Ok so its that time of year again when the heavy weights of Graphic design descend upon Auckland for the annual conference. This year it was held over two days so I was able to see three speakers on Friday and six on Saturday. Below are my thoughts on them.
Marian Bantjes - www.bantjes.com
What a horrid thing being the first speaker of the conference but she was great - good pace, a mixture of serious and some funny anecdotes and superb work to back it all up. She also started what would prove to be the unofficial theme of the weekend. Mid design life crisis that one needs to do probono or self driven work funded by commercial stuff to keep the balance and sanity in their careers. Also loved the fac that someone who creates just poetic, feminine and intricate work would chose a khaki mens jacket as her favourite clothing item.
Design by Pidgeon - www.pidgeon.com.au
this guy did the most wonderful work full of creative ways to do the unusual with small budgets and how amazingly he could cross over into fine arts, hospitality and architecture. but his speaking was extremely monotonous so hard to focus.
Joel Gethin Lewis - www.joelgethinlewis.com
As much of a fire ball as last year but with the background of watching him last year knew what to expect so wasn't quite as wowed as previously. Still his work on the Christmas lights was such a nice idea and for a christmas junky like me an added bonus.
Collider - www.collider.co.au
didn't actually get to see his speech but ended up having lunch with him on Saturday where we all compared client horror stories and also some tricks of the trade. Turned out he was born in South Africa bred in Invercargill and Napier prior to being based in Sydney. So needless to say an interesting lunch.
Derek Henderson - www.derekhenderson.net
Really enjoyed his talk and the answers to some of the questions he was asked - What is your most stimulating subject matter? - Naked girls What conditioner do you use? - why what is wrong with my hair I thought it was looking pretty good he reminds me of other fav photographers of mine like Bill Henson and Robin Morrison look forward to seeing his book when it comes out.
Sea Design - www.seadesign.co.uk
this guy for me was the most boring as his work seemed to be good based on the calibre of clients and budgets as opposed to the ideas. They did do a funny project though asking for people in the public to come in and art direct their own naked photo shoot which brought about some funny results.
Dumbo Feather - www.dumbofeather.com
Such a cute pixie of a lady in her black tutu and bare feet. She had a nice message which was don't be ordinary as there is too much of that already. Walk your own path and the scarier the better. I have since brought a subscription to her mag so will let you all know what its like in future when I receive the first copy.
Debaser - www.debaser.com.au
two guys with loads of energy and very hands on and inventive at getting visually rich results for their clients. I loved the video Bernard Fanning did and it was great to learn it was based on the 2d design they worked on. Also loved the fact that they took strange requests from their clients and made it work like combining film noir with Mexican day of the dead art. These two in terms of their work would be the stuff I would probably most likely collect and display.
Danny Yount - www.dannyyount.com
Its always a nice surprise when without even knowing it you find you were a fan of one persons work as so many of the title designs for films I love have been made by this guy. In particular one of my all time favourite shows Six feet under. As you all know I adore film and was just so cool to hear a talk from a hollywood biggun who I think quite nicely was from Kansas maybe he is the wizard of LA.
his show reel on you tube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oeLzw1fGiE
Stefan Sagmeister - www.stefansagmeister.com www.thingsihavelearnedinmylife.com
Well this man is called the rockstar of designers and I have seen him before and loved that talk but this time I came away with a bad taste in my mouth as he said a few things I didn't agree with and he seemed to come across as just so unbelievably arrogant. making fun of the sign language interpreter (by making him sign blow job blow job blow job over and over again) then criticised one of the other speakers and then landed his colleagues in a situation with the authorities in the USA and leaving them to deal with his mess. I admit due to baby sitting duties I had to run out at 6:10 before he had finished so maybe he might have redeemed himself for me during that time it just seemed to me that all the rules for life he was teaching didn't seem to reflect the way he lived his life. I don't think he is aware of how lucky he is that he has such a big profile that people do so much for him that they would never dream of doing for most.
wanted to see others thoughts on the weekend but haven't found any posts yet so if anyone sees any let me know.
All in all I had a good time and found a bit of inspiration.
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