoar de Galvan share an aesthetic that is both formal and reductive while maintaining a sense of fun and curiosity.  Both artists offer objects that allow us to contemplate their function, texture, and relation to the human body. Also, when shown together, Cerny and Hoar de Galvan address issues of usefulness and create a tension of belief –albeit fragile.” -Robert Yoder, SEASON

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Location
Creative Live

Conversations on ‘The Responsibility of Design’

What does responsible design look like to you? To your design field? To the world?

Building on Albert Shum’s comment at last month’s lecture on The Responsibility of Design: “Let’s not perpetuate the myth of the lone designer who knows everything” – we are coming together as a design community in the Pacific Northwest to begin to explore what responsible design looks like for us in our design practice and for those with whom we work.

Facilitated by design leaders from a range of disciplines, we’re going to be using the World Café method to dive deep into these ideas to understand better as a community how we can be more responsible in our design: for ourselves and for the common good.

A World Café is a structured conversational process for knowledge sharing in which groups of people discuss a topic at several tables, with individuals switching tables periodically and getting introduced to a new discussion at each new table by that table’s host/moderator.

Moderators:

• S Surface, King Street Station Program Lead at Seattle Office of Arts & Culture
• Hannah Mello, Senior Communications Specialist, Change Management at Microsoft
• Tessa Levine-Sauerhoff, Senior Account Director & Strategy at Artefact
• Michael Carlson, Defender of the Planet at Carlson Studio Architecture
• Molly Derse, Program Director at Civilization
• Umit Gokce, Principal Designer & President at Empathico
• Scott Nazarian, Design Director at McKinsey & Company
• Leslie Hale, Principal at Knot Strategy

Get Tickets

Time
5:30–8:00PM

Location
Seattle Public Library – Central Branch

Join Lawrence Azerrad, an award winning art director, graphic designer, and author for a lecture on what made Concorde the single most important piece of design in our recent history and how it can serve as a window into human creativity, optimism, and the spirit of progress, as expressed through design.

Thursday, May 16th
5:30PM – Doors open
6:00PM – Lecture begins
7:00PM – Q&A with Lawrence Azerrad and Devin Liddell, Principal Futurist of TEAGUE, moderated by Cameron Campbell, Principal Design Strategist at Amazon
8:00PM – Library closes

This is a Free Event co-sponsored by Space.City, its sponsors and Civilization.

Get Tickets

Time
5:00–9:00PM

Location
Non-Breaking Space

The 1950s were a pivotal time for record art. The music industry was just beginning to establish rules for how the LP format could (and should) be merchandised, which left quite a bit of room for experimentation with cover graphics. Most were designed to appeal to Middle America, with a simple masthead across the top detailing the artist and title and, more often than not, a photograph of that artist to fill the space. But in some places — mainly Jazz releases, but also some Classical titles — a Modernist approach was able to seep into the lexicon.

A few record publishers were willing to give their designers the leeway to emote the music through sleeve graphics. In the era of hard-edge painting, Abstract Expressionism, and other Modernist art movements, non-representational abstraction provided an alternate way for designers of the period to communicate the feeling of the music, and use shape to describe sound.

The Shape of Sound is a survey of these types of works from my personal collection, gathered over the past couple decades. It is by no means a comprehensive study of abstract record sleeves, but simply provides a window of 100 examples through which we can view some of the solutions that 20 designers came up with to solve increasingly complex problems, resolving formal Modernist approaches with a need to connect with the consumer.

– Scott Lindberg, Curator of The Shape of Sound

More information

Location
Salishan Resort

April 17-19, 2019
Salishan Resort at Gleneden Beach

The 9th Biennial Oregon Design Conference: SHIFT19 features design leaders and industry disruptors from a variety of perspectives and experiences. As designers and place-makers, problem solvers and big picture thinkers, we have an opportunity to lead conversations that drive positive change through design. Join us in the SHIFT!

Confirmed speakers include:

Grace Kim, AIA, Schemata Workshop
Barbara Bouza, FAIA, Gensler
Steve Burrows, Cameron MacAllaster
Nkenge Harmon Johnson, Urban League of Portland
Alan Tse, Alan Tse Design
Gabriel Stromberg & Michael Ellsworth, Built by Civilization

Get Tickets

Time
5:00–8:00PM

Location
Non-Breaking Space

Na Kim creates expansive work that freely traverses the edge between fine art and graphic design. By doing away with pre-existing rules and symbolic meanings, she studies the essential elements in form, rearranging it based on its geometric standards. In her work, the formal elements of graphic design are transformed into the formal language of fine art. She presents ongoing experiments with new forms and content that transcend the boundaries that exist between contemporary art and design.

The ongoing series titled SET, was first shown as a solo exhibition in New York in 2015. In SET, a collection of past works dating from 2006 to 2015 were presented. The book with the eponymous title functions as a catalog and an exhibition plan. In the SET series, the contents of the catalog are installed in the exhibition space, where either past commissions or studio works are collectively shown regardless of their production year, medium, or context. They are imbued with a new order based on visual elements from each component.

The installment of SET v.15 in Non-Breaking Space is a showcase of selective works. As the title came from Na Kim’s early solo show, Found Abstracts in 2011, Extended Abstracts connects the on-going series, SET with another layer. The general process of SET has been an abstraction of collective works, but in this version, the installation will be represented with original works in the space.

More Details

Time
10:30AM–1:30PM

Location
Artefact

Spanning from our workplace to our personal relationships, social contracts necessarily underlie and facilitate all forms of design and exchange. Social Contracts: Striving for Social Good in Work and Life brings together leaders in the field to share how their design practice influences social impact, access and education, and the power to make change.

