January 23, 2008
Survey measures mobile media consumption
ESPOO, Finland—A recent study commissioned by Nokia is further evidence that consumers like to digest their media on the move. 

Titled A Glimpse of the Next Episode, the study combined the results of a survey administered by The Future Laboratory, which conducted interviews with consumers from 17 countries, with data from Nokia’s 900 million consumers.

Of the 9,000 mobile users surveyed, 23% purchase movies in digital format, 25% buy music on mobile devices, 22% connect using technologies such as Skype and 17% upload to the internet from a mobile device.

This last statistic is a further indication that web designers ought to be thinking outside the web browsing box and retooling for a medium of smaller screens.  

Four rising trends on how consumers interact with their entertainment also emerged from the study – Immersive Living, Geek Culture, G Tech and Localism.

Immersive Living points to a blurring between what it means to be on and offline as people access and create their own entertainment from wherever they happen to be.

The phrase Geek Culture refers to Nokia’s belief that as consumers create their own entertainment they’ll want to be recognized and rewarded, thus redefining what is means to be commercial or creative.

G Tech is the emergence of more collaborative, democratic, emotional and customized entertainment – stereotypical “girl” traits.

And Localism is Nokia’s term for consumers who seek local, homegrown entertainment. Contact: www.nokia.com

–– Jeff Lewis

U.S. graphics industry optimistic for 2008
NEW YORK—New York-based trend spotter The Industry Measure recently released its seventh annual forecast of the graphic design and production markets for 2008.

Titled Creative Forecast 2008, the report looks at trends that will impact ad agencies, graphic designers, web designers and developers in the upcoming year.

The report cites current media trends, including multi-channel and viral marketing, as having created unprecedented challenges and opportunities for industry players.

Among the report’s findings, the biggest marketing trend of 2007 was an inversion of conventional notions of branding. Consumers are now “active contributors and collaborators,” the report says, “deciding for themselves what’s worth touting.”

In the summer of 2007, 16% of web design and development firms cited “getting more print media work” as a sales opportunity, while 24% expect business conditions in the next 12 months to be “excellent, better than they had been in the past 12 months.”

Looking ahead, 77% of all design and production establishments surveyed cited cross media communications campaigns as a sales opportunity. Contact: www.theindustrymeasure.com

–– Jeff Lewis

January 22, 2008
ADCC names new president
The Advertising & Design Club of Canada has a new president in Brian Howlett. Outgoing president Jack Neary nominated board member Howlett, partner and creative director of Axmith McIntyre Wicht, as his replacement for top job.

Neary leaves his post for a position as worldwide creative director on Procter and Gamble at BBDO in New York.

Of his projected two-year term, Howlett says, “It’s going to be a commitment of time and passion.”

The new president says he’s going to look at ways to make winning awards and, by extension, membership more meaningful.

“A lot of people join and they join for a variety of reasons and I think the club owes it to itself and its members to always ask that question,” says Howlett.

Holding speaking engagements throughout the year is something the ADCC will look at as a way of bolstering the club’s presence beyond the web, Howlett says.

“So when you win an award in 2007, beyond being in the annual – which is a great annual – what else can the club do to make that win more meaningful?”

In addition, Howlett says he will look at bridging the worlds of design and advertising within the club to mirror the shifting roles and responsibilities of designers and writers in the professional world.

“There’s a lot of convergence happening,” he says of his own firm, AMW. “Our agency has a design division and an advertising division. There’s not really a big silo there. The art directors are designing and designers are art directing and writers are designing and designers are writing. It’s all really blurry and fun.”

Howlett says the club owes it to itself to make those same connections. Contact: www.theadcc.ca

— Jeff Lewis

January 17, 2008
StudioOutSource designs new Canwest identity
TORONTO—Winnipeg-based media conglomerate Canwest recently unveiled its new corporate image. Formerly Canwest Global Communications Corporation, the company has consolidated its holdings under a single brand name. Accompanying the change, it introduced a new logo on Jan. 10.

Canwest's redesigned identity incorporates the old in the new

Designed by Toronto-based StudioOutSource, the logo includes the Canwest name preceded by a honeycomb that consists of seven cells — five green, two white — which together form a C for Canwest.

“Their old logo was very dated,” says StudioOutSource partner Ronn Battaglia. “They didn’t feel it represented the new era of media purchasing.”

To update the brand’s image, Mark Hickmott, creative director at StudioOutSource, developed a number of concepts.

“One of them was the honeycomb,” he explains. “The idea being that the honeycomb itself was made up of all these cells which represented the various media platforms.”

One of Canwest's old logos

Hickmott says Canwest wanted its new logo to reflect a streamlined organization comprised of numerous brands. “They also wanted it to look a little more modern and contemporary.”

In an effort to incorporate some of the old branding into the new logo, its typeface, Dax, remains the same, Hickmott says. A more vibrant hue of green was added, and the old grey was given over in favour of what Hickmott calls a “corporate blue.”

