“We need a Facebook page and a Twitter account, right?” ask many of our clients these days. Much like clients who want news sections or blogs as part of their websites, our answer is always “It really depends.”

If social media channels are where a majority of your audience is spending their time, then yes, you should probably consider making it part of your marketing and communications plan. But if you don’t formulate a strategy and stick to it, you could make a mess and even undermine your brand in the minds of that same audience.

Many of our clients have jumped into the “Twittersphere“, convinced there is benefit in engaging an audience using this new form of communication through micro-blogging. However, some take on this activity without the aid of a formal strategy to guide them and as a result get caught up in tweeting often instead of tweeting well, risking turning off the new audience they’ve attracted.

One of our clients recently engaged the services of two PR & communications professionals and challenged them to build their brand presence online using Twitter. They came out of the gate strong, using some clever posts to get the attention of dozens, then hundreds, of followers. But as they got more comfortable with this new voice, and others in the group joined in the publishing of tweets, they began to post too frequently (and at the wrong times) and the content of their posts were increasingly less relevant to their business and its audience.

Our advice? Focus. It was time to re-examine the strategic plan outlining why they were using social media in the first place. A social media plan is terribly important if you want a tool like Twitter to work for you.

One of the fundamental issues behind a decision to engage in social media with business has to be the goals and objectives. As with any marketing initiative, it is imperative to consider who your target audience is, how they are using social media and most importantly the core message you want to share with your audience. Lastly, some thought toward how success in this new realm will be measured is highly recommended to avoid endlessly investing time with no notion of what positive impact the effort is having

Our client stated that they were expanding their tweets beyond their niche focus to integrate others’ posts (retweets) and local events to establish community relations. This might be a smart strategy if used wisely, but could undermine the whole effort if it resulted in a drift away from the core message and numerous tweets which ultimately serve to annoy their audience.

As much as social media can be a fabulous way to create large ’social’ networks, when used in the service of business, it works best when focused on expressing or reinforcing that ONE THING that a business does best.

For example, a restaurant may choose to use Twitter to foster a genuine relationship with an online community–especially if there is something unique about the restaurant that people may not know about from existing channels. This audience might be grateful to read posts about location openings, new dishes, special offers, contents, events, even customer polls, but that same audience might not appreciate being inundated by frequent, irrelevant or even confusing tweets.

Many social media experts will argue that using Twitter is about creating a conversation, which we agree with, and having a human tone and friendly interactions can be a good way to engage a community in a dialogue, but one should remember that this is still a business/consumer relationship. A corporate Twitter account isn’t probably the best place for chit chat with strangers, clogging others’ Twitter stream.

It’s a good idea to remember that you’re not buddies, and keep casual conversations to a minimum—just enough ton invite or welcome new members to your tribe. If tweets are meaningless gibberish without clicking on “In Reply To…”, or merely retweets of some local Twitterstar with little relevance to your core message, then you are risking annoying your audience and might suffer the dreaded “unfollow”.

Our experience has shown that personalized, original content wins over repurposed content every time, so when tempted to reply, quote or retweet anything, our advice is to pause to recall your strategy, asking yourself “Is this the right tone or relate to our core message?” or “Will our audience understand or even care about this?”

Another risk when tweeting for business is too frequent of posts, which is a common reason for users to unfollow an account. If you have a lot to say, stop to ask yourself “Have I tweeted too much today?” or “Should I schedule this for later?” knowing that there are spikes in Twitter activity in late morning with the peak actually between 3–4pm. Avoid posting a flurry of tweets in a row if you can help it.

Using the restaurant example, perhaps tweets about offers or specials could be scheduled for late afternoon or early evening, resulting in the highest revenue return as people consider where to dine that night.

One company who we think does a tremendous job of using social media to build their business is Rouxbe.com, a Vancouver-based online cooking school and recipe website. They know exactly who their audience is and what they are interested in, and they never stray from their core message.

They tweet original and relevant content just frequently enough to stay top of mind and at strategic times during the day. They also use a variety of online media tools such as Netvibes to track mentions of key words and phrases that appear in the Twittersphere so they can respond to them strategically. They’re cunning in fact.

When someone posts a tweet that says something like “I wish I new how to cook”, they engage them by following them, followed up with a short greeting along with appropriate links to pages on their online cooking school. If someone posts something specific, like “I’d love to learn how to make pad thai,” they respond with a direct link to that recipe with video instructions.

“We hope to do more on the social media side, and for me it’s all about providing a service to others—even if this just means reading, comment or contributing to others.” says Rouxbe founder Joe Girad. “What we try NOT to focus on is “pitching” Rouxbe too often.” This strategy is results in a quick, inoffensive and effective way of engaging people, and their social media efforts have not only helped create a large community, but more importantly a highly focused one that actually spends money on the  company’s website!