The event includes a keynote presentation and lightning talks by folks from Cooper Hewitt, Artefact, Design For America, Civilization, and more. All participants will have the opportunity for conversation, connection, community–and pizza! Stay tuned for our speaker schedule, announced in late February.

This program is part of recent collaborations by Design for America and Civilization, each a 2018 recipient of a National Design Award from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in honor of “excellence, innovation, and enhancement on the quality of daily life.

Thank you to Artefact for hosting this event!

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Time
6:30–8:30PM

Location
Seattle Public Library–Central Branch

Reserve Seat

Ellen Lupton is a graphic designer, curator, writer, critic, and educator. Known for her love of typography, Lupton is the curator of contemporary design at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City, NY and the director of the Graphic Design MFA program at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, MD, where she also serves as director of the Center for Design Thinking. She has written numerous books on graphic design for a variety of audiences. She is a contributor to several publications, including Print, Eye, I.D., Metropolis, and The New York Times.

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Time
7:30PM

Location
NW Film Forum

The mid-1960s represented a revolutionary time when the need for change pervaded all aspects of life in the Western world. It was a time political violence, terrorism, and on an artistic level, of ‘positive turbulence.’ As the creativity of industrialists and designers swelled, Italy started becoming a global focus for design. Through the words and stories of 19 players, SuperDesign retraces the history and the heritage of the Italian Radical Movement. These architects, designers, and curators take us back to a time when everything seemed possible, to find that the dreams, utopias, ideologies, and passion that permeated their experience and art are still alive today.

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Location
Civilization

Time
5:00–8:00PM

Location
Non-Breaking Space

Na Kim creates expansive work that freely traverses the edge between fine art and graphic design. By doing away with pre-existing rules and symbolic meanings, she studies the essential elements in form, rearranging it based on its geometric standards. In her work, the formal elements of graphic design are transformed into the formal language of fine art. She presents ongoing experiments with new forms and content that transcend the boundaries that exist between contemporary art and design.

The ongoing series titled SET, was first shown as a solo exhibition in New York in 2015. In SET, a collection of past works dating from 2006 to 2015 were presented. The book with the eponymous title functions as a catalog and an exhibition plan. In the SET series, the contents of the catalog are installed in the exhibition space, where either past commissions or studio works are collectively shown regardless of their production year, medium, or context. They are imbued with a new order based on visual elements from each component.

The installment of SET v.15 in Non-Breaking Space is a showcase of selective works. As the title came from Na Kim’s early solo show, Found Abstracts in 2011, Extended Abstracts connects the on-going series, SET with another layer. The general process of SET has been an abstraction of collective works, but in this version, the installation will be represented with original works in the space.

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Time
7:30PM

Location
Benaroya Hall — S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium

Zadie Smith has been a vital literary voice since her first novel, White Teeth, became an instant bestseller almost two decades ago. She is the author of Swing Time, White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, Changing My Mind, NW, and most recently, Feel Free.

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Time
10:00AM–3:30PM

Location
Simon Fraser University

Our co-founder/principal Michael Ellsworth will be giving a presentation at Touchpoint this Thursday at Simon Fraser University.

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Location
Seattle Public Library–Central Branch

Reserve Seat

Na Kim is a graphic designer. After studying product design and graphic design in Korea, Kim participated in Werkplaats Typografie in the Netherlands. Kim is currently based in Seoul and Berlin, as a member of Table Union, and is involved in the artist-run-space, Common Center. She has focused on the visual language on autonomous works as well as cultural commissioned projects. Besides many other projects, she was responsible for the concept and design of GRAPHIC magazine from 2009 till 2011. Kim was selected as Next Generation Design Leaders in 2008, was awarded the Doosan Artist Award in 2013, Todays Young Artist Award in 2014, presented by the Ministry of Culture in Korea. Kims works have been showcased at many international exhibitions, including The V&A, MoMA, Milan Triennale Museum, Die Neue Sammlung, MMCA, CAFA and many more.

More info

Time
5:00 - 9:00pm

Location
Non-Breaking Space

Na Kim creates expansive work that freely traverses the edge between fine art and graphic design. By doing away with pre-existing rules and symbolic meanings, she studies the essential elements in form, rearranging it based on its geometric standards. In her work, the formal elements of graphic design are transformed into the formal language of fine art. She presents ongoing experiments with new forms and content that transcend the boundaries that exist between contemporary art and design.

The ongoing series titled SET, was first shown as a solo exhibition in New York in 2015. In SET, a collection of past works dating from 2006 to 2015 were presented. The book with the eponymous title functions as a catalog and an exhibition plan. In the SET series, the contents of the catalog are installed in the exhibition space, where either past commissions or studio works are collectively shown regardless of their production year, medium, or context. They are imbued with a new order based on visual elements from each component.

The installment of SET v.15 in Non-Breaking Space is a showcase of selective works. As the title came from Na Kim’s early solo show, Found Abstracts in 2011, Extended Abstracts connects the on-going series, SET with another layer. The general process of SET has been an abstraction of collective works, but in this version, the installation will be represented with original works in the space.

More Details

Location
Meeting Center

Civilization built the animated interactive identity system to celebrate the global IxDA conference coming to Seattle.

Interaction 19 is a week of design events for interaction designers from around the world to help spark a transformation of the discipline to be relevant to the needs of the 21st century.

This year’s event features: Education Summit, Local Leaders Retreat, Workshops, Student Design Charette, Interaction 19 Conference, and IxDA Awards Ceremony.

