Winnipeg, Manitoba

It’s the final day of Movember! Congratulations to all the Mo Bros and Mo Sistas who’ve supported this year’s campaign. Total funds raised for this year’s Movember campaign exceed $102,711,000 — with Canada once again leading “donations by nation” with a whopping $32,611,833+ !!!

We’re very pleased to report that the 4-man, GDC Manitoba Movember team (comprised of Adrian J.K. Shum, Robert L. Peters, Evan Kuz, and Kirk Warren) raised over $2500! http://ca.movember.com/team/633289 — thanks again for all of your support!

Images (top to bottom): 3 out of 4 members of the GDC Manitoba Movember Team (from left to right – Evan Kuz, Kirk Warren, Adrian Shum); Carisa Romans (Sugarcrumb Confections) our Mo’Sista who showed her support by baking the team “tasteful” moustaches; the gents behind their edible ‘staches; and a composite of “past ‘staches” from Robert L. Peters (who happened to be in Europe on the final day when the other team members gathered for the end-of-Movember lunch).

Winnipeg, Manitoba

We’re very pleased to announce the launch of a new website for Seccuris — seccuris.com/  Circle recently completed a “brand refresh” for Seccuris, along with input to their strategic marketing planning, the development of key messaging, updating of visual assets, and design of a suite of marketing / communication literature.

Images (top to bottom): the new Seccuris website, and the Seccuris “Context” newsletter.

Winnipeg, Manitoba

We recently designed a “welcome” sign for the reception area of the West Central Women’s Resource Centre—a community-based initiative in the ethnically diverse West Central neighbourhood of Winnipeg. The sign incorporates 20 of the most common languages used by the centre’s constituents (Canada offers a remarkably multicultural milieu).

Earlier, Circle designed the West Central Women’s Resource Centre’s new graphic identity, stationery, interior and exterior signage, and various promotional materials.

Image: the multilingual “Welcome” we designed for WCWRC.

Montréal, Quebec

In response to a request by its current board, Robert L. Peters is serving as interim Acting Director for Icograda (the International Council of Communication Design) for a period of several few months, helping this world design body bridge the gap between its outgoing Managing Director, Brenda Sanderson, and the inauguration of a new, incoming Managing Director in early July. Since April, he has been making regular visits to Montréal, where he is responsible for Icograda staff and management of the Icograda Secretariat, which shares office facilities with Icsid (the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design).

Together with IFI (the International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers), Icograda and Icsid constitute the International Design Alliance (IDA). Robert has a long history of involvement with Icograda; he served as its president from 2001-2003, and was involved in the formation of the IDA while serving as an Icograda board member.

Icograda is the world body for professional communication design. It is a non-profit, non-partisan, member-based network of independent organisations and stakeholders working within the multidisciplinary scope of communication design and expanded media. Founded in 1963, Icograda actively promotes the value of design practice, thinking, education, research and policy, representing more than 200 organisations in 67 countries and regions globally. As a partner of the IDA, Icograda’s members believe in interdisciplinary collaboration and the effectiveness of a collective voice to represent the design industry.

Captions for photos: Members of the current Icograda Board, left to right, who were present in Montréal for this term’s third board meeting in May: Jeffrey Ho (Singapore), Sophia Shih (Taiwan), Yesim Demir (Istanbul), Leimei Julia Chiu (current president, Japan), Iva Babaja (Croatia), Gaby de Abreu (South Africa), Kyle Kim (Korea), Sali Sasaki* (France), and Gitte Just (Denmark)—missing were Russell Kennedy (Australia), Vesna Brekalo (Slovenia), and Lawrence Zeegen (United Kingdom) | Outgoing Managing Director Brenda Sanderson and president Leimei Julia Chiu at the farewell dinner arranged in Brenda’s honour.

Vancouver, British Columbia

Circle’s Principal, Robert L. Peters, had the pleasure of serving as the special guest speaker for the 2012 Salazar Awards held at UBC Robson Square on the evening of Friday, 11 May 2012. The GDC/BC Salazar Student Awards, is the annual juried competition and awards-presentation event held to celebrate BC’c most talented and promising design students and their inspirational work. The GDC/BC Salazar Student Awards were established in 1985 to honour Enrique Salazar, a founding member of the Society, a BC National Representative, Partner in Salazar Graphics and a highly regarded member of the BC design community. Among many other achievements, Enrique Salazar remained committed to design education throughout his career and taught Graphic Design at Capilano College until his death in June 1985. Learn more about the Salazar Awards by visiting http://bc.gdc.net/salazar2012/

Rob’s keynote presentation was entitled Aim Higher…

Our globalized society is morphing rapidly from an information era into an age of ideas—at the same time, we flounder in the uncertainty of tumultuous political, social, economic, and ecological instability—even as our fragile planet accelerates towards the edge of survival.

Designers have greatly influenced the shaping of the over-consuming, hyper-stimulated, non-sustainable world we are in—suddenly we find ourselves thrust into a leading role as necessary change-drivers. This presentation will address a shift in design’s role and the power it holds, share diverse perspectives from around the globe, and offer a challenge to “think about our thinking.”

