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 […]
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Leo Obstbaum, Design Director for VANOC 2010 Olympics My friend and colleague Leo Obstbaum, the creative mastermind behind the designs of the Vancouver Olympic Games, died suddenly in his home of natural causes in the early hours of Friday, August 21st. He left behind his beautiful wife Monice and young daughter Dakota. He was just […]
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As the title of this article suggests, if you have a home business then you are still running a business and therefore it should still be treated as a business. This is essential for your brand image. Many people look less favourably towards home business rather than one that has become successful and grown out […]
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Brand, customer retention, business development, profit, sustainability—these long-term, big-picture elements of a company can each be built or toppled by day-to-day customer service. Designers can develop a brilliant look for you, marketing strategists can launch brilliant campaigns, and really really smart people can develop fantastically impressive business models, products and service offerings, but if the […]
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As humans we need consistency, we crave it, our lives would spin out of control without it. Imagine going to work and all your files on your computer are not in the same folders that they were yesterday. You would probably freeze, panic, freak out some more, then call IT with a look of desperation […]
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Your corporate message consists of who you are, what you are selling and what differentiates you from your competitors. It is communicated to your target audience, the people who are going to purchase your product or service via many different avenues. They include your company name, your tagline, website, verbally in person, advertising and signage […]
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We recently revealed a fun outdoor advertising campaign for Bikram’s Yoga Metrotown. Aimed at a broad spectrum of men and women from a variety of cultures, ages, shapes, and fitness, our challenge was to create brand awareness ads that would break through the clutter of those so frequently seen at bus shelters and train stations. […]
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A design student asked me to rant on video for a project she was working on and asked me to speak about the topic of speculative design work. So I agreed and showed up to present the following diatribe on camera—you should have seen their faces! I’ve been asked today to express some thoughts about […]
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One great thing about what we do as brand and interactive designers is the variety of clients and projects we get to work on, each very different needs, goals, and audiences. One day it’s a brand and collateral aimed at investors or a website for a Japanese bistro, the next it’s a complicated website for […]
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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 […]
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I sense a long article coming on. This happens with me sometimes as things rattle around in my brain, and if I don’t write something—often something snarky—it haunts me to the point of distraction. As someone who has always been rather opposed to most RFPs, I have found myself writing up umpteen proposals of late […]
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Last night I visited the the brand new Vancouver Convention Centre for the first time. While there I took special notice of the convention centre’s new identity and its applications. At first I must admit the logo baffled me a bit as group of us stood looking up at the huge colourful logo on the […]
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