Going back to the restaurant example, perhaps the chef decides to do create a special dish? This is a terrific example of what to feature on their Twitter channel! Heck, they could even link to info on the qualities and characteristics of the ingredients and done well, this will compel people to engage in conversation, others to come to the restaurant to try it out.

Of course a restaurant doesn’t want to sound desperate, but some have even started using Twitter to offer special discounts to users and post information on waiting time for tables. Useful and relevant to that audience, making them feel like they have a genuine relationship with the business—like they are part of their tribe.

There are a couple key things to keep in mind when using Twitter. Twitter is just a tool—in fact, it’s a very easy thing to learn how to use—but it takes training and practice to become an effective Twitter user. Also, there is a huge difference between people AT a company and the way they tweet versus the way the company itself tweets to its audience. Forget that and things can backfire quickly.

To summarize, using Twitter can be a powerful business tool used to attract a broader audience when used cleverly as part of a social media strategy, but it can also be a risky proposition if not done well.  When focused and on message, Twitter can help build a business and increase the value of its brand, but used haphazardly and in an unfocused manner, a business runs the risk of annoying and even alienating consumers, causing potentially irreparable damage to the relationship. The key to success is a well-considered strategy resulting in a set of rules understood by all participating in social media outreach.

Now consider all the other social media tools you can use, such as Blogs (yours and others), Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, Technorati, Tumblr, Foursquare, Gowalla…the list goes on. The  reality is that unless you employ a dedicated, full-time  marketing person to create and maintain a comprehensive program, you’ll not likely want (or need) to engage in all of these channels—but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go secure accounts in all of them before someone else does!

Our very own Matt SamyciaWood was featured in a recent issue of Business in Vancouver with his article A Home Business is Still a Business. Addressing some of the more common mistakes with branding a business, Matt shares insights into how those very same lessons can guide a home-based business to consistent messaging and success.

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.

Being involved in the development of District was a great experience.

Working closely with our clients Amacon and Mac Marketing I truly feel that we have all contributed to the South Main district by creating not just a great building but also a brand and lifestyle and an expectation for the type of people who will soon belong to the local community.

The response to District has been very positive. Building one sold out in the first three weeks. Building two has just a couple of suites left. In fact, every element of the development not only worked well but exceeded expectations.

The buzz in the media was great! The PR Campaign that Mac Marketing created with Rock 101 was a huge success. They gave away a $350,000 Condo, Harley-Davidson, home entertainment system, BBQ and iMac—apparently the biggest giveaway contest in the history of Western Canadian Radio history. It drew a lot of traffic to the development and presentation center.

The design that Industrial Brand created was very distinctive. Susan M Boyce wrote in the New Home Buyers Guide article, the following “Located in Vancouver’s South Main neighbourhood, even District’s brochure stands out from the rest… honest, I’m not kidding. It has attitude, and how often can you say that about a brochure?” Download the whole article.

I am looking forward to walking by the buildings when completed and observing the new residents, seeing the intended vision for the neighborhood realized.

If you are serious about your career as a designer, and want to learn from the world’s top experts while participating in an important dialogue about the nature and value of our industry, leaving you better equipped to tackle social, environmental and economic challenges, then you should attend Design Currency: Icograda Design Week in Vancouver 2010.

Presented by the International Council Of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda) and hosted by the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC) from April 26–30, 2010 at Vancouver Convention Centre, the theme of this international, multi-disciplinary design conference is Design Currency: Defining The Value of Design, with the concept of “Currency” being expressed as the state or quality of being current; general acceptance or reception; a passing from person to person, or from hand to hand.

Design Currency: Icograda Design Week in Vancouver 2010 will offer designers, business leaders and government the opportunity to experience current design thinking. Design brings clarity and enhances meaning and has the power to influence our core values, our identity, our expectations and our worldview. The conference will help reshape our mutual understanding of the value of design by exploring the various levels of identity as it relates to processes, sustainability, economy, innovation, change and authenticity in communications that help define who we are and where we are going as a culture.

Preceded by GDC’s national AGM and Icograda’s regional board meeting, the conference will kick off with a keynote presentation of thought-leadership on how design is shaping, and being shaped by, our global community. The following two days will include highly interactive presentations, panel discussions and workshops led by a host of world-class international design experts that will maximise the opportunity for interaction between presenters and delegates. All delegates, presenters and sponsors will have free access to exhibits, forums and Design Trade Fair featuring the latest products and services from manufacturers, retailers and event partners. The conference finale will be the Awards Gala dinner for Graphex 2010, Canada’s national awards programme.

