Have you ever hung out with people who all belong to a different professional circle than you and they crack ‘industry specific’ jokes? You can feel clueless and a total ‘div head’ (English slang for a rather slow stupid person) for not getting the joke. In the same way I am also sure we have all been involved in conversations even within our own companies where people are talking about something that we don’t understand. Even though we may never admit it, we have probably played along with the conversation pretending to be in the know, nodding with a sense of confidence backed with extreme fear that we may get caught out.

This is one reason I decided to take the ‘Introduction to Web Development and Design’ course at BCIT. As a designer in my 30′s I was trained and bottle-fed on print design and not web design (the web will never smell as good as a freshly printed ink drenched brochure). My lack of knowledge and understanding for coding and web standards was starting to be a hindrance. Sure I may have nodded my head with understanding as our web guys talked about divs, WC3 and some guy called Zeldman, and as Art Director in a company that focusses on web and print design my knowledge was lacking, so it was time to go back to school.

I have a successful career, am married with a kid and I can afford more than just plain pasta for dinner and here I am at 37 being a student again. I know this is all in my head but it was for sure a little bizarre going off to class once a week. I was also concerned before the first class  that I would be the ‘old fart’ in the corner trying to keep up with all the young ‘whipper snappers’. In fact there was a great diversity of people there, from younger people who were just starting their careers; people who were hired by their companies to maintain their corporate website (and needed training) and people like myself.

The course was hard work. It was like learning a new language, something that doesn’t come easily to me. Remembering when to use absolute, float or relative positioning sometimes ‘mashed’ my brain but at the same time the problem solving part of my brain enjoyed figuring-out solutions to why the code I just wrote didn’t do what I had expected (damn those closing tags).

I procrastinated (well actually avoided) taking this course as I had to admit to myself that I was not perfect, or that times had changed and that I needed to ‘catch up’ a little. But I am glad I did. I can now participate fully in conversations, give better strategic direction to my entire team and am able to challenge my web guys and know what I am talking about. I don’t pretend to know everything about web and programming, but investing in this new knowledge has given me new tools and confidence.

One unexpected bonus of being in college for me was receiving a student membership card where I got a killer discount for trendy clothing shops selling 80′s style clothes (that I unfortunately remember wearing the first time I went to college).

In conclusion, I would invite you to ask yourself if there is room for you to improve or to be better in your job. It’s OK to go back to college or seek private one-on-one training when the opportunity arises. Don’t be a ‘div head’ and let your ego or some other reason prevent you from growing in your profession.

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!’

Bill Buxton is so cool. He’s Canadian, a massively talented designer, and arguably the world authority on interaction and usability design. What’s not to like? Oh, Buxton does work at Microsoft as their Principal Researcher, but I forgive him for wanting a big paycheck and working for the world’s most powerful software company. I’ve even had the pleasure of shaking his hand after he gave a stirring lecture at a conference some time ago and since then have been a big fan.

His book, Sketching User Experiences: Getting The Design Right and the Right Design, argues that sketching, prototyping, and iteration are essential parts of the design process itself. And I must say I agree—especially these days where the complex marriage of increased media with information appliances and reactive environments makes the convoluted behaviors of the devices we use as important as human behaviour itself.

In 2007 Buxton presented an excellent lecture about his thinking in this area at the Stanford University Human-Computer Interaction Program where he discussed the design process itself, from the perspective of methods, organization, and composition. See Bill Buxton’s Stanford lecture about sketching interactions on YouTube.

Friend of the studio and occasional collaborator Jer Thorp is putting on some Processing Workshops in Vancouver. I’ve had an intro into Processing from Jer while I was in school and enjoyed it, though sadly haven’t spent much time in it since. If only there were some great one day sessions held in a great location that I could take…

Choosing the right partner to expand your design business can be just the thing you need to survive and grow, especially in these uncertain economic times.

Recently we published a short article about partnerships which was well received, leading our friends at FunctionFox to asked us to create a more comprehensive presentation called Partnership: Choosing the right person to expand your design business with and host one of their popular webinars on February 12th, 2009 at 11am PST. We’ll try to jam all our thoughts into a concise 30 minute presentation followed by a 15 minute Q&A session. You can view our webinar online at FunctionFox’s website, and below is the text version of our presentation:

“Some animals mate for Life”
In business, mating for life isn’t usually the case. And love rarely comes into it. Tricky business finding a partner. So the plan today is to delve into the topic of when it’s time to pursue a partner and how to choose the right person so your design business can grow. Identifying and selecting this person can be fraught with complexity and choosing incorrectly can ruin your business, not to mention your relationship with that person. Choosing well can be a brilliant move. Even then, it may not be for life, but certainly will be a more positive experience.

