Karen and I are not newbies when it comes to a conference, that’s for sure. With my experience as an Art Director for frank and her involvement in the CVB and Greek realm, we’ve had our fair share of attending, vending at and organizing conferences.
That said, last week we attended our first gathering specifically created for the design (and design-curious) community. We hadn’t heard of Creative South before this year, and as a couple of first-timers, we rolled into Columbus, Georgia, early Friday morning with no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Upon arrival, we soon realized we’d already missed out on quite a bit of the fun. (We heard about the Thursday night bridge party y’all, and we will SO be there next year!) We grabbed some caffeine and took a stroll around the vendors before settling in to hear a lineup of honest, passionate speakers.

I speak for both of us when saying that we thoroughly enjoyed every talk we attended, and to attempt to sum it all up in a few paragraphs would never do it justice. But a few of our favorite tidbits were: “Follow your weird,” “Don’t ever let it get unfun,” and my personal favorite, “Every time you use Comic Sans, a kitten dies.”

Aside from the fabulous presentations, we also rooted for designers in the Typefight ring, learned how to letterpress and pull silkscreen prints in Mama’s Sauce style, ate too many cookies and took our favorite bobblehead — Mister Columbus — around town with us.

In addition, we also had the pleasure of chatting with a handful of talented designers whose work I religiously follow on dribbble. Karen and I both couldn’t resist purchasing prints (shout-outs to Tad and Bob for the awesome new wall candy), and we started some new friendships that we hope continue.

Although we were only there for a day — rookie mistake, we now realize — we were able to see and hear so many inspirational folks. There’s something amazing about being surrounded by people who are equally passionate about their work as you are. Creative South was a great inspirational recharge, giving us the opportunity to feel inspired, soak it all in, then bring it back with us to Atlanta. We can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2016 — and you can bet we’ll be there for more than a day next time!

#HugNecks #CS15 #CreativeSouth