A partial sample list of confirmed speakers include:

• Nathan Shedroff – Experience design pioneer, Chair of the Design Strategy MBA, California College of the Arts (United States)
• Marian Bantjes – Designer, typographic illustrator and educator (Canada)
• Freeman Lau – Kan & Lau Design Consultants (Hong Kong SAR)
• Gregoire Serikoff – Designer and facilitator, Founder of The Value Web, member of Accelerated Solutions Environment network, Icograda board member (France)
• Ashwini Deshpande – Founder and Creative Director of Elephant Strategy + Design (India)
• Debbie Millman – Brand designer, author, radio host, President of Sterling Brands, President of AIGA (United States)
• Mark E. Sackett – Designer, radio host, President of Reflectur, Founder of BOX SF (United States)
• Jason Santa Maria – Interaction designer, Founder of Mighty, Creative Director of A List apart, AIGA board member (United States)
• Martin Miruka – Designer, author, Founder and Lead Strategist of ATOM-tdf, Chairman of Diversity Africa Foundation & KenyaOne (Kenya)
• Lise Vejse Klint – Designer, Architect, Director of INDEX: Design to Improve Life, former Secretary General of Icograda (Denmark)
• Oscar Pena – Designer, Global Senior Creative Director of Philips (The Netherlands)
• Cameron Sinclair – Architecture for Humanity (United States)
• Dr. Tony Golsby-Smith – Designer, strategist, Founder and CEO of Second Pty Ltd (Australia)

Register online before January 16th and take advantage of the early bird discounts!

The Industrial Brand team circa 2009—no contractors included.

I recently spoke with a client who expressed his frustration with design firms who include associates on websites or in proposal responses without clearly expressing that they are external contractors and not employees. Does it really matter? Is it a personal choice or a question of professional ethics?

In a recession with more creative professionals than ever freelancing, banding together as a “virtual agency” is an appealing idea indeed—and a format that many have used in their favour to win work. Most claim advantages like scalability, flexibility, and low overheads to convince budget-sensitive clients to hire them. It works well for some who can project manage outside vendors well and ensure they deliver on their promises. It fails miserably for others and leaves their clients gun-shy and wondering where their team went.

But is it kosher to call yourself a “firm”, an “agency”, or the ever popular “group”, and include a list of professionals with fancy titles like Art Director, Copywriter, Media Buyer, or Interactive Designer, if you are actually a company of one and all those are actually contractors? I’m gonna say no. Not really.

I heard a story recently about a local architecture design firm that was in a bit of hot water with their professional association for this very issue as well as using projects in their portfolio without fully disclosing those who collaborated with them. As many of my friends who run little design companies that compete for work by presenting themselves as bigger than they really are, it got me thinking.

Before writing this personal opinion piece, I asked a number of industry colleagues their thoughts on this and even tossed it out into the Twittersphere for a gut check, and the majority of opinions supported being fully transparent to potential clients, anything else being misleading.

Everyone agreed that any bait and switch was wrong and should be avoided at all costs, but some argued that clients shouldn’t care how we structure our companies as long as the work gets delivered. Others said that any client worth having will do their due diligence and ask the right questions or even visit a firm’s office to validate any claims.

But thinking back to the many proposals we’ve sent out, I recall very few clients—even large corporations—that were careful to ensure that those listed in our proposal response were actually a formal part of our company structure and would in fact be working on their projects. It seems they assume that if you like John Smith as your Creative Director on your proposal and website, they assume he works with/for you.

An industry friend challenged me, saying that my clients might be “stuck into some pretty 20th century thinking about how things are done” and claiming that the “virtual agency” is the new paradigm, often giving clients access to the best talent for the best prices. I agree that the work world is much more nimble and loosely defined than in the past, but I’m concerned that the theoretical benefits of this structure—when managed well—isn’t a justification for exaggerating your size or capabilities to win work—regardless of how often it’s done.

We all reap what we sow, make our own beds, and any other cliché phrase you can think of, but I’d argue that clients eventually see through this kind of shenanigans. That said, there is the valid argument that once you’re in, it’s your account to lose. If your experience and portfolio were good enough to win the account, and your external team is meeting needs, budgets and timelines, and your clients are happy, then you’re golden, right? I don’t think so, no.

Regardless of old or new school thinking, clarity and transparency is becoming increasingly more important than ever when selling to a corporate client who feels the need to partner with a solid team. If you win work while being very clear that you are essentially a marketing & strategy specialist with the experience and networks to get the job done, cool. But if not, a day may come when your trusting client will begin wondering if your “firm” or “agency” is nothing more than a hybrid broker/project manager, and erode the long-term relationship.

