Project M 2008
We just want to change the world.

Sure, we may not be known in the in circles. We may not fill the pages of design annuals. And we may never see our names in lights. But, we do know how to save the rain forest with a waterproof book. We do know how to build a park with a postcard. And we know how to bring water to a community with a few pages of newsprint.

We are part of a design movement. We believe that ability equals responsibility. And we are not the only ones. So, we built a lab where designers like you can make a difference. We are building the tools that will build the future. And this is where you come in.

Engage.

Project M
Project M is an intensive summer program designed to inspire young graphic designers, writers, photographers and other creative people that their work can have a positive and significant impact on the world.
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Project M 2008 // Project M Lab
Open Sourcing Project M

The Project M 2008 Team, in collaboration with HERO, has
created a permanent Design Lab space in Greensboro, Alabama. This light-filled studio building is situated on the HERO campus which includes a bunkhouse for up to 10 people and lodging for visiting advisors. Greensboro is also the center of Hale County where the Auburn Rural Studio has been building wonderful structures to benefit the community since 1993.

However, the Design Lab is only an empty building without passionate young designers to inhabit it on an on-going basis.
This is where you come in.

We encourage both Individuals and groups to contact us if they are interested in using the Project M Lab space to work on meaningful projects in Hale County. We guarantee that it will be an intensely satisfying experience.
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John Bielenberg
Since 1991, John has produced an ongoing series of projects under the pseudonym Virtual Telemetrix, Inc. that address issues related to the practice of graphic design and Corporate America. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has acquired 6 of the VT projects and staged a Virtual Telemetrix exhibition and mock IPO (Initial Public Offering) in 2000. In addition, John was recently nominated for 2 National Design Awards from the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, served on the AIGA National Board of Directors, taught at California College of the Arts in San Francisco and has written articles on design for Communication Arts Magazine, Critique Magazine, “Looking Closer 2-Critical Writings on Graphic Design,” and “Design Issues- How Graphic Design Informs Society.”

John is a member of AGI (Alliance Graphique International) and is the Vice President and Director of the Pop!Tech Institute, which strives to inspire people to change the world by fostering visionary conversations about the future. In 2001, John co-founded C2 in San Francisco with Erik Cox and Greg Galle.
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Thinking Wrong
The human brain tends to think along pre-determined linear thought pathways. Such linear thinking can inhibit true innovation and creative exploration. Project M will encourage, and provide techniques for, “thinking wrong” to generate new ideas and design directions to challenge the status-quo.
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Project M 2003 // Think Wrong Book

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Project M 2004 // Costa Rica Book

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Project M 2005 // Mbulance

Project M 2006 // This Is Not Grass Book

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Project M 2007 // Buy A Meter

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Project M Advisors
For the past few years, a group of advisors has been helping to conceive, define and inspire Project M. They are designers, artists, writers, photographers, and thinkers. They’re all smart, accomplished and we are deeply grateful for their time and interest in this program.
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Sean Adams
Sean is a partner at AdamsMorioka. He has been recognized by every major competition and publication including; Step, Communication Arts, Graphis, AIGA, The Type Directors Club, The British Art Director’s Club, and the New York Art Director’s Club. A solo exhibition on AdamsMorioka was held at The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Adams has been cited as one of the forty most important people shaping design internationally in the ID40.

Sean is the national president and past national board member of AIGA, and past president of AIGA Los Angeles. He is a Fellow of the Aspen Design Conference, and AIGA Fellow. He teaches at Art Center College of Design. Sean is a frequent lecturer and competition judge internationally. Adams is the co-author of Logo Design Workbook, Color Design Workbook, and the upcoming Masters of Design. AdamsMorioka’s clients include ABC, Adobe, Gap, Frank Gehry Partners, Nickelodeon, Sundance, Target, USC, and The Walt Disney Company.
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Erik Adigard
Erik Adigard is co-founder of the design studio M.A.D. with partner Patricia McShane. He has produced graphic design and imagery for organizations such as Microsoft, Wired and Stop AIDS Project. Since 2001, he has been working on the visual identity of IBM software. Aside from corporate communications, he also experiments on new media projects. His work has been shown in various locations internationally including SFMOMA, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and the Sundance Film Festival.
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Bob Aufuldish
Bob Aufuldish is a partner in Aufuldish & Warinner and an Associate Professor at the California College of the Arts. FontBoy, (www.fontboy.com) a digital type foundry, was launched in 1995 to manufacture and distribute his fonts. He has participated in a number of exhibitions, including, “Icons: Magnets of Meaning”, at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and has lectured across the US.

His work has been included in competitions and publications sponsored by the usual suspects. He has a BFA and MFA in graphic design from Kent State University, Ohio.
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Rich Binnell
Rich Binell is a fly-fishing fanatic who does writing and marketing to pay for his fishing trips. He earned an honors degree from Harvard University but his mother won’t give him the parchment because she’s afraid he might lose it. He spent 8 years as a writer at Apple Computer where his major accomplishment was to help establish and maintain Apple’s method of talking about complicated products in simple and friendly ways. He’s won enough writing and advertising awards to really not care about them. He hates bios. Especially writing them.
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Kim Blanchette
Kim is a former police officer and owner of Blanchette Press in Vancouver, Canada which is commonly acknowledged to be one of the best printers in the World.
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Adam Brodsley
Adam co-founded Volume Design Inc. at the dawn of the new millennium with the intent of creating a multi-disciplinary studio focusing not on project medium but on communication of a client’s unique story. The goal: to emotionally engage audiences and allow our client to stand out in a sea of sameness. Thus the studio’s projects are in 3D architectural environments as well as print, packaging, identity, and web.

Adam graduated from the Art Center College of Design and worked with the renowned April Greiman in Los Angeles. He studied in Switzerland and in Paris at the Sorbonne. He also holds a degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He spent a number of years as lead designer at Mauk Design where he created identity systems, print, packaging and a multitude of large-scale environments. Past clients include Levi Strauss & Co., Sony PlayStation, Volkswagen, Microsoft, RockShox, Rainbow Media, Square-Enix, Intel, and Apple Computer. His work has been awarded many times over by organizations (e.g. IDSA and Business Week, D&AD, AIGA, Exhibitor Magazine) and he has been widely published. Adam is also an Adjunct Professor of Design at the California College of the Arts (formerly CCAC).
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Jeff Caldwell
Born and raised near Detroit, Jeff was too far from 8 mile to become a solid rapper but close enough to keep it real; forever influenced by the blight and beauty of the city. At an early age, his parents and teachers recognized his artistic talents. With their guidance and support, by age fifteen he made a name for himself in the Air-Brushed T-shirt industry.

