Two things truly amazed me about

Mauk Design. The first one was the magnitude of the projects they

have undertaken and successfully delivered. Exhibitions such as

the PSP and Intel seemed quite intimidating to me and I could

not picture myself(yet) to commit to such a project. Not to

undermine the rest of the shows they put up, I want to say

that they did a very considerate and creative job as far as

client needs and available resources are concerned. The second thing

that amazed me was the size of the company. Not the size of the

building it was housed, but the size of the workforce there. With

one main "creative director" if you will, and two employees/interns,

Mauk Design takes full advantage of the phrase "less is more", showcasing

excellent communication between management and employees, as well

as a great ability to master tasks and time.

Project Six Mauk Design Matthew Kuukka

Mauk was a really cool design firm, it is amazing how small they are and how much work that they do. They do some amazing work that is not just limited to exhibition design showing how diverse they are and capable of almost any type of design work. It was also cool to get some insider knowledge about what things were made from and how simple some of the most amazing looking things were. That the main thing I took away was that things should be kept simple and try to use existing things as much as possible.

Project 6, Mauk Design Field Trip

Project 6
Mauk Design Field Trip
Maggie Lee
02.24.2010



The Mauk Design Field Trip is quite an experience. I was amazed that such a small studio could handle so many huge projects and got so many awards.

Mitchell Mauk has mentioned that:

• “Good designers are able to design anything.”
• "Use the minimum materials to get the message across."
• "The key to the solution is the idea not how much structure it needs."

If we want to be a good designer, we need to keep all of the above important points in mind. It's true that good designers need to have the solutions to any problems that the clients present to them. In addition, if we can use the least materials to get the idea across for the In-Pulse Exhibition, it will not only save money but also the production time. Less is more.

I like the O.C Tanner Exhibit for the Society of Human Resource Management. The designer uses the windmill, sun, sunflower, rain, and DNA symbols to convey "Human and their daily activities". It's simply but effective.

I also like the spiral trade show concept. It's extremely clever to use the design to control /direct how the audience would view the products. I think this is a key to any exhibition, and it's the only purpose of doing the exhibition–to expose all of the products to the audience. We will have a successful show if we can apply this concept into our exhibition project.