I know that many of our larger clients have hesitated and even balked after finding out that we brought in an external consultant or web developer to assist. I’ve had to calm down clients who were nervous after realizing we didn’t do all our coding in-house—which is a very common scenario and one we never hide.

I don’t think this is about geographic proximity either. Although I argue that there is a real advantage to a unified team structure, collaborating and working under creative leadership using a proven design process, it’s true that many firms are built around the “virtual studio” concept and successfully work together—some with entire continents separating them. But the ones who do this best are very honest about the fact, and often even brag about their particular approach to teamwork as a way of differentiation.

The truth is, we’ve often included industry specialists as “Associates” or “Collaborators” in proposals to win work, but we also clearly explain in their bio info that they are a respected vendor partner we’ve had success with in the past and the role they’d play in the project. Even so, we still get occasional clients raise their eyebrows and challenge us to explain why we don’t provide this service internally and what we’d do should this contractor suddenly become unavailable.

We never list outside contractors on our website as members of our team as that would seem like outright lying. In fact, I’m quite sure we’ve lost work because of the perception of our size, just like I’m sure many of our competitors have won work for the exact opposite reasons.

In my view, the reality is that clients—larger ones especially—seek right-sized teams they can trust. More often than not that means a team with a stable, hierarchical infrastructure that is understood and well-suited to their needs. I contend that it is unfair—probably even unethical—to mislead potential clients by pretending your company is larger than it is by including a laundry list of industry colleagues as though they hold full-time positions within your studio.

Do you have any opinions on this topic or related stories you’d like to share? Please leave a comment below.

Mark Busse gives his final speech as President of GDC/BC in January, 2009.

GDC/BC’s President, Marga Lopez, recently asked me to submit an overview of 2009 from my perspective as a GDC Executive. After a little thought, I jotted down the following, which I thought I’d share here.

I’ll never forget 2009. As far as my career goes, it was filled with breathtaking highs and terrifying lows. I’m not ashamed to admit that my own company suffered when the economic crisis hit and I was gravely concerned when numerous friends scaled their design firms way back or even found themselves without a job altogether.

This was my mood as the year began, but I’d have to say this was a rather good year for GDC/BC—and for me. Deciding to not run for another term as GDC/BC President was difficult for me as our team was gaining momentum and there was much work left to do. But in retrospect it was the right thing to do as Marga Lopez has blossomed as a leader we can all rally around. My hope is that Marga will not make the same choice and decide to run for another term. I would follow her into battle blindfolded.

Beyond supporting Marga as Past President, my duties included serving as Co-Chair of Design Week have kept me busier than ever. Sometimes my role seems to be one of catalyst and conduit, generating ideas or fostering relationships, other times I seem to be the voice of dissent, expressing strong opinions about issues that can rub people in the wrong ways at times.

Money was tight for our chapter this year, but we budgeted smartly and kept our eye on expenditures. Sponsorship has been a struggle as companies are reticent to spend money on marketing when they are laying off staff, but we also managed to create a new partnership with Rogers that brought enough savings to members to offset annual dues—and I finally got an Apple iPhone!

I was encouraged to see our public image gain traction this year, with improved PR efforts and the press interviewing GDC Execs, industry speakers, and running stories about the efforts of GDC in British Columbia, such as the “Vancouver’s Ambassadors of Design” article in Design Edge Magazine. Having been on the receiving end of interviews a few times this year, I have much to learn before I feel “media savvy”, but I’m getting better at navigating those trecherous waters and feel it’s an important thing for the GDC to be aware of in the coming years.

I really enjoyed this year’s events. Michael Strassburger’s hilarious presentation at the AGM in January, Michael Osborne’s irreverent yet enlightening talk at the 2009 Salazar Awards, the eager students I met at POGO ‘09, and watching people gorge themselves on my moose chili at the association BBQ were all memories I’ll cherish. Our professional development breakfasts were spot on and well-received, the Graphex exhibit in China was a resounding success, and Practivism was once again the crown jewel—who would have thought our little idea to make a design lecture series about using design as a practical approach to activism?

Serving as a co-chair on the Design Week committee has been terrifying, exciting, challenging, and rewarding. It’s hard to believe this all started with a casual comment to an Icograda colleague at the 2007 World Design Congress in La Habana, Cuba. I think I said something like “What would it take to bring Design Week to Vancouver?” Another lesson in being careful what you wish for perhaps. Planning for the conference has progressed well and we have been truly blessed that so many world-class speakers have agreed to be our guests and contribute their time and energy toward this dialogue about defining the value of design.

