It is 9:30 a.m. on Friday, March 31, 2017 in the North Avenue Academic Building (NAAB) as the Thinking Creatively Conference begins for the day.
Students are piling in to register for the conference. Once registered, students could enjoy a light breakfast and if they wished, purchase books from a Barnes and Noble table displaying the books of the various speakers at the conference.
As the clock ticks towards 10 a.m., students begin eagerly filling the seats of the auditorium. The chatting among students came to a halt when Professor Ed Johnston began a 15-minute long motion graphics reel consisting of work completed by Kean University students.
The work presented in the reel is from students in Motion 1 and Motion 2 as well as independent studies. Johnston is a professor of the motion graphics and interactive design classes.
Students responded to the reel with laughter at some of the funnier pieces and concluded with a loud applause. The students whose work was displayed in the reel were asked to stand to be recognized.
Associate Dean Rose Gonnella welcomed the students, beginning with a thank you to those involved in making the 15th annual conference happen.
Herman Miller is a design brand specializing in furniture and was the sponsor of the conference. Gonnella described Herman Miller as "a powerful advocate of great design."
A lucky student at the conference won a Herman Miller desk chair.
After interacting with the students and playing a questions game where multiple students won books by the speakers at the conference, the keynote speaker and Kean University graduate Max Friedman was introduced.
"I graduated from Kean two years ago and Rose invited me to come speak today about kinda where I was at with design and my portfolio and what I'm doing now to show the students that process from being in school to graduating," Friedman said.
Friedman thought is would be an awesome experience to be able to show the students the process of what they should do upon graduating.
Gonnella met Friedman while in his sophomore year in a studio skills class. She described him as a "difficult person" but his work always shone through with its originality and his ability to never stay within a project's parameters.
He began an in-house internship with the design studio K-Labs where students work with faculty and have complete creative freedom to work on professional level projects.
Gonnella and Friedman have also written three books together in two years.
In the two years following his graduation from Kean, Friedman has moved his way up from junior art director to art director at Droga5, which is an independent advertising network.
Friedman took the stage and began his talk by introducing himself and explaining what he does: "I direct art. I tell it where to go; left, right, up, down."
The crowd laughed in response. His presentation continued through a PowerPoint that highlighted his undergraduate work in the graphic design program and explained his experience as an undergrad student and then further professional experience.
As he explained his journey from Kean University to where he is today with his position at Droga5, Friedman gave the audience some tips to becoming successful in the field they are passionate about.
He explained how he took what he learned in class and applied it to the things he liked and was interested in; he brought the skills he learned in the classroom alive through his various interests outside of the classroom.
He was chosen as the Art Directors Club (ADC) All-Star, meaning he was chosen as having the best portfolio entered to the ADC's Annual Awards.
Friedman began working at Droga5 in the July after graduating from Kean, where he left with his B.F.A. in Graphic Design.
After his talk, students were free to meet him and ask questions. There were also more book giveaways to lucky students whose seat number was drawn.
After a short break, Cynthia Smith, who is the curator of Socially Responsible Design Cooper-Hewitt at Smithsonian Design Museum, gave a talk to attendees and was then followed by an hour-long lunch break.
Following the lunch break, there was a Michael Graves Architecture and Design Panel Discussion.
Lauren Crahan and John Hartmann of Freelance Architecture spoke to the audience. Partner of Pentagram, Abbott Miller concluded the portion of the conference being held in the NAAB.
The conference continued at the Center for Academic Success Gallery where Abbott's exhibit "Slideshow" was displayed for the exhibition reception.
Friedman feels that attending networking events, such as the Thinking Creatively Conference, are important for students to attend because they never know who they will meet and what they will learn.
"For me, I went to a portfolio show in New York and talked to someone for five minutes and ended up getting a job interview from where I'm at now," Friedman said.
Networking events and conferences allow students to talk to new people, build connections, broaden their creative horizons and introduce their name to the world of design.
