Recently the Government of British Columbia presented one of our valued clients with its 2011 WelcomeBC Day Award, in recognition of their innovative website developed by Yours Truly, the talented team here at Industrial Brand.

But never mind about us….here’s what they do that makes them special. The Immigrant Employment Council of BC (IEC-BC) provides a unique service to the community, connecting employers with motivated and skilled global talent, in a way that hasn’t been done before. Through www.tapintotalent.ca, prospective employers now have direct access to a wealth of labour market resources, including opportunities to connect with a pool of highly skilled immigrant talent.

After thoroughly understanding IEC-BC’s needs, we designed their site to be easy to use and visually-pleasing, but also to capitalize on a few key areas like highlighting a job-matching service with a database of hundreds of pre-screened, job-ready immigrant candidates, as well as the ability to post job openings at no cost. Everyone wins (and we don’t just mean awards!). We are proud to have worked on this project with a client that is a purveyor of positive, progressive change in the community.

Check out the IEC-BC case study in our portfolio or visit their website to read more about this amazing organization and all that they do.

I believe there is always room for every person to grow, personally and professionally. But as an Art Director (and father of a two year old) my ‘spare’ time for a conference is very limited. I have been in this industry for 15 years and without sounding arrogant, I know a lot about this industry. If I am going to take five days to attend a conference it better be something significant that will make a positive difference for my career. I also want to see speakers who are funny, intelligent and poignant. I have no interest seeing presentations that are nothing more than monotone portfolio overviews with little or no relevance to the conference theme.

So, why should I get excited about Icograda’s Design Week Vancouver being hosted by GDC in April of this year?

Well, there is the fact that it is hosted in the convention centre in my beautiful hometown of Vancouver. An international conference on my doorstep of this calibre (which would normally involve air-flight and hotels adding extra expense) is a wonderful opportunity, I would be a fool not to attend for this reason alone.

I enjoyed watching this presentation recently given by GDC President, Rod Roodenburg, where he said “we don’t have the answers but we have ideas, and so do you. Lets create the value of design together”. That one statement alone inspires me to want to attend this conference. Going to a conference to truly participate and contribute on a global level sounds refreshing.

I am hooked by the theme ‘Design Currency: Defining the Value of Design’. Working in a service-based industry we often bump up against the value of design. How do you put a dollar value to a service for a client? What impact will the completed design work have on your clients business? What parameters does the client use to judge that impact and how does that translate into value for them or their clientele? Also, in a world where you can buy a logo for next to nothing on certain ‘generic logo’ sites, or use a myriad of crowd sourcing sites, how do we educate a client on the value of strategic design and the process behind it?

The conference is an international event organized by Icograda (International Council of Graphic Design Associations), the world body for professional communication design. The conference will host speakers who are all world-class design experts from countries around the globe (Canada, US, France, Denmark, Hong Kong, and India to mention just a few).

I believe many creative designers are multi-disciplined in their thinking but lack the skills to implement these ideas. Personally I am a wanna be architect, interior designer and car designer but unfortunately my buildings would probably collapse and my cars would never start. That being said, I am excited that the speakers at the conference will be from varying disciplines of design with experts from the fields of architecture, industrial design, branding, strategy, and interactive design.

At the same time as the conference there will also be a trade fair where you will get to meet lots of industry suppliers and network with top management from leading design agencies, design media, design students and design educators. Additionally, there will be lots of wonderful printed samples for our greedy design fingers to flip through, admire, critique (“I can’t believe they used that typeface” or “look at that leading”), and to smell the wonders of printed ink (slight personal obsession).

On the Friday the day will be divided into workshops and an education symposium. Thursday night the conference will host the Graphex 2010 awards gala, celebrating and acknowledging the best of Canadian design over the past two years. I attended the 2008 awards gala and was impressed by the whole night (the MC Ze Frank was a hoot, this year it is Debbie Millman). It was an opportunity to connect with my design colleagues and meet admired designers from studios across Canada. Did I mention the cocktail reception and three course plated dinner?

The world has many currencies but the GDC and Icograda felt there was one missing—a ‘design currency’. One that could transcend different economies but could still represent monetary value on a balance sheet. Hence the ‘Design Dollar’ icon used as the conference logo mark. I am intrigued by the logo for the conference. There is a logo for the conference, how cool is that? It has me instantly ask questions. What is this currency? Where is it used? How is it used? What is the value? What is the Canadian Dollar and Design Dollar exchange rate? It acts as a vehicle to start asking questions drawing you in and enrolling you into the topic of the conference. Rather than the conference title set in just Helvetica (as many conference often do), strategy and thought have been put into not just the logo but into other promotional materials and brand elements. I am excited to see the full extent of which this graphic theme will be incorporated throughout the conference and trade fair. I have seen people at local design events recently wearing Design Currency promotional t-shirts that states ‘This shirt is worth 150 Design Dollars’. Inviting people to engage in dialogue about the value of design, actively promoting the conference but more so the topic of the conference. It is truly a great PR campaign.

