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 September 2007
September 28, 2007
The problems with its original version were plenty, says Industrial’s design director Mark Busse. Students, alumni and staff considered the old logo dated. There was confusion surrounding the school teams’ identity: were they TWU or Trinity or the Spartans? And somewhere along the timeline of its many logo iterations the Spartan had become a Trojan. “The old logo and typography and colours were awkward and inflexible,” says Busse. “Its 3D version doesn’t survive the squint test and it is difficult for embroidery.” The entire project took almost a year to complete. Earlier incarnations of the logo were deemed too cartoon-y so Industrial went back to the drawing board to develop a cleaner, non-gender-specific look. The typography was hand-drawn, inspired by Times Roman strokes and serifs. Busse dropped the bars from the A’s to resemble lettering engraved in stone. Reaction to the identity overhaul has been positive. “It's modern, contemporary, and accurate,” TWU sports information director Scott Stewart said told the Langley Advance. “It's a simplified, classic look, and more true to the Spartans.” Murray Hall, TWU director of athletics, told the Advance: “This is a watershed, defining moment in our history. This is a huge milestone for us. We're certain the public will rally around the new logo. I think the 'wow' factor is there.” Contact: www.industrialbrand.com; www.twu.ca September 27, 2007 The networking soirees, to be held every three months, cater to marketers, advertisers, creatives and tech types. Creative director Elliott Smith of Organic Inc. will host the event, which will include a screening of the 2007 London International Ad Reel. Contact: www.adlounge.ca September 26, 2007 Movers and Shapers is a design exhibition that first launched three years ago in Vancouver and is now expanding nationally. “Vancouver has the problem that is all too common in North American cities,” said Steven Cox, Cause + Affect design director, in a written statement. “Young, local designers are rarely given a mainstream forum for their fresh ideas and design innovation. “Our goal with Movers & Shapers is to highlight the designers challenging the status quo, inform the mainstream about their work and thereby create a cultural shift towards design across Canada.” Each show will feature 10 local designers selected by Cause + Affect from the architecture, fashion, graphic, interactive, interior and product design disciplines. The exhibit premiered last weekend in Calgary and is moving to the Vancouver Home and Interior Design Show Oct 11 to 14, The National Home Show in Toronto from April 4 to 13, 2008 and then to the Vancouver Museum until June 2008. Some of the design studios whose work will be featured include Vancouver’s Free Agency Creative and Burnkit and Calgary artists David Brunning and Drew Sage Hunter. Contact: www.causeandaffect.com September 25, 2007 “We believe that by combining Stora Enso’s North American operations with those of NewPage, owned by Cerberus Capital, a leading private investment firm, we are contributing to the formation of a highly attractive player in the North American paper industry,” said Stora Enso Group CEO Jouko Karvinen, in a released statement. The transaction is valued at US$1.5 billion in cash, US$200 million in vendor notes and a 20% equity stake, worth US$370 million. SENA, which manufactures coated one- and two-sided, super calendered, lightweight-coated, magazine and newsprint paper, generated $2 billion in revenue in 2006. Stora Enso will also divest eight publication, fine paper and specialty paper mills, reducing the group’s annual production capacity by 2.75 million tonnes and the number of personnel by about 4,350. The deal will give NewPage about 28% of the coated-paper business and 28% of the super calendered paper business, as well as a specialty business that sells paper for bottles and cans, the Associated Press reported. September 19, 2007
At 217ft long and 10ft high, the giant display runs along the Skywalk, which connects Union Station to the Air Canada Centre in downtown Toronto. The mural is made up of four sections, displaying images of PCL projects in their various stages of completion, including the Scotia Plaza, TD Bank Tower, BMO stadium, Mississauga’s Living Arts Centre and the Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort. “They wanted a mural to feature who they are [and] show the activity of PCL, how active and energetic they are and how they like to involve the public in their projects,” says 17 Designs partner and creative director Stella Jurgen. To communicate this, 17 Designs incorporated cutout silhouettes within the mural. They have become somewhat of a tourist attraction, with people stopping to take photographs of one another standing in the shapes. The mural will be on display for two and a half years. Contact: www.17designs.comSeptember 18, 2007
Designed to work in conjunction with the ubiquitous Pantone Matching System, Pantone Goe includes more than 2,000 new colours and addresses the many technological advancements made in the printing industry since PMS was introduced 45 years ago. In addition to new chromatic colour swatches and a two-volume set of adhesive-backed chips, Goe includes software that enables users to create colour palettes to save and share. For more information on the new Pantone Goe System see Bob Atkinson’s review in the upcoming Nov/Dec issue of Design Edge Canada. Contact: www.pantone.comDesigner invents multi-purpose retail tool
“I thought to myself, when I get the free time I’m going to smack a logo on there and I’m going to make a million dollars.” Jarvis held onto this idea for seven years, until now. He modified the design of the handles to maximize its logo or ad space and experimented with several different materials until he found a more environmentally sound alternative to plastic that he can print on. The result is a reusable, FSC-certified cardboard handle that retailers can use to promote their brands, while offering their patrons a helping handle to carry their purchases. “Now I can put some of my real talents to work for my clients. In other words, it’s not just printing out a bunch of them and dropping them in somebody’s lap. I’m really hoping that I can use some of my [design] expertise to make these things really come to life.” Contact: www.thehelpinghandle.com; www.adamjarvis.comSeptember 14, 2007 When asked why Ng resigned, RGD Ontario president Nicole Vallée and executive director Carmen von Richthofen sent Design Edge Canada this written response: “Albert Ng's contribution and founding work for the idea of professionalism and the reality of accreditation for graphic designers has been justly acknowledged, appreciated and celebrated. It sometimes happens that as organizations evolve, people who have the same goal in mind diverge in the routes they will take to get there. This phenomenon is at the root of Albert's resignation. Albert's legacy is the ongoing success of the Association, which is continuing to conduct its affairs as usual, with no change