In 1996, Jeff formalized his art education, graduating with a BFA from Eastern Michigan University. From there, following Detroit living requirements, Jeff joined the auto industry, designing exhibits for the Detroit International Auto Show. One Y2k and twenty-two auto related gigs later, Jeff migrated to San Francisco where he creates for those that can’t create for themselves.
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Michael Carabetta
Michael Carabetta is creative director of Chronicle Books, a San Francisco-based publisher. Chronicle Books projects he has directed have received recognition in the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) 50 Books/50 Covers shows, and in Graphis Books I and II; have appeared in many design publications, including Communication Arts, Critique, and I.D. magazines; and have received awards from the San Francisco Ad Club, New York Art Directors Club, and the Western Art Directors Club.

He attended the Paier College of Art, and received his M.F.A. from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Before joining Chronicle Books in 1991, he worked for ten years with Landor Associates, directing corporate identity projects in their San Francisco, London, and Hong Kong offices. He is an occasional contributor to the AIGA Journal, and has guest-lectured on design at Cal State Chico and San Jose State universities. He has been a speaker at the Stanford Professional Publishing Program and has taught design at California College of the Arts. He collects 20th century first editions and is a member of the board of directors of the San Francisco Center for the Book.
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Bernard Carniffe
Bernard J. Canniffe has had work featured in the Graphis Design Annual, How magazine, STEP Design Magazine, GOOD Magazine, and CCPH Perspectives and is he recipient of the Graphic Designers for the New Millennium, 2000 Award. He co-founded the collaborative social design PIECE STUDIO in 2008. Three of his posters were included in This is for Real: War and the Contemporary Audience exhibition at Stoney Brook University, and he was one of a few world artists invited to exhibit at the Museum at the Newton Centerfor British-American Studies. Bernard J. Canniffe is originally from Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, has lived in the United States since1991 and moved to Baltimore in August 2001. He holds a BA in graphic design from the Newport College of Art & Design, Bernard J. University of Wales, and an MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design.
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Art Chantry
Art Chantry has gained international prominence in the design field as a practitioner, educator, critic, advocate, etc. Since being established in Seattle in 1978, his firm—Art Chantry Design Company—has evolved into a multi-disciplinary studio with expertise in posters, record packaging, identities, and a buncha other weird crap. He is author of the book “INSTANT LITTER: Posters from Seattle Punk Culture”, and a monograph of his work, “SOME PEOPLE CAN'T SURF: The Graphic Design of Art Chantry” was recently published by Chronicle Books. He has been honored with hundreds of awards for his design work, including a Bronze Lion from The Cannes Festival. His work has hung in many museums and collections notably the Museum of Modern Art, The Cooper-Hewitt (Smithsonian), The Louvre, and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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Brian Collins
Brian Collins is the Senior Partner, Executive Creative Director at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, where he leads the Brand Integration Group, the agency’s design and brand experience division. Brian runs the group as nothing less than a laboratory for imagination and storytelling.

Made up of artists, designers, strategists, filmmakers, playwrights, architects and writers, BIG works with some of the world’s most prominent brands, including American Express, IBM, The Miller Brewing Company, Dove, Jaguar Cars, Coca-Cola, Hershey Foods, and Kodak. Steve Heller, writing in Print, called BIG “the leading incubator of design talent in advertising... Collins refuses to sanction timeworn notions, and indeed BIG’s output never seems less than original.”
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Erik Cox
Erik is a co-founder of C2 in San Francisco and his work has been recognized with national and international design awards from The American Institute of Graphic Arts, Communication Arts Magazine, Critique Magazine, Type Directors Club, American Center for Design, the AR100 Show and the Mead Annual Report Show.
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Mark Diamons MD
Fundamentally, I am curious; I like to know how things work. I studied history in college to understand the evolution of our society; I went to medical school pursuing an interest in human biology; I trained as a neurologist because the brain fascinates me; I became a scientist because I wanted to find out the molecular basis of certain neurodegenerative diseases, and cure them. In my work I struggle with the tension of being practical and productive versus creative and significant.
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Bob Dinetz
For me, approaching assignments as if I know nothing can be the key to solving problems. It means keeping an open mind. It means investigating the wrong place for the right answer. It means asking the dumb question. Or having the courage to be uncool. And though I’m always interested in using design’s ability to communicate through style, the goal has always been to uncover the truth in a way that is simple, thoughtful and unexpected.
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Nilus De Matran

• an Assyrian who moved to San Francisco in 1989
• educated in London at the Architectural Association
• studied under Zaha Hadid
• started nilus designs: 6 years ago
• has since been involved in projects of various sizes and scope, ranging from residential renovations/additions to commercial projects such as the master planning of a new technology campus located at the historic Shenandoah Plaza at Moffett field
• additional commercial projects: regional head quarters for a tech company, restaurant, professional photography studio, and art gallery
• also been involved in international, interdisciplinary collaboration for a series of global, institutional retreats
• has been published in varied magazines including Metropolitan Home and an ongoing series in Dwell. Other publications include Interiors, and San Francisco Magazine
• additionally, completed projects have been used as location sets in print and television campaigns as well as being features in cable television, and home and garden series (HGTV).

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Karen Fiss
Karen Fiss received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 1995 and is currently assistant professor of visual culture and design at the California College of the Arts, San Francisco. Her recent publications include “The Emperor’s New Graphics,” Print magazine (December 2002), and “In Hitler’s Salon, Art, Culture, and Media under the Third Reich” (University of Chicago Press, 2002). She was co-editor of “Discourses: Conversations in Postmodern Art and Culture” (M.I.T. Press and The New Museum, 1990) and is now completing a book manuscript entitled “Grand Illusion: France, the Third Reich, and Cultural Politics”, ca. 1937. She has received fellowships from the Getty Grant Program, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts.
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Greg Galle
Companies (2)
Teams (6)
Books (5,1)
Largest (5, 170, 80,000, 200, 70, 2,000,000,000)

Co-founded two companies: C2 and 3 Billion
Established and directed 6 brand and communication teams: The Understanding Business, Aaron Marcus and Associates, Wells Fargo Nikko Investment Advisors/Barclays Global Investors, b2, 3 Billion, C2

