Our Apples Were Feeling Peachy at Creative South 2018

Where loads of fun and design skill meet is Creative South, a design conference held every year at the Springer Opera House in Columbus, Georgia. As a highly anticipated event for designers across the world, we had an amazing time learning, experimenting and sharing ideas with the most creative people around. Check out last year’s incredible experience.

creative south stage

Featuring dozens of remarkable speakers who discussed everything from effective time management to stimulating growth and more, our design team was captivated by personal stories of success, challenges and how to reach your fullest creative capabilities. Senior designer and social media manager, Jennifer Graven, especially enjoyed Bill Gardner, author of the best-selling LogoLounge series, who spoke about future industry trends. Dolly Sanborn, senior art director and web designer, appreciated the motivating advice from Jordan Schiller of Real Thread who discussed the three most important questions to ask yourself: What is your purpose? What do you value? What is your vision?

appleton at creative south

Our art director, senior designer and animator, Eric Czerwonka, had one word to describe Creative South 2018: inspiring. Like Jennifer, he valued Bill Gardner’s talk, specifically his perspective on how graphic designers have a bigger responsibility than just creating, they’re forming the future of design. He also had an exciting time rooting for Dolly and Jennifer in their logo competitions and witnessing so many creatives use their individual experiences and knowledge to create beautiful designs.

In between the many speaker sessions, our designers had the opportunity to participate in exciting activities, including Logo Wave, a logo design competition. Dolly and Jennifer flaunted their design chops in timed competitions against dozens of designers.

In Jennifer’s wave, she had to create a logo for a fictional biking company using a Georgia peach as inspiration. Employing soft, warm green and peach tones, Jennifer’s logo exudes a nostalgic, welcoming feel to viewers. This beautiful, clean design earned Jennifer the first-place spot in her wave and the second-place spot in the overall competition.

Dolly’s Logo Wave set was airline-themed, using a Georgia peach as an essential element as well. With vibrant shades of green and peach, along with a robust and easy-to-read font choice, Dolly created a logo that projects a professional, straightforward feel that viewers would expect from an airline. Dolly’s logo design earned her the third-place spot in her wave.

In addition to the Logo Wave competition, our design team cheered on fellow designers at Ink Wars, a two-person competition where artists have one hour to hand-draw their designs on huge canvasses. Of course, no conference is complete without a dedicated swag bag and our design team filled up at the Vendor Village, bringing home cutting-edge print pieces, vendor materials, apparel and more to inspire our office.

creative south ink wars

We pride ourselves on being industry leaders and actively encourage our team to learn and grow. From small activities like our weekly Brain Exchanges where we share innovative and creative ideas to big events like Creative South, we work to maintain and elevate our skills to provide clients with the best possible creative.

Does your advertising need some creative juice? Appleton Creative is an award-winning, full-service Orlando advertising agency that works with local, national and international clients to deliver impressive ad campaigns, branding, print, web, public relations, social media and video services. At Appleton, we want to learn about your business, empower your marketing team and be your creative resource. Your advertising goals are worth a conversation: contact us at 407-246-0092 or info@appletoncreative.com.