Speaking of Design Week, leading a GDC delegation to China to promote our conference was an experience I’ll never forget, and one I owe a debt of gratitude to my colleagues in GDC (especially Patricia Xu) for helping make happen. I truly believe that the Graphex exhibit, combined with the lectures and presentations that Rod Roodenburg and I gave to universities, general assembly and conference audiences helped improve the reputation of Canadian communication design internationally. I’ve already received invitations to return to China, so at least I didn’t offend anyone. :-)

This year included some sadness for many of us who lost friends and loved ones. The sudden passing of my friend Leo Obstbaum left me shaken, but I am glad his community has chosen to honour him in death by inducting him posthumously into our fold. And learning that our mentor and friend Jim Rimmer was struggling with throat cancer was a shock. Thankfully Jim is fighting back and the prognosis is positive, and witnessing Hemlock name their new scholarship fund in his name was a high point for me this year.

As the year winds down, our struggles are not over. Many of us still seek work and worry about the year ahead. But I am hopeful. The last year has forced me and my company to really look inward, make sacrifices and refocus on what we’re best at. By not compromising and working harder than ever to be examples of the GDC ideal, we’ve not only survived, but thrived.

So too with the GDC/BC community and executive. Some have disappeared from our ranks, while many others have recognized that this is exactly the right time to be involved in our professional association. In fact, those generous souls who sit around the GDC/BC executive table each month have grown in number—with more passionate professionals than ever committing themselves to a term of service to our industry. For them I am deeply grateful and proud.

Each year we write these reports to summarize our recollections and thoughts about the year. This year I find myself asking what lessons I learned? My answer is twofold.

First, our situation—that being the struggle for recognition, fair pay and respect as design professionals—is really our own doing. There is no one to blame but us and the sooner we realize that, the better. We aspire to be experts in branding, positioning, and messaging, yet our own lack of business and marketing acumen has led us to drift off course. Instead of focusing our learning on become better skilled business specialists and communicating our value to business community and public we serve, we have been (poorly) marketing to gain more membership and self-pleasuring ourselves on design fodder—designsturbation. This must stop.

Secondly, change and improvement in the communication design industry will only happen when if we want it to and actually DO something about it. We need more passionate leaders within our community to step forward and lend us their brilliance. We then must celebrate those among us that excel and learn from them. Together we must boldly infiltrate non-design networks and demonstrate our value by the things we DO, not the things we SAY. If we want government support? We must meet with government, give presentations to their ranks and convince them that the future of our province depends on design thinker like us. If it pisses them off, so be it. And if we need more revenue, we need to not only seek more sponsorship by proving the value to those who want to do business with us, but seek other ways to create revenue for our chapter so we can operate more like the businesses we work for every day.

Here’s wishing happy holidays to all my friends in the design industry and a prosperous new year to you all!

IMPORTANT UPDATE – See amendment below for some good news.

I love living in Vancouver for a myriad of reasons. The more I travel, the more I realize how good we have it here. But I have to say, as a creative professional who makes his living in the communication design field, my city’s lack of support for creative industries leaves me frustrated. I feel a personal rant coming on.

Vancouver has a real opportunity to emerge as THE next significant creativity and innovation centre in Canada, yet City Council seems uninterested in supporting efforts to that end. Content, it seems, to leave that role to other cities like Montreal and Toronto—both of which have wonderful design centres. Vancouver has none and it’s our turn. There is exciting stuff happening in this city, but no one knows much about it on the other side of them hills.

When the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC), in partnership with Icograda, presented an appeal to the City’s Mayor and Council seeking support for the Design Week Vancouver international design conference, their polite response was that this globally-promoted event “does not meet criteria as set by City Council,” specifically quoting a policy that states:

“That Council not consider financial support, in the form of hospitality grants or otherwise, to conventions being held in Vancouver, sports teams holding championships in Vancouver or to other events of this nature, except in the event that senior City staff, in their professional capacity, are directly involved in the event, and the topic is particularly relevant to the business of the City.”

I’m sorry, what? Excuse me, but are they saying that the burgeoning design community coming into its own in Metro Vancouver is not “particularly relevant to the business of the City”? Uh, aren’t Electronic Arts, Rainmaker and Bardel major employers in Vancouver? Didn’t Disney just set up a Pixar studio here? Aren’t some of Canada’s most successful advertising studios such as Cossette, DDB and Rethink located in Vancouver? Or brand design firms Identica, Karacters, Fleming, or Karo? Hasn’t ACM SIGGRAPH Vancouver been selected to host SIGGRAPH’s massive international computer graphics conference in 2011—the first time ever outside of the US? Is New Media BC wrong in estimating there to be over 1,100 digital media design companies currently in BC? Aren’t schools such as VFS, Capilano, VCC, Emily Carr, SFU, Kwantlen, BCIT, Langara, AI, and Vancouver Island University (formerly Malaspina) all enjoying tremendous growth in their design programs? All true.