Learn more

Time
5:00–9:00PM

Location
Non-Breaking Space

Featuring work by Alison McKay, Corey Gutch, Gabriel Stromberg, Giancarlo Cateriano, Michael Ellsworth, Molly Derse, Oscar Vinas, Raya Leary, and Shaun Kardinal.

Shop: December 6th thru 21st, 2018
Hours: Monday thru Friday, 11:00AM–6:00PM

More info

Time
6:30–8:30PM

Location
Seattle Public Library–Central Branch

Reserve Seat

Eddie Opara was born in Wandsworth, London in 1972. He studied graphic design at the London College of Printing and Yale University where he received his MFA in 1997. He began his career as a designer at ATG and Imaginary Forces and worked as a senior designer/art director at 2Å~4 before establishing his own studio, The Map Office, in 2005. He joined Pentagram’s New York office as a partner in 2010. His clients have included Grace Farms, the Menil Foundation, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Queens Museum, Santander, St. Regis Hotels, the Corcoran Group, Morgan Stanley, New York University, UCLA Architecture and Urban Design, Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM), Grimshaw Architects, (ARO) Architecture Research Office, Harry N. Abrams and Princeton Architectural Press.

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A talk discussing the power of design and how it has the ability to facilitate identity, action and connection.

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Time
5:30PM

Location
Oxford Hotel, Sky Lounge

Live Beyond This Point discussion with Julie Lesseg (Visible & The Beauty Shop), Denise Hernandez (Visible & The Beauty Shop), Bijan Berahimi (FISK), and Joshua Berger (PLAZM) hosted by Gabriel Stromberg of Civilization.

More details

Time
6:00–10:00PM

Location
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

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We are incredibly honored to announce that Civilization is the recipient of the 2018 National Design Award for Communication Design from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. You can honor all of this year’s National Design Award winners by attending the Gala in the spectacular Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden at Cooper Hewitt on October 18, 2018 or by making a contribution to the Awards. All proceeds support Cooper Hewitt’s programs that educate, inspire, and empower people through design.

Fran Lebowitz presented Civilization’s award. An archive video of the event can be viewed here.

The National Design Awards were conceived by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum to honor lasting achievement in American design and demonstrate to the public that design matters. The Awards are bestowed in recognition of excellence, innovation, and enhancement on the quality of daily life.

First launched at the White House in 2000 as an official project of the White House Millennium Council, the annual Awards program celebrates design as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world.

Thank you to all of our clients, partners, collaborators, and everyone who has attended and played a part in our public programming and events over the years–none of this would have been possible without your trust and support!

This year’s winners include:
Gail Anderson, Lifetime Achievement; Anne Whiston Spirn, Design Mind; Design for America, Corporate & Institutional Achievement; WEISS/MANFREDI, Architecture Design; Civilization, Communication Design; Christina Kim, Fashion Design; Neri Oxman, Interaction Design; Oppenheim Architecture + Design, Interior Design; Mikyoung Kim Design, Landscape Architecture; and, Blu Dot, Product Design.

Past winners include:
Paula Scher, Milton Glaser, Massimo Vignelli, Chip Kidd, Stefan Sagmeister, 2×4, Jonathan Ive, Opening Ceremony, Rick Owens, Tom Ford, and Slow & Steady Wins the Race, Frank Gehry, and Tom Kundig.

Livestream

Time
1:30PM–2:30PM

Location
Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian National Design Museum

This year’s National Design Award winners, Gail Anderson, Christina Kim, Gabriel Stromberg of Civilization, and Liz Gerber of Design for America, discuss the role of the designer in creating meaningful and impactful change. This intimate conversation will touch on topics such as our changing cultural landscape, issues of access, and the responsibility of the designer. The conversation will be moderated by Cynthia Smith, Cooper Hewitt’s Curator of Socially Responsible Design.

RSVP

Time
3:30PM–6:30PM

Location
Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum

Join Cooper Hewitt educators for an afternoon workshop for teens with autism exploring the field of design. Attendees will develop an understanding of the design process and professional opportunities in the field of design then will participate in roundtable discussions with winners of the National Design Awards, other professional designers, and college representatives.

This program is open to teens with autism, and space is limited. To confirm registration, please email chaccess@si.edu

Pre-Register

Time
11:00AM–4:00PM

Location
Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum

Cooper Hewitt kicks off National Design Week with a day of free museum admission and hands-on activities led by National Design Award winners and guest designers. Audiences of all ages are invited to play designer and tackle design challenges in workshops, learn new design skills and explore the museum.

Time
6:30–8:30PM

Location
Seattle Public Library–Central Branch

Reserve Seats

Bonnie Siegler, voted one of the fifty most influential designers working today by Graphic Design USA, founded and runs the award-winning design studio Eight and a Half. She is best known for her design work for Saturday Night Live, the Criterion Collection, HBO, Late Night with Seth Meyers, StoryCorps, Participant Media, and Newsweek. She has taught at the graduate level for many years at the School of Visual Arts and Yale University, conducted workshops at the Maryland Institute College of Art and Rhode Island School of Design, and judged design competitions all over the place. She is the author of Signs of Resistance: A Visual History of Protest in America and of Dear Client, This Book Will Teach You How to Get What You Want from Creative People.

More info

Time
10:00AM–6:00PM

Location
Non-Breaking Space

Magazines by their very nature are a catalyst to amplify a message, frame a conversation and create awareness. “Print is not a mouthpiece for consumerism anymore, it’s an invaluable tool for revolt,” writes Bertie Brandes, co-founder of Mushpit Magazine.