One of the conference events that I am most keen to attend is the ‘Dinner With a Side of Design”, April 25, 26 & 28. A long table series at Irish Heather (great beer and food) combining local leaders and designers in collaborative conversations focused around the complex themes of sustainability, culture and economics. i have never heard of such an opportunity where my thoughts and ideas would have an actual impact on our city.

I’ve heard that speakers have been encouraged to avoid portfolio presentations in favour of theme-focussed dialogue and that there will be panel discussions and break-out groups. Collectively (speakers and the attendees) will come to conclusions together to include the following: What is the true value of design? How can graphic designers contribute to positive change in the world? What is the impact and value that your design has on the bottom line socially, environmentally, economically and culturally?

By attending this conference I believe the global perspectives learned, relationships made, practical lessons learned will benefit my career (and yours) not only for the next short while but continuously long term.

I encourage you to join me and register online by visiting the design week website www.designweekvancouver.ca.

In addition to ADCC and W3 awards we took home earlier in the year, we were recently very pleased to learn that our website for UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture was honoured with a Lotus Merit in the interactive category.

Props go out again to our team and clients!

The BC Chapter of GDC has been selected among a select few organizations to receive the 2008 Capilano University President’s Service Awards as part of its 40th anniversary celebrations. GDC/BC was honoured for its continued support and contributions to the university, its students and the design industry into which their graduates enter upon completing their studies.

To celebrate its 40th year since opening in 1968, Capilano University will be holding a special President’s Service Awards event on Saturday, November 15 from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Birch building atrium at the North Vancouver campus.

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 Winners of The 2008 W3 Awards have been announced by the The International Academy of the Visual Arts today and the team at Industrial Brand were awarded a Silver for the UBC School of Architecture + Landscape Architecture website. With over 3,000 entries, The W3 Awards’ honours outstanding Websites, Web Marketing, and Web Video created by some of the best interactive agencies, designers, and creators worldwide.

“We were amazed at the caliber and quality of work received this year. Our winners continue to push the envelope of internet creativity and web design, and it is gratifying to see such great work from the smallest agencies to the biggest firms” said Linda Day, the director of the IAVA. “On behalf of the The International Academy of the Visual Arts, we are honored to recognize our winners as they continue to set a high standard of excellence for Web development.”

Congratulations to everyone who worked on this multiple award-winning website.

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. To be selected among the best is an honour and we’re very proud to be recognized.

The creative tournament ladder-inspired theme exploring the connections and possibilities of good design was thoughtfully developed by our friends at Rethink Communications, who are also producing the beautiful catalogue showcasing all the Graphex winners (available at GDC.net soon). The creation of a promotional website that paralleled their campaign in a clever way was a challenge our team devoured with vigor, so this award feels really great. Thanks to Ben, Kevin, Cameron, Amanda, Leigh and Haig for making it happen. And thanks to GDC for the opportunity to do what we do best.

Having served as a volunteer with Graphex this year, the memory of a sea of tables displaying 600 submissions is still fresh in my mind. The notion of organizing, categorizing, review and judging over 8,000 entries submitted to the Webby Awards this year makes me a little dizzy. No wonder they charge $275 for each entry. Wait a second: $275 x 8,000 = $2,200,000. Oh my goodness. Someone is making some huge money.

We recently learned our website for UBC’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture has been accepted into Directions 2008, The Advertising and Design Club of Canada’s (ADCC) annual awards show. Thought we should share the good news!

A key to the redesign of the SALA website was to present the UBC School of Architecture as a leader in the education of architecture, as well as to reflect a culture of design, research and community within the four recently merged departments. Additionally, the site required the delivery and management of a vast amount of program and admissions information in diverse graphic and textual forms in an easy to navigate format.

In contrast to the many brochure-style school websites, the SALA site presents the exemplary work that is produced on an ongoing day-to-day basis by its community. The design dynamically features content individually input by staff, faculty and students using a Drupal platform as a content management framework and an HTML and Flash presentation layer. Through the provision of individual blogs/conversations and the areas of the site provided to key groups, the site fosters interaction, exchange and exploration amongst the SALA community.

Congratulations to Mark, Ben, Haig, Amanda, Kevin, Cameron, Matthew, Sarah and everyone else who had a hand in bringing this terrific project to life.

The finalists for the Canadian New Media Awards have been announced and on the heels of Ben’s post on awards shows, I continue to have mixed feelings about awards shows. This one stands out from others because the awards go to the individual or firm, as opposed to celebrating good work.

With categories like Designer, Programmer, Educator and Company of the year, I wonder how the nomination, selection and award process works. The explanation on the site leaves a bit to be desired, and upon drilling down to the personal site of one of the nominees (who has been recognized in 2008, 2006, 2005 and 2001) I found out that they were also on the judging committee in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Hmmm…conflict of interest?

Easy to bitch I know, the bottom line is that there’s some high quality work being recognized worth of checking out.

Applied Arts Magazine announced its latest list of winners today, and Vacnouver’s Rethink Communications cleaned up. As usual. 44 of their submissions were chosen as winners—including the Graphex 2008 invitations they designed for GDC. Congratulations to all our friends at Rethink!