April 30, 2008
New mark for Moosehead
TORONTO—Onbrand Design of Toronto has created a new look for

Onbrand refreshes Moosehead's mark

Moosehead. As the imported beer category continues to grow, the Saint John, N.B.-based brewery hired Onbrand to help its domestic brand.

The subtle new look was created to “remind consumers that domestic beer can give them all the distinct taste and premium imagery that caused many consumers to add imports to their portfolio,” said yesterday’s press release.

Moosehead's old logo

“Keeping in mind the Moosehead tradition, we kept the distinctive green bottle and of course the Moosehead icon,” said Matt Johnston, vice president of marketing, North America. “Since we rely heavily on packaging tactics rather than traditional advertising, we believe it is the consumer experience with our product that is most important.” Contact: www.onbranddesign.com

Sun-Rype packaging gets juiced up
VANCOUVER—The Vancouver office of DDB Canada’s Karacters Design Group has redesigned the juice packaging for Sun-Rype.

Karacters designs new user-friendly juice packaging

In addition to a large-scale print and television campaign for Sun-Rype’s fruit juices, its new re-sealable bottle has been custom designed to make it easier to pour, hold and store.

“We are really excited about our new advertising campaign.  Not only does it communicate Sun-Rype’s new juice packaging, but it also illustrates the wholesome goodness and vitality of our 100 per cent juice line in a vivid and memorable way,” said Cameron Johnston, vice president of marketing at Sun-Rype, in a released statement.

The first of two 30-second TV spots, “Swing,” was shot in a stop-motion style animation and integrates the new packaging into the creative with the tagline, “made with real fruit goodness.”

DDB Vancouver has been Sun-Rype’s agency of record since 1980. Contact: www.ddbcanada.com

April 25, 2008
Typeface copies friend's handwriting

New font from Boris Mahovac

OAKVILLE, Ont.— Cambridge, Mass.-based font foundry Bitstream has released Kloi, a new typeface from Boris Mahovac of Alphabet Design in Oakville. The display font, pronounced Chlo-ee, is an adaptation of his friend’s handwriting. Mahovac created the typeface in 2004 but due to scheduling conflicts, it was not released by Bitstream until now.

“My friend’s handwriting is the most unique I've ever seen and that in itself was the most important reason to do [the] font,” says Mahovac. “The fact that at the time, and still very much so today, the fonts that fall within the ‘script’ category are selling really well, was also a big factor.”

Kloi is available in PostScript OpenType format, with alternate glyphs that automatically replace the standard glyphs when appropriate.

This is Mahovac’s second font released by Bitstream. In 2006, he designed Tabitha, another free-form display font. Contact: www.alphabet-design.com/fonts; www.myfonts.com

April 24, 2008
Event celebrates emerging Canadian design talent
VANCOUVER—As a response to the dearth of public forums showcasing Canadian design, Vancouver agency Cause + Affect launched Movers and Shapers. The 2004 inaugural event highlighted emerging Canadian designers in architecture, interior, graphic, industrial, furniture, fashion and interactive design.

The third Movers and Shapers exhibition launches tonight at The Vancouver Museum. The event is a culmination of the two previous Movers and Shapers shows from 2004 and 2007.

“Many of the designers featured in 2004 have gone on to international acclaim and are no longer considered emerging while most of the 2007 exhibitors are only beginning very influential design careers,” states the Movers and Shapers website.

West coast firms to be featured in the show include Subplot Design, Free Agency Creative and interactive agency Burnkit. The exhibit runs until June 22. Contact: www.causeandaffect.com/m+s

Attention Design Edge Canada readers
Have you recently designed a unique and innovative project using environmentally friendly materials or solutions? If so, we’d like to hear about it. Please use the Contact Us form to send me information about your project by May 2.
Regards,
Ann Meredith Brown
Editor, Design Edge Canada

April 16, 2008
DDB Canada consults on sustainability
VANCOUVER—DDB Canada has joined forces with Vancouver-based sustainability consultancy Junxion Strategy to create DDB Echology.

According to yesterday’s announcement, DDB’s new green consultancy aims to help clients create their own “authentic” sustainability programs with the support of powerful communications strategies to “motivate employees, create lasting social movements, build brands and bring about social change.”

Last spring, DDB Canada chairman and CEO Frank Palmer announced that his agency was going green. He hired Junxion Strategy and Canadian Business for Social Responsibility to assist DDB Canada in developing a company-wide, in-house, sustainability strategy. The result is ECHO: environmental footprint, community building, human resource practices and opportunities for influence. It was during the development of these strategic pillars that Palmer decided to team up with Junxion Strategy to launch his own sustainability practice.

“[DDB Echology] is a powerful combination of Junxion Strategy’s credibility and expertise in sustainability strategy and counsel, matched with DDB Canada’s leadership in creativity and brand stewardship,” says Palmer.

Based out of DDB Canada’s Vancouver office, the new division will be led by managing director Steve Kennedy and Peter ter Weeme from Junxion Strategy, former chief communications and marketing officer of eco-retailer Mountain Equipment Co-op, a past client of DDB Canada. Contact: www.ddbechology.com

April 15, 2008
Icograda adds new corporate membership category
MONTREAL—Icograda, the International Council of Graphic Design Associations, is now welcoming design companies as members.

