Issa Breibish

An Evening with Stefan Sagmeister

Image copyright © 2008 Grant Hutchinson

On Wednesday night, I was asked to introduce Stefan Sagmeister at TypeCon in Buffalo, NY. I have to admit I was nervous introducing a man who’s left a strong impression on myself and design in general. Rather than spending time trying to write a pseudo-CV of his (many) accomplishments, I thought I’d address the general sense I had of the man and, specifically, the quandary that makes him both appealing and fear-inducing. I think the result was what I had hoped it would be. After meeting him, I was surprised at how easy-going and genuinely *good* he seemed to be. Everything we asked of him was met with a laid back “Sure.” It was a real treat.

Image copyright © 2008 Grant Hutchinson

A snippet from the introduction:

“We feel that Stefan’s work truly embodies the meaning behind the idea of creativity – his work constantly changes within varying contexts, his processes adds greater depth to the final piece and whatever the outcome he challenges and moves us along the way.

Inspired and opinionated, Stefan is often as critical of himself as he is of the icons that surround us. Perhaps it’s this open self-analysis and willingness to comment on the world that makes him appear both approachable and unreachable at the same moment. However he may be viewed, Stefan shares his thoughts and processes through his work, speaking engagements and his books and we are truly richer for it.”

Muhammad Ali may have said it best: “Me. We.” Talking about today’s web is really a conversation about re-humanizing the experience and understanding the opportunities that are available to us when we replace control with cooperation. Today was presentation day at the Alberta Magazines Conference and our presentation went well with a packed room and an inspiring audience. I’d like to take a moment to thank Colleen Seto for organizing everything, Karen Neudorf for facilitating our session and Milena Radzikowska for being a great co-presenter. Also, a big thanks to the audience who were asking great questions throughout the session.

Attendees are encouraged to download the presentation below for future reference. The presentation is password protected, so just drop me a line for access.

+ Download the presentation 1.8MB PDF
+ Beyond Magazine blog post about the session

This presentation by Issa Breibish + Milena Radzikowska is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

It looks like I’ll be participating on a panel at the annual Alberta Magazines Conference in Calgary on March 7th, 2008. If you’re from the Calgary area and want to see me sweat out some ideas around taking your publication online, stay tuned for more details at their website. This years keynote speaker is Jason Brightman from MacWorld. 

Event Abstract:

March 6 & 7, 2008, Red & White Club, Calgary
Recharge your editorial, spice up your design, pump up your ad sales, and develop a plan to harmonize online and print. Join us at Western Canada’s largest magazine conference with keynote speaker, Jason Brightman, director of web design for PC World and MacWorld. Come rub shoulders with industry experts.

Other confirmed speakers include: Charlene Rooke, editor of Western Living magazine; Kim Machado, General Manager of CanadianBusiness.com; Mary Newberry, former manager editor for Descant magazine; Malcolm Brown, art director of Unlimited magazine; Glenn Mielke, art director for BlackFlash magazine; Kevin Menshik, director of the agency Mediactive among others.

Come rub shoulders with industry experts. More details to come. Stay tuned! or email ampa@albertamagazines.com

Mark it in your calendars & I hope to see you there!