There’s an analogy I like to use when explaining client work to my students. I call it the “Wedding Pie Analogy”. Imagine for a moment that you’re a baker and you get asked by a bride-to-be to make a wedding cake. She tells you that the theme colours for the wedding are going to be fuchsia and violet. Your reaction to this is that typical wedding cakes are boring and a fuchsia and violet wedding cake is ugly and impossible. You get the idea to make rhubarb pie (let’s say pies are very fashionable at NYC weddings this year).

While experimenting with this concept you happen upon the best rhubarb pie recipe you’ve ever tasted. This pie is so good that in the meantime you enter it in a Martha Stewart Living contest and win the grand prize: a cover story with the headline “World’s Best Pie”. Your recipe becomes a viral sensation and you appear on the Today Show to talk about your master work. Now, when it comes time to present your wedding cake to the bride and you show her the rhubarb pie you’ve made her, how will she react? How much will it matter to her that the world’s best pie has been made for her wedding? Is she wrong? Is she merely a boring client?

To the nearly 100 of you that attended the sold-out Draplin event – thanks. Really hope he dropped some knowledge that landed square on all of your faces. For those that missed the talk, that’s a bit of a bummer. But as a quick re-cap, Draplin talked a lot about making shit happen for yourself. He talked about doing good work for good people. He talked about saying ‘yes’ a little more than saying ‘no’. One highlight included answering a question about ‘showing bad work.’ The answer: “Don’t”. What a guy. I packed him up and sent him off on his way the following Saturday with a hug and a promise that we’d see him again. Follow his escapades on his site. Thanks to all who helped out, particularly the kind hearted and talented folks at Northern Army.

And we’re putting on another event. Well, co-sponsoring one. On May 16 at Hub Ottawa (yep, same spot as the Draplin talk) Apartment 613 and the Ottawa Creative Collective are presenting a panel discussion about graphic design in our government town. The talk will feature a brief intro by yours truly – mainly because I love hearing the sound of my own voice – and then we’ll hear from Sara Roncarelli from Fifty, Ian Rapsey from the Greater Good, and Ryan Anderson from Northern Army. The panel will be moderated by Mr. Ryan Saxby Hill from Apt613.

Find more details on bookface.

The opinions expressed in the following post are those of OCC co-founder Steve St. Pierre and do not necessarily reflect those of the OCC or its members. But it should. Ok, I’m kidding. Kind of. 

I was a 20 year old studying advertising in college, ready to get my career started. I had done well for myself, winning a couple awards and I actually enjoyed learning about the history and writing the ads and art directing and all that nonsense. However, there was a giant elephant-sized amount of BS that kept hovering around. In order to make a name for myself – and  in order for any of the students to do the same – we had to move to Montreal, Toronto, or Vancouver. This sentiment was shared by many of the profs throughout the school. So I bought into it.

I split. I lived and worked in Toronto and then headed West with the intentions of making it big. I kept working hard, trying to establish my name and just do good work (that’s always been, and always will be, my goal). But I missed home. Not in that “I miss my Mommy” kind of way either. I missed Ottawa. I missed the culture. And I was through with believing that you to live in one of the three major cities in order to be seen and heard.

For years I’ve admired the work of the AIGA. The professional organization for designers in America has an incredible amount of local chapters and was constantly trying to up the ante for designers and showcase their amazing work. I have my own views on the RGD but I’ll keep my trap shut. Just let me say that I don’t feel the need to fork out an exorbitant annual fee just so I can call myself a graphic designer.

Once I made it back home and settled into an agency, the wheels slowly creaked into motion. Brett Tackaberry and I had a sit down, discussing the beginnings of  a local meet-up for designers – inviting talented people in our city to gather and talk about making the city better through design. We wanted to showcase the best work this city had to offer and start waving our flag a bit more. That hadn’t happened since the ADA’s existed. And we had bigger ideas.