I can assure you Mr. Mayor, that the various facets of design, including branding, communications, advertising, web, product, interior, architectural, and game design, are indeed relevant to this region’s culture and economy. Very relevant. In fact, the secret to achieving your goal of making Vancouver the greenest city on Earth may very well lie within the design industry itself.

Tourism Vancouver seems to see the relevancy, having been a key supporter of Design Week, helping GDC/BC win the original bid last year. BC’s Ministry of Housing and Social Development also seem to understand the importance of this event, recently awarding significant funding in support of Design Week. And the BC Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts calls Design Week “an important international cultural and business event, creating an international profile for British Columbia, bringing the global community of designers to Vancouver and reinforcing BC as the international hub for design.”

In 2008, former Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan wrote a glowing letter of support during the Graphex national design awards, hosted by GDC/BC in Vancouver, saying, “Design is an important part of our everyday life and business, and Vancouver is fortunate to have a thriving creative community.” Even Premier Gordon Campbell, infamous for slashing arts & culture funding in BC, wrote “The Province of British Columbia is committed to excellence and innovation in visual arts, media arts and design” in a letter of support of GDC’s efforts. Well, Mr. Former Mayor and Mr. Premier, maybe you guys could talk to your buddies back at your old mayoral office and convince them to recognize the value and relevancy of supporting the design community before it’s too late. And it really is almost too late. Design Week Vancouver is less than five months away.

Vancouver is spending millions on the 2010 Olympics to lure potential business investors, but I believe they are short-sighted and not showcasing the best Vancouver has to offer. The “afterglow” of the Olympics everyone is counting on will have to be founded on something other that just our pretty geography, overpriced real estate, and fancy new sports facilities. What is Vancouver’s real “mojo”? Its great appeal? Could it not be our emerging dominance as a creative force so we can be more competitive with the country’s existing economic centres to the east?

If we truly want to convince companies and investors to shift their attention to Metro Vancouver, then we have to make sure we showcase what Vancouver really stands for post-Olympics. Having recently returned from Beijing, China, I saw first hand what is happening there and frankly it scared me. Many have accused China of overspending on the Olympics in unsustainable ways, but do you think they are sitting on their laurels, hoping the world shows up to do business with them while they’re in town touring the Bird’s Nest Stadium or Water Cube as a tourist? I assure you they are not.

In fact, Beijing just spent hundreds of thousands of dollars hosting the Icograda World Design Congress and 1st Beijing Design Week. There were literally dozens of corporate sponsors, with one print sponsor alone donating $150,000 to be a sponsor of such a prestigious event. They even invited their respected friends from Canada to showcase the best designers at a Graphex 2008 exhibit at Tsinghua University’s prestigious Visual Arts Center Gallery—an initiative that GDC paid for out of its own coffers with no support from government or corporate sponsors, although thanks are due to Martin Charron, Senior Trade Commissioner in China from the Embassy of Canada, for generously hosting a packed opening reception.

The Beijing World Design Congress opening ceremonies were attended by 2,500 delegates from around the globe, and was held at The National Center for the Performing Arts. The opening of Beijing Design Week was held at the National Art Museum, with over 2,000 witnesses to one of the most impressive ceremonies I’ve ever attended—all part of their plan to change their reputation from one of “Made in China” to “Designed in China“.

They are very serious about this folks. Check out this review of their recent conference to get a sense of the scale of their commitment to their design community and its reputation. I spoke at four of the top universities in the country during my visit, and learned that there are hundreds of thousands of students (some say upwards of a million) currently enrolled in design programs across China, and new design studios are opening in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing every day. These will be our competitors very soon.

Now, I’m not saying that Vancouver is just like Beijing, but I do fear Vancouver may be putting all its eggs into the Olympics basket and forgetting to invest in an important industry that will help our fine city to flourish. I certainly don’t want to live in a city primarily known for hosting overrated, over-budget sports events.

BC’s economic base has begun shifting away from natural resources as our chief export, and tourism, real estate and finance aren’t rock solid economic foundations either—just ask Dubai how it’s going for them. Markets are now globalized and continue to evolve at break-neck speeds. In order to compete over the long haul, Vancouver needs to become an economy that values innovation—an economy based on the flow of ideas and imagination.

