Village Gamer

Vancouver – The Society of Graphic Designers of Canada – BC Chapter presents the POGO 2009 Conference. Taking place this May 8th and 9th, the POGO Conference provides an unparalleled opportunity for design students, graduates and design newcomers to learn, connect, guide and inspire each others creative thinking. Developed with this experience in mind, the conference includes studio tours, creative workshops and portfolio critique. It’s also a great opportunity to learn and network – at a very reasonable price. A two day full conference pass is only $55.00 for GDC members, and $95.00 for non-members. Tickets are also available for individual days and events.

May 8 Schedule:

The GDC/BC Pogo Studio Tours provides the opportunity to check out three of Vancouver’s hottest creative environments and one of North America’s most awarded printers, Metropolitan Fine Printers.

Sign up, get a guided tour and check out how each of these firms think about not only their work, but about their space. The studios selected for this tour are Subplot, Rethink Communications and Burnkit.

The tour takes place on Friday May 8, 2009 starting at Emily Carr University where registration will take place. Attendees will board a 20 seat charter bus to travel around town to visit each location. Each tour will last one half-hour and will be guided by a representative of the host studio.

Following the tour of Emily Carr University is the 2009 Salazar Awards Ceremony, recognizing excellence in student design. Taking place in the Emily Carr University Lecture Theatre, the Salazar Student Awards recognize projects of up-and-coming design students across British Columbia. Selected by a panel of distinguished design professionals, a winner is selected in three areas: Print Design, Advertising and Interactive Design. Tickets to the ceremony are $5.00 for members, $15.00 for non-members.

May 9 Schedule:

POGO Creative Workshops were created to help complement design students and graduates creativity and use it in life, work, and creative expression. We do this through a unique series of lectures from GDC certified Members of our community in typography, business, branding and creativity. These experiences don’t stop when the workshop does: they are meant to become tools for a lifetime.

Workshops offered this year:

Customise Everything: The Holistic Nature of Typographic Design with Michael Hernan, MGDC

Everything is related. All elements needs to be adjusted – especially if they are wrong to start off with. What are the five basic elements we use to build a typographic design? Now, how do we play with these effectively? Detail appropriation, interconnection and achieving design harmony will be investigated. We will take a look at the magazine as ‘object’ and how it can be used as a platform to act out a predetermined design philosophy. The nature of ‘the experiment’ will be touched upon.

Group workshop: Magazine Teardown – Please bring in a magazine – exquisite or otherwise. (Magazines will be handled but not harmed).

Ten Stories About Creativity with Nancy Wu, MGDC

Everyone loves a good story—especially one that is interesting, compelling, and something you can personally identify with. Nancy Wu takes you on a creative walk through the background stories of various design projects and how real world problems, fresh ideas, and strategic thinking can lead to powerful communication design solutions. She will show how creative thinking can give a new spin on things and challenge the expected norms. The goal of this workshop is to make you feel inspired to make change for the right reasons and to see things a little differently.

Materials Required: Notebook, pen
Optional: Work for critique – bring your own or something to share for an group critique

Business Sense – What They Don’t Teach You In Design School with Sung Van, MGDC

Having a design business is not just about doing great design. To be successful, you must have great business skills. The focus of the workshop is to give attendees a real life perspective on starting or owning a design business – the do’s and don’ts, what to expect, how to plan, and how to get projects and maintain clients. Sung will share his knowledge from his 14 years of agency ownership. Depending on the number of attendees, individual attention may also be given. So bring your portfolio, your ideas, goals and dreams. And loads of questions too.

Branding Yourself with Casey Hrynkow

See why it takes more than a portfolio, a “no-typos” resumé and a good interview to get the job. This workshop will guide you through all the elements that help you sell yourself and your work effectively. You’ll also learn how to put together a selling portfolio, how to set your hourly rate, diagnose problems in your presentation and learn how to solve them. You’ll need to bring your current portfolio for consultation.

Portfolio Critique

The POGO Portfolio Critique is open to recent graduates aspiring to enter into in a career in communication design or students currently enrolled in a design program. Several industry professionals will be in attendance to provide insightful and constructive advise to attendees about their current portfolio. This is a great opportunity to practice ‘real-world’ interview skills and receive honest feedback from industry professionals in a non-competitive environment. This is also a great opportunity to network with the who’s who in the Vancouver design community.
How It Works

Upon registering for the event, attendees will be assigned one table to present their work. Attendees are asked to arrive at least 20 minutes prior to their critique time to insure that they have ample time to set up their work.

Industry professionals will rotate around the room. Every effort will be made to maximize the number of professionals who will sit with attendees and discuss their work. All Industry professionals will be asked to limit their critique time to 15 minutes. Therefore attendees are asked to prepare to present their portfolio and get feedback within this time constraint.

Although this is a non-competitive event, the POGO Portfolio Critique is designed to prepare attendees for the actual interview process. Attendees will be expected to be on time, be dressed accordingly, and be mindful of how they present themselves and their work.
Attendees Preparation

Come with 8 to 10 of your best portfolio pieces. Additionally, it is a smart idea to bring 10–15 copies of your resume with 3 or 4 photocopies or printouts of your best work attached so interested professionals can take your information away with them.

Critique Reviewers

* Carolina Becerra MGDC, Design Director at Science World, Instructor-Emily Carr Institute
* Mark Busse MGDC, Principal + Design Director-Industrial Brand Creative
* Darren Carcary MGDC, Principal Resolve Design
* Steven Cretney MGDC, Principal The Forest Communication Design
* Roberto Dosil MGDC, Director-SFU Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing
* Juan Madrigal MGDC, Designer-MEC
* Leo Obstbaum, Principal-Leo Obstbaum Studio, Creative Director VANOC
* Cory Ripley MGDC, Principal + Creative Director-Exhibit A: Design Group
* Matt Warburton FGDC, Principal-Emdoubleyu Design
* Ray Hrynkow, Principal Herrianco Brand Strategy + Design
* Perry Chua, Spring Advertising
* Stu Ross, Stu Ross communications
* Marga Lopez MGDC, Design Directorat at Ideastream Design
* Ashlea Spitz MGDC, Principal + Creative Director – Pixsoul Media
* Tom Brown – Tom Brown Art + Design

POGO 2009 is sponsored in part by the following companies:

Metropolitan Fine Printers, Hemlock Printers Ltd.,  Rhino Print Solutions, Emily Carr University, Sophia Books, Western Printers & Lithographers, Gould Canada, Coast Paper, AJ Graphics, Repart, Precision Media Group, Sydney Sales, Vancouver ACM Siggraph, TypeCamp