Lining the gallery walls is a small survey of magazines, some defunct, others thriving, that embody this very idea. Some choose not to be beholden to advertisers, allowing their pages to remain radical. Many showcase unlikely contributors and turn their focus to subversive topics.

The survey includes magazines art directed or created by Herb Lubalin, General Idea, Tibor Kalman, Joshua Berger, Niko Courtelis, Shaz Madani, Clay Hickson, Liana Jegers, and countless contributors.

White gloves will be available for magazine viewing.

Exhibition website

Time
6:00–8:30PM

Location
Nemo Design

The conversation features participants from the upcoming program at Bend Design: Michael Ellsworth of Civilization, Jen Thomas of Visible, Bijan Berahimi of FISK, and Joshua Berger of Plazm.

Plus, mingle with some of our local favorites who will be speaking at Bend Design this October 25, 26 + 27, including Jeff Kovel from SkyLab, Kim Kovel from Nike, John Demsey from W+K, and Lynette Xanders from Wild Alchemy.

Beer generously provided by Fort George Brewery.

More info

Time
2:00–8:00PM

This year’s poster theme is Linking Seattle’s History — a collaboration with HistoryLink.org. The goal of this year’s poster theme is to tell stories of who the people of Washington were, who we are, and who we might become. Competing teams will create stories that evoke the connection between movements, individuals, or moments in our history. Designers can examine subjects such as geography, architecture, transportation, culture, politics or modernize the very concept of encyclopedic knowledge.

HistoryLink Executive Director, Marie McCaffrey, and HistoryLink Board Member, Michael Ellsworth, will judge the event using three main criteria: creative interpretation of the theme, design aesthetics, and team spirit.

More info

Time
7:00–10:00 PM

On view: August 2-5, 2018

Featuring work by:
Nikita Ares, 
Elizabeth Arzani, James Arzente, Brian Beck (studio e gallery), 
Saul Becker, Buddy Bunting, Daniel Carrillo (Greg Kucera Gallery), 
Dawn Cerny (SEASON Gallery), Eve Cohen, Brian Cypher (studio e gallery), Sue Danielson (Bridge Productions), Linda Davidson (G. Gibson Gallery), Sara Ann Davidson, Jon Dove, Michael Doyle, Carole d’Inverno, Warren Dykeman (studio e gallery), Christian French, 
Emily Gherard (Bridge Productions), Nancy Guppy, Robert Hardgrave, Alfred Harris, 
Damien Hoar de Galvan (studio e gallery), 
David Hytone (Linda Hodges Gallery), Reilly Jensen (Abmeyer + Wood), 
Maggie Jiang, Fay Jones (James Harris Gallery), 
Ken Kelly (studio e gallery), Amanda Knowles (G. Gibson Gallery), Josh McDonald, Molly Magai (studio e gallery), Rachel Maxi, 
Jeffry Mitchell (PDX CONTEMPORARY ART), 
Kate Murphy, 
Tuan Nguyen, Sarah Norsworthy (studio e gallery), Hernan Paganini, Leigh Riibe & Linda Sherman, Sue Rose, Brian Sanchez, 
Gabriel Stromberg, Whiting Tennis (Greg Kucera Gallery), 
Polina Tereshira (Linda Hodges Gallery), Gillian Theobald (studio e gallery), Cappy Thompson (Traver Gallery), 
Anthony White,
Heather Wilcoxon (studio e gallery, Robert Yoder (Platform Gallery)

Our Creative Director, Gabriel Stromberg’s exhibition: A Series of Shapes accompanying book and tote bag is available for purchase at Drawn Down Books.

Book printed in an edition of 100 by Cold Cube Press, 2018.

Time
6:00PM - 8:00PM

Location
NonBreaking Space

Magazines by their very nature are a catalyst to amplify a message, frame a conversation and create awareness. “Print is not a mouthpiece for consumerism anymore, it’s an invaluable tool for revolt,” writes Bertie Brandes
@bertiebrandes, co-founder of Mushpit Magazine @themushpit
Lining the gallery walls is a small survey of magazines, some defunct, others thriving, that embody this very idea. Some choose not to be beholden to advertisers, allowing their pages to remain radical. Many showcase unlikely contributors and turn their focus to subversive topics.
The survey includes magazines art directed or created by Herb Lubalin, General Idea, Tibor Kalman, Joshua Berger, Niko Courtelis, Shaz Madani, Clay Hickson, Liana Jegers, and countless contributors.

White gloves will be available for magazine viewing.

Visit our gallery NonBreaking Space

Time
6:30 - 9:00PM

Location
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Our founders attended the Third Annual Cooper Hewitt’s Garden Party which celebrated Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color. An exhibition that reveals how designers apply the theories of the world’s greatest color thinkers to bring order and excitement to the visual world.

Time
11:00AM–6:00PM

Location
Non–Breaking Space

In a Series of Shapes, Creative Director Gabriel Stromberg experiments with basic design elements like form, space and typography to create a body of work focused on personal narrative and creative investigation.

Featuring collaborations with Cold Cube Press, Open–Editions and a series of new screenprints.

The exhibit will be on view April 5th–May 31st.

Location
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

We are incredibly honored to announce that Civilization is the recipient of the 2018 National Design Award for Communication Design from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

The National Design Awards were conceived by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum to honor lasting achievement in American design and demonstrate to the public that design matters. The Awards are bestowed in recognition of excellence, innovation, and enhancement on the quality of daily life.