“A partnership is like marriage, in that like marriage they ought to make it as hard to get into as they make it to get out of.”
This article started out as a sole proprietorship, just one person’s thoughts on the subject of taking on a business partner, specifically in the design industry but really good advice for anyone. It was a decent article; informed and informative and generally well written. But the author thought it could be better so he sought a co-writer and effectively formed a partnership. In doing so he gave up complete control over the content and the end result, probably figuring he’d either have not much more work to do on it as his new partner took the reins, or that he might be in for a couple debates on its direction before it was finalized. Or, totally regret the decision and have to figure out how to wrest authorship control back.

Before you read on, know this: the resulting advice you are about to read now comes from a partnership. We collaborated on its creation much as we’ve complimented each other for the past twelve years in the running of our design firm. Some of this information we’re going to share may seem like common sense. Some of this learning came via the business degrees that we both hold and our creative backgrounds, but mostly it’s been from working together as partners, the triumphs and mistakes we’ve made over the 12 years we’ve been in business together. We’ll share our perspectives and advice for design professionals considering a business partner. We don’t have all the answers, but we’ll try to cover as many of the angles as we can based on our personal experiences—including our own failed third partner attempt.

“Ask yourself, ‘Would I marry this person?’”
Let’s assume you’ve made it though design school of some kind and now have  achieved relative success growing your small design practice into a viable business under your leadership. You’ve looked at the numbers, evaluated the industry and it’s time to expand to take your business to that next level. You think the way to do it is to get a business partner. But where do you start? What do you look for in a candidate? And when you find him, what then?

Despite the faith business clients often place in designers to build brand strategies on their behalf, the irony is that designers often do not possess adequate business acumen to run their own companies. Talk to any designer that runs his own operation and you’ll hear the same stories about getting “burned” by clients because he learned the hard way that you have to take care of the business side of the relationship before the creative one. The same thing applies to establishing a healthy partnership.

A design practice can be profitable and growing for years, yet all could be lost in a short period of time with one bad client, or an inappropriate choice of partner. Don’t be blinded by the desire to partner with someone who appears brilliantly talented. He may be, but he may also wreak havoc on your business for a variety of reasons. The cultural and financial benefits of finding the right partner can be amazing and rewarding. The price of a bad choice will, at minimum, be felt for months or years afterwards, if the business survives.

There are numerous reasons why a business owner would take on a partner. Besides sharing leadership, management and administrative duties, a partner shares your financial risk and responsibility. But this is rarely the reason a design professional jumps into a partnership. The primary motivating factors should be the potential for expanding the company’s capabilities and growing the business.

Rather than pontificate on the merits and pitfalls of partnerships from only our perspective, we asked a number of respected design business owners what their views and experience on the matter are. This is a diverse group of people coming from completely different backgrounds. All have been or are still in partnerships—some successful and some incredible failures.

“Think about it, if you were a figure skater, you’d want to make damn sure whomever was going to catch you actually can.”
The beauty of an effective partnership is that you are working together with the same incentives—a share of ownership in the success of what you are building together. Two really can be better than one. In the absence of a lot of cash to offer a person with the expertise you need, a share of the business may be the way to go—especially if he brings his existing key clients, vendors and staff with him.

From another perspective, you are creating a great efficiency by merging the cost structures of running two separate businesses and keeping all the revenue from both. In many cases when you only look at a prospective partnership from that angle, it looks very rosy indeed.

Ask yourself this though: Do you really need a partner to achieve your goals? Can you hire someone to help you and work out some other form of profit sharing or compensation without sharing control of the company? It’s an option worth looking at. It may seem like you are paying him too much, or more than you can afford at the moment, but partnerships—especially those that fail—can be even more costly.

“One major factor of our failed relationship was that we had no mission statement when we started.”
Understand what a partnership is. You don’t need to technically do anything to form a partnership except declare one, but let’s be straight here; if you don’t do your due diligence, openly discuss both sides’ intentions, and agree to all aspects of the business structure, ownership, responsibilities and profit sharing in writing, there is a high likelihood of misunderstandings, mistrust and ultimately failure.

