August 22, 2007
Malcolm Brown designs new business mag
EDMONTON—When Venture Publishing in Edmonton approached Toronto-based editorial designer Malcolm Brown to create its new business publication, it presented him with a logo in Helvetica – his favourite font.

The launch issue of new Edmonton-based business mag

“I love the font. I always think it’s the perfect font,” says Brown, who is travelling back and forth from Toronto “The thing that’s great about it is it’s so simple and pure that it looks great in white space, it looks great with photographs, it looks great even on black and colour. It’s got so many great uses. So I thought, okay, what can I do with it again?”

A decade ago Brown was art directing now-defunct Shift magazine. He went on to art direct travel title Outpost, redesign Air Canada’s Montreal-based magazine enRoute and guest art direct a few issues of Adbusters in Vancouver. Apart from his other design work, Brown says he hasn’t touched Helvetica since his days at Shift.

“It was an opportunity to use the font again with a whole new twist with InDesign and everything,” says Brown, who describes his style as largely type-driven with big photography and lots of white space.

Unlimited is a bimonthly business title from the publisher of Alberta Venture magazine that targets 20 to 35 year olds who are entering the workforce. It hits newsstands next month.

“It’s a business lifestyle magazine so they still wanted it to be kind of creative. They didn’t want it to be stuffy like a lot of business magazines are.”

Brown commissioned several photographers to shoot for the inaugural issue including Christopher Wahl, Bryce Duffy, Mark Gilbert, Andrej Kopac and local photogs Bootstrucker and Philip Dykes, as well as some Sheridan College student illustrators in Toronto.

“I was just another evolution for me, the kind of work that I’ve been doing my whole life. It’s not a great departure from what I do but I was pushing things a little further. It’s an evolution from Shift.”

The magazine’s website is launching soon, contact www.unlimitedmagazine.com; grafikmilk.com

Subplot continues to ride with Ryders Eyewear campaign
VANCOUVER—After the success of Ride for Real, Subplot Design’s 2006 campaign for Ryders Eyewear, Subplot was commissioned by the locally based company to update the campaign for its 2007/2008 season.

Freestyle rider Jay Hoots is featured in one of Subplot's latest ads for Ryders Eyewear

The three new print ads, shot by photographer Waldy Martens, feature three well-known extreme cycling athletes.

“This campaign is a big departure in the sports eyewear category, where generic lifestyle images, photos of cool guys doing cool jumps and scratchy extreme type are the norm,” said lead designer and Subplot principal, Matthew Clark, in a released statement.

“What pro riders and weekend warriors alike have connected with is how Ryders clearly ‘gets’ who they are and understands how their passion for riding is matched by the eyewear that Ryders makes. In the end, these guys and girls will go to any length to pursue the sports they love.”

The ads are part of a multi-media campaign that includes magazine advertising, POS displays, promotions and a website. Contact: www.subplot.com

DDB Canada opens Victoria office
VICTORIA—DDB Canada is expanding to Victoria to offer “on-the-ground service” for one of its largest regional clients, BC Ferries, said Rob Whittle, national president of DDB Canada.

DDB Canada’s network now spans five cities including Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal.

The new office will be co-managed by locals Michael Allabarton and Hugh Ruthven, who combined have over 45 years of branding and marketing experience. Also joining the office is senior art director Jason Dauphinee. He worked with Allabarton on the BC Ferries account, among others, at Malahat Group International in Victoria, an affiliate of DDB Canada that was owned by Omnicom and no longer exists.

In addition to functioning as a full-service marketing communications agency, DDC Victoria has partnered with Ipsos Reid to offer clients access to branding workshops and online research methods, called DDB Discovery.

“The key to real success is defining and fulfilling the promise of value that the brand stakes out and then to ensure you have an ongoing dialogue with the intended audience to maintain relevancy,” says Ruthven, in a released statement. “Brands aren’t a static thing. They are living, breathing entities that constantly evolve and the secret is to guide and coach that journey effectively. We’re bringing clients the combination of solid counsel and creative insights in the upfront brand exploration and then through Ipsos Reid, ongoing monitoring to ensure that the brand stays on track.” Contact: www.ddbcanada.com

A new URL for lovers of colour
LAKE OSWEGO, Ore.—A recent article in The Globe and Mail, “Colour me obsessed,” profiles a social networking site for people with a passion for pigment.