This year’s winners include:
Gail Anderson, Lifetime Achievement; Anne Whiston Spirn, Design Mind; Design for America, Corporate & Institutional Achievement; WEISS/MANFREDI, Architecture Design; Civilization, Communication Design; Christina Kim, Fashion Design; Neri Oxman, Interaction Design; Oppenheim Architecture + Design, Interior Design; Mikyoung Kim Design, Landscape Architecture; and, Blu Dot, Product Design.

Past winners include:
Paula Scher, Milton Glaser, Massimo Vignelli, Chip Kidd, Stefan Sagmeister, 2×4, Jonathan Ive, Opening Ceremony, Rick Owens, Tom Ford, and Slow & Steady Wins the Race, Frank Gehry, and Tom Kundig.

Time
5:30–8:00PM

Location
Civilization

Get Tickets

Doors at each agency are open to registered attendees from 5:30–8:00 PM. All are within walking distance from one another so choose where you want to start and head out from there. This event is all about community: network and meet creatives from each firm and get to know other attendees like yourself.

Space is limited and attendance will be capped. Registration is required.

Time
6:00–9:00PM

Location
Non–Breaking Space

More information

Location
Non–Breaking Space

Time
6:00–9:00PM

Location
The Art Gallery of New South Wales

Civilization will be in Sydney meeting with the design community to discuss the creation of the 21st Biennale identity and digital platform, as well as the Biennale of Sydney brand refresh and full digital platform.

Email Civilization for details.

More Details

Location
Various venues in Sydney, Australia

For the 21st Biennale Civilization created a brand system inclusive of a variety of environmental applications and a microsite that drew on the exhibition theme of the Wu Xing cycle and the Superposition principle.

More information

We are thrilled to have this site selected for this week’s Webpick in Communication Arts Magazine. We grew up combing through its pages for design advice and inspiration. Image – screenshots of our site in “shaken” mode on mobile. One of the many hidden surprises mentioned in the interview about the site.

https://www.commarts.com/webpicks/civilization

Time
11:00 — 8:00 PM

Location
Non–Breaking Space

This exhibition is a small survey of cultural works from the collection of graphic designer Sean Wolcott, founder of design studio Rationale. Each work reflects the values and principles explored within the modernist tradition. With the advent of modernism (Post–WWI and the Russian Revolution), the graphic style shifted dramatically in shape, color, type and use of space.

Certain sans serif typefaces, such as Franklin Gothic, Monotype Grotesque, Futura, and Helvetica Neue, were all popularized for their clarity and impact. Artwork and pictures were used less frequently, in favor of communicating with strong simple shapes and geometric forms. Perhaps the most notable change was the establishment of the grid system, which designers used to control layout, scale, consistency and order.

This selection of work promotes cultural events, exhibitions, festivals, performances, or are themselves pieces of cultural ephemera and experimentation created by these iconic graphic designers.

Time
11:00AM–4:00PM

Location
Seattle Art Museum

Visual Arts Career Day is a free event providing young people ages 14-21 with direct access to industry professionals through networking, experiential learning, engaging conversations, and performances. Participants are exposed to a wide range of career opportunities. Visual Arts Career Day is produced in partnership with Seattle Art Museum, One Reel, and Office of Arts & Culture.

This event will start with Keynote Speakers, followed by lunch—free for all attendees—and a Table Fair featuring opportunities from local arts organizations. After lunch, attend the Breakout Session that’s relevant to your interests. We’ll finish off the afternoon with a Networking Party to help you get the most out of your Career Day, featuring DJ SassyBlack and an art activity with Tariqa Waters.

More Details

Time
6:00–9:00PM

Location
Non–Breaking Space

Each work reflects the values and principles explored within the modernist tradition and includes posters and design ephemera from Armin Hofmann, Otl Aicher, Josef Müller-Brockmann and Toshihiro Katayama, among others. The exhibit will be on view thru March 23rd.

Time
6:00 – 8:00PM

Location
Non-Breaking Space

This exhibition is a small survey of cultural works from the collection of graphic designer Sean Wolcott, founder of design studio Rationale. Each work reflects the values and principles explored within the modernist tradition. With the advent of modernism (Post–WWI and the Russian Revolution), the graphic style shifted dramatically in shape, color, type and use of space.

Certain sans serif typefaces, such as Franklin Gothic, Monotype Grotesque, Futura, and Helvetica Neue, were all popularized for their clarity and impact. Artwork and pictures were used less frequently, in favor of communicating with strong simple shapes and geometric forms. Perhaps the most notable change was the establishment of the grid system, which designers used to control layout, scale, consistency and order.

This selection of work promotes cultural events, exhibitions, festivals, performances, or are themselves pieces of cultural ephemera and experimentation created by these iconic graphic designers.

Time
3:00 PM

Location
studio e gallery

Beck’s latest work questions the stability of a single meaning conventionally granted to a
familiar object. Departing from what appear to be wooden children’s toys, the art pieces are composed of carefully handcrafted and tenuously related elements, abstracted to their basic shapes and color.

In this episode of the Neon Moiré Show, Thomas Dahm sits down with our studio’s principals – Michael Ellsworth and Corey Gutch to discuss the ethos of our studio, the Design of Dissent exhibition and the three-day workshop on design activism that they led at the Graphic Matters festival.

Listen to the interview

Time
11:00 — 5:00 PM

Location
Non–Breaking Space

Open–Editions, a San Francisco based collaboration which commissions artists to design locally–manufactured goods, is curating a holiday pop-up shop at Non–Breaking Space from November 26th thru December 23rd.