Have a business plan to serve as a foundation. Without a plan, you have nothing. What do you provide? To whom? Analyze your situation and do a SWOT analysis like you would for any of your client projects. What are your individual strengths and weaknesses? What opportunities and threats face you personally and your company? This will go a long way to answering the question about whether a partnership is a good idea. And once you find the potential new partner(s), repeat this process all over again for all parties.

“Don’t be 100 percent sure, be five hundred percent.”
There are numerous risks to entering into a partnership too. Beyond the emotional stress that can occur, or risks of giving someone else access to the assets , finances and proprietary information of the company, the wrong choice in a partner can ruin a firm’s reputation. Remember, not only the company’s, but your reputation will now be tied to his. Your colleagues, past and potential clients and employees, and the entire industry will likely judge you based on this new relationship.

If your new partner is talented, well-known, respected and professional, this will be a wonderful public alliance. If he’s not, then you might have a major image problem on your hands. Oh, and keep this in mind: your partner has the same thing on his mind. No more raunchy behaviour at client parties, unless you both agree that your reputations will be damaged if you behave!

“No one said anything to me about this person until after it was a done deal. I should have been more assertive in my lines of questioning.”
Look for the best fit and investigate your prospective partner’s experience, history and reputation to determine if he has indeed done what he claims he can do for you. If you are seeking a senior creative professional with management and leadership abilities, verify he has been successful with this in the past. You don’t want to find yourself partners with someone you expect to build your team and guide the creative and production process only to discover that he is best suited to working autonomously.

Regardless of what he has told you, Google your potential candidate. What has he done? What is his reputation? Talk to former employers, clients and employees—happy and more importantly, unhappy ones. This might be harder to do if the person is coming from another city, but that makes it even more important. Why is he really moving?

Don’t skip this step. Many failed partners we spoke with admitted that if they’d only spent more time doing due diligence in this area, they would have uncovered serious doubts and concerns over potential choices for potential partners.

“Not to say going into business with friends is a bad thing, but I think we all wandered into it with more optimism than realism.”
Just because you like someone, worked well with him at school, or are related to him is not a good enough reason to get into business together. There are exceptions of course, but along with the usual risks, going into business with a chum or relative can turn into both a volatile and caustic work situation that can also destroy your personal relationship.

Something else to consider is if there is a pre-existing friendship or relationship between some partners but not all. It will undoubtedly be difficult for a new partner to feel truly a part of your team right away. Your partnership should based on goals, skills and strategy, not merely on being social friends. It’s been said many times before, but a partnership is a fast way to lose a friend forever.

“We’ve been very fortunate to have had a partnership last as long as we have (20 years)…largely due to the fact that we have complementary/contrasting personalities and aptitudes.”
Imagine trying to run a marathon with a pebble in your shoe. At first it might just be a little annoying, but after a few kms…

As a designer, consider your styles and approach to problem solving. Are they compatible and complementary? As important as whether your personalities ‘fit’, your design backgrounds, aesthetic preferences and methodologies must be considered. Will there be a power struggle? How well will you collaborate? Who gets to make the final call on a design or production choice? Will this anger the other partner and make him feel undermined or disrespected? If not carefully considered, a bad ‘fit’ can grow from a seemingly little thing to a major problem and source of stress.

“My mistake was going into business with a partner from a different background.”
There’s a well-known adage that a partnership is like a marriage, and it’s true. In his article Good and Bad Reasons for Having a Partner, John Burton put it best when he said that “like marriage, they ought to make it as hard to get into [a partnership] as they make it to get out of.” Make sure you’re comfortable with each other before moving in together.

Don’t rush into a partnership. Once you’ve identified what you deem to be a good candidate, be patient. It’s not always easy, or possible, but consider creating a working relationship that allows you to work with one another for a while. Of course, you might have already been doing so which led you to both conclude a partnership might make sense.

Take it slowly. If your potential partner is unwilling to be patient, then you have your first clue that something might be awry. If you’re married, or even in a committed relationship, consider how long it was before you took those critical steps in the relationship.

“As much as I hate lawyers, I love them too.”
Yes, lawyers are going to cost you some money, but think about it: as designers we’re constantly telling our clients to leave design to the professionals; so leave the law to lawyers.

