Winnipeg, Canada

We’re very pleased to have had the opportunity over the last six months of working with an exciting new First Nations initiative—TIPI (TWCC Insurance Partners LP)—on the creation, naming, and design of branding and communications materials. TIPI fulfills the dream of a single, national pension and benefit plan for Aboriginal People and First Nations organizations, and holds the potential to bring together more than 490 separate plans currently scattered across Canada.

Combining pension assets into a single plan will dramatically lower fees charged to First Nations pension accounts. This in turn means that more money stays in the communities, reversing the “economic leakage” that is currently the norm. TIPI will also lead to the creation of numerous jobs for Aboriginal people; and TIPI raises the bar with ethics based on honesty, openness, social responsibility, and regard for the well-being of People (vs. the well-being of the “corporate bottom line”).

Part of Circle’s work on behalf of TIPI has been the design and development of a launch website, where you can learn more about this exciting initiative.

Shown above is a screen-shot of the new WordPress-powered TIPI website, along with some of the key messages that appear on the splash page.

Toronto, Canada

An essay that Circle’s principal, Robert L. Peters, compiled for Applied Arts Magazine (pulling from various articles he’s penned over the past years) appears in the current issue (Vol. 25, No. 4, October 2010) with the following pull-quote featured on the cover…

“NEED is the father of thought. I would like to think that designing and dreaming have traveled in lockstep since our species began to walk upright… Graphic design ignites passion, identifies, informs, clarifies, inspires, and enables communication… Design shapes culture and it influences societal values.”

Read or download the whole essay here (384 KB PDF).

Winnipeg, Canada

Our longtime client, The North West Company Fund (NWC), held its Annual and Special Meeting of Unitholders today in the Muriel Richardson Auditorium of the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Circle designed NWC’s annual report for the 17th consecutive year—the theme this time around was “More growth in store…” with illustrated stories revolving around that narrative. View the 2009 NWC Annual Report online, here.

Images: Front cover and several interior spreads from the printed report; principal photography (Canada and the Caribbean) by Ian McCausland; Alaska photography by Chris Arend; editorial/writing services by Blunn & Company Inc. of Toronto.

Winnipeg, Canada

Digging through some old files in the office recently, we came across this 17-year-old clipping from the Winnipeg Free Press, which ran just before we moved from our original studio on Albert Street to the space we’ve occupied here at the corner of Princess Street and McDermot Avenue since 1993. Our saying “No” to a cattle-call RFP by a prospective client caught the attention of journalist Martin Cash, who penned a mostly complimentary story about our design practice and ethos (read the whole piece in a 252 KB PDF here, if you like)…

Mr. Cash described Circle as “having become known for a certain thoroughness and a high level of quality”—traits we would like to think have remained with us to this day.

Taipei, Taiwan

Circle’s founder, Robert L. Peters, is in Taiwan for a week as part of the three-city 2009 Conference of International Design Competitions lecture tour; Taipei, Taiching, and Tainan. The two other international presenters are Nakanishi Motoo (one of the great corporate identity masters, responsible for creating and/or managing the image of over one hundred top-500 companies worldwide, among them Bridgestone, Kenwood, Mazda, Asics, Kirin beer, etc., etc.), and Hiroshi Tsunoda, a talented young Tokyo-born product designer with a burgeoning practice in Barcelona, Spain. Peters reports that audience response in the packed-out venues has been enthusiastic and warm (and Taiwan temperatures in the high 20s have been a full 50 degrees warmer than back in the ‘Peg).

Images above: Taipei 101 (the world’s tallest skyscraper when it was completed five years ago); delegates with Rodin’s Thinker at Asia University in Taiching; Peters in Tainan.

São Paulo, Brazil

Our talented colleagues at Oz Design (one of our co-design worldwide partners) were featured this week in the leading Brazilian weekly magazine Veja by means of a 10-page article introducing them as the graphic design professionals who “Give the city a face.” A piece of well-deserved recognition, we think, regarding the efforts that Oz has invested over the past 30 years to promote the value of design in Brazil. If you understand Portuguese, read more here.

Keep up the good work!

Winnipeg, Canada

We’re excited about a significant product launch happening next week here in Winnipeg. For nearly two years we’ve been working intensely with a visionary client team from Conquest Manufacturing Ltd. and a number of leading architects on the conceptual development, ideation, planning, and design of an exciting new product offer—eco-smart, sensibly-sized, precision-built homes reflecting best practices in sustainable design and offering future-proof comfort and convenience.

We’re currently launching the brand (an initial website went live this week here) and the new line of Challenger homes will kick off in dramatic fashion next Friday at the Autumn Home Show in Winnipeg. The Cube, an innovative, modern, two-story home designed by architect Ed Calnitsky, is being assembled right on the Convention Centre floor (from four precision-built modules delivered to the venue). This leading-edge demo home will act as the event’s feature attraction, and will show off innovative products from many of the show’s other exhibitors.

Find details about show hours, etc. here. If you’re in or near Manitoba, we’d encourage you to drop by Booth #217 (right across from The Cube) and see what the future of smart living will be like.

For more information about this launch, contact Robert L. Peters, FGDC
(Tel. +1 204 943 3693).

Winnipeg, Canada

The North West Company (NWC) today held its Annual and Special Meeting of Unitholders at the Winnipeg Convention Centre—President & CEO Edward S. Kennedy was happy to announce the Company’s ninth consecutive year of achieving record sales and earnings (no small feat, given the global economic downturn in the past year).

We were once again pleased to design NWC’s annual report (the 16th consecutive year we have done so), and this year we were also involved in producing a Flash version of the report (viewable online here—high speed connection required). The design approach for NWC’s 2008 Summary Annual Report fleshed out the theme of “sustainable growth” and uses the Company’s major retail banners to convey the story: “favourable industry fundamentals; remote market expertise; an enterprising culture; community-centred retailing; and opportunity in new markets.” You can view an online PDF (2.4 MB) of the 2008 Annual Report here.

Images: The front cover and several interior spreads from the report; principal photography by Ian McCausland; additonal photography by Chris Arend (Alaska) and Herman Crisostomo (Guam); editorial/writing services by Blunn & Company Inc.

São Paulo, Brazil

Our co-design worldwide partners at Oz Design are celebrating their 30th Anniversary, replete with a move into new offices… here’s a congratulatory toast to our talented southern friends from the great white north…

Cheers!

Toronto, Canada

Circle’s founder/principal Robert L. Peters has accepted an invitation to serve on the Design Advisory Board of Applied Arts magazine. Touted as “Canada’s Visual Communications Magazine,” Applied Arts is published six times a year and goes out to a readership of over 65,000. Since its launch in 1986 the magazine has become this country’s premier publication in our field.

Learn more about Applied Arts here.