Contributed to 5 books on Brand, Communication Design, and Graphical User Interface Design: The Brand Gap (Neumeier), Comparison of Graphical User Interfaces (Marcus), Graphic Design for Electronic Documents and User Interface (Marcus), Human Factors and Typography – Making Programming More Readable (Becker, Marcus), Information Anxiety (Wurman). 1 hand made book in the permanent collection of the New York Museum Modern of Art (Suicide Book)
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Ferko Goldfinger
Ferko Goldinger has been deeply involved in the paper side of the graphic arts industry since 1982, working for merchants, mills, and paper stores. Currently the marketing manager for Appleton Coated, Ferko traces his enthusiasm for paper to a watershed moment at the Robert Rauschenberg retrospective in 1972 when he saw handmade paper for the first time. He was 9 years old. Ferko resides in Wisconsin with his family and is a member of the AIGA.
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Bill Grant
Bill Grant is President and Creative Director of Grant Design Collaborative in Atlanta. Grant recently authored and produced the AIGA’s “Business and Ethical Expectations for Professional Designer” and chaired GAIN, the 2002 AIGA Business and Design Conference. Grant also assisted in curriculum development and attended the inagural AIGA Harvard Business School Program “Business Perspectives for Design Leaders.” Grant's work has been featured in Communication Arts, Print, ID, Step, How, AIGA Communication Graphis, Metropolis, New York Type Director’s Club Annual, Graphic Design: USA, among others. He has also served as judge for numerous international design competitions and is a frequent speaker at design events.
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Eric Heiman
Starting in the hunter-filled woods of rural Pennsylvania, Eric Heiman embarked on a labyrinthine journey through the Carnegie Mellon architecture program, late nightsof DJ spinning, record store employment and week-long vows of silence in the mountains of Maui that eventually led him to design school in the Bay Area. At the dawn of the new millennium he founded Volume with Adam Brodsley. Volume’s work has been extensively exhibited, honored and published around the world, and Eric’s writing on design has been published in Emigre, Letterspace and the AIGA’s online journal, Voice. Eric is also a Professor of Design at the California College of the Arts and was awarded the college-wide Excellence in Teaching award in 2003.
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Jamie Koval
Jamie Koval joined VSA Partners in 1990 as a principal and is currently the president of the firm. With offices in Chicago and New York, VSA has built a reputation as a multi-disciplinary office with expertise in strategy, planning, naming, identity, corporate communication, packaging, interiors and web. Jamie's work has been recognized internationally and is included in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. He has been a guest instructor at The Art Institute of Chicago and frequent lecturer. VSA's client roster is a cross-section of American business, and includes such companies as Cingular, The Coca-Cola Company, Harley-Davidson, and IBM.
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Jim Lasser, Esq. (1974 - )
On the stormy morning of Sunday, December 9, 1974, Nancy Lasser, wife of Alan, gave birth to a boy. He was born on a bed of poles covered with corn husks. The baby was named Jimm, after Comedian Red Foxx. The birth took place in the Lasser’s rough-hewn cabin in Winnetka near Chicago, Illinois. Alan Lasser was a dermatologist and a farmer. Nancy Lasser had little or no accounting schooling and could not write french poetry. Jimm spent a short amount of time in a log schoolhouse, before graduating from the University of Michigan, Vanderbilt University School of Law, and the Portfolio Center. Jimm attended school dressed in a raccoon cap, buckskin clothes, and pants so short that several inches of his calves were exposed. Jimm earned his first dollar ferrying passengers to a steamer on Lake Michigan, and was a member of the W+K 12.3. He spoke out against the Dred Scott Decision, and was decorated by his congressman for valor in battle. Currently he is an art director and copywriter at Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
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Bruce Lindsey
Bruce Lindsey is Professor and Dean of the College of Architecture and Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Design at Washington University at St. Louis. Prior to coming to Washington University Lindsey was Professor and Head of the School of Architecture at Auburn University and along with Andrew Freear was the Co-Director of Auburn’s Rural Studio. Lindsey served as Associate Head and Associate Professor of Art and Architecture at Carnegie Mellon’s School of Architecture for nearly fifteen years. He has been a visiting professor and critic at a number of schools. He has extensive experience in beginning design education and has written and lectured widely on the role of digital technology in design. His book “Digital Gehry: Material Resistance Digital Construction” was published by Birkhauser in 2001.
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Michael Mabry
Michael Mabry received his BFA in graphic design from the University of Utah and worked for SBG Partners as a senior designer until starting his own firm in 1981. He has served on the faculty at the California College of the Arts and guest lectured at various designer/art directors organizations throughout the country.

His work is included in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Michael’s work was also featured in a solo exhibition in Osaka, Japan and a group exhibition on California Design at the Museo Fortuny in Venice, Italy. In 1997 Michael was included in the International Design Magazine’s issue- “40 Design and Technology Innovators on the West Coast.”

Michael has served as the President of the San Francisco Chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts and on the National Board of Trustees of the American Institute of Graphic Arts. He is currently a member of the Alliance Graphique International.
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Jim McNulty
A general theme in my life to date has been looking into the creative state as a communicable process and various applications into the world of materials. My working background includes fine art sculpture and photography, culinary arts, commercial studio, industrial, portrait and nature photography, Tibetan Buddhist sacred sculpture, commercial printing management and conga drum restoration. I have deepened my view and interaction with life through study and practice of Buddhism over the last 20+ years. I currently work as a print producer and consultant in the graphic design and publishing community. I am a husband and father with two teenage daughters everyday.
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Jennifer Morla
In addition to teaching thesis design at California College of the Arts, Jennifer is President and creative director of Morla Design in San Francisco. Over the past 24 years, Jennifer has created 68 posters, 4 Swatch watches, 20 books, 26 retail stores, 6 fabric collections, 380 web pages, 18 television openings, 9 magazine covers, 108 catalogs, 48 pieces of furniture, 94 packages, 38 paintings, 3 tons of steel sculpture, 2 daughters, and way too many logos to count.

Her work is a part of many permanent museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Jennifer has been honored with solo exhibitions at both the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and DDD Gallery in Japan. She is a former National board member of the AIGA, previous President of the San Francisco chapter AIGA, and a member of Alliance Graphique International.
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Victor John Penner
The “accidental” Mennonite photographer and race car driver from Vancouver.
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Lana Rigsby
Lana Rigsby is best known as an outspoken thinker and practitioner in the field of communications design. Her firm, Texas-based Rigsby Design, applies its expertise to communications for all kinds of organizations, from corporations to social and artistic causes.

