obsessions & anything inbetween
Kancil Awards 2009 results: This is my first year at the Kancil Awards dinner presentation after so long. I really enjoyed the ambiance; it was really energetic. My guess is that if it were a design show awards, probably bored like soft-rock-metal (most designers are cold-blooded introverts).
Here’s two of my personal favourite entries for this years Kancils:
Had a portfolio photoshoot two weeks ago.
2006 Annual.
2007 Annual.
2008 Annual.
2009 Annual coming soon. Hopefully before Christmas.
Nothing much to say about this years Kancils. Been an interesting year as many changes have been introduced especially in terms of judging. The typeface is AG Buch.
Kancil Call for Entries Poster above. Introducing the all new format of 10 Golden Kancils to be won this year.
Kancil Student Call for Entries Poster. The copy is a dummy. (Notice the huge margin on the left?)
Of course there are other permutations of the way the Kancils leap over one another. (Dummy copy again for the above) And finally, the website. Don’t forget to log in this Friday at midnight to view all the winning works! And good luck to all of you who hope to win something.
I remember rushing through a whole lot of things for Designyatra this year during end of August. Now, its all over for almost two weeks plus and suddenly life moves on at its usual phase.
Was quite an experience really to be there this time around. Simply because I needed to be on duty to make sure certain things go as according to plan. Compared to past year where I was just a delegate. Starting off with me finding out my flight was only 4 hours away. In the midst of packing and rushing through to make sure I brought the correct pair of socks to keep me comfy, I realized that this is not going to be an easy trip.
I spend the last three days prior to Designyatra working on event graphics and other related matters to the event. Yes, it was pretty chaotic as there were a lot of things to pay attention to. From working with the visual and audio guys, to the guys producing the event graphics, and to the guy who approves them all, and oh, the guy producing the event too.
Besides occasionally standing at the AV area, worrying about which speakers laptop works and which doesn’t, trying to ensure speakers credits appear accordingly and also videos and presentations go on well, getting a feel of being out of the comfort of working without colleagues is a scary thing really. No doubt the availability of the internet saved my life a few times, working under the thrill of making rushed last minute decisions remains haunting.
Of course its stressful to battle against time and at the same time, trying to ‘conceptualize’ Erik Spiekermann looking at it and what if he says ‘boooo’. I really think it will be a career breakdown really. Its confirmed in my experience, that designing for the creative people can be a tough thing at times because of the levels of extremes that exist in our taste for design. Letting the work you do being exposed to the whole creative industry, where almost 1,200 pair of trained eyes looking at your little booklet, its scary.
Let me side-track a little bit: Was with a very famous designer sometime ago and he told me that designing for the creative community is actually an easier thing compared to designing for corporate clients and those from other industries. I asked him why. He told me that chances of them liking it because you like it is higher. To a degree, ironically, I do believe its true regardless of my fear of being in this position.
Back to the conference; on a lighter note, I did enjoyed the conference a lot. No doubt I felt uncomfortable traveling through the streets of Mumbai to the venue due to the heavy rain and uncertainty whether I will get caught in a flood or not, it thought me of how life is on the other side of the world.
Listening to the Dutch designers going through their pile of work and the ADDIKT guys was a good break indeed. I felt day 1, where the focus was on architecture and interior design a little bit solemn. Serious. Probably extracting them out entirely as an independent event might be of consideration for next year. Ben Terret’s talk about his ever changing perspectives as a designer was highly entertaining but very real. It reminds me of how much I dislike certain things which I use to think was fascinating. I was in 100% attentive mode while listening to Wally Olins and Michael Wolff walking down memory lane. And it opened up my eyes to see the importance of finding the right people to liaise with at work.
Another one of the awe moments of the conference was when Erik, the last speaker asked the audience to point out the name of the typeface used on the stage backdrop (or as the primary typeface for this years Designyatra identity). ‘Akkurat’ he prompted. Followed by a good piece of advice ‘Never read anything without knowing what typeface is used.’
All that been spoken, I was at a very peaceful state of mind sitting around the pre-function area observing the event crew setting up the graphics before day 1. It was satisfying.
Random posts about Designyatra 2009:
_http://www.afaqs.com
_http://noisydecentgraphics.typepad.com
_http://www.creativereview.co.uk
Have been procrastinating to put this up for a long time:
I never wanted to work with websites when I graduated. I thought that they were pretty troublesome as I don‘t really understand the art of programming. Javascript, Php and CSS codings—I always believed should be left in the hands of Web Programmers working closely with graphic designers, who eventually should be the stylist. Thing is, I never had the chance to design whatever I want on a page and let a web programmer execute it for me.
So for the past few years, I have learned a little bit about the tools used to get a long the way. How to find them and manipulate them. Up to today, I still find programming and designing websites tough. Most of the codes I use on websites are either downloaded and taken from pro-programmers from other plugins. And Google happens to be my best companion and teacher.
Anyways, here’s some snapshots from the Afaa website:
