Freedom on the Fence is a documentary project about the history of Polish posters and their significance to the social, political and cultural life of Poland.
Examining the period from WWII through the fall of Communism, Freedom on the Fence captures the paradox of how this unique art form flourished within a Communist regime. The documentary contains interviews with older and younger generations of poster artists, examples of past and current poster work, historic and current film footage of where and how the poster is viewed, and commentaries from both American and Polish scholars and artists on the significance of the Polish poster as a cultural icon. Read the rest of this entry »
On a gorgeous evening that filled patios all over the city, students, recent graduates and designers packed into the lecture theatre at Emily Carr University. They were there to find out the winners of the 24th annual Salazar Awards, an award that recognizes excellence in student design. The Salazar Awards are named after Enrique Salazar, a founding member of the GDC, and instructor at Capilano College until his death in 1985. These awards recognize his contribution to educating young designers.
The winners of the 2009 Salazar Awards, presented by GDC/BC and Metropolitan Fine Printers, are:
- Print Design - Michael Cadamia, Emily Carr University
- Web Design and Interactive Media - Stefan Ramirez Perez, Vancouver Film School
- Branding Design - Kristen Call, Capilano University
There were many strong submissions this year, so visit the 2009 Salazar Awards site for a complete list of finalists and honourable mentions, as well as the winning designs. Congratulations to everyone - well done!
The optimistic students of Kwantlen’s GDMA program love challenges. They know it may be a sour time to be graduating but they’re not complaining. Join them for a night of nectarous design – and of course they will be serving more than just fruit juice.
www.gdma.ca
Industry Night - April 30, 2009. 6:30 pm - 10:30 pm
East Van Studio, 870 East Cordova
Degree Show May 5 -12, 2009
10:00 am - 9:00 pm Monday - Friday
10:00 am - 4:00 pm Saturday. Closed Sunday
Kwantlen Polytechnic University
8771 Lansdowne Road, Richmond
Graduating in the face of challenge and change, 30 uniquely talented individuals relish the opportunity to do more with less.
The 2009 Grad Show will be held at Harbour Centre, downtown Vancouver, from April 14 – 17, 2009.
The opening gala is on Tuesday, April 14, from 6 – 9 pm.
For a preview of the work of this talented group of students, please visit www.idea09.ca.
The Alcuin Society and the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada, BC Chapter presents: An Evening with Frank Newfeld*
THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT!
One of the original judges at the first Alcuin book design competition, Frank Newfeld, book designer, illustrator, art director, and former Vice President, Publishing at McClelland & Stewart, will share some of his thoughts on illustrated books, particularly those for the younger reader. This should be of special interest to fans of Newfeld’s illustrations for Alligator Pie (poems by Dennis Lee).
Copies of Mr. Newfeld’s recent memoir, Drawing on Type (The Porcupine’s Quill, 2008), will be available for purchase and signing.
Read the rest of this entry »
Wolda ‘08 Worldwide Logo Design Annual Winners Announced, though none from Canada or Mexico
We’ve kept our eye on this year’s inaugural Wolda ‘08 Worldwide Logo Design Competition hosted by Italy’s Eulda Books. They recently announce the winners chosen by an international three-tier jury, including GDC’s own David Coates. 192 logos (174 professionals + 18 designed by students) were selected from almost 1100 entries submitted from 43 different countries around the world—though not a single winner were from either Mexico or Canada. All winning logos are showcased on their website and in the Wolda ‘08 printed annual available for sale now.
Let’s hope we see a few Canadian examples of winning logo design in the 2009 competition.
The Awards Ceremony for the winners of the Alcuin Society 2007 Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada will be held this year at Emily Carr University. The awards will be presented by Bonne Zabolotney, Emily Carr University’s Associate Dean, Design. The keynote speaker will be CS Richardson.
Designer and author CS Richardson is Creative Director for Random House of Canada. Over a twenty-five year career, he has designed books for numerous notable authors, including Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Wayson Choy, Ian McEwan, Julian Barnes, and John Irving. He is a multiple winner of the Alcuin Award and has received CBA Libris, Applied Arts, and Advertising & Design Club of Canada awards. Richardson is also an acclaimed novelist. His first book, The End of the Alphabet, is an international bestseller, and winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book.
Robert Bringhurst will also give a short, informal talk about his new book, The Surface of Meaning : 25 Years of Book Design in Canada (CCSP Press).
Robert Bringhurst, both a former Alcuin competition judge and design award-winner, is a poet, linguist and typographer. His book, The Elements of Typographic Style (now in its third edition) has been translated into ten languages. His most recent books are The Tree of Meaning (2006) and its companion volume, Everywhere Being is Dancing (2007); and New World Suite No. 3 (2007). Read the rest of this entry »
Hey Lotus Landers, It’s that time again. Time to prove your worth and send us everything you’ve got. The 2008 Lotus Awards call for entries is now officially open. But don’t procrastinate the deadline for entries is just under a month away. So grab a computer, a cup of joe, and your awards entry list. This year proves to be the best yet. The website - lotusawards.comThe deadline - August 18, 2008
Recently a few of us attended the Rock Awards hosted by the Vancouver Island Chapter in Victoria. And what a night to remember. After a delicious locally grown organic meal, the room went dark and was filled with the deep, ominous sounds of a pipe organ. A mysterious silhouetted form appeared and began by reciting words of wisdom from Robert Bringhurst’s Elements of Typographic Style with the tone and charismatic cadence of a half-drunk televised Southern Preacher.
And so with such irreverent lines as “In the beginning, the Great Designer created the heavens and the earth…” began the 2008 edition of the Rock Awards. And it just got worse better from there. With professional actors serving as this crazed clergyman, a full choir dressed in black robes and a terrific tongue-in-cheek script written by Dylan Petley, the evening proved to be one of the most fun GDC events I’ve ever attended. Congratulations to President Valerie Elliot, Past-President Kirsty Armstrong and their volunteers for putting on a terrific awards show.
If you weren’t fortunate enough to be there in person, check out this video of the 2008 Rock Awards show. It may even save your soul!
ADC Young Guns exists to identify today’s vanguard of young professionals across all creative disciplines. Those of you who’ve set your minds to making a name for yourself, raising new standards from within cubicles, conference rooms, cramped apartments, and studios across the world—this is your chance to put those battle cries in action.
Entrants must be 30 years of age or younger and must have been working professionally for at least 2 years (both full-time and freelance work qualify).
Entrants can submit both professional AND personal, unpublished work.
Fifty new ADC Young Guns will be chosen!
Deadline: June 2, 2008.
ENTER at http://www.adcyoungguns.org
Milan, 20.04.2008 - Wolda, the Worldwide Logo Design Annual, announces the distinguished panel of 30 independent judges that will select the winning entries for its ‘08 inaugural edition, see www.wolda.org/judges.
This unique three-tier jury comprises ten design professionals selected by Icograda, ten marketing managers representing major international clients selected by Aquent and finally ten members of the public, representing the ultimate target market of consumers, selected by Consumers International.
Built on the success of Eulda, the European Logo Design Annual (which it replaces), Wolda is the high-profile graphic design award scheme that rewards the best logos and trademarks designed throughout the world. The winners are selected by an international three-tier jury consisting of 10 top design professionals, 10 marketing managers from major international clients and finally 10 members of the public (provided respectively by the worldwide organizations Icograda, Aquent and Consumers International).
For more information: http://www.wolda.org
We’re still buzzing from Graphex out west, but already focussed on a couple upcoming events I thought you’d be interested in.
Each year, GDC/BC and Met Fine Printers proudly present the Salazar Awards which celebrate the best in student design. The Call For Entries has already gone out and the deadline is approaching quickly! Spread the word and encourage young design students and recent grads to see how their work stacks up. More info and entry forms available here.
This year’s keynote speaker at the awards show on May 9th is Stefan Sagmeister who will be speaking to a packed room at Roundhouse Arts & Community Centre in Vancouver’s trendy Yaletown district. Order your tickets for this unique opportunity now as they are selling fast.
The following Saturday, May 10th, GDC/BC is also hosting a one day conference called POGO (Perspectives, Opportunities, Guidance and Open-Learning) aimed at students including a portfolio critique by some of Vancouver’s top designers and studio tours of some of the best local studios. Info and tickets available here.
Lastly, the Graphex 2008 exhibit will be back up on display from as part of the festivities and in conjunction with Kwantlen University College’s GDMA Grad Show at Roundhouse from May 3rd–11th. The exhibit will be touring across Canada, appearing next in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan as part of the GDC National AGM April 24th–26th. More info available at www.gdc.net/graphex.
Hope to see you there!
Winners of Graphex 2008are now online and can be viewed at http://www.gdc.net/graphex/winners/ and catalogues of the winners will be available for sale shortly for $45 (members) or $60 (non-members). If you’d like to pre-order yours today, please send an email to GDC in Ottawa at info@gdc.net.
The exhibit of winners began its tour across Canada with a showing April 1–11th at the HSBC Pendulum Gallery at Georgia and Hornby in Vancouver. The exhibit will also be shown in Vancouver at Roundhouse in Yaletown May 5–11th as part of the coming Salazar Student Awards (featuring keynote speaker Stefan Sagmeister) and mini design conference in conjunction with Kwantlen University College’s GDMA graduation activities.
For more info on the recent gala awards ceremony, please click below:
Read the rest of this entry »
The winners of the 12th annual Webby Awards were just announced and the Graphex 2008 website, designed and developed by Industrial Brand Creative, was chosen as an Honoree out of more than 8,000 entries in 70 categories.
The creative tournament ladder-inspired theme exploring the connections and possibilities of good design was thoughtfully developed by Rethink Communications, who are also producing the beautiful catalogue showcasing all the Graphex winners (available at GDC.net soon).
To be named as a honoree in the Webby Awards means being selected from amongst the very best in interactive design, so a hearty congratulations to all the volunteers who worked hard to produce this terrific website, promotional campaign and the entire competition. Great team effort.
What a wild and fantastically inspiring Graphex weekend! We’re all just recovering and starting in on all the follow up work but there are a few bits of news in need of sharing. First and foremost the winners exhibit is starting its national tour starting in Vancouver (seems logical since everyone was just here!). It’s displaying at the Pendulum Gallery in the HSBC Building at 885 W. Georgia until April 11th. This is truly some of the best in current Canadian Design and is well worth the trip down to check out. We’ve also posted the video vignettes at Video.ca (available here, here and here). Photos are also starting to come in and will be archived on the our Flickr Account (and the Graphex Collection) The coveted Graphex Catalogues are being produced now and will be available for sale shortly, stay tuned!
