Presentations, Teaching, Judging… They All Matter

 

We’re honored to be asked to speak at various events, teach or to judge industry contests. We love sharing and learning and being a part of our industries voice. We hope to see you at one of our upcoming events.

How Design Conference 2010 - R29 Talks LifeKerning

Rule29 has the privilege to speak at it's 4th HOW Conference this year being held in Denver, CO. We will be talking about Life Kerning - Where Life and Creativity Meet, participating in a creative panel discussion, portfolio reviews and a book signing for our new Best of Business Card book for Rockport. Come out and say hi if you are there!

Posted on May 27, 2010

The Reflex Blue Show

Rule29 on Season 3, Episode 3 with pal Von Glitschka - Listen here - May 2010

Posted on May 17, 2010

Talk Story with Jeni Herberger

Rule29 interview - Listen here - May 2010

Posted on May 6, 2010

Rule29 Is Honored To Be a Judge For
The AIGA 365 Design Awards

This year Rule29 was chosen to be a judge for the prestigious AIGA 365 design competition. We loved several days in New York at the AIGA national office talking design and surronded by amazing work from our peers and working alongside Jim Ales and Lindsay Ballant. For more on the jury for the 31st show go here.

Posted on April 19, 2010

Design Chat

Rule29 interviewd on Design Chat - watch here - December 2009

Posted on December 30, 2009

Humble Pied

Be Persistent and Learn Culture - Interview here - December 2009

Posted on December 7, 2009

The Reflex Blue Show

Rule29 appears in a couple conference reviews with the team from 36 Point 2009:
HOW: Day 1
AIGA: Day 0 + Day 1 + Day 3

Posted on October 9, 2009

Mano-a-Mano Austin Edition

Rule29 principal Justin Ahrens was a part of the first Mano-A-Mano design history challenge. Authors Armin Vit and Bryony Gomez-Palacio took 16 hardy participants to join a bracket-style tournament testing their design-history knowledge. We made it...not far but loved the experience. Purchase the must have design history tome used for the tournament, Graphic Design - Referenced, here.

Posted on June 25, 2009

10 Things You Need To Know About Social Media

Rule29, principal Justin Ahrens, presented the following talk: 10 Things You Need to Know About Social Media. Social Media is allowing companies to create client relationships and conversations like never before. Enjoy a snapshot of companies both large and small that use social media to engage their customers in new ways. Walk away with simple steps on how to get started and how to leverage social networks and media within your brand to grow your business and social footprint.

Posted on June 9, 2009

The Reflex Blue Show

Rule29 on Season 2, Overall Episode #29 with amigos Steve Hartman, and Christine Taylor talking Africa and other stuff - Listen here - March 2009

Posted on March 19, 2009

The Love Chain @ AIGA Jacksonville

Creative Director, Justin Ahrens, presented to the Jacksonville chapter of AIGA a talk entitled: The Love Chain: Sharing Stories of Self Promotion Collaboration. He talked about how Rule29 believes that collaboration is a cornerstone to great design.

Posted on March 5, 2009

Rule29 Speaks For The Peoria Ad Club

Creative Director, Justin Ahrens, presented to the Peoria Ad Club a talk entitled: Help from my Friends - A Heartfelt Story About Collaboration. Rule29 thinks collaboration is key in the creative world, and if you don't look around to see who you can mix and mingle with, you are missing out. Come see some successful collaborative efforts, enjoy a few laughs, get some interesting tips and you just might walk out inspired and ready to make new friends.

Posted on January 22, 2009

Rule29 Helps Create Chaos

R29 creative director, Justin Ahrens, spoke at the 2008 Create Chaos Conference about Rule29's collaborative approach to work and added tips and perspective on how to collaborate. The talk was entitled: A Little Help From My Friends - Stop living inside a box and make some friends! Collaboration is key in the creative community, and if you don't look around to see who you can mix and mingle with, you are missing out. The new Renaissance of the creative industries is making it more necessary than ever to collaborate with others. Remember, the end result is greater than the sum of all its parts, so get out there and collaborate! See some great case studies of collaboration from those who do it best.

Posted on October 14, 2008

Rule29 Speaks At The Entrenuity Business Camp

R29 creative director, Justin Ahrens, had the opportunity to speak at the Entrenuity Summer Business camp hosted at Wheaton College. He talked about the importance of strategy and design when starting and running a business. Entrenuity focuses on helping empower business minded high school students into business leaders with character. Their curriculum is for both youth and leader training and Rule29 was proud to be a part of this year's program.

Posted on July 15, 2008

How Design Conference 2008

Rule29 Principal Justin Ahrens presented at the 2008 HOW Design Conference in Boston, MA. His talk was entitled: Designer Sobriety - how to stay focused when life is flying at you. For more on this topic check out the Designer Sobriety Blog.

