Brand New Conference

Posted by: Christine Golus

Attended the Brand New Conference on Friday, November 5, in NYC along with my colleagues Alissa, Thilo, and Laurenz. What a treat!

My highlights:

1.
Michael Johnson
Johnson Banks
London

Visit Michael’s Thought for the Week and see Johnson Bank’s work for Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.

2.
Michael Lejeune
Metro Design Studio
Los Angeles

Learned about Michael and his team’s herculean efforts with the Los Angeles transit system. See Fast Company article.

3.
Paula Scher
Michael Bierut
Pentagram
New York

“Pentagram is a place for designers to work. We make stuff.”

See Scher’s recent work for the High Line. I walked this former elevated railway on Sunday and was giddy with excitement. It is an exquisite melding of the urban and the natural world. Juncos were flitting among the grasses.

4.
Christian Helms
The Decoder Ring Design Concern
Austin

Christian braved the initial technical difficulties with his presentation and wowed us with his fresh quirky work.

5.
Tom Dorresteijn
Studio Dumbar
Rotterdam

Dorresteijn’s soothing voice provided the perfect backdrop for his thoughtful comments on branding – “Don’t go for the brain, go for the heart.”  Their work with University Twente beautifully merged the scientific with the artistic. Their animation work for the Dutch Chamber Choir brought tears to my eyes. Sounds silly, but it is true.

6.
Connie Birdsall
Lippincott
New York

Someone has to manage the garguatuan brand systems of Delta and Walmart. Her favorite color PMS 2718 IBM blue.

7.
Jordan Crane and Karl Heiselman
Wolff Olins
New York

They blew us out of our chairs with their brand is video. See it on their home page. Shiny, bright, sexy, engaging, overwhelming, hypnotic, a bit scary, powerful.

8.
Erik Spiekermann
Edenspiekermann AG
Amsterdam, Berlin, Stuttgart

Last, but definitely not the least…! Spiekerman was in rollicking good form. Chiding us, inspiring us, urging us on toward perfection. He reminded us of the tedium and hard work in design – “It’s good for you. You have to do it”. My highlight – sharing the our Q business card with him – set in Spiekermann designed InfoText. “ah yes, yes. It looks good in this size.” said Spiekermann.



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