Hi Everyone,
Since last year, we started posting news and events through our new GDC/BC Blog. This BC Chapter Blog is now officially closed. If you want to know our latest news and events, please check us out at http://www.gdc.net/chapters/bc_mainland.htm. Thank you.
Best Regards,
Pauline
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Social change. It’s the adoption of new behaviour on a scale that is visible and sustainable.
Design. It influences our daily lives: our work, our habits, our outlook.
Practivism. It leverages design to catalyze the change our world requires. Designers are investigating the complex challenges facing the world, and our problem-solving abilities are being put to the test. We’re asking each other and ourselves: can design ignite change? Can we design with people, not for people?
Or, is design the problem?
We don’t have all the answers, but we are pausing to ask the questions. Join GDC/BC for a dialogue about design’s role in creating social change. Read the rest of this entry »
Don’t be fooled by the fact that Blair Enns’ business is based in the small town of Kaslo, BC; he gets around! Enns gives talks around the globe, and his presentation this past Thursday was only the second time he has presented in Canada. He is the founder of Win Without Pitching. He has helped transform businesses by questioning the pitch-based approach and sheds light on alternative ways to gain new clients and avoid pitching for free.
Blair Enns provided good food for thought at the sold-out event. His talk focused on two specific business models: marketing-based and production-based. A marketer looks at what needs haven’t been met yet and sells a product that meets that need, while a producer makes what he knows best and attempts to find people who will buy his product or service.
According to Enns, the most successful design firms are run by non-designers. It takes a strong marketing approach to keep any business alive, particularly in these economic hard times.
Our industry has an oversupply problem to begin with, and during a recession there’s even less demand from clients. Making matters worse, when one design firm shuts down, its designers start up their own businesses.
Enns firmly believes that the problem of free pitching is not one that will be solved by any collective design organization such as the GDC or AIGA. Instead, he places the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of individuals and design firms.
The best take-away advice from the talk? Narrow your focus and deepen expertise in order to rise above the competition. By narrowing your focus, you’ll begin to see unmet needs in the marketplace. Make a choice; don’t stay in the “mushy middle [ground]” that sits between a marketing-based and production-based organization. The mushy middle designer will soon become a thing of the past.
How do designers work in a time when a company can buy a logo off the internet, or request spec work under the guise of a crowdsourced contest?
Join the GDC/BC as we welcome Blair Enns, author of Win Without Pitching, to the Westin Bayshore Hotel on Thursday, November 5th. This event will begin at 7:30 am with a delicious breakfast, followed by a talk that will focus on the reality of design in today’s marketplace. Blair will share valuable information on how to thrive as a designer and how to deal with the RFP process: its pros and cons, strategies for coping with today’s challenges in the marketplace and how to gain new clients without first parting with ideas or sacrificing respect.
Westin Bayshore Hotel
Thursday, November 5th
7:30 - 9:30 am
GDC members $35/Non-members $45
(cost includes breakfast)
Register now on GDC.net
This event continues in our ongoing series of breakfast speakers and we’re always open to feedback. Is there anyone in the communications world that YOU’D like to hear? Let us know!
About Blair Enns
Blair Enns is the founder of the Win Without Pitching movement and a business development adviser to marketing communication agencies. Through his global consulting practice Enns works with principals and personnel of independently-owned design firms, ad agencies and public relations practices.
Enns lectures widely, addressing advertising, design and public relations audiences throughout the English-speaking world. He operates from a remote mountain location near the tiny Victorian village of Kaslo, British Columbia, Canada.
You can read more about his company and its ideology here
The GDC/BC invites you to attend the first of Emily Carr University’s Fall 2009 Speakers Series this Wednesday, October 7th featuring Roy Matich. Roy develops marketing communications solutions for Fortune 500 companies in technology, financial services, telecommunications, manufacturing and retail markets. His past positions include Global Director of Interactive at Starbucks and Executive Creative Director at FITCH, a global design consultancy based in the UK.
Emily Carr University offers a diverse mix of world-renowned creatives each semester in order to educate the audience and invite participation. The Speaker Series aims to promote interactive discussion surrounding current issues in contemporary art, design and media. This lecture is free and open to the public.
