Emzin seminar on graphic design, 20th and 21st November 2007

Days of British design

Domenic Lippa and Harry Pearce (Pentagram), Stephen Sorell and Damon Murray (FUEL)

Conference hall, Garni Hotel, Miklošičeva 9, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Domenic Lippa was born in 1962 in London, where he also studied at the London College of Printing, a prestige college that has gained worldwide fame for its research into the ways and aesthetics of creating visual ideas. Successful design projects (packaging, print, identity design, retail graphics, etc.) have won Domenic a worldwide reputation as well as invitations to work for prominent clients (including the furniture retailer Heal’s & Sons and the premium international spa company Espa) and global organisations such as TDK, Vodafone and Unilever. Thanks to his extensive knowledge in typography he found himself on the executive committee of the Typographic Circle for a number of years; he also co-edits and designs the Circular magazine. Domenic Lippa has been the recipient of many awards, his work has been featured in numerous design publications and exhibitions throughout the world, and his lectures have been extensive both in frequency and diversity of location. He is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale.

Harry Pearce, born in London in 1960, studied at the Canterbury College of Art. His work touches a number of design disciplines, from spatial design and identity to print and packaging. His clients include Phaidon Publishing, Williams F1, Kangol, Shakespeare’s Globe, Science Museum, etc., while his corporate identity work includes Halfords and The Co-operative. Harry Pearce has won many national and international design awards including two D&AD Silvers. His work was exhibited at the show of excellence in New York at the celebration of British design and at the 50th anniversary exhibition of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) in Paris, of which he is also a member.

Domenic Lippa and Harry Pearce founded their own design company Lippa Pearce Design in 1990 and after having worked together for 21 years they joined Pentagram’s London studio, an office of unique cooperation between 19 graphic designers with offices in New York, San Francisco, Austin and Berlin.

On the first day of the seminar, Tuesday, 20th November 2007, Harry Pearce and Domenic Lippa will discuss their mutual love of language and typography, which has been a constant cornerstone to them both. Harry Pearce will cover his work in spatial design, identity, print and packaging for clients such as Phaidon Publishing, Kangol, Shakespeare’s Globe, The Co-operative and the London Science Museum. Domenic Lippa will talk about his work as the co-editor and designer of the international magazine baseline as well as his work as the Chairman of the Typographic Circle for whom he designs their magazine Circular. Alongside this he will also discuss his commercial work for clients such as Heal’s & Sons, Espa, TDK and Vodafone.

The second part will be dedicated to the great change in their work after they joined Pentagram; Domenic and Harry will explain what is it like to suddenly have nineteen partners, five offices and have to walk in the footsteps of design legends.

Damon Murray (born in 1967 in London) and Stephen Sorrell (born in 1967 in Maidstone, Kent) studied graphic design at Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art. In 1991, while at the Royal College of Art, they started working together and established FUEL. From the outset FUEL combined varied commissions with their own projects, including a self-published magazine. Their projects often contained thought provoking graphic messages. In 1996 and 2000 they published Pure Fuel and Fuel 3000, two books that examined the accepted notions of graphic design, illustrating ideas and preoccupations that explored the themes of authorship. Their clients include Levi’s, Sony, MTV, Virgin Records, Marc Jacobs, XBOX, and Adidas. As well as their work in print, FUEL have also produced and directed short films, TV channel idents, film titles and TV commercials. In 2005 FUEL Publishing was formed within the group. This process involves close collaboration with the authors on the content, which together with their experience in book design, produces a broad range of beautiful and distinctive books. FUEL have also designed books and catalogues for Tracey Emin, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Sam Taylor-Wood and Juergen Teller. In 2006 FUEL were asked to produce a 60th anniversary Penguin Designer Classic alongside Sir Paul Smith, Sam Taylor-Wood, Ron Arad and Manolo Blahnik.

On the second day of the seminar, Wednesday, 21st November 2007, Damon Murray and Stephen Sorrell will talk about the first steps of FUEL, their early self-published magazines and books Pure Fuel and Fuel 3000. FUEL will show their self-published work alongside commercial commissions and explain how the two overlap. They will show experimental short films and graphic animations that have led to TV commercials, a series of thought provoking Sci-Fi channel idents and film titles.

In the last few years FUEL have become even more involved in books. In the afternoon FUEL will present their work as publishers - how the content of a book is just as important to them as the design. Since their group trip to Moscow in 1992 FUEL have had a growing interest in Russia. So far they have published four books on Russian subcultures, notably on Russian criminal tattoos. They will discuss these books as well as other books in the series.

The seminar will take place on 20th and 21st November 2007 at Garni Hotel, Miklošičeva 9, Ljubljana, between 9.30 am and 4.30 pm. The lectures will be held in English and will have no simultaneous translation. The fee for the seminar is 320 EUR (VAT excluded), and 110 EUR (VAT excluded) for students. Applications will be accepted every weekday between 9 am and 3 pm at Emzin, Metelkova 6, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, telephone: +386 1 430 35 44, mobile: +386 31 685 067, fax: +386 1 430 35 40, e-mail: emzin@guest.arnes.si.

We would be most grateful if you helped us promote this seminar by publishing this announcement in your media.

Kind regards

Jasna Rackov, Tanja Hladnik, project managers

Special thanks for the realisation of the seminar go to the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, the Culture and Research Department of the City of Ljubljana and the British Council.

Shopping online in Italy: a growing sector

Finally, also in Italy, the market share of online purchases is growing progressively. To the increased demand of products for computing, Brandhardware responds with a new technological website.

Internet is becoming more and more a business tool, available to Italian companies, which may direct their attention to a user’s catchment area "potentially infinite"

The Italian e-commerce, although lagging behind North American and European, is progressing both in terms of demand (gradual increase of users connected to the internet) both in terms of quality of service and product offered (improved performance of e-commerce portals and advanced sales techniques of "Web Marketing").


How we explain this interest for on-line purchases?

Simply with a word, progress. The coverage of the entire nation with broadband (ADSL) has made it possible to navigate so much faster and safer (no danger on Dialer) compared to a few years ago with simple telephone plug. Moreover, usually those who offer goods and services online has more competitive prices than those who work with traditional sales: in fact there are less operating costs, advertising / visibility and human resources.

In addition, the vast amount of users 24 hours a day, 7 days a week allows online stores to have more merchandise possible with a significant fall in gross margins.

In any case, buy products online is convenient, easy, fast and very safe. The fact of security can still be the biggest obstacle that e-commerce will face for the boom that all expect in the following years. In fact Italian customers are very skeptical and always in search of "traps" to avoid (the distrust is a bit of our nature, fortunately). Then, as well as to grow in terms of numbers, the course and its traders should form Internet users about possible risks to purchase online and propose strategies and techniques that encourage protection of the user to place greater attention and confidence in what we are doing.

In this regard, a successful example of informatics shop online is Brandhardware.it, by proposing a site with pleasant graphics and very simple, able to "reassure" the visitor and transform it into a customer status, thanks to the competitive prices of products exposed.

The menu on the left, is a classic example of usability that allows with only 2 clicks to reach the product needed quickly and easily. The portal has recently inaugurated and is dedicated to offers LCD monitors and especially notebooks.

Then wishing the trend to continue and especially that those involved in e-commerce sector do not lose the opportunity to grow more and more the Italian e-commerce and perhaps to achieve, at least in qualitative terms the American model.

This article was written by Michele De Capitani (Posizionamento nei motori) with support from portatili vendita online. For any information, please visit Schede madri Asrock.