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.

We recently sent our summer newsletter which covers topics like how to brew the perfect cup of iced coffee, a quick look at a couple recent success stories, an article about how businesses can select the best design partner, and an announcement about a couple additions to our growing team.

Hopefully you received a copy of the newsletter in your inbox, but don’t panic if you missed it, you can still view it online. Please sign up to be added for the next blast due in a few months (we try to keep them to a minimum).

Happy summer!

Industrial Brand is excited to welcome two new members to our growing communication design team.

Sylvia Rigakis comes to us from Edmonton Alberta where she owned and managed her Chaos Communications for 14 years and served as President of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC) Alberta North Chapter as well as Vice-President, Communications for the national executive of the GDC. A graduate of Emily Carr University of Art and Design and Grant MacEwan University, Sylvia brings over 20 years of experience as a designer, director and manager as she assumes the role of Production Manager, overseeing all aspect of project and studio management.

Tyler Wilman is a talented young designer adept at identity, print and web design and production, making him a perfect fit for our team. Also a graduate of Emily Carr’s Communication Design program, Tyler combines with conceptual thinking, obsession for type and photography, and traditional graphic design process to bear as a Senior Communication Designer and leader on our team.

Welcome Sylvia & Tyler! We’re pleased to have you on the team and already enjoying collaborating with you on the brand, identity, communication and interactive projects in the studio recently.

There’s something happily surreal about sipping on your morning coffee and reading the newspaper when you stumbled across a story about a client’s success story. Very nice indeed.

A few years ago we designed the logo, brand identity system and website for a proposed state of the art sports training, medicine and therapy complex in Burnaby called The MultiSport Centre of Excellence. After years of delays, the construction has finally begun with a ground-breaking ceremony.

Congratulations to all involved in the project!

For the past three and a half months I have been an intern at Industrial Brand, and what a journey it has been. I have learnt a lot about the business of design and every step in between from how to write an RFP response to preparing production ready files to organizing a 16TB server chock-a-block full of archives and files up to 14 years old! The whole design process: beginning to end. Come on, what more could you ask for out of an internship, really! It’s awesome!

For all of you who know the team at Industrial Brand personally, I think we can all safely say they say a lot of random things. During my internship I have published a series of quotes on my blog that the members at Industrial Brand have said at the office. Half of the team did not know they have been secretly recorded for this purpose… SURPRISE! Some of the quotes have been censored out (for good reason) and some have been forgotten through time. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed listening to these five unforgettable people.

Here are a couple examples:

For the rest, check out my Tumblr page: nikolej.tumblr.com/tagged/Fun_Quotes

What I have learnt at Industrial Brand is invaluable, and definitely unforgettable. I have been able to see and contribute to multiple projects, some from the beginning of the design discovery process, and some projects as they are coming to an end and being sent to press. One thing I know now from interning at Industrial Brand, as funny as it may sound, is that there is so much I do not know. School can only teach you so much, and until you are in a working environment and get a real grasp at what you are doing, it’s only then that you get to use those skills they taught you at school and apply them.

There are many things I shall miss at Industrial Brand. I shall miss: Charlie running into furniture when we moved things around the office, the morning banters, the ‘tining’ sound of iPhones going off, the random jokes and off topic conversations that never end, and the random one liners that keep me laughing. Most importantly I shall miss the people at Industrial Brand. This office is made up of five very uniquely different team members who all bring a new perspective and individuality to the team.  How they bring together each members’ individual styles into the projects, while listening and guiding one another through the design process I will never know. All I know is that I will miss it.

I will now pack my backpack with books and a K4 sandwich and go back to school, finishing my 4^th year of BA Graphic Design for Marketing Degree Program at Kwantlen. Thank you Industrial Brand for everything. Your knowledge and wisdom is invaluable. During this summer I have viewed the team as my Yoda, my Jedi Master of communication design.

Good luck. Farwell… and I am just a text message away in case something is lost on the server.

Thank you!  Nikole Japuncic

‘Stationery!’

Industrial Brand is looking for the next member of their communication design team. If you think that’s you, visit this job posting on GDC.net and convince us you’re the right choice.

Before you send us that cover letter and resume PDF you have at the ready, please note the requirements and instructions in the job postings. You might also want to read this first and take it to heart.

Last year our brand identity project for Yaaway was featured in BIV’s special AdPages issue in an article called Logos Stick written by Jill Lambert. This year we are proud to have some of our work and opinions featured by BIV again, this time in an article in the AdPages 2010 20th anniversary edition called What Meets the Eye.

Written by Noa Blouberman, the article is a look at some of the key aspects behind effective visual design solutions with some tips for business, and features a recent ad campaign we created for Bikram’s Metrotown Yoga as well as the identity and campaign we developed for Amacon’s District real estate development project on South Main.