We already have a strong basis for that economy in place in Vancouver, one that’s ready to grow, mature and take its place on an international stage, but we cannot do it alone. Without the clear and present support from our municipal, provincial, and federal government, I fear we may be just spinning our wheels, destined to host a lovely little design conference and little more. A conference that will show off how pretty our city is, but also demonstrate how small-minded our City is in terms of supporting design thinking. I’m sure Brisbane and Madrid, the next two Icograda Design Week host cities, will do a terrific job of positioning themselves as world-class design communities thanks to the significant support they are receiving from their city councils and regional governments.

We’re living in the design age where long-term economic growth is based on creativity and innovation. Having spoken with Mayor Gregor Robertson about this in person, I thought he agreed with me on this point, yet his City Council friends with the purse strings still seem to think that a national design association hosted international design event featuring presentations from some of the most notable design experts on the planet isn’t “particularly relevant to the business of the City.” Disappointing to say the least.

Enough ranting for today. If you have any thoughts on this or any ideas what we can do about it, let me know in the comments below. Or if this bugs you as much as it does me, fire off an email to the Mayor’s office and City Council yourself and tell them your thoughts on the matter.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Since posting this personal rant (which is in no way the opinion of GDC or Icograda), The City of Vancouver’s economic development arm, appropriately called Vancouver Economic Development Commission (VEDC), has indicated they intend to financially supporting Design Week which is a positive sign indeed and I am encouraged. In no way am I claiming that this post had anything to do with this recent development, but I am happy to eat my words and and update this post to declare Vancouver DOES  support the design industry!

More competition than ever. Arts funding cuts. An industry in collapse. These are the challenges Canadian musicians have faced for years. I don’t envy any young artist who decides to make a career out of music these days.

I’ve been a fan of the talented singer/songwriter Kuba Oms for years, who just released his new album How Much Time. His dedication to his music is an inspiration. His album is the real deal, moving songs written and performed by a passionate soul singer from Victoria, BC who puts it all on the line for his music every day.

Now Kuba is  working harder than ever to earn new fans and gain their support via a contest called Peak Performance funded by 100.5 The Peak. As part of his promotional campaign, Kuba’s offering a limited time FREE download of his album, hoping once people hear his soulful R&B, funk and rock pop sound, they’ll vote for for him online and encourage friends to do the same.

To learn more about Kuba, check out Kuba’s YouTube channel or follow him at @kubaoms on Twitter. If you like what you hear (and I predict you will), please take a moment to spread the message. When Kuba wins the contest, he’ll receive a much-needed financial boost to help his career get off the ground—and in these days when making a living as an artist is more difficult than ever, he needs a little help getting his message out there.

Vote for for Kuba Oms now.

When I was a much younger man studying fine art in university, we spent a lot of time practicing how to interpret and describe artwork, its meaning and how it made us feel. Later, during my business administrations studies, writing essays, case studies and briefs emerged as a key component of a successful business professional’s toolkit. So why then is writing proficiency—even  very rudimentary grammar and spelling—such a surprise to so many young design students I meet?

While visiting China recently to attend Icograda’s World Design Congress, I was honoured to be invited to lecture at four of the top universities in the country, each with respected design programs. Not surprisingly, their emphasis on art and craft is without compare, and their technical prowess is reknowned, but their design curricula seemed lacking much training in business, strategy, or communication. There was no shortage of calligraphy training—a beautiful craft I adore and wish I could do—but writing (in English certainly) was not emphasized in their programs.

Following is an email I received from one of the 4th year students at China’s Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing:

Hi Mark. My name is Sam, we met at CAFA in Beijing. I was at your lecture. You said something that I didn’t quite understand and I hope you can expand a little bit more on it for me. You said that we need to, as visual communicaters, articulate well, write well, spell well. My question is WHY? I’m not sure I understand. Could you just go a little deeper for me? Thanks. Also is there any book, especially ebooks (being in china and not being able to purchase english books and all), that you could reccommend that could help me in my studies? Thanks again.

Wow.

I often see the fear in the eyes of young students when I explain the importance of writing to them as a designer, but I must admit this type of reaction always surprises me. Perhaps after 20 years in the business and 12 years running my own design firm, but it seems obvious to me that writing well is a crucial aspect of the business of visual communications. Success in the highly competitive design industry requires it.

Unless you fancy yourself an old school graphic designer, our job does not primarily involve drawing beautiful illustrations, picking pretty colours or choosing and setting beautiful typography. Rather, visual communication design is concerned with the creation of ideas and meaning through a variety of means—including words and language to a large degree. I hope all readers of this agree on that point.

