It was quite literally a packed house when nearly two-hundred gallery-goers turned out for AIGA Jacksonville’s Always Summer Poster Show + Mix Tape on September 29th. Celebrating its 4th edition of this annual event, AIGA Jax hosted its largest show to date with close to 100 posters submitted by Jacksonville area designers. Entrants were asked to create a poster about their favorite summer song, creating a fusion of art and music. 

Held in the beautiful venue, CoRK Arts District, we saw posters ranging from The Black Keys, to Wilco, Daft Punk, and even the Insane Clown Posse. They hung in a beautiful satin finish provided by our sponsor, DXM Marketing Group, who printed the posters just for this event. DXM also provides services in digital offset, large format, specialty material prints, packaging prototypes, direct mailing, and more. DXM also has the largest printer in Jacksonville, 3M certified and capable of some amazing results.

Every poster song was mixed live by Ian Latchmansingh (DJ Mowgli). Attendees also enjoyed a first-class spread of home-made Mediterranean food created by our sponsor, Florence Haridan of Character Counts. Conscious Eats is a social enterprise dedicated to re-shaping the lives of ex-felons through positive creative experiences. Good food for a good cause. 

Our featured speakers, Jeff Matz and Sarah Blacksher of Lure Design, Inc were also in attendance. They arrived with a full spread of screen-printed posters for sale, some even hot off the press from the workshop that morning. Levi Ratliff and Kendrick Kidd of Halftone Def Studios added to the screen-printed goodness with their own table of one-of-a-kind creations. If you were in the market to add to your poster collection, this was the place to be. 

And the winners are…

Every year, posters are submitted for a people’s choice vote. Three winners received prize packages that included design books, posters, and even munny dolls. The general consensus was that choosing a favorite was nearly impossible, but as it came down to the wire the ballots came in. And the winners were announced:

Annie Thompson came in 3rd with her colorful, almost prismatic poster featuring “Daydream” by Youth Lagoon.

Bryant Hardwick, last year’s reigning champ, secured a 2nd place win with his playful rendition of “Sonny Feeling” by Wilco.

And coming in 1st, with a poster that was unmistakably his, was Sean Collins with “Pyramids” by Frank Ocean. 

View more posters, and photos of the event on our Flickr Page.

Another Always Summer Weekend, come and gone. 

This event is considered a favorite among our members for many reasons. It’s inspiring and rejuvenating. Designers are able to take a break from client work and design for the sheer love of it. We never stop being amazed at the creativity and excellence that comes from our design community, and already can’t wait to see what comes next year. Thank you to all of the talented designers that lender their inspiration for this incredible event!

Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this event possible. Our sponsors, CoRK, Lure Design, Inc, and the countless volunteers who dedicated their time. 

So bring on the fall, because Summer went out with a bang. 

See you next year!