Click here for a PDF of the article in question without downloading the entire e-book or 10MB PDF.

After a lengthy search resulting in dozens of portfolio reviews and interviews, Industrial Brand is proud to announce the newest member of its growing communication design team.

Joanna Ambrosio was born in Mexico City and raised in Guadalajara and graduated with honours from the ITESO before finishing her Masters of Design in Vancouver at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, where she was chosen as class valedictorian. As Industrial Brand’s newest Communication Designer, Joanna brings over six years of international experience working as a Communication Designer in Canada, Indonesia and Mexico.

Joanna’s passion as a designer is exploring the different possibilities that hybrid design brings to a stream of creative discipline, and how this diversity can be used as a tool to expand the relationship between space, culture and creativity.

A co-founder of the creative collective Gámomo Creative Lab, where she served as Head Designer overseeing the publishing of Mátika Magazine for the past six years, Joanna’ strong background in identity and print design is complimented by her abilities in strategy development, design research, web interface design, and environmental installations.

Joanna loves working with people from around the world and different perspectives on collaborative projects, and is committed to a life-long learning experience both in and outside the job. Like most Mexicans, she’s crazy about good food, so she’ll fit in easily at Industrial Brand.

Welcome Joanna! We’re looking forward to seeing your work and your contributions to this blog!

Jim Rimmer died last week and I really wasn’t sure I wanted to post anything online after writing a tribute post for my recently deceased friend Leo Obstbaum. Losing people takes the wind right out of your sails. Then I found the following letter which was part of the nomination a group of us submitted for the Order of British Columbia last year. Unfortunately Jim was not selected as a recipient.

Dear Eric,

It was very nice to speak with you recently and learn of your nomination of our friend Jim Rimmer for the Order of British Columbia. As you know, I was the Executive Officer with the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada who nominated Mr. Rimmer for a Fellowship within GDC—our highest honour in the nation within the profession of graphic design. I did so in order to recognize and bring honour to this man and his remarkable achievements and contributions to our profession and industry.

I am convinced that Jim Rimmer is one of Canada’s living national treasures, and one of the finest British Columbians I have ever had the pleasure to meet. He’s so much more than the designer, illustrator, printer, publisher, and one of the few remaining typography and letterpress craftsmen alive today. He has been a teacher, a mentor, a kind friend, and inspiration to a very long list of printers, type designers, publishers, students, teachers, design firms, type foundries, and book lovers throughout his long career—a career that has lasted six decades and is still going strong.

Mr. Rimmer is an example of what dedication to a craft can accomplish. He is an amazing, creative, faithful traditionalist, but managed to remain relevant by fearlessly embracing new technologies that may have seemed at the time to render his previous training obsolete. Yet all the while he has managed also to keep alive the craft of hot type, hand-cut prints, letterpress lithography. Jim’s books and prints feel good, they smell good, they read well. His books are cherished by many as not only things to read, but things to admire and enjoy. Jim is one of the only remaining masters and should be cherished.

But that’s not the only reason I feel Jim deserves recognition. Jim has inspired many young people to rediscover the craft behind his type, prints and books. He has inspired numerous generations of designers; designers who now work as the visual storytellers of culture. Those creative professionals are now spread across this land and across the world, each of them remembering the lessons that this quiet man who showed them the way. The way it used to be done: by hand. But also showed them how the skills of that craft are relevant today in this fast-paced world of computers and digital media. The day we lose Jim Rimmer will be a sad day indeed, but he will leave behind a lasting legacy and an army of design practitioners better for having known him.

And to know Jim Rimmer personally is truly a pleasure. He’s such a generous and humble character, always respectful, encouraging and kind, often going to great lengths to help others with no need for credit or recognition. Many have described him as a maverick, a renegade even, quietly following his own path. And that too is a great quality that many British Columbians can proudly relate to.

I am humbled when I consider Mr. Rimmer’s history and contributions as both a craftsman of old as well as an innovator with creative genius, and wish to enthusiastically support your initiative in nominating him for the Order of British Columbia. He is a shining example of what the caliber of person I wish British Columbia to be known for.

Note: The typeface this letter is composed in is Jim Rimmer’s Albertan, named after his lovely wife Alberta, which he first hand-engraved for his private press in 1980.  It’s still as wonderful a face now as it was nearly 30 years ago.

We miss you Jim.

[photo credit Robert McCamant/The Caxtonian]

We just finished a new identity and marketing campaign for a development project called District South Main for our client Amacon. The first teaser advertisements just hit the streets and the initial website has launched and is now accepting early registration. Check out www.southmaindistrict.com to learn more.