“So we have two things going,” he says. “We have the reliability and stability of corporate governance counterbalanced with a progressive, modern and innovative green as they develop and expand their media platforms.”

Besides delineating the C, the negative space offers a point of connection, Hickmott says.

“The C angles outward, sort of points toward the future,” he explains. “So as they grow, there’s some space where partnerships can form and innovations can happen.”

In a released statement, Canwest said the new brand was developed to affirm a common purpose among its properties and reflect its direction for the future. Contact: www.canwestglobal.com

— Jeff Lewis

January 9, 2008
New chief creative officer at Fuel Industries
OTTAWA—The new year brings a new CCO to the interactive advergaming agency Fuel Industries. Warren Tomlin takes over from Mike Burns as chief creative officer of this 100-employee shop. This gives Burns the opportunity to focus solely on his CEO responsibilities, which include managing Fuel’s new licensed property division.

Warren Tomlin replaces Mike Burns as CCO of Ottawa's Fuel Industries

Tomlin is the former general manager of Canada Post’s e-business division, where he was responsible for the development of its $3 billion e-business portal. He also created a number of products for online and mobile marketing.

“Warren is exactly who you would want to lead your strategy and creative team,” said Burns, in a statement released last month. “He’s the type of guy who can distinguish good ideas from good opportunities. He looks at the overall picture – not only if the creative works, but if the strategic alignment is there, and how it fits into accomplishing a client’s overall goals.”

At Fuel, Tomlin will focus on the ongoing expansion of the company’s production and management resources.

“My role here is to ensure that as we partner with larger and larger clients and grow alongside our existing brands, we completely understand their business objectives,” said Tomlin in a released statement.

Of his decision to join the online branded entertainment firm, Tomlin said, “I made the move to Fuel because I firmly believe that what they are doing is the future of interactive. The company has grown massively over the seven years that I’ve worked with Fuel as a client, and I want to contribute to growing Fuel even faster over the next few years.” Contact: www.fuelindustries.com

Albert Ng to receive Order of Ontario
TORONTO—On Jan. 24, in a ceremony at Queen’s Park, Albert Ng will receive this province’s highest and most prestigious honour, the Order of Ontario, in recognition of his contribution to the graphic design industry in Canada. Twenty-six individuals will be invested for 2007.

“It is an honour that I was chosen for appointment to the Order of Ontario,” Ng tells Design Edge Canada. “This honour, in fact, belongs to the entire graphic design profession, and especially our next generation. I am very pleased to see that our government recognizes the importance of the graphic design profession.”

Known as the “Father of Canadian Graphic Design Accreditation,” Ng initiated the accreditation system and examination board that established a professional designation for graphic designers in Ontario, the first of its kind in North America. 

“Obtaining the title act and establishing the framework of accreditation is teamwork, and no one single person could have achieved it alone,” says Ng. “I must share [the Order of Ontario] with all the accreditation supporters, especially all the founders and the founding contributors.”

Ng is the founding president of the Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario, a past vice-president of the International Council of Graphic Design Associations and a past president of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada, Ontario chapter, where he first established the GDC, now RGD, scholarship awards program for design students.

He is also the first graphic designer in Canada to receive double honours, fellowships from both the GDC and RGD Ontario.

Last September, Ng resigned his seat on the RGD Ontario Board of Directors and his RGD designation over his discontent with past amendments made to the association’s accreditation by-laws.

Educated in Hong Kong, Ng relocated to Canada in 1974. He has worked as a designer, consultant and professor for various agencies and institutions, including Toronto Hydro Electric Corporation where he led its graphic design team. His clients include the Royal Canadian Mint, CFMT, the Government of Ontario and the Society for the Preservation of Historical Thornhill. Currently he teaches in York/Sheridan’s joint design degree program. 

Ng is the second graphic designer to receive the Order of Ontario after Burton Kramer in 2003. Contact: www.citizenship.gov.on.ca

January 7, 2008
New art department hired at Western Living
VANCOUVER—Staff overhaul is common when a new editor-in-chief comes on board at an established title and that’s exactly what’s happened at Transcontinental Media’s Western Living.

Dwayne Dobson of Calgary's Combine Design is the new art director of this West Coast publication

Since the arrival of former Avenue and enRoute editor Charlene Rooke in late January, managing editor Felicity Stone, art director Doris Cheung and assistant art director Marilee Breutikreutz have departed. It’s taken almost a year, but with the recent hiring of a new art department, Rooke’s Western Living team is now fully in place.

Dwayne Dobson of Combine Design will art direct the magazine from his company’s office in Calgary. His team of designers will handle the magazine’s feature well while newly hired assistant art director, Melissa Coburn, will handle the front and back sections. Rooke and Dobson previously worked together in 2001, when they redesigned Avenue. Cobourn comes to Western Living’s Vancouver office from Fuel Advertising in Toronto, where she was working on the Bay’s Living Spree and Belle magazines.

Former Nuvo designer Michael Sinanan also came on that month as a temporary consulting art director. His contract ended in December. Contact: www.westernlivingmagazine.com

— Marco Ursi