Find a corporate lawyer you like who has experience in partnerships and get him to draft up the official shareholders agreement for you. Don’t skip this step! There are even consultants that specialize in helping small businesses expand or transition with issues such as partnerships. Find one and let the experts help guide you.

Likewise, use an accountant and lawyer to establish valuations and share structure and create a shareholders agreement (SHA). There is no one way to do this and really the only important thing is to agree on amounts, ownership structure, timelines and make sure both parties are comfortable.

“The legal agreement we had in place saved my ass.”
You know, they didn’t have enough life boats on the Titanic and look what happened. Design management consultant and speaker David C. Baker warns about what he calls the “Five Ds”: divorce, death, disability, dismissal or departure. What happens when one of these occur? It’s crucial to be prepare for the worst.

In your SHA, include provisions for an exit should you, or your new partner, ever want out—whether it is amicable or not. So do you dive in or wade into the partnership? One school of thought believes that having a trial period with a short term exit plan will actually hinder the progress of the partnership and reduce each party’s willingness to really give it their all. This is an area where you have to make your own decision because there’s no one right way to do it. Do what’s comfortable for you both and realize that the focus of the relationship should be long term.

“Another contributing factor to the demise of our partnership was we had too many chefs in the kitchen. Three designers, each taking on the creative director role.”
Even if you are bringing complimentary areas of expertise into the relationship, it’s important to establish well-defined roles and responsibilities that disseminate the various aspects of running the business such as marketing, sales, finances, management and who is primarily in charge of creative leadership. Even if creative duties are shared by the partners, understand how to deal with situations when one partner disagrees with a choice or direction on a project.

Here’s an old one: So, how many designers does it take to change a lightbulb? ‘What…change it again?? I’ve already changed it six &$#* times!”

Mixed direction and inconsistency can be a huge cause of stress and difficulty within your team. Hence, the importance of partnering with someone with a compatible design style and creative process, and in establishing responsibilities so the culture of the creative team is not undermined by bickering or disagreements between the partners.

As much as conflict resolution should be a part of your written SHA, make sure you have also articulated in writing outside of it how these things are handled on a day-to-day basis (hint: well defined job descriptions are a good place for this). If you are constantly reaching for the SHA to sort things out, the partnership is likely doomed.

“Going into business with someone is serious stuff—do your homework and solicit input from trusted advisors.”
Not all designers have the advantage of a business degree, but that’s no excuse not to do your homework and continue learning how to better run your business. Every community has a Board of Trade who may be able to help guide you. In Vancouver, we’re fortunate to have a small business resource centre located in Waterfront Centre. http://www.smallbusinessbc.ca/ And of course designers have their professional associations, such as The Society of Graphic Designers in Canada and AIGA in the US—each filled with experienced design professionals with advice to give.

But don’t just rely on reading materials or the advice of strangers. On of the best ways to grow your business is to find yourself a mentor you respect or even form a small group of advisors—your Board of Directors as it were. Share all the information with your most trusted advisors and solicit their input before making any radical decisions. Heed their advice, but remember that people give away opinions like they do kittens, so in the end you need to make the decision for yourself and be willing to live with it.

“I wish I’d listened more intently to what my heart and gut was so obviously screaming.”
If something doesn’t seem right to you, it probably isn’t. Body language and listening as closely to what is not said are important cues that will give you a better sense of whether things feel right. If there’s something you can’t quite put you finger on, dig a little harder, it’s likely that something will rise to the surface eventually, better before than too late.

In addition, consider that the person you may partner with has his best face forward as you work through the details during the courtship phase. If his behaviour is less than exemplary, then there’s good indication that it won’t get any better as time moves on. It might also show you how he will react when dealing and negotiating with clients.

“We wanted to be sure the new relationship was solid before making a formal announcement, but by then we were getting calls from people asking us about it.”
Any senior designer you chose to partner with will bring with him a portfolio that predates your working relationship. Carefully consider how his work and yours will integrate as you seek new clients together. Moving forward, it’s best to be transparent with potential clients about the work you both did before the merger.

Of course you’ll want to announce to the world this new partnership. Timing is important. You’ll want to make sure you wait just long enough to ensure it’s a solid relationship, but also not too long that it’s old news.

It’s also important to consider the language you use to announce and describe your new partnership publicly. Make sure all partners agree on the story and language to be used to describe the change in the business structure so it best represents all sides.

