The 2007 National AGM was productive, with a spirit of co-operation we hadn’t seen before. Maybe it was due to the First Nation’s Elder’s blessing that started off the official meetings. Whatever the case, it was a heartening development, and made for some great results.

BC sent a strong contingent again to keep our fingers on the pulse and get some good succession planning in the works. Marga Lopez, Mark Busse, Carolina Beccarra, Steve Mynett and I were there to represent (and I talked too much).

We did all the basic stuff like pass the budget and hear what all the chapters were doing. But in getting things done we took some novel approaches and set out some great policy direction. So here’s what happened, apart from getting kicked out of hotel rooms:
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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!

After waiting for a long time, the results are finally here! The 2007/2008 RGD Ontario/Aquent National Survey of Graphic Design Salaries & Billing Practices is now available for download. This survey was conducted by RGD Ontario and its partner AQUENT, in cooperation with the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC) and the Société des designers graphiques du Québec (SDGQ).

This is the fourth time a survey of this nature has been conducted in Canada by this Association and even though the results are not to be viewed as a nationally representative statistical sample of all graphic design professionals, it does provide a current reflection of what some in the design profession are currently earning.

Graphex 2008 launches with a bang.

November 30th, 2007 saw a festive start to Graphex 2008 with catered food, drinks and mingling with some of the BC design community’s best and brightest at the Graphex Judges Evening hosted by GDC/BC at UBC Robson Square. And the festive atmosphere continued through the center-piece of the Judges Evening: The individual presentations from each of the judges and the opportunity for the assembled audience to pose questions from the floor.

Some stirring remarks by GDC/BC President Mark Busse and a special message from National VP of Communications Rod Roodenburg marked the beginning of the presentations and each of the judges in turn gave their insightful, informed sometimes humorous and always heart-felt perspective on the power of design, delivering what will almost certainly be looked-back upon as one of the richest evenings of design discourse to occur in Vancouver this year.

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