Lana’s work has won numerous international awards and is included in the permanent collections of the Cooper-Hewitt/ National Design Museum and the Library of Congress. Rigsby Design was recognized by Communication Arts magazine as one of the most influential US design firms in the magazine’s forty-year history. Lana has served as a national director for the American Institute of Graphic Arts, and chaired its 2002 national design competitions “365: The Year in Design.”
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Laurie Rosenwald
Laurie Rosenwald is the World’s Most Commercial Artist and sole proprietor of rosenworld.com, an overfed, underfed, government-subsidized multinational with wholly owned subsidiaries in Gothenburg, Sweden and TuCan, an up-and-coming New York neighborhood formerly known as “Too Close To Canal Street.” Rosenworld’s motto is “no job too big, no job too small, no job too medium.” Rosenwald teaches a workshop in design schools all over the world in how to make mistakes. Lets just say it has no name, so the students don’t know what to expect. They show up, they put on garbage bags, and...
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Greg Samata
Greg Samata formed Samata Associates in 1975 and subsequently co-founded SamataMason Inc. with partners Pat Samata and Dave Mason in 1995. His work has spanned across three decades of all creative media and disciplines from print to film making. Greg has been published in every major design and industry publication and honored with hundreds of awards for his work in competitions worldwide. Currently Greg is a board member of the Evan’s Life Foundation, a non-profit organization that aids children at risk. Greg also founded the film production company NoisemakerFilms where he creates, directs and produces documentaries and feature films. Greg lives in the Chicago area with his wife Pat, son Parker, twin daughters Lane and Tate and Frank and Stella, six-year-old sister black labs.
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Stefan Sagmeister
Stefan Sagmeister formed the New York based Sagmeister Inc. in 1993 and has since designed graphics and packaging for the Rolling Stones, David Byrne, Lou Reed, Aerosmith and Pat Metheny. His work has been nominated four times for the Grammies and has won most international design awards. In 2001 a monograph about his work titled “Sagmeister, Made you Look” was published by Booth-Clibborn editions.
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Thomas Sevcik
Thomas Sevcik, born 1969 in Wettingen, Switzerland, went to schools in Switzerland. He has a degree in Architecture from the Technical University in Berlin and is co-founder and CEO of arthesia. Arthesia is an applied communication thinktank with offices in Zürich and Los Angeles. Arthesia insures companies, organizations and regions against sameness using atypical solutions. Thomas Sevcik is the mastermind behind diverse projects such as Volkswagen’s “Autotstadt” corporate themeworld in Wolfsburg, Germany and other major narrative environments and one-of-its-kind-projects. He is a well-regarded thinker and speaker and serves on several executive and advisory boards and committees in the communication and arts industry. Thomas regularly gives lectures, teaches at CentralSaintMartins in London and writes articles. He is married and lives in Zürich.
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Christopher Simmons
Christopher Simmons is a designer, author, educator, design advocate and principal of the noted San Francisco design office, MINE. MINE designs identities, books, consumer products, packaging and print and interactive collateral for scientific visionaries, educational reformists, best-selling authors, museums, entrepreneurs, telecommunications giants and Hollywood producers. Christopher teaches graphic design at the California College of the Arts, is the author of three books and writes the regular column “My First Time” for STEP magazine. He is a past president of the San Francisco AIGA, the professional association for design. On completion of Christopher’s tenure, Mayor Gavin Newsom issued an official proclamation declaring San Francisco to be a city “where design makes a difference.”
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Rick Valicenti
Founder/Design Director of Thirst in 1981 and Thirstype in 1993. Rick's passion for design and willingness to embrace new technologies make for a dynamic marriage of imagery and inspiration. Thirst's creative versatility continues to lead the discourse and pursue the elusive ideals of intelligence and real human presence within today’s world of commerce.
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Michael Vanderbyl
Michael Vanderbyl has gained international prominence in the design field as a practitioner, educator, critic and advocate. Since being established in San Francisco in 1973, his firm – Vanderbyl Design – has evolved into a multi-disciplinary studio with expertise in graphics, packaging, signage, interiors, showrooms, retail spaces, furniture, textiles and fashion apparel. Michael is the recipient of the Gold Medal award from The American Institute of Graphic Arts; he is a member of the Alliance Graphique International (AGI) and presides as Dean of Design at the California College of the Arts.
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James Victore
James Victore was born in 1962 and is a self-taught, independent graphic designer. Victore’s work ranges from publishing, posters and advertising to illustration and animation. Clients include Moet and Chandon, Amnesty International, The Shakespeare Project, The New York Times, MTV, The Lower East Side Tenement Museum and Portfolio Center. Awards include an Emmy for television animation, a Gold medal from the Broadcast Designers Association, the Grand Prix from the Brno (Czech Republic) Biennale, and Gold and Silver Medals from the New York Art Director's Club. Victore's posters are in the permanent collections of the Palais du Louvre, Paris, the Library of Congress, Washington, DC and the Museum fur Gestaltung, Zurich among others. His work has been featured in solo exhibitions and magazines around the world, and recently a book of his design work was published in China. He also teaches graphic design at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Victore and his family escaped New York City and have moved to the Hudson Valley. He is a member of AGI.
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Mike Weikert
Mike Weikert is Co-chair of the graphic design department at Maryland Institute College of Art and Principal of Weikert Design in Baltimore. He also runs Small Roar, a baby clothing line, with his wife Stephanie. Recently, he served as Partner/Creative Director at Atlanta-based Iconologic and as a design consultant to the International Olympic Committee. He has also taught graphic design and branding at the Portfolio Center in Atlanta.