“Anyone can run a company when times are good. It’s in difficult circumstances that great leaders are measured.”
In an attempt to summarize this complex topic, it’s best to go back to the beginning of this article. At various stages during the process of establishing a partnership keep asking these questions: Do you really need a business partner? Do the potential benefits still outweigh the possible risks? If the answer remains yes, keep going. But never hold off asking and dealing with the toughest questions at the start out of fear that the person will take offense or kill the deal. If this happens, consider it a blessing and keep looking.

Find a like-minded professional that brings something to the business—someone you want to be in business with for the long term. Commit to the relationship as you would a marriage. But do your homework. Going into business together has proven to be a great move for us and it can be for you too, just take the time to find that special someone.

Summary:

• Be honest with yourself about your business skills
• Understand what a partnership really is
• Analyze the situation thoroughly from all angles
• Recognize the risks
• Investigate the candidate thoroughly
• Resist the urge to work with friends or family
• Consider fit, style and approach
• Don’t rush into things
• Consult a lawyer and accountant
• Create a shareholder agreement
• Define roles and responsibilities
• Consult your mentor or trusted advisors
• Determine conflict resolution
• Listen to your gut
• Commit as you would to a marriage

For more information about this or other webinars, visit FunctionFox’s events page.

Do Good Design: How Designers Can Change the World

The follow review by Mark Busse was originally published on TAXI Design Network:

David B. Berman has been demonstrating inspired design leadership for nearly three decades and this book is no exception. After decades of volunteer work as an international ambassador for the communication design industry, Berman’s book Do Good Design: How Designers Can Change the World is another fine example of his tendency toward helping others—and not just graphic designers, but all of us.

The book presents a well-researched and clearly articulated argument that design matters—more now than ever before—and like the First Things First manifesto referenced in Erik Spiekermann’s foreword, Do Good Design serves as a call to action to designers everywhere to stand up, take our seat at the boardroom table and start changing the way the world looks at design.

The book begins with Berman explaining that he intends to shock us. Even the title page is a bit of a jolt, the first words reading, “Why does this book need a title page?” challenging the publishing paradigm, leaving me wanting to read every stitch of fine print. The very next page doesn’t disappoint either, with scribbles in the margin—as though the proofreader’s marks were left in place, immediately setting a fun, irreverent tone.

Berman keeps his promise of shock. Arguing that we are now all designers, and we have far more power than we thought—in fact, enough to solve the greatest design challenge of our lifetime: to repair the world. “In a well-designed future,” claims Berman, “it will be the message crafters, the product designers, and the experts in transporting ideas and artifacts across great distances and generations who may hold the greatest responsibility.”

A chronicle of one man’s journey as a creative professional, Berman describes his discoveries and frustrations and the wisdom they brought him. Infused with passion and sincerity, the thoughtful prose is accessible with dozens of illustrated examples and titillating photographs—many of which taken by Berman himself during his travels.

Unlike most design books, Do Good Design isn’t filled with examples from Berman’s portfolio. Rather, it predominantly showcases the work of others. Some good. Some embarrassingly bad. All demonstrating the positive and negative power of communication design. Berman shows how design was at the core of the botched 2000 US elections. He demonstrates how the export of North American consumerism has eroded culture as well our physical environment. He warns of the dangers of branding, calling to task the likes of Coke, Nike, big tobacco—even all of North America itself—for endorsing the use of communication design in order to deceive. Berman argues that “designers are at the core of the most efficient and most destructive pattern of deception in human history.”

But this book is not all doom and gloom judgments by a jaded nay-sayer. Rather, it’s an honest and balanced examination of this important issue based on real experiences over decades of exposure to design. In fact, he includes numerous examples of brands and advertising design being used for good by many. But as a Fellow and Ethics Chair of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada, the first elected President of RGD Ontario, and currently a vice-president of Icograda, Berman even questions the standards set by our very own industry.

From a purely design perspective, the book is refreshing and immediately apparent that a skilled typographer was at the helm during the book’s graphic design. With call outs, bolded statements for emphasis, mini stories along the face edge, and whimsical comments scribbled in margins as though by the editor’s Sharpie, the book is easy to read and engaging. The black and white reproduction seems to have been slightly sacrificed, likely in an effort to make a sustainable printed product, which admittedly irked me slightly.

