From finding new, craft-elevating tools and techniques to gleaning insights into cutting-edge trends, to simply catching up on some of the year’s best work, PromaxBDA’s 2015 Conference is, among other things, a goldmine for designers. But cutting through the vast array of outstanding sessions to pinpoint those designer-friendly nuggets can be quite a task. So we’ve done it for you: Brief presents 10 sessions from this year’s event guaranteed to educate, enlighten and inspire designers.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10

9:00am – Future-Proofing Your Next Rebrand

Kick off the first full day of Conference sessions with a fresh take on designing brand identities with Red Bee’s visionary executive creative director Charlie Mawer. Gone are the days of TV brands built to be watched; now they must be built to be swiped, clicked, scrolled through and whatever other interaction the future might hold. Learn vital tips on doing so from one of the world’s best.

9:00am – Tools and Techniques to Turbo-Charge Your Creativity

Creativity is the lifeblood of this industry whether you’re a designer or a data analyst or something in between. But though you probably already consider yourself creative, your most game-changing ideas may still be ahead of you. Nicole Verk, whose company The Ideas Bodega helps companies generate concepts that break assumptions, disrupt the market and propel business forward, leads this session that will help you realize your full creative potential.

2:30pm – Brand/Rebrand Highlights: Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, Disney, Fox International Channels

Take a peek into three of the past year’s most successful rebrands and hear behind-the-scenes tidbits from some of the folks who helped craft them. Hallmark Movies & Mysteries was able to set itself apart from its sister channel Hallmark with an elegant package defined by light and shadow. Disney’s re-imagining of its logo and idents was a master class in maintaining consistency across a global television brand. And Fox International Channels – not exactly small itself – beautifully merged strategy and design to let both viewers and TV creators know it is the world’s biggest, baddest launch pad for content.

2:30pm – “! or ?”: Chip Kidd and the Graphic Art of Clarity. Or Not.

In some design circles, author and book jacket guru Chip Kidd is a bit of a rock star, and he also happens to be one of the field’s funniest, most personable speakers. From Jurassic Park to David Sedaris’ Naked, to numerous works by Haruki Murakami, he’s consistently revolutionized not just what a book can look like, but what a book can be. Step out of the land of screens for a while and be inspired by the impact great design can have on real-world objects.

4:45pm – State of Design

Stash is a kick-ass online repository of VFX, animation and motion graphics for advertising and broadcast design. Its editor Stephen Price returns to the Conference to host his annual session featuring the site’s most innovative works from the past year. Expect anything and everything from commercials to game cinematics to student films and beyond.

THURSDAY, JUNE 11

9:00am - The Brand Deck—Are You Game?

Scott Thomas, founder of Simple.Honest.Work, has run the gamut of design work, from serving as design director for Obama’s groundbreaking 2008 presidential campaign to overhauling Nike’s website into a product as sleek and dynamic as its running shoes. Along the way he’s developed a process that gets to the heart of the matter by prioritizing empiricism, authenticity and longterm version. Challenge yourself and your creative approach at this inspiring session.

10:00am – PromaxBDA Hot Spots Showcase

Brief’s daily Hot Spot showcases the best promos from around the world, and this super-fun session showcases the best of the best. Culling 50 to 60 spots from more than 1200 submissions, hosts Dan Bragg, SVP of marketing for Science Channel, and Mark Valentine, creative director for ANATOMY, will blow your mind with a buffet of unforgettable work ranging from hilarious to profound and poignant to thrilling and beyond.

11:15am – Brand/Rebrand Highlights: Centric, ProSieben & Boomerang

This two-day session series continues with peeks into three more successful rebrands from the past year, highlighted by some of the people who helped design them. There’s something for everyone here: Centric, with its op-art-inspired waves and chevrons, is a must-see from a purely graphical perspective while ProSieben kills it in terms of multiplatform elements. And then the wildly creative Boomerang brand is just pure, unadulterated fun.

12:15pm – The Art of Title Design

If this the Golden Age of television, then it’s the Platinum Age of main title design. Seriously - from the sublime creepiness of True Detective to the high-art conceptualism of Black Sails, to the irresistible bounce and swagger of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, title designers are having as much fun as the show creators these days. Meet some of the best in the business at this session featuring panelists such as Imaginary Forces creative directors Grant Lau and Dan Gregoras, and Elastic creative director Patrick Clair.

4:30pm – State of Our Art

For an exhilarating reminder that what you do matters, this final Conference 2015 session can’t be beat. “State of Our Art” offers an exhilarating romp through the past year’s biggest, boldest ideas in the television space and beyond, spotlighting work that has moved the masses, inspired individuals the world over, and helped change the course of human behavior. Expect plenty of laughs along the way, as well as a renewed understanding of what your craft contributes, and where it’s going next.

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