The business community worldwide uses carefully crafted written communication as a cornerstone of its daily operation. I can’t tell you how much time I spend each day writing business emails, proposals, briefs or corresponding with remote clients in writing via Skype or instant messenger. If I didn’t write goodly, what would these often well-educated professionals think of me and my company?

In my experience, key decision makers (clients) often require clear explanations of strategy and meaning behind our proposed solutions as they often lack the visual language literacy we posses as trained designers. If we truly want to be respected and place designers in corporation boardrooms around the world, we have to use language they understand—at a competency level they’re used to.

I have found that those designers with superior writing skills are more often those enjoying the highest degree of success. Not do they use writing when developing winning project proposals, but offer this valuable service to their clients alongside visual design and production. Many designers offer illustration or photography as well as graphic design, but being able to write copy and edit content provided by a client is almost expected these days.

In terms of self-promotion, writing is a powerful tool when communicating the rationale behind your design solutions in presentations, case studies, and promotional materials. Too often I’ve seen beautiful (looking) work ruined by poor writing and what would otherwise have been effective portfolios and websites fall flat due to poorly composed written explanations.

Furthermore, our communication skills—both verbal and written—are a reflection of our work ethic and professionalism. As clients are most often found within the business community, then isn’t it imperative we demonstrate our superiority in an increasingly competitive industry? Having *pretty* looking work in our design portfolio isn’t enough anymore—clients want to know about strategy, approach and results. Uh-oh, that means we need to write again.

The reality though, is that a talented graphic designer who lacks advanced writing skills need not fail or suffer as long as he recognizes the need for excellent writing and collaborates with an experienced writer who understands design and the project at hand. At very least it’s the designer’s responsibility to make sure the copy is checked carefully by a competent (and briefed) writer before committing layout designs to production.

Just like some communication designers who admit they can’t even draw or code, it is possible to enjoy success by partnering with those who can, though I’d argue it’s always better if done by the designers directly. While outsourcing to writers is common and often required, it is also the old paradigm and writing should be, in my opinion, a key step in the design process itself.

It boils down to this: Words and message are a major part of what we use and deal with every day as communication designers, so we should be experts at using words ourselves—don’t you agree? Being a skilled writer isn’t as much about being a successful communication designer as it is about just about being a successful professional. Period. If you want to succeed in your career, regardless of the specific trade you specialize in, written and spoken communication will always be important.

I worry that so many young designers abandon any interest in composition, grammar, spelling, etc. once they start pursuing visual language. And to be honest, we design educators need to take some responsibility for this too. Design is hard work kidlings. And the business world is glued together by words, not pretty logos. Learn how to write and you will enjoy success. Fail to recognize this and it will hold you back.

This whole discussion reminds me of a Canadian designer, GDC colleague and friend, named Eric Karjaluoto of SmashLab, who wrote a good article on this topic called Designers Must Write arguing that being able to write was as important being able to draw—two skills he argues are critical for designers—both taking practice to master and keep up. Eric’s writing has become such a large part of his own design practice in recent years that he has just published his first book called Speak Human.

Blair Enns, author and founder of Win Without Pitching, has recently been preaching about the merits of writing as a communication designer, claiming that writing makes you smarter and gets you found—especially in the online age. As a respected speaker and consultant to marketing and advertising agencies and design firms around the world, Blair argues in an article on his site called Four Reasons to Write that writing is a powerful differentiator for communication professionals.

My response to the Chinese design student Sam was essentially what became this article, and I’m happy to report he fully understood and agreed, even deciding to take this to his teachers to ask them for help in this area. I didn’t really have many book suggestions for him, though there are a number of decent options available on Amazon.com as well as some suggestions from Google. I did mention the e-book Writing For Visual Thinkers from PeachPit which seems worth checking out. If you have any recommendations, please add them to the comments below.

Oh, one final thought: The international language of business and design is now English—although obviously Chinese is crucial for a Chinese student who pursues a career within China—so correct spelling and grammar in English has become another key factor in presenting yourself as a professional to potential clients and the public. Lucky for those of us who were taught English as our first language, but I have a warning for you all: China is not far behind us. They are all learning English at an early age and they are working hard to become the next global design superpower. There was a lot of talk about the dynasties in China’s history while I was there, but when I left, after witnessing an impressive show of support by the Chinese Government for its burgeoning design industry, I felt like I had been present at the dawning of a new era in Chinese history: the beginning of the Design Dynasty. Soon we won’t be seeing “Made in China” on products, but rather “Designed in China”—and the writing that accompanies them will be as impeccable as the production quality.

[Thanks to tnarik for the photo]