TED pick: Idea + Square = Origami

This is a post that's definitely close to my heart.

When I was just a small boy, my mother taught me how to fold a square piece of paper into a paper samurai hat. It was a miracle on many levels. Ever since then, I've been impressing my caucasian friends with my skills in Japanese paper folding.

Then one day I stumbled upon a presentation on TED.com by a westerner by the name of Robert Lang (not Robert Langdon from the Da Vinci Code) who utilizes math and engineering principles to create mind blowing creations. He starts with cute animals and works his way up to Mitsubishi car commercials and space exploration.

It's important to note that all of Lang's creations are made with only 1 square piece of paper.

Instead of committing seppuku (when a samurai commits suicide out of shame), spend time roughly 16 minutes and watch this presentation at TED.com

Watch the presentation

~tyukawa

A meeting of some great minds

Now don’t get us wrong, we love working with all of our clients, but this group is exceptional. Over the past 2 years we’ve enjoyed working with Marketplace Events in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton. 

In this meeting, we’re hosting a brainstorming session with the show managers from each city, the heads of marketing and sales, the PR agency (Tara Parker Tait PR), and the media buying firm (Genesis Vizeum). The task today – how do me make the fall season an unprecedented success.

Thanks Marketplace, working with you is truly a pleasure.

Don.

Here are a couple of samples from campaigns past.

ECU Gradshow

Tak and I enjoyed the opportunity to see the work of this year’s Emily Carr University grad show. This group is close to our hearts, having had the opportunity to instruct them on their fall semester projects, and it was nice to see them show off their hard work and creativity. The work is solid this year, and it’s always surprising how polished the final solutions are presented. 

This time of year, there’s always debates and politics around design programs as everyone tries to measure who’s doing what best. An evening like this reminds us that at the heart of all the work is people, all on different parts of a journey, that will lead to many different destinations.

Congrats ECU grads of 2009.

Ginger Ngo, a talented typographer who we had the privilege of having in our office for the better part of 6 months.

Joomi Choi and Mi Hyun Sung presenting their game that deals with the topic of death.

Chloe Lan and her project on the Plantilions (a must see to understand what they are).

Don Williams.

Getting back to basics

During these days where we’re all out pounding the pavement, better be sure you’ve got enough business cards. Well, it just so happens that Free Agency Creative has an antique letterpress in the studio for situations such as these. Actually, we like to use it for more than just cards, but today we kept it simple with this one colour job using magnesium dies and typeset in Blender from Die Gestalten Verlag.

The letterpress has always been a passion of mine. Jim Rimmer, my early design school mentor, found it for me in 1997, and after 8 months of repairs I had my own press. I have also enjoyed sharing my passion for letterpress with students at Emily Carr University and Langara College. Most recently, Kristin Liu brought her class in from Langara’s design program for a 4 hour workshop on Free Agency’s press.

For the next few days the studio will smell of that glorious aroma all designers love, ink and paint thinner. Then it will be gone and all that will be left is the steady hum of the x-serve on the rack beside it.

Don Williams

Canstruction

Lisa and I took time out of the afternoon to check out the new convention centre and the annual event Canstruction. All proceeds go towards the Vancouver Food Bank. You have until May 3 to check it out! I recommend going while the sun is still out, the views are beautiful.
-kl

Justified West - April 25, 2009

Kristin Liu and Tak Yukawa took some time (well the whole day) to attend Justified West at the Plaza 500 Hotel in Vancouver. The day-long event was hosted by the Langara College Advanced Typography program followed by a Typophile Film Fest co-sponsored by the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada.

Our hats go off to the coordinator of this successful event, Dr. Shelley Gruendler, who is also head of the Communication and Ideation program as well. We hope that the local design community in Vancouver continues to support such events and follow in the footsteps of Vancouver mayor, Gregor Robertson who proclaimed April 25th, 2009 as "Typography Day"!!! Read article to believe it.

Notables moments/presenters included:
MARIAN BANTJES: The day was impressively kicked off by the much celebrated Marian Bantjes who passionately spoke about her typographic illustrative work. Her snowflake designs for Saks Fifth Avenue were simply stunning.

TOM PHINNEY: We enjoyed Tom's enthusiasm for Forensic Typography (yes, it truly exists) in which he thoroughly described how he exposed the criminal abuse of such typefaces as Times New Roman. Who would do such a thing...

RICHARD KEGLER: One couldn't help but support the pursuits of filmaker Richard Kegler (p22 type foundry) as he spoke about the legendary Jim Rimmer and his passion for the traditional craft of type. Stay tuned for the release of "Making Faces" - a film about Jim.

Note: This blog post was made possible by the venerable Ross Mills (sorry, you sort of had to be there).

~tyukawa and kl

The Elephant And The Dragon

While I was taking the usual stroll through the aisles of my favorite books stores, I stumbled upon "The Elephant And The Dragon". The book talks about the remarkable rise of China and India and how their influence touches our lives more and more each day. The author, Robyn Meredith, wonderfully maps out the historical and economic narratives of each country - providing essential context for her haunting yet inspiring conclusions.

After finishing the last page, I couldn't help but feel fortunate that her book had found me while at the same time embarrassed that I had not proactively searched for a book of this subject matter earlier.

Robyn Meredith is a foreign correspondent for Forbes magazine. Praise for the book is well deserved.

~tyukawa