In collaboration with Open–Editions, Civilization has created a 6–piece collection entitled Social Studies. The collection is a celebration and reflection of the forms that are found in the natural, built and social environments that make up our civilization.

More information

Time
7:00 – 9:00 PM

Location
Likelihood

The event will exhibit photos of Noble Neon’s work along with merchandise for sale, such as T-shirts and small neon fixtures designed in collaboration with Gabriel Stromberg. Enjoy delicious refreshments and a live music set by The Hollerables. This event is free.

Please bring proper ID for entrance

RSVP: Daniel@LIKELIHOOD.us

More Info

We are honored to be designing and developing branding and a website for the 21st Biennale of Sydney as well as for the Biennale of Sydney organization as a whole.

More Information

Time
12:00–3:00PM

Location
Non-Breaking Space

Meet Adrain Chesser and Paul Berger and become a co-publisher of their forthcoming books! Minor Matters is a publishing platform for contemporary art, bringing books into being in collaboration with their audience. Past titles will be on sale.

Facebook Event Info

Time
1:00 — 6:00 PM

Location
studio e gallery

The two-piece exhibition, curated by Kate Murphy, is an experimentation in type.

Gallery Website

Time
7:00 — 9:00 PM

Location
Non-Breaking Space

Open–Editions, a San Francisco based collaboration which commissions artists to design locally–manufactured goods, is curating a holiday pop-up shop at Non–Breaking Space from November 26th thru December 23rd.

In collaboration with Open–Editions, Civilization has created a 6–piece collection entitled Social Studies. The collection is a celebration and reflection of the forms that are found in the natural, built and social environments that make up our civilization.

More information

Time
11:00 — 7:00 PM

Location
Non–Breaking Space

Open–Editions, a San Francisco based collaboration which commissions artists to design locally–manufactured goods, is curating a holiday pop-up shop at Non–Breaking Space from November 26th thru December 23rd.

In collaboration with Open–Editions, Civilization has created a 6–piece collection entitled Social Studies. The collection is a celebration and reflection of the forms that are found in the natural, built and social environments that make up our civilization.

More information

“To me, design is a series of choices. When it’s at its best, those choices are infused with meaning, empathy, sustainability, and aimed to create meaningful connections.” – Michael Ellsworth

Listen to the podcast

Time
11:00 — 8:00 PM

Location
Non–Breaking Space

Time
11:00AM — 7:00 PM

Location
Graphic Matters, Breda, Netherlands

More Information

Time
10:00 – 7:00 PM

Location
West Edge Design Fair

Design Milk’s Milk Stand will be at the West Edge Design Fair in Santa Monica from October 19th – 22nd and will be featuring a whole new group of designers! Graphics by Civilization.

More information

Time
6:30 — 8:30 PM

Location
Seattle Public Library — Central Branch

This event is sold out! Standby tickets will be available the night of.

Having just finished writing a design memoir, Two–Dimensional Man, Paul is ready to share some of what he has learned during his first 52 years on planet earth (30 as a graphic designer). Paul will use examples of his own work for wildly imaginative clients: directors, writers, musicians, and artists (as well as a series of seemingly unrelated life experiences) to arrive at an (un)expected conclusion — that ultimately, the designer’s life is one of survival. A process of questioning, inventing, failing, dreaming, and ultimately making.

Event Information

Time
5:30 — 7:00 PM

Location
Peter Miller Books

In Two–Dimensional Man, Paul Sahre shares deeply revealing stories that serve as the unlikely inspiration behind his extraordinary thirty-year design career. Sahre explores his mostly vain attempts to escape his “suburban Addams Family” upbringing and the death of his elephant–trainer brother. He also wrestles with the cosmic implications involved in operating a scanner, explains the disappearance of ice machines, analyzes a disastrous meeting with Steely Dan, and laments the typos, sunsets, and poor color choices that have shaped his work and point of view. Two–Dimensional Man portrays the designer’s life as one of constant questioning, inventing, failing, dreaming, and ultimately making.

More Details

Time
11:00 — 8:00 PM

Location
Non–Breaking Space

Time
9:00 AM – 7:00 PM

Location
Vancouver Convention Center

In collaboration with WantedDesign and Visual Magnetics Civilization designed an exhibition booth to highlight the modern-day workspace.

IDS West

Location
Seattle Central College

Time
9:00 AM — 4:00 PM

Location
Graphic Matters, Breda, Netherlands

Participants will learn how to use their talents, their privilege, their connections, every tool at their disposal, to help the marginalized and spur social change. We’re living in a time when you can no longer be silent, you have to stand up for what’s right, and that’s never easy. However as designers we have the power to create platforms that can make it easier.

Time
11:00 — 5:00 PM

Location
Non–Breaking Space

Tolerance, an exhibit created by designer Mirko Ilic, has been traveling around the world, with prominent designers reinterpreting the concept and adding new posters at each stop along the way. We seek a discourse on the failings of tolerance and how we, as a society, must resist intolerance.

This exhibition was made possible with generous support from Steve Jablonsky and Intentional Futures as part of the Seattle Design Festival.

Visit non-breaking.space

Time
11:00 — 7:00 PM

Location
Seattle Art Fair

See Saw explores the principles of graphic design — Color, Shape, Type, Scale, and the Grid — through an interactive space. Created for children & their families!

The See Saw installation and coloring book were designed and concepted by Civilization in collaboration with product design studio Fruitsuper and Visual Magnetics magnetic textiles. The installation was created for the 2017 Seattle Art Fair, and will be up August 3rd–6th.

