Some GDC Memoirs

Designer rock star diva Marian Bantjes, Chapter Cmns Chair was responsible for bringing in Rick Valicenti (seated next to her in above photo, quadrants 2 & 3) at the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC), BC Chapter's Annual General Meeting in Jan.06.

Marian's popularity has escalated in the last year or so, check out her site ... Print, Sagmeister, etc. She can make her pixels sing the opera.

Marian also invited her good friend Debbie Millman for her NY Design Stories, around summer 2005ish. Debbie is one of the only presenters I have seen using just one sentence per Power Point slide ... an amazing woman with great design and branding knowledge.

Next to Debbie in above photo (quadrant 1) is Yves Rouselle, partner at bau+wow communications in Vancouver, BC and Chapter Pres. I had a chance to work with Yves when I was with a previous employer Voith Paper, and he is as nice as it gets in the industry. His shop does amazing work too.

The photo of the paper plate is Rick's notes prior to making his speech—food for thought. I sat next to him prior to his AGM speech, and he was curious as to where I got my orange, Nike Rift, split-toe shoes I was wearing. So I told him shoes from Seattle and socks from California. Then I had a chance to talk to him about the mighty '85 Chicago Bears, since he is from that area. Maybe I'll sell that plate on e-bay ; )


I enjoyed the Jim Coudal seminar (June.06), where I shot some interesting photos too. What stood out was when he said that (paraphrase) designers need to have good taste in order to do good work. He was emphasizing that innate trait over designers knowing trade-related software applications, which can always be learned.

Jim also mentioned that they originated Photoshop tennis. One slow, friday afternoon, they decided to pass around Pshop layers that others built on it, and so on.

Plus, Jim mentioned to me that he had Bears seasons tickets after I made a comment how great the Bears are. Then I voiced my opinion that only if the Bears' secondary could have double covered Panther's Steve Smith in 2006 playoffs, the Bears would have advanced in the playoffs. Smith was single covered throughout the game and he ended up burning all the Bears' corners. I'm still pissed about that one. Enough. (I think I'm listening to too much sports radio and causing me to get fired up about sports.)

Also, I was in communication with Hillman Curtis, as we had plans on bringing him to Vancouver for a talk. And people were excited about him coming to Vancouver. But, after I resigned from the GDC Board, that idea vanished. Perhaps in 2007 the new board can slot him in (?). I thought I would get Hillman to sign my 3 books he has written.

I miss being on the GDC, BC Chapter Board (June.03 to March.06), but not the work. Click here for more photos and reviews re the above seminars.