Mix and mingle with creatives and the unique businesses that make Midtown Alley the place to be.

Participating businesses:
Inked Beauty Bar
STL.org
Experience Fresh

Work and Leisure
The Cherry Garage LLC
Mother Model Management
Egg at Midtown
Once Films
Subtext
JEMA
Golden Gems
FKStudio
FLOAT STL
AOS
Sincerely, The Craft
Wellspent Brewing Co.
FLY Yoga Studio

Arch Taekwondi

TOKY / Midtown Properties
The Fountain on Locust
Atomicdust

Join us to send off Washington University Architecture Student Team to the National Organization of Minority Architect's 2023 Conference.

The students will present their design competition project. Provide feedback on their presentation and celebrate the student accomplishments with us! Light refreshments and drinks will be provided. All are welcome to attend!

Originally called Automobile Row, Midtown Alley was St. Louis’s prime spot to purchase cars between 1911 and 1955. In 2005, the neighborhood was added to the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. National Park Service.

Today, Midtown Alley is one of the fastest growing neighborhoods in St. Louis. The heart of our neighborhood can be found in the local St. Louis design businesses that call Midtown Alley their home.

Take a stroll along Locust Street and visit the participating studios, including Once Films, Atomicdust, Timmerman and TOKY, STL.org, The Forge Media, Adrienne Outlaw and many more.

The Kirkwood Performing Arts Center, is a community asset and cultural hub, as well as the anchor for a new downtown Arts & Entertainment District.

Facility totals 38,000 square feet and is comprised of a 525-seat, state-of-the-art, two-level, traditional proscenium theatre and performance support spaces; a 3,000-square-foot Black Box performance theatre; a 2,000-square-foot Events Space; and a two-story atrium lobby that will serve as the face of community events.

The bold contemporary design marks a new direction from civic leaders to bring a new attitude to a traditional, historic downtown and foster a new forward-looking identity for the community. Its role as a key component of an inherently walkable commercial district is certain to spur other growth through elements like a proposed boutique hotel, art galleries, dining and shopping, and new cultural attractions and events.

Join STL-based cartoonist, editor, and professor, Steenz, at Betty's Books as they chat with stellar local zine and comics makers, Shreyas R Krishnan, Sophia Malone, J Marshall Smith and Dan Zettwoch. The conversation will address what's special and happening in the St. Louis indie comics and zine community as well as how you can join in. There will be time for questions at the end, and the panelists will have their own zines available for perusal and purchase.

Step into a world of wonder and creativity at Heydays, where you’ll rediscover the joy of childhood play and the magic of art. Join us for an evening filled with whimsical art activities where coloring outside the lines is encouraged, and design rules don’t apply. Rediscover the simple pleasure of creating, exploring, and imagining without limits.

Please join the Arcturis Brand Experience team to paint a mural at The Legacy Center. Paint and brushes will be provided.

With a “deep belief in the inherent dignity and potential of every youth, educator, and community member,” The Legacy Center provides opportunities that promote equal opportunity to life changing experiences through summer camps, after school programing, and college/career readiness.

As designers we were inspired by The Legacy Center’s mission and passion. Arcturis developed a Brand Identity for the organization to reflect the vibrancy and impact The Legacy Center provides. With its bright colors and bold iconography, the proposed mural will help support the organization’s mission-driven voice and impactful programming through experiential design.

We hope you will join us to create impact through design and inspire the next generation of design geniuses!

Francesco Zorzi is an Italian illustrator and visual designer based in Tuscany, Italy. He's Head of Communication Design at Srisa, Firenze; and a Guest Faculty Professor of Design at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts of Washington University in St. Louis.

Join Francesco Zorzi as he speaks about his design process, creating meaning in illustration, and living in a medieval city of rich artistic history. His work have been published in The Wall Street Journal, Lincoln Center, The New York Observer, Penguin Random House, and NPR. Special projects include an illustrated visual identity for the italian startup Isendu, from its logo to the murals of Isendu's headquarters - an entire palazzo in Florence, featured in Print Magazine.

Francesco Zorzi is represented by Ella Lupo at Purple Rain Illustrators.

His visit to St. Louis has been sponsored by CARTEL and the MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture Program at Sam Fox School of Design.

Limited seats available.

Join us for an empowering leadership panel featuring a remarkable line-up of accomplished women, each boasting over two decades of expertise in their respective fields.

Each leader will give a brief overview of their career path in marketing from post-grad, to the leadership roles they hold today, along with the career advice they have gained through the years in this ever-changing profession.
This panel promises a dynamic exchange of insights, an exploration of evolving industry trends, and actionable wisdom that will resonate with marketing professionals at every career stage.