Location
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center

On view May 21st–24th.

More Information

Location
NYC

The website we designed and developed for shoutyourabortion.com won the 2017 “People’s Voice” Webby Award for Best Activist Website! Our team went to New York at accept the award at the Webby Awards Ceremony.

5-Word Acceptance Speech

Location
Non–Breaking Space

We are honored to be part of SFMOMA’s Architecture + Design tour through our studio and our gallery while The Design of Dissent exhibition was on view.

Time
6:00 — 9:00 PM

Location
Northwest Film Forum

The film by Briar Levit marks around 30 years since desktop publishing revolutionized the graphics industry, and explores the progression to this point from the 1950s.

6pm – Reception
7pm – #BeyondThisPoint live podcast interview with Briar Levitt

Buy Tickets

Time
7:00 — 9:00 PM

Location
Non–Breaking Space

What is the function of a manifesto? Why must architects, doctors, and many professionals swear to an oath, but not graphic designers? Graphic designers have an incredible power to form attitudes and shape decisions. We are curious to learn why this is often underestimated. In this edition of To Be Determined, we turn our attention to manifestos and oaths in art, design, and other professional practices. Perhaps through this exploration, we can work towards an ethics of design, whether universal or personal. To Be Determined is a discussion group founded by Nicolas Meier and Nimi Einstein in Portland, Oregon.

Time
7:00 — 9:00 PM

Location
Seattle Public Library — Central Branch

Walsh began coding and designing websites at age 11 and went on to study graphic design at the Rhode Island School of Design. Walsh’s work is a blend of photography, handcraft and painting and her style has been called “bold, emotional and provocative.” She works for clients such as Jay–Z, Barneys, The New York Times, Levi’s, and The Museum of Modern Art, among many others.

Lecture followed by a discussion with illustrator and educator Kate Bingaman–Burt.

Time
5:00 — 10:00 PM

Location
Non–Breaking Space

The Design of Dissent is a survey of prominent graphic works of social and political protest and critique spanning the last fifty years addressing war, racism, human rights, poverty, environmental protection, gun control, and corporate greed. Curated by Civilization, Milton Glaser and Mirko Ilic.

Time
7:00 — 9:00 PM

Location
Seattle Public Library — Central Branch

Saki Mafundikwa is the founder and director of the Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts (ZIVA), a design and new media training college in Harare, Zimbabwe. He was educated in the USA with a BA in Telecommunications and Fine Arts from Indiana University and an MFA in Graphic Design from Yale University. He returned home in 1998 to found ZIVA after working in New York City as a graphic designer, art director and design instructor. Mafundikwa’s book, Afrikan Alphabets: the Story of Writing in Africa, was published in 2004. Besides being of historical importance, it is also the first book on Afrikan typography.

Lecture followed by a discussion with cultural critic and writer Charles Mudede.

Time
7:00 — 10:00 PM

Location
The Ironworks, Vancouver, BC Canada

In his talk he will share insights on how to unify the social, cultural and environmental value of your work and show real-life examples of how graphic design can become a catalyst for change.

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Time
12:00 –– 2:00 PM

Location
studio e

Time
5:00 — 7:00 PM

Location
The Junsei House

Wine and light fare will be provided. Hosted by Civilization, Suyama Peterson Deguchi and Peter Miller.

Time
10:00 AM — 12:00 PM

Time
12:00 –– 2:00 PM

Photo by Andrew J.S.

Time
7:00 — 9:00 PM

Location
Seattle Public Library — Central Branch

Kenya Hara graduated from the Musashino Art University in 1983 with a master’s degree in design and soon after, joined the Nippon Design Center. In 1991, he founded his current practice, Hara Design Institute, a design think–tank working across all fields of media and design — from graphics and products to architecture and exhibitions. Hara is the author of several notable books on design, including Designing Design, White, and Ex-Formation, and has curated several highly acclaimed exhibitions.

Lecture followed by a discussion with designer Fumi Watanabe James.

Time
5:00 — 7:00 PM

Location
Peter Miller Books

Join us on Thursday evening October 27th at the shop — come meet Kenya and have him sign a copy of one of his books. We’ll have a number of his books for sale. This book signing is free & open to the public.

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Time
10:00 — 11:00 AM

Location
IDSWest

Pictured here is a tote designed by Civilization for the conference. The design is composed of shapes from iconic pieces of furniture, architectural interiors and design objects. There are shapes from classic and contemporary designers such as Gerrit Rietveld, Frank Gehry, Shiro Kuramata, Charles & Ray Eames, Fruitsuper and Eric Trine.

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Time
10:00 AM — 12:00 PM

Photo by Andrew J.S.

Time
7:00 — 9:00 PM

Location
Seattle Public Library — Central Branch

Graphic designer, illustrator and activist Emory Douglas has created decades of graphic work that has activated communities, inspired change and came to represent black American struggles in the 60’s and 70’s. As Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party, Douglas was the art director and main designer of the The Black Panther, the party’s official newspaper from 1967 to roughly 1980.

Lecture followed by a discussion with Marissa Jenae Johnson of Black Lives Matter.

Time
10:00 – 5:00 PM

Location
IDS—Vancouver

Fruitsuper, in conjunction with JOIN, conceived, designed, curated, executed, and participated in this group show which debuted at IDS West in Vancouver, BC. The result was a collection of 10 one-of-a-kind stool designs from studios across the United States. Showcasing a wide variety of functionality, scale, and materiality within the given constraints.