Winnipeg, Canada

The statistics are in… this year’s Movember event is an unprecedented success, raising a total of $113,931,103 for the cause. The lads at Circle are chuffed to have contributed to the effort through their sacrificial facial dedication—Canada was the world’s single largest contributor this year, with a whopping $39.8 million!

Thanks to those who contributed to the cause (during November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces… raising vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer). See full Movember stats here.

The handsome swashbuckler above is Circle’s Adrian Shum.

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Excerpt from the Movember website…

During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces, in Canada and around the world. With their “Mo’s,” these men raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer.

On Movember 1st, guys register at Movember.com with a clean-shaven face. For the rest of the month, these selfless and generous men, known as Mo Bros, groom, trim and wax their way into the annals of fine moustachery. Supported by the women in their lives, Mo Sistas, Movember Mo Bros raise funds by seeking out sponsorship for their Mo-growing efforts. Mo Bros effectively become walking, talking billboards for the 30 days of November. Through their actions and words, they raise awareness by prompting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of men’s health.

At the end of the month, Mo Bros and Mo Sistas celebrate their gallantry and valor by either throwing their own Movember party or attending one of the infamous Gala Partés held around the world by Movember, for Movember.

Several members of the Circle team are participating in this year’s movement, and we’d be delighted if you chose to make a donation to the cause… donate to Rob’s efforts here, and Adrian’s efforts here. Cheers!

Taipei, Taiwan

Robert L. Peters has just returned from the 2011 IDA World Design Congress in Taipei (IDA = the International Design Alliance, comprised of Icograda, Icsid, and IFI) and the 24th General Assembly of Icograda, the International Council of Communication Design.

The sold-out benchmark congress event drew together over 3000 delegates from around the globe, and was accompanied by a successful Design Expo (which enjoyed over 1 million visitors); scores of parallel exhibitions, conferences, and seminars further illuminated the city of Taipei’s position during this time as the centre of attention in the world of design.

The 2011 IDA Congress lived up to its billing as a unique gathering of thought leadership exploring the intersection between design and five key sectors of global relevance: economic development, the Internet, biotechnology, urbanism, and international migration. As such, it brought together designers with non-design stakeholders to promote the value of design and explore design-led approaches as an enabler of innovation. “The Congress theme—Design at the Edges—highlights the edges between design practice and other fields having a stake in design; the blurring of the boundaries between the design disciplines, as well as their unique attributes; and ‘cutting edge’ work and ideas—thinking that pushes the boundaries of all disciplines.”

Over the past two years, Peters has had the pleasure of acting as an adviser to the Taiwanese hosts/organizers, and he was also pleased to have the opportunity of presenting a keynote lecture in the ‘Economic Development’ stream. He’s learned a lot about Taiwan (this was his 7th trip there), in no small part through the process of researching and writing a feature article that appears in the current issue of Communication Arts magazine (November/December 2011 issue, download a 1.7MB PDF here).

A huge ‘thank-you’ goes out to the local hosts in Taipei; the Taiwan Design Centre, as well as to the visionary Taiwanese ministries whose mission for sustainable economic development has placed Design at the center of their strategic thinking for the future. Thanks also to the many Taiwanese designers who contributed their works and viewpoints to Peters’ CA article… 謝謝!

Vilnius, Lithuania

Circle’s founder, Robert L. Peters, has spent the better part of the past week in Vilnius, capital city of the Baltic state of Lithuania, as an invited speaker and active participant in the Spring: Icograda Design Week. Official activities included attendance of the Icograda Regional Meeting, delivery of a lecture entitle Welcome Change at the International Conference held at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, and acting as a presenter at the European Design Awards 2011.

Highlights of Peters’ week included numerous design exhibitions that ran in the old city (concurrent to the Design Week), meeting with old and new designer colleagues from some 20 different countries, and spending time in some excellent art galleries and historic cultural venues. A big thanks goes out to the organizers and to Gediminas Lasas and his colleagues at the Lithuanian Graphic Design Association in particular…

Photos (by Ines Subtil): participants of the Icograda Regional Meeting outside the Vilnius Academy of Arts; an on-stage group shot of all of the winners and presenters of the European Design Awards 2011; Peters and MTV hostess Ugne Skonsmanaite presenting a silver award to Beetroot Design Group from Greece for their packaging work “Konva.”

Toronto, Canada

Circle’s founder, Robert L. Peters, gave a presentation at FITC Toronto 2011 earlier today… exploring “why” we as designers do what we do, and “to what end.” His talk included a personal existential narrative (tracing back to the 16th-century Holy Roman Empire) wrapped in a “big-picture exposition” on the power of design to shape culture and influence our tomorrows. Thanks to Shawn Pucknell for bringing Peters back to FITC on this special 10th-anniversary occasion (his 8th time giving a talk at FITC).

DesignEdge Canada has a writeup of Peters’ talk in its May 4th news, here.