His work has been recognized in the following publications: Communication Arts, Graphic Design USA, Graphis, How International Design Annual, How Interactive Design Annual, Identity, Print’s Regional Design Annual, Show South, and Typography 24 as well as the following books: Design Alliance, D.I.Y. Design It Yourself, Print’s Best Invitation Design, Print’s Best Logos & Symbols 6, The Nature of Design, The Olympic Image, and White Graphics.
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Chris Williams
Chris Williams is an experienced technical writer, software documentation editor, and QA consultant who worked many years in the NATO defense simulation and US healthcare clinical systems industries. As such, he has more than a passing familiarity with the absurdity of text. Mr. Williams celebrates his eleventh anniversary as CEO of Virtual Telemetrix, Inc. Prior to joining VT, he spent about 24 years at a number of secure institutions wherein he developed a proven track record of forward-looking statements and the occurrence of unanticipated events.
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Ann Willoughby
Guided by her ongoing mission to change the world through design, Ann’s creative oversight is always set to the big picture. A passionate illustrator and brand designer, Ann has built Willoughby Design Group with a solid strategic business planning, marketing and results-oriented design.
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Andrew Zolli
Andrew Zolli is a forecaster, design strategist and author, working at the intersection of culture, technology, and futures research. He specializes in helping people and institutions see, understand and act upon complex change. Andrew directed Z + Partners, a foresight and strategic planning think-tank, and is the Futurist in Residence at Popular Science magazine, a regular contributor to Wired Magazine and a commentator on NPR's Marketplace. Andrew also currently curates the annual Pop!Tech conference.
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M'ers
Every year, a small group of creative people are selected to embark on a life-changing experience with a goal of creating work that can have a positive and significant impact on the world. What started in 2003 with a small group of seven has grown to an impressive network of M alumni taking what they have learned to affect change and inspire others in their everyday lives.
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Andre Andreev // Project M 2004
Andre is Bulgaria and half of dress code (with G. Dan Covert). Their work has been recognized by shiny awards, appeared in lots of magazines, coffee table books, and 3 museums. They met while studying at California College of the Arts, then moved to New York and got jobs with MTV before starting their own firm. “Never Sleep” -a book they wrote about transitioning from school to work-is available through de.MO. Andre holds two soccer championship medals and frequently appears on late nite talk shows in Bulgaria.
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Ben Barry // Project M 2007
Ben was born in Oklahoma, but raised in Texas near Austin. During high school Ben completed an architecture internship and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. Ben graduated in 2001 and attended UNT with one of the top 10 portfolios. Ben ran the student graphic design club and designed UNT’s annual art and literature journal. Ben has been recognized at the DSVC National Student Show and Conference as well as the Creative Summit. Ben has had some totally awesome internships over the past year, and in June of 2007 participated in Project M, an intense experimental design project run by John Bielenberg. Ben is currently working full time at The Decoder Ring in Austin, Texas.
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Tim Belonax // Project M 2007
Tim Belonax graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 2004 with a BFA in graphic design and a minor in English. Tim graduated with honors and returned to California as the Design Fellow for the Adult Trade division at Chronicle Books. Since February of 2005, Tim has been working with Christopher Simmons at the design office of MINE, producing award-winning identity systems, books and websites for clients large and small.
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John Bogan // Project M 2008
John Bogan inhales the nonstop breaths of day to day life. He stays up late as much as possible. Any reason to travel is good. He recently graduated from New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University in Boston, and has studied art history at University College Cork, Ireland. In his free time, he creates records and tours with his band: performing in filthy squats and crashing on floors all over the world. He is moving soon.
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Dan Covert // Project M 2003
Dan is Ohio and half of dress code (with Andre Andreev). Their work has been recognized by shiny awards, appeared in lots of magazines, coffee table books, and 3 museums. They met while studying at California College of the Arts, then moved to New York and got jobs with MTV before starting their own firm. Never Sleep-a book they wrote about transitioning from school to work-is available through de.MO. To supplement his income Dan works at Best Buy and is somewhat of an amateur magician.
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Lucia Dinh // Project M 2005
5'4" / female / aries / passionate / creative / great sense of humor / risk taker / fun loving / seriously seeking a design studio willing to invest
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Charlotte Graves // Project M 2008
single white female seeks.

My middle name is Leah. Every single day I am a lover/thinker/collector/hustler/innovator/motivator/mover and a shaker/list maker. Every other day I want to live in the desert. I like to feel sexy. I try to be fearless and selfless. I listen to music that funks my soul. I enjoy face to face conversations but the tele will suffice. call me 225.810.9545
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Christian Helms // Project M 2003
Christian is a co-founder and partner in The Decoder Ring, a quirky and spirited young studio located in the ever-evolving epicenter of Texan hipness: Austin. There he spends his days harvesting the aesthetics of our past and scrambling them with awkward sketches, happy accidents and big ideas. Part designer, part writer and part dance-machine, Christian is proof positive that you can become a success by being “kinda good” at a lot of different things.

Christian's work has received awards and publication by a host of esteemed entities including Communication Arts, Graphis, Step Inside Design, ID, Print, Metropolis— not to mention the Bessemer City, NC chapter of the Benevolent Knights of Pythias.
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Cassie Hester // Project M 2008
Cassie is a recent graduate of the University of Georgia with a BFA in Graphic Design. She is a doodler, reader, and unrepentant nerd. (Cassie wishes her bio was more sensational.)
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Bryce Howitson // Project M 2004
Bryce Howitson is currently employed full time at Antidote X and teaching at the Miami Ad School.
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Brian W. Jones // Project M 2006
After Brian finished with Project M in Maine, Brian was asked by John Bielenberg to join his office C2, in San Francisco. Brian relocated to California where he became one of the founding members of John's new program, Project Maverick, which is an acceleration program for entrepreneurial designers in transition from acedemia to professional practice.

After a year spent in SF, Brian made the decision to continue his journey by parting ways with John and the other great individuals at C2. Brian currently lives in Chicago where he joined Jamie Koval's team at VSA Partners.
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Serah Mead (S'Mead) // Project M 2008
Serah likes to say “yes” and “I don't know.”
She likes to create and renovate.
She dances and makes music.
She's currently studying graphic design at California College of the Arts in San Francisco.
Whiskey.
She’s transparent and playful.
She likes to be shaken, de-railed, challenged.
She’s learning to think wrong.
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Satoru Nihei // Project M 2003
Satoru runs the studio Beautifool, a design studio where playful exploration seeks and creates meaningful dialogue within our diverse cultire. Satoru wishes three things: 1) Design an album cover for Dr. Dre., 2) Buy a nice house in British Columbia, Canada and 3) Help you achieve your goals.
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Preston Noon // Project M 2004
“Near the top of the world I thought I'd feel small, go higher, keep climbing. The air grew thin and the distance drew close. Among giants the danger was always above me. While always looking forward I remembered where I’d been.”
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Kate Powers (Deep Dish) // Project M 2008
Kate is from Chicago. She moved to Philadelphia for no good reason. She is thinking about design and food. If you want know more, send her an email and ask.
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Arvi Raquel-Santos (Arvinwald) // Project M 2008
Arvi is an avid snowboarder and wishes to one day be a snowboard bum living in a small cottage in Zermatt, Switzerland. But for the time being, Arvi can be found in San Francisco working with Weymouth Design. He has worked with a number of companies from small start-ups to Fortune 500 on projects ranging from corporate identity, annual reports, websites, environmental design to branding. Arvi’s work has been recognized by a number of design shows and publications including: Graphis, AR100, Communication Arts, Print, HOW, the BoNE show (Best of New England), Graphic Design USA, The Big Book of Logos, Best of Brochure Design and 1,000 Greetings.
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Ellen Sitkin // Project M 2007
Ellen Sitkin is a NYC-based designer. Her work focuses on identity, print and environmental design for clients in the arts, culture, and education sectors. Previously, she worked as an environmental graphic designer at the American Museum of Natural History, where she collaborated on several large projects including the award-winning Darwin exhibition. Recently, she spent the month of June in Hale County, Alabama with a group of eight other designers, participating in Project M, an experimental design program run by John Bielenberg.