Participating designers: Bosque Design, Fleet, fruitsuper, Look Luk Studio, Melanie Abrantes Designs, Parallel Lines, Piano Nobile, Speechless Studios, Studio Gorm, Trey Jones Studio

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Time
10:00 AM — 12:00 PM

Location
TypeCon

Photo by Oliver Schöndorfer.

Location
Sight Unseen

The exhibition is debuting at Sight Unseen OFFSITE during NYCxDESIGN. The event is sponsored by Civilization.

Participating designers: Alice Tacheny, Avandi, Brian Beck, byAMT, Cofield, Daniel Michalik, Fleet, fruitsuper, Gabriel Stromberg, John Hogan, Grain, Look Luk Studio, Melanie Abrantes Designs, Pigeon Toe, Small Craft, The Granite

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Time
3:00 — 4:30 PM

Location
Frye Art Museum

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Time
7:00 — 9:00 PM

Location
Seattle Public Library — Central Branch

When Karel Martens began studying art in Holland in the late 1950s, “graphic design” did not exist as its own course of study. Today, he is widely recognized as one of the most important practitioners of that very discipline, with an esteemed client list that includes major publishers, architects, and institutions.

Following the lecture Karel will be joined in conversation with educator Doug Wadden.

Time
6:00 – 9:00 PM

Location
Poketo

9 Studios, presented by POKETO, curated by JOIN.

Featuring: Eric Trine, FARIS, fruitsuper design
Gabriel Stromberg / Iacoli & McAllister, Matthew Philip Williams, Melanie Abrantes, Ladies & Gentlemen Studio, Pigeon Toe

Dates: April 7th – May 7th

Shop

Time
5:30 — 7:30 PM

Location
52 Limited

Join us for a dialogue on design with Marieke Stolk, Erwin Brinkers, and Danny van den Dungen of Experimental Jetset. The conversation will be audio–recorded for the Beyond This Point podcast.

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Time
7:00 — 9:00 PM

Location
Seattle Public Library — Central Branch

Founded in 1997 by Marieke Stolk, Erwin Brinkers and Danny van den Dungen, Experimental Jetset focuses on printed matter and site-specific installations (and describing their methodology as “turning language into objects”), Experimental Jetset have worked on projects for a wide variety of institutes, including Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Centre Pompidou, Dutch Post Group and Whitney Museum of American Art.

Location
Western Washington University

During the Winter 2016 term, our co–founder Michael Ellsworth will be teaching a design workshop , the goal being to use design thinkingto bring awareness to a social issue that we will collectively decide on. Students will work in teams to research, conceptualize, design and present a project.

Time
7:00 — 9:00 PM

Location
Seattle Public Library — Central Branch

Paula Scher, one of the world’s most acclaimed graphic designers, has pushed the boundaries of visual communication for over three decades. Iconic, smart and unabashedly populist, her images have entered into the American vernacular. She began her career as an art director in the 1970’s and early 80’s, when her eclectic approach to typography became highly influential. Since 1991 she has been a designer and partner in the New York office of international design consultancy, Pentagram.

Lecture followed by a discussion with graphic designer April Greiman.

Time
7:00 — 9:00 PM

Location
Cornish College of the Arts

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Time
1:30 — 3:00 PM

Location
Frye Art Museum

This exhibit is the culmination of a 12 session afterschool class at the Yesler Community center that we led on using graphic design for social change. We are so proud of the work that the six high school students created.

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Time
6:00 — 9:00 PM

Location
Design Within Reach

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Time
6:45 — 8:30 PM

Location
Seattle Public Library – Central Branch

Time
5:30 — 7:00 PM

Location
Peter Miller Books

Time
7:00 — 9:00 PM

Location
Suyama Space

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Time
7:00 — 9:00 PM

Location
Suyama Space

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Time
7:00 — 9:00 PM

Location
Seattle Public Library — Central Branch

While he is best known for his legendary design work for the 1968 Mexico Olympics, Lance Wyman has become an unquestioned master of transforming space through branding and wayfinding over his 50+ year career as a designer and teacher.

Lecture followed by a discussion with writer and educator Adrian Shaughnessy.

Location
Bullitt Center

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Time
5:00 — 7:00 PM

Location
Northwest Film Forum

Time
7:00 — 9:00 PM

Location
Seattle Public Library — Central Branch

Ken Garland is a world–class British graphic designer, writer and game designer. He is well known for his anti–war campaigning in the 1960’s, as well as his First Things First manifesto, in which Garland encouraged designers to use their artistic talents for more humanitarian efforts and to shy away from consumer industries. Signed by over 400 graphic designers, the manifesto was originally released in 1964 and re–released by Adbusters in 2000.

Time
7:00 — 9:00 PM

Location
Seattle Public Library — Central Branch

David Carson is an American graphic designer, renowned magazine art director and former professional surfer. He is most known for his unique typographic style.

Time
7:00 — 9:00 PM

Location
Seattle Public Library — Central Branch

Stefan Sagmeister is a critically acclaimed New York based designer from Vienna. With a focus on concept rather than style, Sagmeister has worked with a wide spectrum of clients such as Lou Reed, The Rolling Stones, HBO and the Guggenheim Museum. In his lectures and art, Sagmeister often explores the subject of personal happiness and balance between work and private life.

Time
7:00 — 9:00 PM

Location
Seattle Public Library — Central Branch

April Greiman is an internationally acclaimed American graphic designer and artist. She is recognized as one the first designers to utilize computer technology as a tool for design in the 1980’s, and to pioneer the American “New Wave” design style. She currently runs the multi–disciplinary design consultancy Made in Space in Los Angeles.