Please join us for an after hours viewing of Characters: Type & Progress followed by drinks and conversation. This exhibition, only on view until March 12th, explores the power of typography, interrogates its troubled past, and shows how characters throughout history are inspiring the movements of today. Characters features typography and research by Vocal Type. Sponsored by: SEGD + AIGA + The Branch Museum https://www.eventbrite.com/e/characters-conversation-tickets-532255760307

Presents: POP UP AT The Branch Museum of Architecture and Design OPEN HOUSE 25+ Makers – Tarot – Food Trucks – Hot Cocoa December 17, 2022 12-4 PM 2501 Monument Avenue Richmond, VA 23220

CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS WITH US - ATOMIC STYLE! Dress in your best atomic, space age, or holiday attire and join us as we toast the present and celebrate the past at our Cosmic Holiday Party Cosmic Cocktails Atomic Hors d'Oeuvres Design Auction Best Dressed Awards Space Age Design Theater Swanky Swag Bring a Friend. Gift a ticket. Have a stellar time!

CONGRATULATIONS STUDIO TWO THREE! It’s official! We bought a building! We have officially signed the paperwork to close on the former Dogtown Dance Building at 109 W. 15th Street, the new permanent home of Studio Two Three! I co-founded the studio 13 years ago with the belief that, with the right resources, Richmond could be an anchor for artists to stay rather than a gateway to someplace bigger. I believe that the diversity and hyper-local nature of Richmond culture is what makes this place special. For Richmond to retain its vibrant, remarkable local culture, we need to prioritize spaces that support new generations of makers, builders and dreamers. We need places where people can experiment and fail safely, and apply those lessons forward as they grow. When the costs associated with renting a space are daunting, failure often means closure – or not getting started at all. Studio Two Three has always been committed to providing an affordable space for creative risk taking. This is why we purchased our own building.

About the Event Join us on Saturday, December 3rd at 10AM for Coffee + Conversation with Justin Smith, founder, and curator of Afrovisualism. Justin Smith is an artist-curator, writer-researcher, theorist and designer from Richmond, VA. He is the founder and curator of Afrovisualism – his curatorial platform and continual studio practice that provides curation, visual direction, and creative development for artists and creatives. He constellates frameworks of Black aesthetic formulations in a harmonious arrangement of curatorial and design projects, visual essays, collages, and moodboards. He coined and theorized Black Aesthetic Continual Theory as a way to establish his Afrovisualist language and realms of thought that contextualizes “crate digging” as an immersive sample-based process that centers curatorial research, theory and design. His Afrovisualist practice is driven by the continual advancement of Black artistic expression, Black visual-sonic culture, Black aesthetics, and Black cultural production. His nuanced approach considers worldbuilding theoretics of Black aesthetic continuums, timelines and chronologies. This program is sponsored by our friends at Blanchard’s! Come enjoy a cup of delicious coffee and design centered discussion. Check out Justin’s Afrovisualist work ahead of time on Instagram @afrovisualism.

About the Event Join us at The Branch Museum on Thursday, November 17th, at 6pm for a free viewing of Graphic Means: A History of Graphic Design Production followed by a discussion with director and producer, Briar Levit. Graphic Means uncovers the hidden history of the graphic design industry’s cold type era. Decades before, every desktop had a computer; it was the hands of industrious workers and ingenious tools that brought type and image together. It explores rapid changes in design from the mid-twentieth century through the 1990s. Levit and her team spent years traveling around the US and UK interviewing design legends. Graphic Means gives viewers a look at the history of the ever-evolving design industry, and what’s in store for the future. Briar Levit is an Associate Professor of Graphic Design at Portland State University. She came up as a designer in San Francisco in the late 1990s, and missed the cold type era by about ten years. She earned her undergraduate degree from San Francisco State University and her master’s degree from Central St. Martin’s College of Art & Design in London. Her design practice originally focused on publication and book design. Since making Graphic Means: A History of Graphic Design Production, she has become much more focused on helping to expand the graphic design history canon.

Characters : A Conversation November 11, 2022 6pm Join us at The Branch Museum at 6pm on Friday, November 11th, to hear Tré Seals and Michael Ellsworth discuss the creative design process leading up to the current exhibition, Characters: Type + Progress. They will share Vocal Type's powerful work, their collaboration, and the ideas that informed the exhibition. Tré Seals is the founder of Vocal Type, a diversity-driven type studio whose work aims to find ways to increase diversity and empathy in the design industry. Michael Ellsworth is a co-founder of Civilization. Civilization creates visual communication, digital platforms, and engaging physical and digital experiences that address social issues, enhance culture, and serve communities. The Branch's Executive Director, Sharon Aponte, will facilitate the conversation and open the floor for audience questions following the discussion. We encourage you to arrive at 5pm to view the exhibition before the program begins.

About the Event Join us at The Branch Museum on Friday, October 14th at 10 am for Coffee + Conversations with a local designer! This month’s designer is Kristin Schmidt, a biomedical engineer at SPARK Product Development. Kristin received her BS in Biomedical Engineering from UVA in 2019 after owning her own massage therapy business for six years. Following an engineering role in a biotech startup, she joined SPARK for the dynamic challenge of solving novel problems. She also appreciates learning new things at every turn. SPARK is located in Richmond and develops functional, beautiful products – from concept to market, across a variety of industries. They find elegant solutions and bring ideas to life through engineering-based industrial, mechanical, and medical design that balances form and function. Have a cup of coffee provided by our generous sponsors at Blanchard’s Coffee, and have product design-centered conversations with Kristin. We recommend bringing a notebook and a pencil to sketch out your next big idea and ask questions during this informal round-table discussion.

CALL FOR PRESENTERS Are you up for a challenge? PechaKucha RVA is having a live event on Oct. 27. The theme is Design: The Creative Process Each PechaKucha participant will have 6 minutes 40 seconds to present 20 slides lasting 20 seconds each relating to the event’s theme. Please fill out the submission form below if you’d like to be one of eight presenters at this exciting live event. Submissions will close on Tuesday, October 11th, and the chosen applicants will be contacted by Thursday, October 13th.

DesignHer - Works by Contemporary Women Graphic Designers: Marian Bantjes Crystal Basaetz Nancy Bernardo Michele Champagne Deanne Cheuk Johanna Drucker Denise Gonzales Crisp Colette Gaiter Laura Rossi Garcia Mieke Gerritzen Aldrena J. Hicks Lorena Howard-Sheriden Leah Lester Zuzana Licko Maria Loor Debbie Millman Jennifer Morla Kali Nikitas Paula Scher Jennifer Sterling

A WORKSHOP SERIES FOR DESIGNERS Want more clients to shout your name from the rooftops after a project? It’s time to design a process that turns clients into brand champions! Happy Camper is a four-part workshop series to help graphic designers create and refine a process that embodies your values, aligns with your ideal audience, and ensures clients sing your praises when every final file has been delivered. Campfire & Co. has collected lessons learned from working with hundreds of design clients so you can stop worrying about what’s next and get to the stuff you love: creating amazing work for clients that truly value your process. Course Overview & Dates Happy Camper 2022 will take place across four Fridays, from September 9 – September 30, noon to 1:30 pm.