HOW Design Live Conference - Boston

Late pass on this but I felt the need to share my experience at the HOW Design Conference in Boston from June 22-25, 2012. I was pretty stoked about this trip because this was my first experience traveling that far on the east coast. Also I have been wanting to attend this conference for the past 7 years. I stayed at the Sheraton Boston Hotel which worked out great because not only was the hotel connected to the Hynes's Convention Center, but also the Prudential Center a.k.a mall. Now for all of those who know me, you know how big of a shopper I am. Don't get me wrong though that's not all that I ended up doing. Shopping was far from my mind because I was on a mission to (absorb) knowledge at the conference and eager to just explore Boston.

Boston is an amazing city with so much history. I was right in the heart of downtown and everything was so accessible. I swear there was a church on every corner so there was a lot of picture taking that went down. I had a chance to experience a lot of things for the first time including Dunkin' Donuts, Trader Joes's, Whole Foods, Johnny Cupcakes and "almost" Underground Hiphop.com (but they were closed).

I saw revolutionaries such as, Chip Kidd, Allan Haley, Armin Vit, Sam Harrison, Dan Rhatigan, Steve Matteson and many more folks actively making a difference in the design world. I had the best time seeing Aaron Draplin speak. His session was called Tall Tales from a Large Man. He spoke to a packed room and his words, and work spoke volumes to me. This dude was real and he inspired me tons to get my shit together. The exhibit halls were also great, I went there everyday to scope out paper samples and free schwag. I met a lot of amazing designers and artists, it was cool hearing their perspectives and sharing stories. This was a life changing experience for me and I'm truly inspired to do more with my skills, and to perfect my craft.