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.

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!

Image copyright © 2007 David Coates & Matthew Warburton

[UPDATE]

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 1.3MB PDF

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

Title

Usability: Why is it so hard to make things easy?

Introduction

As designers, we hear the term ‘usability’ uttered frequently when discussing the web. But usability applies to everything we interact with … software programs, door handles, iPods, kitchen utensils, automatic hand dryers in airport washrooms, and pretty much anything else that requires a push, pull, squeeze, shake, twist or click. Believe it or not, many the things we learn while interacting with our physical environment can be applied to web design … providing you know what questions to ask and where the answers are lurking.

Issa Breibish and Grant Hutchinson will discuss why it’s so hard to make things easier to use. They’ll share best practices and qualitative examples compiled from their combined experience in web design and user interface development. All delivered with a mighty smack of the reality hammer.

Biography: Issa Breibish

Issa Breibish is a founding partner and the ‘guiding hand’ behind feature development at Veer. For the past 14 years, he’s been passionately pre-occupied with understanding how people interact with technology at a variety of companies including Adobe Systems, Verity, and Image Club Graphics. Issa spends much of his time focused on simplifying the user experience – and more importantly – getting ideas off of paper and into the real world.

Biography: Grant Hutchinson

On the way to his current web development gig at Veer, Grant Hutchinson designed typefaces, finessed the user experience, defined the product mix, and helped keep the storefronts tidy at visual content purveyors such as Image Club Graphics, Adobe, EyeWire, and Getty Images. Grant resides in Calgary, Alberta – along with a basement full of vintage computers and typographic paraphernalia that his wonderful wife wishes he would store elsewhere.

About Veer

Veer sources and delivers visual elements with imagination and style to help creatives diverge from the norm and generate fresh solutions. Their discerning, design-driven photography, illustration, type, motion, and merchandise products are used throughout the advertising, print, web design, corporate communications and publishing industries. Veer has offices in Calgary, New York and Berlin.