from established bylaws, policies and procedures.” According to Ng, this divergence is the result of changes to the RGD’s admissions process. “I’ve been working on accreditation for almost 20 years for our next generation and I can see that the standards have been dropped,” Ng told Design Edge Canada. “It’s not a matter of agreement or disagreement; it’s a matter of social responsibility and integrity that I have decided to leave at this point.” In a note to Design Edge Canada, Ng lists several instances where amendments to the RGD qualification process were made when the standard requirements for admission could not be met. (Currently, only 5% to 10% of graphic designers in Ontario are members of the association.) One of the conditions is proving three years of graphic design education and four years of relevant design experience or vice versa. Ng says several exemption clauses which closely parallel a grandfathering clause that expired in 1998 were created to waive this requirement, such as on Dec. 8, 1999, when a new bylaw admitted 34 Xerox designers who agreed to write the qualification examination but were not obligated to meet the education, practical experience or portfolio interview requirements. In a letter to members announcing Ng’s resignation, the RGD says: “respected, established professionals are becoming members through a seniority provision enacted unanimously by the 2005 Board and subsequently ratified by the members at the 2006 Annual Meeting. This provision allows applicants with seven or more years of relevant education and experience prior to the year 2000 to be exempt from the written test only.” Ng is also unhappy with the qualification examination as he feels it lacks a proper pass/fail system. Mlynek’s concerns echo those of Ng. Addressing the examination process in its announcement, the RGD states that “one of the Association’s mandates is to establish standards of practice in graphic design and to accredit graphic designers who meet them. Through the Examination Board for Registered Graphic Designers, RGD Ontario continues to refine both the written and portfolio interview sections of the R.G.D. Qualification Examination in order to keep this professional assessment up-to-date and relevant for today’s design professionals… The R.G.D. designation is a meaningful and hard-won professional designation of which all bearers can be justly proud.” Ng is not so sure. In his resignation letter, Ng writes: “Without a truly meaningful accreditation process and standards, RGD Ontario is just a shell, and RGD is simply a meaningless title.” Ng hopes to bring his accreditation model to other provinces within Canada if they will have it. He is currently working on accreditation projects in Beijing and Singapore. Dubai and Australia have also shown interest in Ng’s work to develop a professional designation for its graphic designers. September 5, 2007
The logo, coloured triangles emerging from an open blue box, echoes the marriage of art and technology, says E+S art director Jim Keller. The box signifies the building and the triangles represent what’s happening inside. The individual prism colours can then be isolated to represent the various components within the group, such as children’s films. “The colours were based on prisms, camera filters, celebration, quality of light,” says Keller. “Colours could potentially be panned out, depending on the different divisions, while still maintaining some of the patterning colour predominance.” The Bauhaus and Cubism periods also provided inspiration for the identity, as did various international branding campaigns such as the Olympics where the logo must take on numerous applications. At the festival, this could include everything from projection on walls to fabric patterns. “It also really works well from an animation standpoint,” adds Keller. The logo will be introduced in a 25-second trailer that E+S designed to be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, which starts tomorrow. Contact: www.storydriven.comPaula Scher brand insights and customizable templates Users can “mash up their own content” with free content from singer/fashion designer Gwen Stefani, Burton Snowboards founder Jake Burton and award-winning graphic designer Paula Scher. “Today we’re igniting growth across every single part of our business and introducing market-leading imaging and printing solutions for consumers, small and medium-sized businesses, the graphic arts community and enterprise customers,” said Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice-president of the imaging and printing group at HP, in a statement released Aug. 28. “With Print 2.0, we’re leveraging the power of the web as a gateway for our customers to communicate, collaborate and publish their content in ways they could not before.” This is HP’s largest global interactive campaign to date. It offers online tools to “inspire and empower” customers with exclusive printable content, including free customizable templates to print business cards, letterhead and brochures based on designs by Paula Scher, a 2001 AIGA medalist and principal of Pentagram Design in New York (www.hp.com/paula). “A small business should ask itself who its customer is, who are they talking to, and think about how they present themselves and what that tone of voice should be,” says Scher, discussing her templates in a video on the site. Her designs, she explains, express five different types of personalities. Users should select a style based on who their audience is and how they would like to be perceived. “You can have the same identity on letterhead, business cards and envelopes and look cohesive as if you are one organization. And it looks utterly professional and convincing.” Is the video a great way to introduce small business owners to the power of brand identity and design or is Scher selling out to HP? You be the judge. Send your comments to abrown@designedgecanada.com X-Rite to acquire Pantone Pantone, the world authority on colour inspiration, created its colour matching system to address colour reproduction issues in the graphic arts market. Pantone sells its products, services and technologies to the graphic design, fashion, home, plastics, architectural, paint, industrial design and consumer markets. Last year it generated approximately $42 million in revenue. X-Rite wants to acquire Pantone to diversify its revenue base; add Pantone’s colour standards to its leadership position in hardware, software and service solutions; and expand Pantone’s reach through X-Rite’s global distribution capabilities. Contact: www.xrite.com Punch to launch its second annual CreateAThon On Sept. 27, Punch designers, with the help of local vendors, will create free advertising and marketing campaigns during a 24-hour design blitz called CreateAThon. This is the second year that Punch will be participating in the North American event. To date, 40 agencies have joined the CreateAThon network across North America, supporting 833 non-profit organizations with 1,809 projects valued at US$7 million. Contact: www.punch.ca |
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