Posted on May 21, 2008

Arkansas State University

R29 principal Justin Ahrens had the privilege of judging the Arkansas State University AIGA student design show. Thanks ASU for including us in your design experience.

Posted on March 17, 2008

Addy Judge - Peoria Ad Club

R29 Principal Justin Ahrens served as a judge for the Peoria Ad Club Addy awards. Justin joined Randy Gunter from the Gunter Agency and Charlie Trotter from Trabian as judges for this year's event. The gold awards from this show will go on to the regional Addy's and if they win there, it is off to the red carpet of the National Addy Awards. Highlights included cooking at Alexanders, having beer at Rhodell Brewery, a shiny new hotel, the diversity of work and our new friends from Peoria. Thanks for having us.

Posted on January 28, 2008

Judson University

Rule29 had the recent opportunity to present at Judson University in Elgin, IL. Principal Justin Ahrens (and former adjunct Prof at Judson) and designer and graduate of Judson, Kerri Liu talked about their student experiences and what it's like to work at Rule29. It was fun to return to Judson and see some of the changes to the vis com department, including their posh new art building.

Posted on January 28, 2008

Talking at the Eisner

Rule29 got to make new friends at the Eisner Museum, while presenting to Northwestern Mutual's Creative Team and some other friends. Rule29 presented their perspective on collaboration and showed it's many sample projects. It was a great afternoon that was topped off by taking place in the Eisner which is an interactive educational center focusing on advertising and design, and their impact on our culture located in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. For more check out: www.eisnermuseum.org

Posted on November 1, 2007

Stock Picks

Creative Director Justin Ahrens was a judge for the Stockxpert photo contest. Justin was one of five judges who poured over more than 600 images to find a select few. To see some great royalty free images go to: http://www.stockxpert.com/

Posted on November 1, 2007

AIGA Visual Voltage

Rule29 was a recent presenter at AIGA Visual Voltage. Principal Justin Ahrens and Studio Manager and graduate of IA, Dan Hassenplug talked about self promotional collaboration. We were honored to be one of the guest speakers. This years theme of collaboration was dug into by the likes of Design Kitchen and the super cool Good Night TV.

Posted on August 25, 2007

AIGA Cleveland 52 Design Competition

R29 speaks and is one of the judges at the AIGA Cleveland 52 Design Competition. R29 principal Justin Ahrens joined other judges Kelly Holohan, Joani Spadaro, and Maurice Woods for a great time with our new friends from AIGA Cleveland, thanks for having us.

Posted on January 10, 2007

GASC/PIA/GATF Panel Speaker

At the 2006 Graph Expo R29 principal was a guest speaker at the GASC/PIA/GATF Teacher's Conference. The conference is a three-day program that provides an opportunity for graphic arts teachers to learn about current industry trends and see the latest equipment and supplies. It is held in conjunction with Graph Expo in Chicago, IL

Posted on October 16, 2006

HOW International Design Judge

Being a HOW International Design Competition judge was an honor and a blast. Justin Ahrens judged the 3,500 entries with Amy Hawk, the one and only Terry Marks (both of which are big time favorites of Rule29). Also having a chance to hang out with the fine folks at HOW made this experience a memorable one. The HOW staff spread all the projects out on tables, stacked in layers sandwiched between sheets of paper. The judges needed to work their way through the categories over two days, and choose the Best of Show on the third and final day. But be sure the judges had fun the whole time.

Posted on October 15, 2006

GD:USA Design Annual Judge

Justin Ahrens served as one of the judges for the GD:USA American Design Awards. This national design competition has showcased leading work in design, advertising and publishing over its three decade history.

Posted on October 15, 2006

Vance Publishing Judge

Justin Ahrens was a judge for the Vance Publishing 2006 design awards. The competition included covers and spreads from the various magazines Vance publishes.The magazines ranged from salon, fashion, lighting, agriculture, food, woodworking and many more.

Posted on August 20, 2006

Print Magazine's Iron Chef

Being a participant in an event that puts you on the hot-seat in front a few thousand of your peers competing against some greats of design was the setting for Print magazines Iron Chef at the HOW Design Conference. The 2005 installment, done Las Vegas style, of the event featured Stefan Bucher from 344 Design, Zoa Martinez from Zona Design and crowd favorite Jason Robinson. R29 Principal Justin Ahrens won the first round, but lost in the end to the brilliance of Jason Robinson and the PoPo.

Posted on June 15, 2006

How Design Conference Speaker - Las Vegas Edition

Justin Ahrens at the HOW Design Conference in Las Vegas, June 12 -15. This marks the second HOW appearance for Justin and in this installment Justin gets to partner up with Kelly Goto in one event and Terry Marks in another. Justin was also able to sign some of the books Terry and he collaborated on as well as be a participant in Print Magazine's Iron Chef also out on at this conference.

