Another year is coming to end. 2015 and a world of fresh starts and new beginnings will be upon us soon. On December 11th, we’ll be presenting the last MAD Nights of 2014 at the Streaming Cafe, but we’re not excited about that. We can’t wait for the new year! A New Year with new projects, new marketing and design problems / challenges to solve for our customers and new opportunities to step outside our comfort zones, try something new and stretch the boundaries of our talent, experience and ultimately our craft… Now that’s something to get excited about!

To help us celebrate an evening of “Everything New”, we have asked 4 graphic designers to join us on our designer panel. These professionals regularly step outside their comfort zones to help push their customers’ brands to new heights. Each designer has tried something new this year and will continue to push boundries going forward. You can expect an evening where we talk about new techniques applied to design and new approaches on how designers can work with their customers and add value. We’ll also discuss what’s on the horizon and what new things we could be looking at in order to challenge ourselves and our customers in 2015. Bring your ideas and questions on the future ans we promise you’ll leave the Streaming Cafe inspired and excited for the coming year.

Here’s a brief introduction to each of the designers on our design panel:

Julie Baese crafts awesome user experiences for the web through strategic design and good old fashioned common sense. She’s worked with a lot of brands large and small and has a soft spot for startups. Julie played a pivotal role in the rebranding of GOODSIR Creative, a leading local digital agency, and currently works as their art director and lead UX designer.

Kodie Beckley is a graphic designer, community activator and punk rocker, a combination that’s bound to produce exciting solutions to customer design challenges. He specializes in print and is equally comfortable with digital and the web. Kodie loves to use techniques from the past in ways that help push a customer towards an exciting future.

Linsey Valeriote is the owner and creative director at LV Creative. Linsey helps entrepreneurs by creating strong brands and online identities that serve as a launch-pad for their big ideas. She is a graphic designer, illustrator and branding champion. She’s been working professionally since the mid-90’s and has designed for web, software user interface, print, corporate identity and video games.

Mike Czuboka started Ignite Design after working as art director for Think Marketing. Through his career he has created marketing materials for high-profile clients and some of his work has been distributed around the globe, receiving awards and recognition along the way. He has a wealth of experience designing for print, web, and advertising, and is known for combining creativity with the theories and psychology of advertising to ignite a response from his clients’ audiences.

MAD (Marketing And Design) Nights are held at the Streaming Cafe from 7:00 to 9:00 PM on the 2nd Thursday every month. They are an awesome opportunity for marketers, designers, and other marketing and communication professionals wanting to learn more about marketing and design, to get together and share war stories, experiences, and insights on past marketing campaigns and projects.

MAD Nights are evenings of education and sharing stories (with some food, drink and networking on the side). We hope you will join us!

Please reach out to Dennis Powers (@dennispowers), Laura Ransom (@laura_ann_ransom) or Jason Vance (@jasonvance) for more information or if you have suggestions and/or would like to present on a future MAD Night.

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Thanks to Digital Okanagan and Streaming Café for their support.