Ellen received her BFA from Washington University in St. Louis.
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David Stychno // Project M 2006
David Stychno is the grandson of WWII Ukrainian black market merchant to U.S. solders; son of a immigrant crop dusting pilot turned bra-salesman and now insurance magnate; brother to the president of Northern California’s premier radio-controlled aircraft club; a former student of Cal Poly, Stanford, Silpakorn University (Thailand), and Rotary International (Holland); known in some circles as an importer of south asian garments and/or film producer, and other circles as a square; an alumni of the annual design program, Project M; an inaugural participant in C2's career acceleration program, C2:Mavericks; a former designer at C2; an aspiring cyclist; and a lover of movies, motion-sensitive bathrooms, and bacon. David recently joined IDEO’s communication design team in Boston.
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Sagarika Sundaram // Project M 2007
My name is Sagarika and I am a graphic designer from India and Dubai. I study at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and will graduate in December 08. I will be in Europe for the next year and half, doing a series of internships, trying to locate my rhythm. I learnt about Project M while on an exchange semester at MICA in Baltimore. M was an unforgettable experience.
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Nic Taylor // Project M 2003
There are three tangible dimensions in which we have control over our movemet. In these three dimensions, we have the opportunity to do, and say, and be whatever we want — to become what we want to become. Regardless of medium, or location, we can always create what we want to create — that is the shaping of ideas, visions, objects, and sounds. That is real power.
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Charlotte X // Project M 2006
Charlotte Sullivan is a hybrid floater. She is currently accepting all commissions/collaborations/correspondences.
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Articles
We could probably write a few nice words about Project M but you’ll find that other people can do it better than us.
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Three Wishes: What Your Students Want Even if They Don't Know it Yet by Eric Heiman
“Education needs to lead the charge in graphic design evolution, not wait on the profession to dictate the terms of what the ideal graphic design graduate is. Only then will we expand the public perception of graphic design as solely a service industry, to a cultural and political force as well.” Read more
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Project M by William Drentell
“During the recent Live Earth Concerts for A Climate in Crisis, I was struck by the tension between the initiative's global aspirations and the small, personal lifestyle changes suggested during every intermission — use electronic bill paying to save paper and mail, buy CFL bulbs, turn showers off while you soap up. It’s the old ‘Think Globally, Act Locally’ maxim applied to a huge media event.” Read more
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Real World Studio by Alisa Walker
“Main Street in Greensboro, Alabama, feels abandoned. Not just empty—it’s as though half the shopkeepers up and left at the end of a business day, and never came back. On this mid-June afternoon, it’s not hard to see why. Even the locals agree it’s way too hot, and the governor has issued a drought warning, making it a particularly unusual time for the small town of 2,700 to have big-city visitors.

Convened here nonetheless is an unlikely group—eight students and recent graduates from across the country with a month to accomplish something meaningful; something that they hope will make a difference for the people of Greensboro and the surrounding Hale County.” Read more
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Who Cares by Mike Weikert
“Sipping coffee in the Birmingham Airport, I reflect on the past thirty-six hours in Alabama and my third time as an advisor to Project M. For those not familiar, Project M is an initiative founded by John Bielenberg whose purpose is to ‘inspire graphic designers, writers, photographers and other creative people that their work can have a positive and significant impact on the world.’ Project M 2006 was in Baltimore, Maryland working with the community of East Baltimore, and 2007 in Hale County, Alabama working with the residents of Greensboro.” Read more
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Go Char Char Go by Hank
“If you don’t already know, John Bielenberg founded Project M in 2003. Excited by Sam Mockbee’s Rural Studio, John felt it was time to provide a similar opportunity for designers to contribute to the greater good. Project M’s mission is ‘to inspire young graphic designers, writers, photographers and other creative people that their work can have a positive and significant impact on the world.’ So far, project M has designed projects in Maine, Costa Rica, Ghana, New Orleans, East Baltimore, and Alabama.”  Read more
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Design with a Cause
“Earlier this year ‘Liquid Treat’ had a blurb about John Bielenberg's project{m}. project{m}'s mission for 2007 (see buyameter.org) was to help the residents of Greensboro, AL who have no access to clean water get access by raising $127,500. To date they have raised $31,898.75. Check out the well designed site and look for a mention of Frank Lloyd Wright.” Read more
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Project M 2006
“This is Not Grass was created by John Bielenberg’s Project M crew in Baltimore, 2006. The piece is promoting the creation of community parks as a point of hope in the community. Bernard and Mike were participants/advisors on the project.” Read more
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Sleepless Nights of the Beautifool Mind - October 2007 by Satoru Nihei
“I email back and forth for half of the day with Margo Halverson, a graphic design professor from my school. We talk about what students would need to know before they leave school. I tell her what I wished I could have had when I left school. We think the graphic design department should have a smalldesign studio organized and run by its students. I can’t believe we are still talking about this issue. I think that school is too backwards.” Read more
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Thinking Wrong Feels So Right by Nocholas Longtin
“I had the pleasure of hearing a talk by Jillian Perez recently. The subject was ‘thinking wrong’, a thought process that forces the mind out of cookie-cutter style problem solving and unlocks your creative potential.”  Read more
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Thinking Wrong bY Michelle Taute
“Project M’s real value, however, probably resides in process rather than product. Bielenberg catches many participants during that tender moment before their first professional job and attempts to inspire them to dig deeper, think bigger, and create great design that comes from within.”  Read more
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Project M 2003
“This is an unusual book that was conceived, photographed and produced by the participants in my Project M 2003 summer design program. It helps to think of it as either an exercise in or metaphor for ‘Thinking Wrong,’ which became the project theme. We all usually think along existing, learned pathways. It’s how we make decisions and function in the world. Creative endeavors like design benefit greatly from breaking those patterns and generating multiple alternative solutions.”  Read more
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Project M — Vol. 1
“You might be used to judging books by their covers, but have you ever encountered a cover that judges its book? Literally?”  Read more
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Thinking Wrong to Design Right by Christian Adams Long
“If I ever disappear, save for a random kidnapping, you might want to look for me up in a 100-year old farmhouse in Bethel, Maine, trying desperately to be a welcomed fly-on-the-wall at Project M, the brainchild of John Bielenberg.” Read more
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Cause/Effect : A graphic design competition for do gooders
“During the Summer of 2006, a small group of Project M designers drove from the rural coast of Maine to the urban center of East Baltimore with one goal… to make a positive and significant impact on a blighted community.” Read more

