At last, a class created for Mac-based designers ready to learn Adobe Illustrator. We’ll plunge you into Adobe Illustrator’s features and capabilities and get you up and running quickly.

In this class, you will learn how to:

• Draw images using the pen tool
• Use color creation, using swatches and gradients
• Use special effects and filters
• Make masks and compound paths
• Properly use the type tool

The class will be held in Midtown West, New York on 28-29 June from 10am - 4pm. Visit the site to learn more.

Mediabistro Circus is a two-day event that will help you understand what’s happening at the crossroads of digital media and traditional media, why it matters to you, and how it affects the work that you do. You’ll be able to go back to your office and say, “Let’s get started on this project - and here’s how we can do it.” Some of the most impressive people in media and technology will be speaking at Mediabistro Circus (we’re talking Jim Roberts, Chris Anderson, Regine Debatty, Robert Scoble, etc…). It’s a powerful mix of media luminaries, innovators and experts sharing knowledge and ideas over two jam-packed days in New York. The Mediabistro Circus is an experience that could quite possibly change your professional life. No matter what facet of media you’re in, it’s one event you can’t afford to miss.

Plan to attend this two-day summit about the digital platforms and trends that are changing media on May 20-21. Mediabistro Circus will be held at Skylight Studio in the west Soho neighborhood of Manhattan, bordering on Tribeca. Visit the site to learn more.

The competition invites this year all designers to set their imagination free and talk about their dreams, whether these are images and feelings the human mind creates while we sleep or their hopes and wishes. Therefore, the term “dream” can also be used metaphorically, it can be the “starting point” of an idea or be the main theme for the final piece.

The ten best entries will be printed into banners with dimensions 2m x 60cm and will be hung along Ithaca’s promenade for the entire summer of 2008. Their creators will have free accommodation in Ithaca on the weekend of the exhibition’s opening (July 2008).

Each individual or group may submit up to two posters. In order to enter the competition, each artist has to register through this website. Each piece must have dimensions of 40cm height x 12cm width (15,75’’ height x 4.73’’ width) and must be uploaded as an electronic file (pdf or jpeg), resolution 360 dpi, maximum file size 10 MB.

Entries can be uploaded until 31 May 2008. Visit the site to learn more.

The 20th annual International Contemporary Furniture Fair will be held 17-20 May this year at New York’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. North America’s singular showcase for contemporary design, this Fair draws the most intrepid seekers of design truth and design trends to an extraordinary exhibition of the most inspired models of design on the forefront as well as thought-provoking programs and a schedule of supplementary exhibits and features.

View and draw inspiration from displays of furniture, seating, carpet and flooring, lighting, outdoor furniture, materials, images, accessories, textiles and kitchen and bath. For more information, visit the ICFF site.

If you’re interested in breaking into editorial photography, check out this seminar on building a freelance photo career on Wednesday, April 9, with Pulitzer-winning photo editor Stella Kramer in New York. A student at her last class wrote, “Stella offers refreshing, candid insights into a side of the business that photographers rarely see. Her ability to clearly describe what photo editors are looking for was a real eye-opener.”

This is a great opportunity to meet a top editor and learn how to get your work out there. “Breaking Into Editorial Photography” with a Pulitzer-winning photo editor will prepare you to get the best freelance photo jobs

Stella Kramer, multi-award-winning photo editor (The New York Times, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly), shares practical information and insider tips on how to get editorial assignments and build a career as an editorial freelancer. Visit mediabistro to learn more!