International Design Center Nagoya hosts New Designers Workshop 2008

Nagoya (Japan) - From 1-6 December 2008, the New Designers Workshop 2008: Roots Finder - DESIGN DNA will be the first UNESCO's Creative Cities Network event in Nagoya since its designation as a City of Design.

Open to young designers and students from around the world, this workshop will study the role of design in the creative tourism industry.Organised by Icograda Associate member, International design center NAGOYA Inc. (IdcN), this year's workshop will include participants from other UNESCO Creative Cities, such as Kobe, Japan; Santa Fe, USA and Aswan, Egypt; as well as from a candidate city: Shenzhen, China.Students and young designers from around the world will work to gain a great understanding of cultural diversity and will approach indigenous design by working to visualise the charm of Nagoya. By integrating design and manufacturing skills, involving local industries, participants will learn to create brand value based on indigenous identities.

More: www.icograda.org/news/year/2008_news/articles1348.htm

Feature: Fellow travellers

In his monthly column for Design Week: www.designweek.co.uk/Home/Default.aspx, Adrian Shaughnessy looks at the idea of communication design and illustration as being 'fellow travelers', a concept put forward by designer Steven Heller in his upcoming book with Seymour Chwast, "Illustration: A Visual History".

Steven Heller is one of graphic design's great evangelists. He is the author, or at least co-author, of more than 100 books (the number grows by five or six each year). He is especially evangelical about design history, and finds value in sophisticated German typography from the 1930s, as well as in primitive matchbox labels.

More: www.icograda.org/feature/current/articles1349.htm

Fórmula Secreta da Coca-Cola

A verdadeira fórmula da Coca Cola está escrita em um pequeno grão de arroz. Dificil é chegar até ele. É o que diz este comercial da argentina Santo, batizado 'Formula Secreta'.

Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=refxASHDz-s

Galeria: Animals on posters

This poster design was created for the "Ddieren op affiches" exhibition, held at the Dutch Poster Museum in Hoorn (The Netherlands). Translating to "Animals on posters", this exhibition brought together about 125 posters from different styles, advertisers, eras and intentions that all had one thing in common: they feature an animal. The exhibition took place from June - October 2008.

More: www.icograda.org/feature/galleria/galleria381.htm

BNO organises Open Minds India

Amsterdam (The Netherlands) - As part of a broader programme aimed at fostering business partnerships between Dutch and Indian design agencies, the Dutch Association of Designers (BNO) is hosting a visit by fifteen Indian design agencies and opinion leaders to the Netherlands, from 16-22 November 2008.

The group will be attending the Netherlands Indian Business Meet (NIBM) during the Amsterdam India Festival, and will be meeting Dutch designers, design agencies and the Dutch'designecology' in general.The Open Minds India programme follows a series of market explorations conducted by BNO in India in 2007 and 2008, which led to the conclusion that business partnerships between the two countries will create opportunities for both parties, such as better market access and outsourcing. In addition to collaboration and market expansion, Open Minds India also aims to promote the possible collaboration between design training institutes in India and the Netherlands.

More: www.icograda.org/news/year/2008_news/articles1345.htm

Galeria: Helvetica Now

This poster was made for an international poster contest organized for the 50th anniversary (1957-2007) of probably the most used typography in history, Helvetica.The concept behind the poster says it all: "Helvetica is not typography, it’s lettering!" Which indicates that Helvetica outgrown itself and become far more than just typography, just as the Swiss Army knife did. As with the Swiss Army knife, in typography, Helvetica can do anything.

More: www.icograda.org/feature/galleria/galleria380.htm

Imagine IT! 2nd edition

Bologna (Italy) - On 28-29 November 2008, the Design Center in Bologna will present the second edition of Imagine iT, dedicated this year to the theme Design for All.

Imagine iT is a two-day international conference, presenting 20 speakers from nine different nations, organised by the Design Center Bologna and Typevents Italy, with the patronage of EIDD Design for All Europe.This year's second edition of the conference, dedicated to the theme Design for All, aims to define the phrase "Good design enables, bad design disables." This means that every human aspect in society should be included through the appropriate design, i.e. physical, cultural and psychological diversity.

Design for all, in fact, is design honouring human diversity, its inclusion in society and its equality. This innovative and holistic approach is an ethic challenge, as well as of creative and commercial importance for entrepreneurs, decision makers in private and public entities, and designers.

More: www.icograda.org/news/year/2008_news/articles1330.htm

Icograda Members participate in Asia Design Network Conference

Osaka (Japan) - From 26-27 November 2008, The Asia Design Network Conference (ADNC), an annual event to promote the utilisation of design and the improvement of design competency in Asia, will bring together design leaders from all sectors.

Among these are representatives from the Korean Institute of Design Promotion, International Design Centre NAGOYA Inc. and Taiwan Design Center, all Icograda Associate Members.This unique event has been co-sponsored by Icograda Associate Member, the Japan Design Foundation, as well as the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and will be held at the Osaka International Convention Center.The ADNC is a place for active discussion among design organisations in Asia on the desing-related challenges and issues commonly experienced in the region. Participants are invited to exchange opinions on policies, actions and projects that have been sponsored or held by design organisations.

More: www.icograda.org/news/year/2008_news/articles1320.htm

Business of Design Week Forum brings together design authorities

Kowloon Tong (Hong Kong) - Business of Design Week (BODW) 2008, Asia's leading and most important annual event on innovation, design and brand, will take place from 8-13 December 2008.
This year the organiser, Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC), an Icograda Associate member, partners with the Netherlands. A large group of renowned Dutch design masters, including Marcel Wanders, Marlies Dekkers, Rem Koolhaas and Winy Maas, will join forces with other legends from various design fields to "open minds" at BODW.During the BODW forum, an unparalleled panel of experts, leaders and legends in the field of design will come together to discuss the interplay between design and business. This international platform for entrepreneurs, designers and experts will bridge the gap between good business and good design.

More: www.icograda.org/news/year/2008_news/articles1319.htm

Feature: On Designism

This October, the Art Directors Club (ADC) hosted the third edition of "Designism", an event exploring the role of creatives in social activism and responsibility to instigate change. Randy J. Hunt writes his review of the event's proceedings for Design 21 Social Design Network.

Designism 3.0 was the third installment of the annual event hosted by the Art Directors Club in New York City on 2 October 2008. The event series was conceived by Brian Collins, the brand-building mastermind formerly of Ogilvy BIG and now COLLINS, as a forum to highlight and address design for social action. It's worth noting that Collins was the architect behind the We Can Solve It brand for Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection.Last year's event caused a small tremor in the design community as Vanity Fair's Michael Wolff called into question the intentions and validity of many of the participating designers' claims. His perspective, at the same time brutal and refreshing, was that everyone uses design as a disruptive force (including advertisers), so the real way to be disruptive is to not design.

More: www.icograda.org/feature/current/articles1324.htm