Since 2003, I've been lucky enough to attend the
ADIM conference, a small gathering comprised mostly of designers, with a sprinkling of photographers, illustrators, and videographers. The 2008 ADIM was last week.
The more pragmatic person might say that ADIM's purpose is to teach attendees about the more advanced nooks and crannies of Adobe software. But most attendees will tell you the real value of ADIM is the creative exploration it encourages. This year we designed posters for fictitious monster movies that were printed using lenticular lenses, which give the illusion of depth or movement. For three days, we poured our hearts into a project vastly different from what we do in our normal work. That difference was freeing; seeing how other people approached the project was inspirational.
For anyone who can't go to something like ADIM, or who wants this sort of experience more than once a year, I challenge you to join me in this goal: Find and attend creative meetups.
Meetups are common in the photographic community. Photographers in a town or region connect via the Web, then agree on times and places to meet and on what they'll do when they get there. For example, they might pool their money to hire models and choose an unusual shooting location.
Meetups for designers (especially print designers) are less common, but they're out there.
The Web site Meetup.com is one source for meetups. If you know of other sources, please share by posting the URLs in the forum thread "Meetups for creative pros?"