So we got down to work. Our first meet-up in March of 2011 brought out seven, and we sat and talked about what this could be, where it could go, what could happen. The Blackhole Sessions became monthly meetings for designers, developers, and other creatives just looking for a drink and discussion. Our group slowly grew on Facebook from month to month, and every session brought out new faces.

All the while, though, we – being Brett and I – knew that we had to do more. I pitched the idea of the OCC – essentially taking hints and cues from the AIGA and bringing it into Ottawa. Organizing speakers and other events, taking part in community activities, and giving us a platform to showcase the great work that designers in our city are churning out. Encouraging everyone to do better.

We’ve enlisted the help of others, with Amie Beausoleil stepping up and helping with some much needed admin help. And now we’re here. Over a year later. Our group is a couple members away from hitting 300 on Facebook. We have a great speaker session coming up with Aaron Draplin (which sold out in a week and a half), and we’re slowly collecting the best work that exists in the area.

But why? I can only speak personally here, so I will. I just want to do good work. My initial goal in starting this community was completely selfish.  I wanted to talk about fonts and vectors and other cool shit that exists out there and bring it home. I wanted to find people who were as passionate about this business as I was – and it hasn’t been easy, but there are some that exist.  The big cities exist and that’s fine – go work there if you want. This is my fucking hometown, though. I know that talent exists here and I want the kids who’re studying in school to understand that having a different postal code won’t make you a better designer. Putting in the time and effort does.

Just because your business card says you’re a designer doesn’t mean shit. It really doesn’t. There is a passion that has to exist, and those are the people we want involved here. Sure, you need the work/life balance. But you shouldn’t be calling this work. We’re fucking lucky to be doing what we do. THAT’S why we started the OCC. Not to put our noses up at clients because we know the difference between Arial and Helvetica. But to educate clients. To educate ourselves. To educate our city.

That’s why I fight, at least. And I’m not letting up anytime soon.

The OCC and Northern Army are pleased as punch to present: Aaron James Draplin of Draplin Design Co. (DDC).

Born and bred in the Midwest United States and currently holed up in the odd mecca that is Portland, OR, the “Junior Sasqualogist”, “Breaker of Hearts”, and “Lover of All Things Bicentennial” has signed on the dotted line and will be making his way to Ottawa on April 19, 2012.

The man behind the Field Notes brand will be sauntering through, with Tall Tales From A Large Man. His iconic style’s hit a slew of different clients since starting his own show in 2004 – Snowboard magazine, Nike, Cobra Dogs – no client (or budget) too big or too small. He lives by the mantra of doing good work for good people. What a guy! No matter what, you can expect a lot of straight-shooting.

Check out the eventbrite page for all the nitty-gritty. Bring your game faces, kids.

The candle that burns at both ends eventually goes out. One of Ottawa’s most creative and hardworking firms shut its doors more than five years ago, and then what happened? What happened to the supposed heyday that existed? The booze-fuelled awards shows? Where’d everybody go?

I’m a stickler for design history. And what could be more important than it’s history in our own backyard. I want to fill in some holes. Figure out the path we’ve taken to get to where we’re at now. This is only the start. I hope to add to this piece as comments show up, but here’s what I was able to dig up.

As we wrote the other week, Acme’s former art director Sarah Roncarelli moved on to start her own shop at Fifty, eventually taking a couple of her co-workers with her. Her writing partner (and founding partner in Acme), Jake Volt, went on to be a Creative Director at McMillan and he recently hung up his black turtleneck to teach advertising full-time at Algonquin. Both of these lovely folks were Creative Directors at Acme.

Those are the two I know most about, and here’s where Google came in to help out. Donna Darby, also an art director while at Acme, ALSO went on to start her own deal with Utopia Communications. Scott Fair – same thing. Before starting One Marketing, he helped shaped the ship that is now bv02. Through the power of LinkedIn, I was able to dig up that designer Ryan Meshau, who spent nearly three years at the firm, is now a freelance designer. Greg Cosgrove, another designer who’s now freelancing, spent some time in the seats at Acme.