“In the month of June, eight young designers from San Francisco, New York, Dallas, Baltimore, and Dubai, came together in the rural town of Greensboro, Alabama with the goal of making a positive difference in the community. Inspired by Samuel Mockbee and the Rural Studio, they designed a newspaper, website, and a t-shirt to help bring clean drinking water to rural families.” Read more
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Brought to you by the Letter M by Alissa Walker
“Project M is tucked into a quiet town on the rocky coast of Maine. Every summer, M attracts a trickle of fresh-faced designers. People with names like Sagmeister appearin the woods to work with M. M takes on international clients. At a national design conference, M is featured on a panel. M is promoted in schools. M produces two books. In job interviews, alumni mention they’re part of M and receive knowing nods. But what is M? In 2003, John Bielenberg lured Project M’s first class to Maine without telling them much more than this. So that’s the perfect place to begin.” Read more
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Project M: Design that Makes a Difference by Alissa Walker
“Forty trees lay horizontal in Nancy Collins' yard, an enormous pine had split Lori Reed’s house cleanly in half, and Suzan Matherne's home studio sat, roofless, its contents completely damaged by water. Yet on Thursday, September 15, all three women walked into the opening session of the AIGA national design conference.

The New Orleans designers were wary of leaving this mess behind to attend what would feel more like a vacation. ‘When the storm hit, I thought there was no way I could go,’ Reed says. ‘There was too much to deal with. But then, my house was uninhabitable, there was not a hotel room within 300 miles and I had grown tired of flopping on friends’ couches. A luxury hotel room with an actual bed, running water and electricity was a dream. Plus, I needed to escape this hell, even for only a weekend.’” Read more
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A Closer Look at Designism 2.0’s SEE Panel by Stephanie
“Entitled ‘SEE,’ the panel featured designers Ji Lee, Andrew Sloat, and Ellen Sitkin discussing their passionately undertaken independent projects, such as Sloat’s ‘Drainage Ditch’ (that's ‘Sloat’ in Dutch), a series of short films that Kessler calls ‘a fun, patriotic mix of typography and cinema,’ and Sitkin’s Project M. And then there’s the creation of Lee, who donned an Afro wig and amber-lensed aviator shades for the occasion...”  Read more
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Designism 2.0: Part One, "See" by Ben Kessler
“Tonight I attended Designism 2.0, an event at Manhattan's Art Directors Club devoted to promoting and exploring socially conscious design. The organizers at the ADC devised the proceedings with the intent of building upon the initial Designism event (held in September of last year) by adding a direct call to action. It was clear from the presentations of tonight's panelists and the audience's reactions that the design community has no shortage of desire to, as invited speaker Milton Glaser put it, ‘participate in the life of our times.’ Clear-cut strategies for putting that passion to use, however, were more difficult to find.”  Read more
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Creatives for a Cause
“The internet is a dynamic resource for people seeking to use the power of Visual Communications to foment positive changes in society. The websites and blogs include in this listing will provide individuals with a solid foundation as they strive to achieve that goal.”  Read more
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Good Things
We’ve had a lot of fun along the way and thought we’d share the memories with you.
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Back Seat Designers

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Sagrika & Wendy Dancing

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S'Mead with a Rat Skull

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Life Aquatic

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Friends of M
We couldn’t have begun to make the strides that we have in the past years without the help of a few great organizations. We are thankful for their help and continued participation with Project M.
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Design that Cares
Before my time in Alabama, my intent was to sell limited edition posters to raise money to help cover the expense of my trip. But after going through the M experience, I've realized it’s more important to me that talented designers continue to have the opportunity to attend Project M. Proceeds from the posters, therefore, will help someone attend project M next year who might not otherwise have the means to do so.

Go to www.designthatcares.com to donate and get your free poster to help me pay it forward.

Thanks in advance!

Arvi // Project M’er 2008
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Pam Dorr & HERO

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Johnny Parker, man myth or legend?
“See, that’s what I like about y’all. You don’t have a clue what you’re doing, but you do it anyway.”
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Virtual Telemetrix, Inc.
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Josh Kamler
Once, Josh Kamler was a designer. Then he was a writer. Then he was a designer again. And then a writer. And so on, until the the lines between disciplines disappeared and he figured something out: the creative process is the same, no matter the medium.

He got his MFA at California College of the Arts, spent some time teaching writing at a few colleges, and then went to work at various agencies as a copywriter, namer, designer, and creative strategist.He also wrote for such publications as the San Francisco Chronicle, Wired Magazine, and Soma Magazine.

He is co-founder and El Presidente at Language in Common, a communication design studio that makes good things happen in culture and commerce.
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Steff Geissbuhler // Partner, C&G Partners
Steff Geissbuhler received his diploma in graphic design from the School of Art and Design, Basel, Switzerland in 1964. He has taught at the Philadelphia College of Art, Cooper Union, Yale University and lectures throughout the country. Prior to forming C&G Partners in 2005, he was a partner and principal at Chermayeff & Geismar Inc. for over 30 years.

Steff Geissbuhler is among America’s most celebrated designers of integrated brand and corporate identity programs, posters, brochures, books and illustrations, architectural graphics and exhibitions.

Mr. Geissbuhler’s work has been honored with the American Institute of Graphic Arts Medal for lifetime Achievement and many other major awards. Steff served as the U.S. president of the Alliance Graphique Internationale and has been a member of the board of the American Institute of Graphic Arts.
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Bonnie Berry // Project M 2003
Bonnie is a designer and photographer who has inexplicably found herself living in Central Texas. She resides in Austin with her husband and two young sons, where she tries to keep her head above water. Her design work has won awards from The Art Director’s Club and Graphis.
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Oliver Munday
Oliver Munday is a graphic designer living and working in Baltimore, MD. Along with his studio in Baltimore, he co-founded “Piece”, a socially based design collaborative, with Bernard Canniffe and Mike Weikert. Piece believes that designers can play a significant role in positive change and social justice. Oliver's work has been recognized by many of the major design publications including PRINT, CMYK, TDC, Communcation Arts, and he was recently featured as one of STEP magazine's 25 freshest minds in design.
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Project M Blitz
Changing the world 48 hours at a time.

