Society of Graphic Designers of Canada
Interactive design and development
WHERE
Held every two years, Graphex is a national design competition put on by the Canadian design industry’s governing body. As such, the design of their materials, and in this case, the website, better be darn good. We had other mandates of course: the site had to be easily updatable; indexable by search engines; multi-lingual; appeal to designers and reflect the design theme of the ‘tournament ladder’. In essence though, the true purpose of the site was to encourage designers from across Canada to submit entries for GDC’s upcoming Graphex 2008 Design Competition.
IDEAS
The site brings to interactive life the look established in the print campaign and uses a content management system (CMS) for ease of updates and search engine indexing seamlessly integrated with Flash to allow for dynamic motion and interest.
Functionally, the site is divided into two parts: the left hand side to give designers pause to think about the potential impact (and power) their designs may have on the world around them, especially as a result of the exposure from winning a Graphex honour; and the right hand side serving to provide vital contest requirements, information and entry forms.
WORK
The entire campaign was a resounding success and the competition was the largest in its 30-year history with 25% more submissions than in 2006.
Launch website: www.gdc.net/graphex