ColourLovers.com was launched in 2004 by Portland-area web developer Darius Monsef, who created the site after taking an uninspiring colour theory class.

“Colour is a pretty mainstream thing; we see it every day but it hasn't gotten as much mainstream attention," Monsef tells the Globe.

According to the article, site users, called Colour Lovers, “range from professional designers who use the site to develop colour schemes for websites and advertising campaigns to hobbyists who get hooked on combining different colours into palettes and giving them funky names.”

The site allows users to create, name and share their own colour palettes, then rate and comment on others. The site also features a colour trends section and discussion board to talk about tones. Contact: www.colourlovers.com

Clarification re: Editorial design shop swaps hands (July 31, 2007)
To clarify, Jim Ireland and Dean Mitchell worked on the 1993 redesign of Marketing Magazine, not on its most recent incarnation.

August 8, 2007
Fashionable wine labels target young oenophiles
TORONTO—Fish Out of Water Design has uncorked a more contemporary look for two new Italian wines from Fabiano in an attempt to attract younger wine lovers.

The traditional Italian style was shelved for a more contemporary look

“The design we create is based on the consumer insight that the younger wine drinker is first attracted by a wine’s personality and then by the wine,” said Charlene Codner, partner, vice-president of creative services at Fish Out of Water Design, in a released statement.

While many Italian wine labels tend to have a traditional feel, with darker colour palettes and script fonts, Codner wanted to design a more playful and fun look for the new wines.

“We also wanted to represent Italy – a country known for its timeless fashion sense – in a fresh way while establishing a fashion-forward character for these FAB wines,” added Codner.

The illustrations, created by Fish Out of Water designer Crystal Colling and freelancer Colin McRae, depict a man or woman stomping grapes and include images of a Lamborghini, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the statue of David and a Vespa. Each bottle also comes with a fashion accessory neck tag. Contact: www.fishoutofwaterdesign.com

Canadian students represent at international design competition

Finalist Gertrude Wong toasts the winners of the seventh annual Adobe Design Achievement Awards

SAN FRANCISCO—At the seventh annual Adobe Design Achievement Awards gala last Thursday at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, Design Edge Canada caught up with Canadian finalist Gertrude Wong.

Wong, a recent graduate of George Brown College’s School of Design in Toronto, was a finalist in the Environmental Graphics and Packaging category for her project Designing for Dyslexics.

The concept is series of tactile teaching aids to help dyslexic children learn the alphabet. The “multi-sensory play set” includes candy powders, sweet for consonants and sour for vowels. Children can pour the powders into the wooden tray to draw the letters and then taste them. A series of hardcover booklets contain sand paper cutouts of upper and lower case letters that children can trace with their fingers.

Wong's Designing for Dyslexics project was a contender in the Environmental Graphics and Packaging category

Wong, who has trouble with numbers and directions, partnered with a dyslexia teacher to research ways to make learning a more fun and creative experience.

“I wanted to help other people and also help myself,” says Wong, who is currently working part-time for the Institute Without Borders, a post-graduate, interdisciplinary, design program at George Brown.

Marcos Ceravolo of Vancouver Film School was a finalist in the Live Action category

Marcos Cervolo’s first assignment at Vancouver Film School was to create a short story. The result was Drop, a live action and motion graphics experiment that was one of the finalists in the Live Action category.

The short film is about a day in the life of an ordinary guy and how he interacts with his environment. Cervolo, who hails from Sao Paulo, Brazil, says he was inspired by the colours of Vancouver.

“It was filmed at the end of the summer and the city was all green. The city is so beautiful.”

The Adobe Design Achievement Awards is an international student competition that honours the top individual or group projects in graphic design, photography, film, motion graphics, animation and illustration, created on Adobe software. For the list of award winners and finalists and their work, visit www.adobe.com/education/adaa/winners

Ceravolo's film incorporates his love of live action and illustration