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.
Leo Obstbaum, Design Director for VANOC 2010 Olympics
My friend and colleague Leo Obstbaum, the creative mastermind behind the designs of the Vancouver Olympic Games, died suddenly in his home of natural causes in the early hours of Friday, August 21st. He left behind his beautiful wife Monice and young daughter Dakota. He was just 40 years old—the same age as I am.
Leo and I spoken numerous times that week and even had plans to meet that day after work to catch up over drinks and discuss a presentation he’d been preparing about his work on the Olympics. It was a talk he hoped to refine and present during Icograda Design Week Vancouver next spring. I’ll never forget hearing the tragic news and trying to come to terms with the fact that my friend was suddenly gone. It really shook me up. As devastated as I felt, I couldn’t imagine the feeling of loss his family was enduring.
Read the rest of this entry »
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 »
Emily Carr University of Art + Design is pleased to present a public lecture, The Transdisciplinary Nature of Design by Jamer Hunt of Parsons the New School for Design.
Jamer Hunt is the Chair of Urban and Transdisciplinary Design at Parsons, where is he developing a new graduate program in Transdisciplinary Design. Previously, he served for seven years at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia as Director of the Masters Program in Industrial Design.
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 »
