Celebrate Michigan Title Sequence designed by Marcus Mullins

Overflow Crowd Crashes AIGA Detroit's Second Installment of Celebrate Michigan Design

Fresh from the triumphs of the Ann Arbor Urban Forest Project and the Celebrate Michigan Design poster competition, AIGA Detroit hosted a wildly successful lecture of three Michigan design pioneers at the Walter B. Ford Building on the College for Creative Studies Campus. Nelson Greer, Ron Rae and Ed Fella, with over a hundred and twenty years of design experience combined, regaled the crowd with tales of their exploits in the maverick years of design during the early 60's, the heyday of print advertising in Detroit. More impressive than the anecdotes was the incredible guided tour each of the artists provided of their incomparable portfolios that spoke volumes about their talent to translate deep understanding of art history into witty contemporary designs and their ability to convince clients to take risks. In addition, Doug Kisor, College for Creative Studies' Graphic Design Department Chair, received the AIGA Detroit Fellow award but not before he was roasted good and proper by colleagues, some of whom turned the spit by video from overseas, and former students.

Following the lecture, attendees were invited to savage a lovely buffet that was eventually finished off by a flock of proverbial starving artists who descended en masse from the CCS residence halls. It was an event that perfectly captured the spirit of Detroit design - gritty, unpretentious and inventive.