Savannah College of Art and Design > 022607 Inaugural Inspire symposium a success: Outstanding work honored at Cream O’ the Crop award show

02/26/2007

Inaugural Inspire symposium a success: Outstanding work honored at Cream O' the Crop award show

SAVANNAH, Ga. — More than 700 attendees filled the Lucas Theatre on Friday, Feb. 16 for the Savannah College of Art and Design’s inaugural symposium. Participants were treated to presentations from some of the most well-known broadcast designers working today, including Marco Spier of Psyop, Jakob Trollbäck of Trollbäck + Co., and Jose Gomez and Andre Stringer from Shilo. The event also featured a showcase of SCAD student work and a "network design" panel of creative directors from prominent design studios. A special screening of Alison Chernick's film "Matthew Barney: No Restraint," played to a large audience and closed the daytime activities.

Event chair Jill Taffet, who is also chair of the broadcast design and motion graphics department at SCAD, said she was thrilled with the turnout for the event. "Industry participation and attendance was way over what we expected," said Taffet. "We had to shut down gold and platinum registration a few days early because we had sold to capacity." Industry professionals that participated were also pleased with the event.

The "Cream O' the Crop" awards show kicked off the evening events and honored broadcast design and motion graphics work in 16 categories. Design studios Psyop, Buck, and Brand New School were awarded "Design Studio of the Year." Motion graphic design studio Shilo was the most honored, with three Cream O’ the Crop awards for main title, animation and design with live action for their Gap campaign. See the full list of award winners below.

Other highlights of the award show included SCAD students Anh Vu and William Campbell sharing the honors for "Student of the Year." "Receiving the award is one of the most memorable and rewarding moments that I have ever experienced, as I was recognized for all of my hard work, passion and dedication," said Vu. The award included the prize of Web hosting for life from sponsor (mt) media temple. Taffet and Justin Cone moderated the awards show. Cone is the founder and editor of the industry site , as well as a SCAD graduate student in broadcast design and motion graphics.

What was supposed to be a one-day symposium stretched into a second day with a portfolio review breakfast on Saturday, Feb. 17, at the historic Marshall House. Nineteen SCAD broadcast design and motion graphics students had the opportunity to network and have their work critiqued by industry leaders. Companies including MTV, Psyop, Buck, Roger, Trollbäck, PMcD, Digital Kitchen, Capacity, Jib Jab, Stardust and Primal Screen participated. Students were thrilled with the opportunity to rub elbows with industry luminaries. "The event gave us the opportunity to interact with professionals as peers and see our field in a new, more accessible way," Campbell said.

Taffet said she was excited, not only by the opportunities afforded SCAD students, but also by the positive impressions the event created among guests. "The feedback I have gotten from professionals and students alike has been overwhelmingly positive," said Taffet. "The professionals were very impressed with the conference, the Savannah College of Art and Design and its students." Vasil Hnautik of Roger said, "It was great seeing all the new talent and projects happening at SCAD."

When asked about the future of Inspire, Taffet was confident that it would become another one of SCAD’s many successful annual events. "I'm looking forward to an even more inspiring Inspire 08," said Taffet. Brien Holman of the creative studio Exopolis attended the event and agreed. "The students at SCAD have an amazing resource that will hopefully continue on through the years," Holman said.

Full list of 2006 Cream O’ the Crop awards presented at Inspire 07

Network Branding

Capacity — "NBC"
Prologue — "SCI-FI Network"
Trollbäck + Co. — "Reelz"

Network Identification Package

Buck — "TV Land"
EyeballNYC — "CMT"

Main Title

Lambo – "Fuel — 'New Pollution'"
Shilo – "Fuel — 'Action Sports Awards'"

Typography

Trollbäck + Co. — "Metlife – 'If'"
Brand New School — "Toyota – 'Read the Road'"

Film Titles

MK12 — "Stranger Than Fiction"
Digital Kitchen — "Path to 9/11"

Experimental Work

Marcelo Garcia — "Virtuosi"
The Blackheart Gang — "Tale of How"

Short Film

Three Legged Legs — "Humans"
Capacity — "Planted"

Student of the Year (mt) mediatemple Award

Anh Vu
William O. Campbell

Funniest

Ugly Pictures — "Battle of the Ad Bands"
Digital Kitchen — "Disco Holiday"

Animation

Psyop — "MTVHD — 'Crows'"
Shilo — "Scion Campaign"

Movement

Bran Dougherty Johnson — "Psst… Pass it on!"

Motion Graphic Music Video

Kris Moyes — "Softlights — 'Heart Made of Sound'"

Design with Live Action

Exopolis — "iPod Colors"
Motion Theory — "HP — 'Hands'"
Shilo — "Gap — 'Jeans Take Shape'"

Newcomer of the Year

Roger

Designer of the Year

Russ Murphy
Pes
Andres Schroder

Design Studio of the Year

Buck
Psyop
Brand New School

Named "Hottest for Studying Art" among America's 25 Hottest Colleges by Kaplan/Newsweek, the Savannah College of Art and Design is a private, nonprofit, accredited institution with locations in Atlanta and Savannah, Ga., and in Lacoste, France. Accredited degree programs also are offered online through SCAD e-Learning. The college offers Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Architecture, Master of Arts, Master of Fine Arts and Master of Urban Design degrees.

For more information about the college, e-mail may be sent to admission@scad.edu. Savannah, Lacoste and SCAD e-Learning inquiries may be directed to 800.869.7223 or 912.525.5100; Atlanta inquiries may be directed to 877.722.3285 or 404.253.2700.