As a fellow Canadian design professional, I am proud of the well-informed, international perspectives found in Berman’s book. I’m proud that someone in our field had the guts to say these things and put the blame squarely where it belongs: on all our shoulders. Proud that he has continued his struggle to redefine the role of the designer. A role that should include social responsibility. We designers have an obligation to use our power with caution. Berman’s book lays in sharp contrast the things we’ve not yet achieved as an industry and the work left to do. This book doesn’t present all the answers, but it does ask some poignant questions. And it presents a well-defended argument that design does indeed matter—now more than ever before.

While much of Do Good Design delves into serious subject matter such as consumerism and its impact on the environment, global economy and society, the book itself is a light and delightful romp with a somber message for designers: Our occupation may not be the highest-paying profession, but our power and influence has increased and with it our responsibility. This book isn’t just for designers, it’s for anyone interested in design and its role in the world. A world in dire need of help—help we can all provide by the choices we make and ways we behave.

Designers love to make things, it’s time to make change.

To take the Do Good Pledge, please visit the Do Good Design microsite at www.davidberman.com/dogood

All photos copyright David Berman. All rights reserved

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.

My day started today by finding out that I had accidentally saved a crop of a website design yesterday. In the perfect storm of backup redundancies not working (including the most important one – my brain) I was left with one of two options: a) Spend a day rebuilding the file in an already tight timeline or b) finishing production from memory.

Turns out there’s an option 3.
Step 1) Open the affected PSD
Step 2) Increase Canvas Size

Turns out, this recovers around 90% of the data. While I’m unsure of why some of it was saved, and some of it was lost, I’m just thankful to have my file back. To best of my examination layers that I had drawn pixels in with the pencil tool, or “fill with background colour” were lost while smart objects and objects build with the rectangle / circle tool(s) were maintained. The biggest issue is that a lot of the masks were messed up, but nothing that an hour can’t fix. Maybe some adobe junkie and shed some light on this?

October 14th may be the most discussed election date in recent memory; individuals’ voices—and votes—have never mattered more. Perfectthewayweare.ca, an online resource website and video, was created by a group of young Canadians who want to draw attention to some of the major issues Canada is facing right now. This viral movement was developed to ensure that all Canadians are informed on the positions of each party and have the resources available to them to make an educated vote on Election Day.

Please check it out, ask questions and make the right decision for yourself. Vote!

Many thanks to those who contributed to the project. You know who you are!

During the research and planning phase of an upcoming GDC event—Practivism: Practical methods for radical sustainability in design—I came across Alyssa Walker’s article Conventional Wisdom: Eight Ways to Save Design Conferences. In it Walker claims that design conferences have become “exercises in regenerated, wasteful spectacles,” feeling “less like intellectual retreats and more like conspicuous consumption.” In her forthright Core77 post she shares her perspectives and offers numerous ideas for making them more sustainable and relevant. Perhaps her most profound recommendation being to cancel conference plans altogether and replace them with more organic, local, spontaneous and sustainable alternatives.

Having attended numerous conferences and helped organize various events over the years, this article really hit close to home and resonated with me. I even did a little ranting about the traditional conference format myself after attending the HOW Design Conference in Boston earlier this year. But more importantly, it made us in the GDC/BC Executive reconsider our own choices regarding events and role in hosting competitions such as Graphex and conferences such as Icograda Design Week.

Our goal for the Practivism event is to host an enlightening, rhetoric-free evening of wisdom and discussion as our sustainability experts share their experiences and insights, attempt to demystify green speak and provide attendees with practical answers and strategies they can apply in their lives and design practices. But as we discussed the event logistics, such as printing invites, posters, flying the speakers from New York and California, etc, it was a harsh reminder of the impact we have on the environment even when putting on relatively small industry events such as these.

We’re making every effort possible to make effective choices to promote and host our event within realistic parameters, such as reducing our print requirements and ensuring we use production techniques with the smallest environmental input. We even considered remote web video technologies and web streaming as an alternative to needed the speakers to be on-site. Hopefully as we move forward we can make innovations to how events and conferences are organized an produced.

GDC‘s Designer Speaker Series event Practivism: Practical methods for radical sustainability in design will be held on November 13th at Science World in Vancouver. Speakers include, Innovation and Sustainabilty Expert Marc Alt, Green Graphic Design author Brian Dougherty and Design Can Change Founder Eric Karjaluoto. Information and tickets are available at www.practivism.ca.