Posted on June 14, 2006

2006 SEEK Conference

Justin Ahrens joined fellow speakers Chuck Anderson, Andrew Blauvett, Rick Valicenti, Dawn Hancock and Lance Rutter at the 2006 installment of SEEK. SEEK is a one-day, student-run design conference sponsored by the Northern Illinois University student chapter of the AIGA. It is held once a year at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. SEEK is one of the only conferences of its kind in the midwest, and provides an excellent opportunity for design students and professionals to interact and learn from each other.

Posted on April 10, 2006

Kent State University

Justin Ahrens was invited to speak to the visual communication AIGA group at Kent State University. The lecture talk focused on the Rule29 way of making creative matter. Thanks for having us!

Posted on March 22, 2006

2006 Judge for the Pele Awards

Along with designers DJ Stout of Pentagram and Terry Marks of TMarks Design, Justin Ahrens  judges the 2006 Pele Awards in Honolulu, HI. The most prestigious awards for creative professionals in our great island state. Please have us back.

Posted on February 3, 2006

Columbia College

Justin Ahrens had the privilege to speak at Columbia College. Columbia College Chicago is the largest and most diverse private arts and media college in the nation. Justin was a guest speaker to their senior vis com students.

Posted on October 21, 2005

STA Chicago Dinner Series

Justin Ahrens was a guest speaker at the STA Dinner Series. The STA's mission is to engage members of the Chicagoland design community in an ongoing professional conversation; to support selected design-related events and projects; to provide opportunities for fellowship; to encourage the involvement of students and young designers in the profession; and, to promote an awareness of the influence of the history and the future of design in Chicago and the Midwest. To learn more go to: http://www.sta-chicago.org

Posted on September 22, 2005

Judge and Panel Speaker for M-Real AR Show

Justin Ahrens was a judge for the M-Real Annual Report show. After the show he served as a panel speaker for reps from around the United States. Fellow judges and panelist were Bill Healey from Alta Graf Design and John Bateson from Corporate Edge, UK.

Posted on August 17, 2005

How Design Confernce Session

Justin Ahrens and Terry Marks partnered for a breakfast breakout on being a dynamic duo during the colloboration process. The talk was entitled: WONDER TWINS - STALWART CREATIVE COLLABORATION. And if you missed it, you sadly missed Terry in tights.

Posted on June 14, 2005

Speaker, AD Club, Appleton, WI

Justin Ahrens gave a talk to the Fox River Ad Club. The talk entitlled "Icon-O-Class - When life becomes a 7-10 Split" was topped off with local beer and cheese curds. The Fox River AdClub is a non-profit professional trade association serving Northeast Wisconsin's advertising and marketing communications community including agencies, advertisers, the media, vendors and students.

Posted on May 17, 2005

Illinois Wesleyan University

It was honor to go back to my alma mater to speak to the design school about teh road from school to Rule29. The highlight, outside of meeting some great folks, was of course going to the teachers lounge...parallel universe in there.

Posted on April 5, 2005

Bradley University

Justin Ahrens had the chance to speak to the design school of Bradley University on how Rule29 gets to make creative matter. The talk took place in the super spiffy Caterpillar Global Communications Center.

Posted on March 31, 2005

AIGA AZ Judge and Speaker

Heading to Arizona in February is a good deal. Especially when you get a chance to judge the premier design show in Arizona sponsored by the fine folks from AIGA Arizona. Justin Ahrens joined fellow judges Jenn and Ken Visocky O’Grady from Enspace, and Will Travis from Attik.

Posted on February 17, 2005

AIGA Nebraska - Judge and Speaker

Justin Ahrens was with fellow judges Kevin McConkey (Grip Design, Chicago), Maria Kennedy (Karacters, Canada)  to present their work, their passion, and their work again. Later that evening they were treated to a night out in downtown Omaha. And when they had time they judged work from the best and the brighest of Nebraska.

Posted on October 8, 2004

AIGA Nebraska - Judge

The world's first ever deck of cards design competition was unveiled in a gallery show in August. It was incredible. R29 princiapl Justin Ahrens was one of the estemmed judges who had the task of judging these creative cards. Other judges included David William Scott and  Leonel Diazz.

Posted on August 14, 2004

2002 SEEK Design Conference

Rule29 was one of several speakers for this annual NIU event that attracts students from around the Midwest. This years speakers included: Joerg Metzner, Kelly Bjork, Paula Sher and Yang Kim and Kevin Budelmann from BBK.

Posted on November 11, 2002

AIGA: Future History Conference

Rule29 principal Justin Ahrens was a part of a panel addressing professors on the expectations owners have of students after graduation. Panelists included Cheryl Towler Weese from StudioBlue and David Williams from MornignStar. This panel was just a part of a weekend event held at UIC which included a keynote by Wolfgang Weingart.

Posted on October 12, 2002
Members of AIGA