Wednesday, October 7th, 7 pm
South Building Lecture Hall, Room 301
Emily Carr University of Art and Design
1400 Johnston Street, Granville Island
Visit www.ecuad.ca for a full list of guest lectures.
Emily Carr University’s ‘Design Essentials’ Grad Show presented by BCIT
Wednesday, October 21st, 5 to 8 pm
Radical Entertainment
8th Floor, 369 Terminal Avenue
Vancouver, BC V6A 4C4
The dna BCIT Digital Arts Grad Show will feature student work from the Design Essentials (partnering BCIT with Emily Carr University), New Media and Animation programs. For more information on the show, visit www.bcit-dna2009.com
For more information on Emily Carr University’s ‘Design Essentials’ program or other Continuing Studies visit www.ecuad.ca or contact Amy Clausen at aclausen@eciad.ca.
For centuries book lovers have known that books are more than words on paper. If you are one of those people then you won’t want to miss these masters exploring the art of the book.
Robert Bringhurst, Audrey Niffenegger, Anik See and Seth
Read the rest of this entry »
Icograda’s World Design Congress “XIN”, being held in Beijing next month is gaining steam and shaping up to be on of the most impressive and memorable design events in our lifetime—and GDC will be there.
Representing designers from across Canada, the winning entries from Graphex 2008: the Best of Visual Communications in Canada will be featured as an official exhibit from October 24–November 4 at the Gallery of the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University in Beijing. Read the rest of this entry »
From Brazil and Bulgaria to Sweden and Singapore, worldwide graphic designers are uniting for an exhibition exploring their emotional ties with various countries. Common Thread – October 7 to 17 at Emily Carr University of Art and Design on Granville Island – will feature 20 posters showcasing work from respected contemporary designers such as Namibia’s Frauke Stegmann, Henrik Kubel of London’s A2-Graphics and Silnt from Singapore.
Read the rest of this entry »
GDC/BC is proud to present a Business Development Breakfast with Business Coach Fiona Walsh
Westin Bayshore Hotel
Thursday, September 17th
7:30 – 9:30 am (includes breakfast)
If you have been wondering how to grow your business in this economy, look no further. Business owners that focus on building their business rather than insulating themselves against challenging markets are the ones that move ahead, prosper and grow their bottom line.
In this session, you will learn 10 proven business development techniques perfectly suited for use during a tough business climate.
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Read the rest of this entry »
The NABS annual golf tournament is always one of the best-attended events in the media and advertising industry calendar.
The day is formatted for guests to bring clients or a team from the office to join in some friendly competition.
Hey, do you like burgers? Do you like being outside? Do you like hanging out with other design geeks?
Yeah, we thought you might.
Here’s an opportunity have all three of those things in one place! Join us for the 3rd Annual Association BBQ, hosted by GDC and CAPIC.
Read the rest of this entry »
Join our friends of the Themed Attraction Association Canada for a sneak preview of the almost completed renovation of the much beloved Cultch. They will also be holding their AGM in the new Culture Lab. This piece of TAAC business promises to be short and sweet.
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Our friends at CAPIC is inviting us to learn directly from Adobe about new features in Photoshop CS4 and how to take advantage of them in your workflow. They are tailoring this event specifically to your needs. Please participate in the event survey to tell them what aspects of PS CS4 you’d like to see covered.
Take the survey and make it your event: http://tinyurl.com/nu8nwu
When // June 17 | 6 PM - 8 PM
Where // H.R. MacMillan Space Centre | 1100 Chesnut Street, Vancouver
Cost // Free for GDC members
Join our colleagues at SIGGRAPH with Bob cole, Landon Bootsma & Tim Mulvihill from MPC Vancouver to hear about the challenges adapting “the greatest superhero story ever told” (Entertainment Weekly).
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GDC/BC was proud to bring Michael Osborne, of Michael Osborne Design, to speak at the Salazar Awards. We knew we were in for a treat when he stepped to the podium.
“I don’t apologize for anything.”
(pause)
“Sorry.”
That kicked off a presentation that covered a gamut of material, from his work in the liquor industry (wine, whiskey and liqueurs), down and dirty business advice, and his love of letterpress work. In between, he treated us to vignettes about “weird but real” street signs and photographs.
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