We just received the Call For Entries for Graphex 2010—GDC’s biennial national design awards. The concept is “A Reflection Of The Best Designers In Canada”, so I photographed myself reflected in the shiny mirror postcard. Does this mean I’m now among the best designers in Canada? No, but maybe it’ll bring some luck as we get ready to submit a bunch of work from the past couple years. Fingers crossed!

I see GDC has created a public Graphex 2010 group on Flickr, so hopefully more designers across the country will post similar photos of themselves.

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.

Just today I was trying to decide whether to bother entering a few of our recent web projects into the W3 Awards and was in a bit of a fence-sitting position about it.

Over the course of a year we are becoming bombarded by more and more award show calls-for-entries. This wasn’t a bad thing when we were researching what we wanted to do for our Graphex 2008 website, but it can be downright frustrating, time and cash consuming wading through the chaff and determining which shows to enter. Sometimes it’s easy; such as when it’s a very prestigious show with a stellar reputation, a good local/regional show and one with a good track record. Shows with brand name recognition such as Communication Arts, One Show, Lotus Awards, Webbys, Graphex (of course!) etc fall into this category for us. And yes, even these are debatable.

Then there are shows we’ve never heard of, or with questionable materials (I mean, if you can’t design a decent CFE, how are you going to judge our work and by what standards?

Then there’s the consideration of fit. Do I really want to enter a project done for a university into a consumer category? Or, if the show has so many categories that I can find one that’s an exact match for almost any work in any industry, what are they trying to accomplish and how competitive is the show? Are they awarding one winner in each category or the top percentage of entries? Do they charge you more for a recognition certificate or statue? Who are the judges? What sort of work has won in the past? You get my point.

I suppose there are some firms that set aside a decent budget to enter awards as a form of marketing strategy. There are certainly no shortage of clients looking to work for award winning agencies, but that’s not guarantee they are going to get award winning work. Then again, what else can we do with our often limited resources than hand it over to award shows that seem to exist merely as a business to make their producers money? I suggest there are quite a few things we can think of. As long as we can keep a steady roster of clients interested in good, solid, effective and business-objective-oriented work and not simply chase awards at all costs. We love it when these things can coexist of course.

We’ll always enter our best work into the best shows (not throw everything at every show in every category), but personally, we’d rather pay our staff more money, take them out more often or treat our great clients to a nice meal than toss a wad of cash at award shows that exist soley to make money.

What’s your experience, and what shows do you regard as the best? Be great to have a decent list and list some of your experiences here.

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!

Word has it that the Graphex 2008 commemorative binder is totally WOW! The binder was given out as a welcome kit to the judges and so far it’s been very well received. Don’t you just love the laser etched bamboo cover? We do. The binding is tres elegant and it feels great too! While you’re online check out Shrapnel Design (they produced the binder) and the Graphex 2008 site. See you tonight at the Judges Event – 5-10:30 pm, UBC Robson Square, Theatre RmC300.

Last night, November 21st, 2007, Jeff Harrison and Rethink Communications won a prestigious Lotus Award in the category of Best Design Poster for their design of the GDC Graphex 2008 Call For Entries poster. Well done guys!

He’s worked with Burton Snowboards since 1984. He owns the biggest design firm in Brazil. He’s the current global creative director of Starbucks and formerly of Nike. He created the only comprehensive course on Canadian design history. He was educated at the Kunstvgewerbeschule Basel. His clients include Adidas, Gap, and Coca Cola. Her current work is weaved into carpet at Saks Fifth Avenue.

And you can meet them all in person on November 30th as they converge in Vancouver as the international jury for the Graphex 2008 national design competition.

You don’t want to miss this unique opportunity to meet these influential designers from around the world as they give special presentations centered on the theme of the power of design and its effects on the world. Combining topics from practical advice to philosophical guidance to the creative expressive toward meaningful work. The evening will include a rare intimate and interactive discussion and debate with the audience.

For more information or to buy tickets (limited seats available) visit http://www.gdc.net/graphex/email2

GDC’s Graphex 2008 National Design Awards were recently announced with a deadline for entries of November 23rd, 2007. Designed and developed by Industrial Brand Creative, the website features an animated Flash interface with dynamic content driven by XML feeds from a conventional HTML CMS backend. Pretty slick, right? That’s what we thought too.

The theme for this year’s competition, “The Best of Visual Communications: Opens a World of Possibilities”, uses the visual language of a tournament ladder structure to reveal the various influences and inputs that go into a design solution, as well as serving as a representation of the fierce competition to win a prestigious Graphex Award. As well, the tournament ladder is flipped to explore the various possible influences and effect a particular design project can have far beyond the creative brief or client, such as on the community, economy, environment and society. And what effects will winning an award such as Graphex have on our own lives, reputations and careers?

Graphex 2008 asks the question “What effect will your design have?” Enter now to find out.