Working in a creative economy

On Wednesday, April 1 (that's tomorrow - no joke) at the University of Oregon's White Stag Block in Portland, three experts from local creative industries will be discussing opportunities for both business and imagination in the downturned economy.

"Yes, it's a dismal economy," the press release says, "but it is also one that inspires creativity, ingenuity and innovation. It's exactly the creative challenge we all look for - a genuine opportunity to make something from nothing. Optimism is just one ingredient for actually positioning yourself with work right now. Come and learn how the experts do it right."

The experts in question will be Susan Hoffman, executive creative director of local advertising giant Wieden + Kennedy; Randy Higgins, creative director of Vizwerks, a hybrid design/branding company; Steve Potestio, managing director of creative industry staffing agency 52 Limited (any relation to Rick, Steve?); and Jolie Giese, general manager of the Nau and Horny Toad clothes lines.

I've written about Randy Higgins numerous times before. Although not officially a registered architect, that is his training (he holds an architecture degree from University of Oregon). And while this isn't necessarily a guarantee of a good panel discussion, Randy is one of the brightest minds I have encountered when it comes to thinking conceptually about design - not just in an abstract way, however, but rather almost mathematically.

In the 1990s Randy worked at Holst Architecture, a time when the firm was designing the Pacific Northwest College of Art's new home in a renovated Pearl District warehouse. In about 2004, he returned to PNCA to fashion its exterior paint job, which is quite sophisticated but comes across with wonderful simplicity: a translation of a Rimbaud poem rendered in a language he created out of differently sized and colored squares and rectangles. (Which I wrote about for Metropolis magazine at the time.)

Randy in the ensuing years gravitated more toward retail design, including projects like the Mario's menswear store and Elizabeth Leach Gallery, which made landing at Vizwerks a natural next step.

"Working In A Creative Economy" will be held at 6PM at the UO's White Stag Block, at 70 NW Couch Street. Admission is free and refreshments will be provided.