One of the things that makes Platt College San Diego such a great place to study design is the wealth of resources that are available to students off campus. In this post we will cover the many ways you can learn skills off of the Platt campus, all around San Diego. We hope you’ll be as excited about your options in and around San Diego and the Platt College campus as we are.
Design, art, and film seminars, conferences, and events in San Diego
There are numerous design, art, and film seminars happening in and around San Diego. Many are annual events, and others are unique, one-time events. Here is a small sampling of what’s happening in this interest area:
Print: The New Media Mix
Thu, Aug 18, 2016, 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Grand Pacific Palisades Resort, Ocean View Terrace Room
5805 Armada Drive
Carlsbad, CA 92008
The Print: The New Media Mix presentation and discussion focuses on questions of where print fits into the current mediascape given the rise of digital and sometimes disruptive technologies. It will also explore how print adds value to brands in unique ways, and how designers and marketers can help hang on to the print portion of communications.
Expose UX
Thu, Aug 25, 2016, 5:30 pm – 9:00 pm
2880 Torrey Pines Scenic Drive
San Diego, CA 92037
Expose UX is a web show billed as the Shark Tank for UX design. On the show UX startups get feedback from UX experts while they compete for prizes, so it’s a great source of information about cutting edge UX design. The show is coming to San Diego this month and will tape before a studio audience at the Sanford Consortium as five local startups compete.
Y Design Conference
The annual AIGA San Diego Y Design Conference is two days of sharing their design secrets and and latest work. At Y Design you’ll see imminent big name designers and bestselling authors delivering speeches; you’ll also have the opportunity to break into small groups to bone up on basics as well as cutting edge techniques in think shops and workshops.
Adobe Max
San Diego, California, US
Oct 31–Nov 4
The annual four day long Adobe Max creativity conference is the perfect place to update your technical skills and meet lots of people in the industry. In fact, with around 7,000 participants getting in on the event, keynote stage presentations, surprise celebrity appearances, and tech labs, you’re likely to have some really cool experiences at this one.
Getting into the community
Looking to get into local happenings in design and creativity? Check out these opportunities for local interactions and meetups:
CreativeMornings, San Diego
CreativeMornings is a series of free breakfast lectures that happens once a month. Each lecture is designed for creatives including designers, developers, entrepreneurs, artists, makers, and crafters. These are quick, concentrated bursts of inspiration and creativity—with coffee. The goal is to help creatives meet and come together to create more amazing work.
Local meetups
Meetup.com is a great resource for anyone hoping to collaborate with other who share similar interests. The San Diego arts and culture section of the site features lots of great options including “Art is Entrepreneurship,” a group for “artrepreneurs,” and “San Diego Film and Video Production Meetup.” Searching for “design” related meetups you’ll find a host of excellent communities, including “SDXD – San Diego Experience Design Professionals Network,” “San Diego Web Designers,” “UX Speakeasy,” “The San Diego Graphic Designers Guild,” and “FAB LAB San Diego.”
Film festivals
Great film festivals are hotbeds for creative minds, not to mention a fantastic way to stay inspired and entertained. Get yourself thinking at a local film festival. Here are just a few options:
48 hour film festival
An annual event, the 48 hour film festival is a weekend of filmmaking havoc all over the city. For 48 hours, teams of independent filmmakers run the city, attempting to write, shoot, and edit short films. The end goal for each team is to finish a great film and screen it after the 48 hours is up at the festival’s premiere screenings. Crazy? Definitely! But also really fun and a great way to build skills.
San Diego Design Film Festival
The San Diego DESIGN Film Festival exists purely to showcase contemporary films that feature urban planning, advertising, landscape, architecture, interiors, art, and fashion. The festival also screens related films all year long. There are currently two films set for screening in October 2016:
Design Distruperters
Thursday October 6, 2016
Thompson Building Materials Design Showroom
6618 Federal Blvd, San Diego, CA
6:00 pm – free reception
7:00 pm – screening starts
Desert Maverick
Thursday October 20, 2016
Hold It Contemporary Home
1570 Camino De La Reina, San Diego, CA 92108
6:00 pm – free reception
7:00 pm – screening starts
San Diego Italian Film Festival
The mission of the San Diego Italian Film Festival is to use Italian cinema to enrich the community with Italian culture. It takes place in October of each year and features the best Italian films as well as expert commentary and critical theory.
Conclusion
For students at Platt College San Diego, learning new skills and making connections off campus is easy and exciting. There many annual and unique design, art, and film seminars happening in and around San Diego make sharpening your skills a no-brainer. Local meetups and community events ensure that it’s easy to find other creatives to collaborate with. Finally, film festival offerings are ideal for students who are interested in film and video production, as well as anyone who loves design and the arts. To enhance your education and enrich your personal life, make it your mission to get more involved in the San Diego creative community while you’re enrolled at Platt.