Aten Design Group

Case Study
  • Aten Mega Scout Books
  • Aten Mega Scout Books
  • Aten Mega Scout Books
  • Aten Mega Scout Books

Based in Denver, CO, Aten Design Group is a digital strategy, design and development agency that works with cause-driven organizations doing work that matters, like Human Rights Watch, The Guttmacher Institute and Stanford University. Using open source technologies and user-centered design, they help brands tell their stories and engage their audience. Aten is very involved in the Drupal community and the meet-ups that bring the community together, known as Drupalcons. Drupal is an open-source web platform.

Each year, Aten designs a custom Mega Scout Book to distribute at Drupalcon. This year’s event took place in New Orleans, where team members taught workshops, gave talks, and exhibited at a booth. Their designs are always super sharp and this year was no exception – they used a custom yellow ink along with black ink and black staples, and used both inside covers for extra content. We asked Ken Woodworth, partner and VP of UX, a few questions:

How is Aten involved with Drupalcon?
For over 8 years, Aten has been attending, sponsoring, organizing, speaking and training at DrupalCons in the U.S. and around the world.

Who created the design for this year’s Scout Book?
Our long-time collaborator, Noah Smith. He is a wonderfully talented illustrator and animator, and runs the multidisciplinary graphics shop Scrap Labs. We’ve worked with Noah for over 15 years.

You’ve designed Scout Books for the past several years of this conference. Why is it valuable to have an analog tool at a conference that’s focused on digital practices?
People are very drawn to a tactile tool for taking notes and sketching ideas. The contrast is especially stark and compelling for digital projects where digital tools are the norm. Plus, we love being able to share a promotional piece that is both beautiful and very useful.

Thanks to Ken and team at Aten for answering our questions!