According to its release, companies that endorse Icograda’s professional best practices and that are committed to the value and enhancement of communication design are now eligible to apply for membership, which includes general voting rights at the council’s biennial general assembly.

Another key benefit is access to the Icograda Career Centre where corporate members can post job opportunities for Icograda’s international design membership.

“Corporate members bring an incredible wealth of knowledge, demonstrating the value of design in driving economic growth and innovation,” says Brenda Sanderson, managing director of Icograda, in a released statement.

Linotype is the first Premium Corporate Partner of Icograda. Currently, Icograda’s network, representing 67 countries worldwide, is 53% creative professionals, 30% design educators, 10% design media and 7% vendors to the design community. Contact: www.icograda.org

April 10, 2008
Best on Page highlights top magazine creative

Scott Kitchen Towels DPS, from JWT Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

TORONTO—More than 900 agency, design and magazine types sipped wine and munched hors d’oeuvres in the company of some of the world’s best magazine ad creative last Thursday at the Best on Page exhibit in Toronto. The exhibit was compiled by Infopresse magazine, based in Montreal, from awards competitions around the world, including Canada. The event was organized by Magazines Canada and sponsored by Marketing magazine and the Ontario Media Development Corporation. Gary Garland, executive director of advertising services for Magazines Canada, said the exhibit will be available on DVD and also posted on websites shortly. Contact: www.magazinescanada.ca

April 10, 2008
Move over Moses, Mason’s got new ideas
CHICAGO—Designer Dave Mason loves meeting interesting people doing interesting things.

“In my world, that’s what gets me up in the morning,” says Mason, of Chicago- and Vancouver-based design agency SamataMason.

He’s rounded up some of these interesting people to present at SamataMason’s inaugural Cusp Conference, a two-day event launching this September in Chicago.

Similar to the American conference TED (technology, entertainment, design) and Moses Znaimer’s IdeaCity, Cusp aims to be a catalyst for inspiration by promoting creative thinking through the exchange of innovative ideas.

“The best thing about our jobs is that we get to stick our nose in everyone else’s business and meet lots of smart people doing really smart things,” says Mason. “We thought this would be a way to synthesize our experiences.”

Confirmed Cusp presenters include Chicago chef Homaru Cantu, U.S. Army Specialist Bryan Anderson, British singer/songwriter Kirsty Hawkshaw, architect Adam Kalkin and Dr. Carl Hodges, founding director of the University of Arizona’s Environmental Research Laboratory, among others.

“I think this is a mind expanding opportunity,” says Mason. “We need to foster the creative class… [T]hinking like a designer or thinking about things as a designer would think about things is a very important part of changing the way we educate ourselves.”

The word cusp, after all, means a point that marks the beginning of a change. Contact: www.cuspconference.com

April 8, 2008
The best in magazine advertising
TORONTO—Magazines Canada, an association for magazine professionals, is hosting an exhibition of award-winning magazine creative.

The third annual Best on Page will feature more than 150 award-winning magazine ads from around the world. The exhibit will be held this Thursday at Maro in Toronto. The deadline to register for this free event is today. Contact: www.magazinescanada.ca/events

April 1, 2008
Bringhurst explores the philosophy of publication design
VANCOUVER–Esteemed poet, linguist and typographer Robert Bringhurst is set to tackle the Canadian publishing landscape in a new book.

Titled The Surface of Meaning, Bringhurst’s latest effort will examine books and their design as far back as the mid-19th century to present day.

“The design and manufacture of books can tell as much about a people or a culture as the ambience of its streets and the architecture of its buildings,” he writes.

Designers will likely be familiar with Bringhurst’s 2004 tome, The Elements of Typographic Style.

His new book – to be published in September by the Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing Press at Simon Fraser University – explores English and French-Canadian book design in a somewhat philosophical light and includes an appendix of past winners of the Alcuin Awards for Excellence in Book Design, from 1981 to 2006. Contact: www.ccsppress.com

– Jeff Lewis

This story has been revised
Compass360 receives Juno nomination
TORONTO—Local design firm Compass360 can now add a Canadian music award nomination to its long list of accolades.

Compass360 has been nominated for a Juno Award in the CD/DVD Artwork Design of the Year category for its design of Revue, an album by blues singer/songwriter Paul Reddick. 

“Paul is a three-time Juno nominee himself and we’re proud of the work we’ve done with him over the past five years,” which includes his website, www.paulreddick.ca, says creative director and managing partner Karl Thomson.

Also nominated for best design are Felix Wittholz of Toronto’s Helios Design Labs for his work on Buck 65’s Situation album; Vancouver’s Jeff Harrison of Rethink Communications and photographer Clinton Hussey for the Vonnegut Dollhouse album Ornamental Etherworld; Quebec designers Mathieu Houde, Simon Rivest, Catherine Lepage and photographer Mathieu Doyon for Pierre Lapointe’s 2x2; and Montreal illustrator Tracy Maurice and photographer François Miron for their design of Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible album.

The Junos will be held in Calgary on April 6.

It’s been a winning year for Compass thus far. Partner and creative director John Cook just returned from Vancouver with three Graphex awards from the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada, including the Judges' Choice award for its own company website.

Thomson is currently in the Middle East for Dubai Lynx 2008, the first Dubai International Advertising Festival and Awards show. Contact: www.compass360.com; www.junoawards.ca