An M BLITZ is a crazy, chaotic, energizing, rapid and satisfying project that uses design thinking for the greater good. Comprised of a 5 member team of designers, or other creative collaborators, the BLITZ team is challenged to produce a completed project in a weekend’s worth of time. Several components are required for a successful BLITZ.

1. A location that is removed from the teams normal environment.
2. Willingness to “think wrong” and challenge the status quo.
3. Belief is the potential of creativity and design to have a influence on shaping the future in a positive way.
4. 48 hours of dedicated time.
5. A healthy supply of Atomic Fireballs (no substitutions of Hot Wads or Mars Hot Breakers).

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Project M Blitz // Portfolio Center Nov. 2008
In November 2008, the Project M Lab received its very first visitors. Students from the Portfolio Center visited Greensboro for a 48-hour blitz. The students immersed themselves in the town of Greensboro and have returned to the Portfolio Center to develop a campaign for HERO. Partcipants include: Hank Richardson (advisor), Melissa Jun (advisor), Herbert Bacchus, Lynette Gallo, Joli Glantz, Elizabeth Haywood, Annabel Mangold, Frank Rauss, Hagen Stegall, Joe Smith, Chris Thompson, Danielle Wilcox and Tim Young.
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Lynnette Gallo // Project M Blitz Portfolio Center Nov. 2008
Proud native of chicago and self-proclaimed killer on the bowling lanes. Started portfolio center two years ago equipped with only an engineering degree, seven years in corporate america, two years of pretty cool freelance work, and no doodling experience whatsoever. Determined from the beginning to find her “voice” inspite of limited “art” experience, and soon realized that her natural born problem solving skills would not be put to waste. now lives to “see” the world better, give a voice to those who have yet to find their own, doodle a lot more, and use the power of design to continue create a more inspired world.
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Elizabeth Haywood // Project M Blitz Portfolio Center Nov. 2008
Liz is obsessed with her dog Luna, who is named after her favorite Harry Potter character. She is a student at Portfolio Center in Atlanta, where she studies design and illustration (specializing in “naked people and unicorns”). A graduate of Appalachian State University, she is an expert in hipster culture.
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Frank Rauss // Project M Blitz Portfolio Center Nov. 2008
Driven by passion, I have been creating since I was able to wield a crayon. As I have grown, a new understanding of myself as a designer has solidified to a point where I know I will never be fully solid. Re-invention has become the cornerstone of who I am today and who I will be tomorrow. The most exciting part is the anticipation of what is to come, what is to change and how I will choose to express that.
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Hagen Stegall // Project M Blitz Portfolio Center Nov. 2008
Hagen is a psychology student turned finance peon turned design novice. She does funny little jigs. She does not like mornings and loves red wine. She wants to live near the water. She likes the wind in her hair. She loves her wiener dog much more than she thought humanly possible.
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Danielle Wilcox // Project M Blitz Portfolio Center Nov. 2008
Jump rope queen. Animal lover. University of Georgia graduate. Scientific illustrator, gauche painter, graphic designer. Shoe fiend. Portfolio Center pupil. Broccoli enthusiast. Wrong thinker. Weekend dancer. Left-handed, right-brained rock star.
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Chris Thompson // Project M Blitz Portfolio Center Nov. 2008
Chris Thompson sat waiting for his flight as the sun went down over Kauai and asked himself, “If I could do anything, would it be the job and the life I am about to fly back to?” The answer was no. After considering becoming a part-time garbage man / full time surfer in Hawaii, Chris reluctantly flew back to Nashville. He left his job as Marketing Director and rented out his house. Chris is now finishing up his book at Portfolio Center in Atlanta, but the waves still call his name.
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Ivy Rose McLeod // Project M Blitz Portfolio Center Nov. 2008
I was born and raised in North Carolina. I studied painting and printmaking at Guilford College, and am currently taking design and illustration classes at Portfolio Center. When I'm not doing school-type things, I take aimless walks with my dog, go thrift-shopping for knick-knacks and enjoy late-night marathon conversations. Cobalt and pthalo are constantly vying for my heart. I think mountains and buildings have interesting commonalities. I’m always eavesdropping, because I think it’s a good way to learn something. Someday, I want to have a job that requires me to do lots of different things, with many different people.
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Annabel Mangold // Project M Blitz Portfolio Center Nov. 2008
I am always seeking...
My goal is to become a universal communicator, and I am humbled and elated every day I participate.

Passions: Experiential Design, Photography, Poetry, Food
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Sam Perry
Sam Perry is President of Ascendance Ventures, Inc., a firm based in Menlo Park, CA., advising startups in the technology and new media arenas. Recently work has involved an early stage integrated media company targeting corporate sustainability practices and an electric automobile company, Tesla Motors, in which Sam is an investor, informal adviser and enthusiastic customer. He previously served as a corporate venture capitalist for Reuters \ RVC Greenhouse, one of the most successful corporate venture investment groups. Prior to that, he was an international correspondent for Reuters and United Press International for more than a decade covering business, high technology and politics in North America and Europe. Sam is an active participant on several nonprofit groups, including E2 – Environmental Entrepreneurs, a nationwide network of business leaders supporting progressive environmental policies. He is a founding member of the Environmental Circle of Full Circle Fund, an ‘engaged’ philanthropy of business leaders providing expertise and grants to social entrepreneurs in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sam earned an AB degree [hons] from Harvard University, a Master of Philosophy degree in International Relations from Cambridge University and an MBA from Cass Business School, City University, London. As a Rotary Scholar, he also studied at Stockholm University.
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PieLab in Rural Alabama Serves Up Community, Understanding, and, Yes, Pie by Alissa Walker
PieLab, the newest eatery to open in Greensboro, Alabama, would be a familiar space to creatives who frequent their local cafes. It’s a place you can order a slice of Chocolate Bourbon Pecan pie, maybe some lemonade or coffee, read a book, sketch a picture, review the day's headlines with your neighbors. Except PieLab is not really a cafe, it's a space created by fourteen designers as part of the design-for-good movement Project M, hoping to draw the community in to a neutral space for conversation and connections. And of course, because of one very obvious reason: Who doesn't like pie? Read more
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Jillian Perez Dudziak // Project M 2006
Jillian Perez Dudziak is a designer, artist, traveler, adventurer, philanthropist, collaborator, volunteer, listener and observer. She utilizes and combines these attributes to produce innovative and meaningful ideas and projects that promote positive change.
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John Custer // Project M 2008
John fights the good fight.

He loves his friends and family, adores fixed gear bikes, enjoys rock climbing, and lives for design, problem solving, and giving things purpose and meaning.

He currently lives in Dallas and will soon be relocating to Portland to work for Nike.
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