Joe Duffy — panelist

Joe is one of the world’s most respected and sought after thought leaders on branding and design. His work is regularly featured in leading marketing and design publications and is exhibited around the world. Joe founded Duffy with a vision to build a new kind of branding and creative company—partnering with clients and other firms in all communication disciplines. His first book, Brand Apart, was released in July 2005.

In 2004, Joe received the Legacy Medal from the American Institute of Graphic Arts for a lifetime of achievement in the field of visual communications. In 2006, he was recognized as one of the “fast 50” most influential people in the future of business by Fast Company. In 2007, Joe was honored with the American Institute of Graphic Arts Fellow Award for his many years of leadership in the state’s design and business community.

Teri Kwant, AIGA NAI — panelist

Teri is a holistic designer of experiences and a visual storyteller. Her roots are in museum and exhibition design – graphic and experiential. Her training is across many design disciplines; graphic design, architecture, landscape architecture and psychology, and has a masters degree in furniture design.

Teri has also been an experience consultant, an educator, and a maker and creator of public art. Her artwork and furniture have been shown in local and national galleries. She has had the honor to speak at events ranging from professional design and ethnographic research organizations to a palliative care symposium. Teri has taught at the University of Minnesota School of Design, the College of Visual Arts, and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Teri’s purpose in designing experiences is to create objects, interactions and environments that not only engage the senses and the intellect, but the heart. She strives to create meaningful dialogue and connections through all of her work.

Eric Madsen — panelist

Eric Madsen was born and raised in Texas. A graduate of the University of Houston, he began his graphic design career in Houston before moving to Minneapolis in 1973.

His design work has been recognized nationally and internationally by such organizations and publications as the AIGA, the Society of Typographic Arts, the Society of Publication Designers, the Type Director’s Club of New York, magazines such as Applied Arts (Canada), Communication Arts, Critique, Idea (Japan), Graphis, Print, and by the Art Director’s Clubs of Minneapolis, New York, Dallas, Houston, and Los Angeles.

His fine art has been recognized by the Minneapolis Foundation, the Lake Pepin Art & Design Center, the Washington Pavilion for the Arts, and the Miller Art Museum, where he was awarded the Gerhard Miller Award of Excellence Gold Medal for his series Carlyle’s Tools.

Mr. Madsen is an AIGA Fellow, and is past member of the national Board of Directors of the AIGA. He is a founding board member of the AIGA Minnesota chapter and has served on its Board on four separate occasions. Additionally, he served as a member of the Board of Trustees for both the College of Visual Arts, Saint Paul, and the Minnesota Center for Book Arts.

Appointed by the Postmaster General of the United States in 2010, he served on the Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee of the United States Postal Service. He is a Vietnam Era veteran of the United States Army.

Benjamin Currie — panelist

Originally from a small town in the Chicago area, Benjamin Currie is an American illustrator based in Minneapolis with a love for editorial illustration, books, and posters.

With his work being a combination of analog and digital practices, he enjoys the use of many different mediums in his work.

With each project, he uses limited color palettes to combine the clever and the decorative in engaging solutions. Ben mainly draws inspiration from traveling, nature, woodblock prints, and popular culture.

Brent Stickels — moderator

Brent Stickels is co-founder and partner of YYES, a design and communications studio that provides strategic branding focused on business outcomes.

A writer and designer with a background in advertising and film, he is the director of See Change, an annual conference on visual communication at the University of Minnesota, and is AIGA Minnesota’s liaison to the Insights Lecture Series at the Walker Art Center. He is also a member of the Long Now Foundation, an organization that fosters long-term thinking and responsibility in the framework of the next 10,000 years.

All attendees will receive a copy of the latest issue of American Craft magazine.

The October/November issue features Wisconsin light artist Helen Lee, atypical glass artist Thaddeus Wolfe, and a poster celebrating the design of craft in the 1970s—the fifth of a nine-part poster series from The American Craft Council and its partners, Mohawk Fine Papers and Shapco.