Bruce Hillcoat took a similar path to Clare Brennan (now at Fifty) and shifted to Hewson Bridge and Smith. Now he, too, owns his own operation at Hellcat Communications, located in Toronto. I’m starting to notice a trend here – former VP of Strategy Jennifer Savage started WebDrive. a web and mobile dev company with locations in Montreal and Ottawa. Another straggler from the account side, Aimee Deziel, spent some time at 76design before moving over to Momentous.

Oh, and maybe the most verbose of the bunch (at least he’s the most quoted in the OBJ), is another founding partner – Robert Hocking. Once Acme went away, he hit Toronto with firms like DDB and Ogilvy and now oversees things at Fitch in the UK. Impressive. I recently stumbled on a great article in the Ottawa Business Journal archive where he absolutely lambastes GPC Canada and the Bytown Group for their efforts to brand Ottawa. A memorable quote: “”The best way to kill a bad product is great advertising,” Hocking says. “What I mean by that is we can’t brand ourselves as world class because we’re not. We don’t have the substance for that kind of branding. People are going to show up on our doorstep and ask, Where are the goods?’”

Has this changed at all? Are we any better off than we were more than 10 years ago? Are we running in circles?

edit

Thanks to the always helpful Jake Volt, we’ve got a few more names to add to the list.

Kevin Kelly is now a partner at the Greater Good.

Paul Cavanaugh is doing his own thing.

Tom Megginson is CD at Acart.

Ian Driscoll is writing at McMillan.

Eric Schallenberg just got a new gig with the NDP.

Teresa Stirling went on to write at Mediaplus and is now client-side.

Dawn Bloess is at McMillan.

Robert Menzies (partner on ACME’s digital arm SPIRE) is now Producer/Owner at ZED Filmworks

Larry Raubach has started his own company.

Susan Ashby is AE (or higher) with Sarah at Fifty.

Just across the bridge, you’ll find boatloads of talent at 406-B Alexandre-Taché in Gatineau. That’s the home of Carbure, the studio that houses the creative minds of Frédéric Audet, Philippe Archambault, and Patrick Sénécal. Forming after a split with OLA, the team has continued to do brilliant work, as is showcased on their recently re-designed website. Carbure has proven that they can shed the skin of potentially stodgy clientele and are able to churn out great experiences through new technologies and a great understanding of design principles. Check out some of their work after the jump.

There’s a lot to be said to have the power to create something and when you see it, you just know who did it. With his minimalist design sensibilities, Stefan Dukaczewski, or MSTRPLN as he’s otherwise known, has that power and uses it over a slew of clients. The majority of his work hovers around the streetwear sphere and the work is just so crisp, clean, and consistently good. He only landed in Ottawa a year ago, leaving behind a position at design powerhouse Sid Lee back in Montreal, but he’s still doing his thing and doing it well. Check out all the goodness after the break.

Design shouldn’t be an afterthought. Not these days. It’s not a matter of “we’ve got this thing, let’s make it pretty so it’ll ship.” It’s a matter of making the thing pretty – as in functional AND aesthetically pleasing so it WILL ship. The article goes on to talk about where design should stand in the business space. A must-read for all of us. My favourite quote? “It is difficult for design to flourish in organizations that don’t understand it.”

It happens. Even in agencies in our own backyard. Designers are employed to polish where we should be in there from the start, coming up with ideas, iterating, polishing, and then repeating the process. We should all feel proud of what we’re putting out there, not remorseful about pieces we don’t want touching our portfolio in case it spreads some vile disease.

It’s a matter of education. Educating clients on the value of good design. Educating everyone in our organization about the same. And continuously educating ourselves on what’s happening in our industry to help push our city and ourselves further.

Still here? Go read the article.