Agenda
Arrival / Question Submission 5:30 pm
Panel Discussion: 6-7 pm
Networking Happy Hour 7-8 pm

Speakers include:
Sarah Gaffney, Mio Strategy & Design, Creative Director & Founder
Lara Reed, Pan Galactic Digital, President & Founder
Teresa Sausville, Nestle Purina, Checkmark, Executive Creative Director
Brooke Friedman, Eversana, Group Director, Strategic Planning
Sarita Moody, Origin Agency, Creative Account Manager 
Moderated by Julie Buschmann Wood, Partner/CMO at Origin Agency

Sponsored by:
@mioagency

Welcome to Slalom St. Louis! Come hang out and check out our workspace. Chat, snack, and participate in conversational activities like sharing your Design Hot Takes and discussing Design Maturity.

Can’t wait to see you there!

About Slalom:

Slalom is a purpose-led, global business and technology consulting company. From strategy to implementation, our approach is fiercely human. In eight countries and 45 markets, we deeply understand our customers—and their customers—to deliver practical, end-to-end solutions that drive meaningful impact.

Our people-first approach to design at Slalom unlocks the world of possibilities for our clients, leaving a lasting positive impact on their customers. We bring passionate curiosity and empathy to our problem solving at the intersection of design, technology, and business. We question, we iterate endlessly, and we solution along a journey of customer strategy and experience design to co-create our clients’ vision for the future.

Our strategists, planners, architects, interiors, designers, engineers, managers, and constructors together provide strategic leadership, design innovation and project execution across the globe for government, commercial, institutional, and industrial clients across diverse markets and services.

As a global multi-disciplinary organization, Jacobs’ approach to the future of work leverages an activity framework for decision making and purposeful choice.

Experience our people-centric approach to workplace, prioritizing user experience and the qualitative aspects of work.

Checkmark (CKMK) is the creative resource of Nestlé Purina. We have been in existence for more than 30 years and have continued to adapt and grow to best serve our company and our consumers. As an in-house agency, we share the values of Nestlé Purina and work every day to celebrate and fuel the incredible relationship between pets and their people.

Visit the brand new MO Art Supply on Delmar!

Stop by MO Art Supply on Wednesday, October 4th for an interactive block printing demo and a huge relief (print) for Design Week! Press your own poster or canvas bag and get colorful at MO Art Supply from 11-3.

Presentation begins at 6pm, arrive early to get your drinks from the bar.

Join us at 21c Museum Hotel St. Louis for a presentation from artist/designer Aaron Mann. Aaron Mann will present his project Equal by Design, a research project, and creative journey that is now a published book. Equal by Design addresses the lack of African American graphic designers through representation - revealing how Black designers have made important contributions to the industry with a goal to inspire future designers. The project won the 2017 AAF's Mosaic Awards: Student Multicultural Advertising Campaign and with support from the Regional Arts Commission, Equal by Design was published in 2022.

AARON MANN
Aaron Mann is a graduate of the University of Missouri St. Louis with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design and a minor in Advertising. He enjoys designing, storytelling and taking on opportunities that allow for creativity.

21C MUSEUM HOTEL ST. LOUIS
Located in the heart of downtown St. Louis and a short walk from the City Museum and CITYPARK stadium, 21c Museum Hotel St. Louis includes a 173-room boutique hotel, contemporary art museum, Good Press café, the Idol Wolf restaurant, and Locust Street Athletic and Swim Club. With more than 14,000 square feet of exhibition and event space seamlessly integrated into all areas of the property, there are opportunities to discover art around every corner.

Kick off STL Design Week and combat the Monday scaries over muffins and hot bevs with illustrator and designer, Caitlin Metz.

We’ll gather at Nebula and toast to the power of pencil and paper. Caitlin will be sharing peeks into their sketchbooks and offering up their best tips and tricks for building a regular drawing/documentation practice as a form of self regulation, reflection, and care. In their new book, Feel Something Make Something a Guide to Collaborating With Your Emotions Caitlin shares how mark-making has been both their war cry and salve.

Come for the Design Week Sketchbooks (available only at this event!) and brekkie, stay for the vibes and community drawing prompts for screaming into the voice or waxing poetic into your brand new sketchbook.

Fill your sketchbook throughout the week, and then display it at the closing show. Let’s dive into this deeply human sequence, old as time herself: feel something and make something (rinse and repeat). We can’t wait to see what you record from the banger line up we have this week!