2023 Sponsors
DESIGN HEROES
Trifecta! is an award-winning design, development, and marketing agency based in Lexington, Kentucky. They boldly design for print and web, skillfully develop web-based applications specific to your needs, and effectively market the results. They pride themselves on flexibility, attention to detail, and fresh approach to marketing and design.
BORN is a strategic branding, design and advertising agency. We craft strategies, identities and experiences to connect great brands to people. We’re brand focused, design led and strategically driven.
Oculus Studios is an award winning, Lexington, Kentucky based marketing and advertising agency creating meaningful marketing for your brand that people will fall in love with. Think of us as your new customer Cupid.
The College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) provides the intellectual foundation, programs, and experiences to prepare graduates to be engaged, ethical leaders through its commitment to liberal education, academic excellence, and the advancement of knowledge.
Creativity is present in everything we do, and is not at all restricted to the department that bears its name. We’re curious, crafty, experimental and disruptive thinkers. We know that a great idea can come from anywhere, and can take many forms. With fearless imagination, we consistently arrive at breakthrough ideas and uncover new opportunities.
AIGA Louisville is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing events that challenge designers to think deeper, foster inclusivity, and build meaningful relationships within our community. We seek to mentor, educate, and collaborate in an effort to enrich our design community and beyond.u
Onefold is creative collective centered around design-thinking and problem solving. From brand identities to campaigns and projects, we help businesses, schools and organizations inspire, succeed and evolve. Our team is custom-assembled to meet the needs of every client individually.
We transform purpose-driven brands through naming, identity design, and brand campaigns.
DESIGN MENTORS
Mediocre helps brands by defining identity, web & screen design, and all the weird projects in between. They exist to bring out the best in your brand. They're in your corner for the entire process, and we focus on clients looking for lasting partnerships. Their company has existed as an umbrella for client work since 2008, and grew into a full-time agency by 2014 in Lexington, KY.
Based in Richmond, KY, First Gear provides quality local screen printing, embroidery, and promotional items.
AAF Lexington is a professional group that works hard to connect, show appreciation, and educate. They are a community of industry professionals and aspiring students who come together to trade ideas, learn from one another, and represent this business in the way it should be represented.
DESIGN INSPIRERS​
Based in Lexington, Kentucky, Cricket Press creates limited-edition posters and prints, as well as design, illustration and hand-made ephemera.
Poster House is dedicated to presenting the impact, culture, and design of posters, both as historical documents and methods of contemporary visual communication. Through temporary exhibitions, a growing permanent collection, and educational events, Poster House explores the enormous impact of posters on society and culture, and how they have been adapted to contemporary use. As the first poster museum in the United States, Poster House provides a space for inquiry for all those interested in design, advertising, and public interventions, with an aim to improving design literacy among the general public.
For more than 100 years, Neenah Paper has been the market leader in the creation and manufacturing of specialty papers for premium writing, text, cover, digital, packaging, and label applications.
Mohawk was founded in 1931 in upstate New York, where the Hudson and Mohawk rivers come together. In this location, generations of fine papermakers have honed their craft while helping define the contours of an industry. Today, Mohawk is a thriving business with a global presence, a reputation for thought leadership and a commitment to core values that celebrate heritage and innovation in equal measure.
Robin Landa is a distinguished professor at Kean University and a globally recognized creativity and ideation expert. She is a best-selling author of books on idea generation, creativity, branding, advertising, and design. She has won numerous awards and The Carnegie Foundation counts her among the "Great Teachers of Our Time." She is the author of twenty-five books, including Graphic Design Solutions, 6th ed., Strategic Creativity, and The New Art of Ideas.
Dori Griffin is an assistant professor in the School of Art + Design at Ohio University, where she teaches graphic design and design history. She earned her MFA in graphic design from the University of Florida and her PhD in design history from Arizona State University. Griffin's primary research centers around the history of popular visual culture and the role that type and image play in creating cultural identity.