Halloween at Dialect

The Dialect staff dressed up for Halloween. Here they are, from left to right.
Standing: Christopher (Tin Tin), Noriko (Halloween colors), Jane (Studious), Scott (with mask -- Malfoy from Harry Potter), Brian (Elvis), Malina ("Hi, I'm a PC"), Katri ("...and I'm a Mac")
Kneeling: Mike (iPod), Melynn (Cowgirl).
Missing from photo: Regine (in New Jersey), and Sandee

We know how to have fun around here.

Icograda World Congress, Havana, Cuba

The Icograda World Design Congress 2007 was held last week (20-26 October 2007) in Havana, Cuba. This is the largest and most comprehensive design event in the world with participation from national design associations in 49 countries and individual attendees from who-knows-how-many countries. The AIGA Center for Cross-Cultural Design (AIGA XCD) and Prografica, the Cuban design association/host of this congress, presented an exhibition of peace posters called Shared Dreams 2007. Many of my associates from AIGA XCD were there. The above image is a set of posters created by Prografica for the Congress and I am including links below to more information and photos about the World Congress.

Links:
The official site for Icograda World Design Congress 2007
Photos of the Congress by Stuart Alden (Denver)
The official AIGA XCD Shared Dreams 2007 site
Photos of Cuba and design exhibitions by Valerie Romley of Moving Target Research Group

The official site for the AIGA Center for Cross-Cultural Design

On Craft by Hailey Meyer Liechty

C and I were just in California for the 100th year celebration for CCAC, now CCA.

CCAC used to stand for California College of Arts and Crafts. A few years ago the powers that were changed the name to the very generic and bland CCA, for California College of the Arts. Several people at the celebration had buttons created by the print-maker Jack Ford, that read, "Conceptual Crap and Art." Seemed fitting.

I really miss "Craft" in the name. Craft is so dang right and cool, not only the 70's macramé and scrap booking (all that is great too!) but the notion of craft, doing a skill so well it becomes art. The question remains, can graphic design, architecture, art education be a "craft?" Of course. All of it can be art as well. Dialog about a teapot or a blown glass vase can be just as valuable, deep and riveting, as that of a sky scrapper, or logo design or painting.

Them is fighting words ... to put that in writing makes artistes defensive and craft people repulsed. Don't compare my teapot with some lousy logo... Don't compare my use of clay with your use of steel or that %!™&#*¡?* computer! All the elements are the same though! Line, contrast, content, composition, materials, intent, use, location, climax, value, color, flow, the list goes on and on, happily. Embrace it all -- and GET TO WORK!

The place (CCAC's Treadwell Hall, the ceramics building, especially) is still so inspiring to me. Someday (strike up the soaring violins and moving cellos) I'd love to work/teach there, simply be more involved. Or ideally, create that environment in my family life, it is serious and committed while also being progressive and light.

The above art that I discovered in a bathroom at CCAC is an example of that last statement. :)

Wouldn't you just love to see this artistic combo at a bathroom at BYU? Within a day it would be sanitized, treated as vandalism. What a shame.

The contrasts between BYU and CCAC were staggering to me. One school (CCAC) celebrates and encourages creativity through any outlet necessary and the other tries to teach creativity through obedience to all sorts of ideas, religion, leaders, famous dead artists' rules, to craft. How ironic that CCAC had craft in the name and now doesn't celebrate craft and BYU was supposed to be spiritually based and had no spirit.

Citizen Designer Takes Action

Frank Baseman, a designer, instructor, and friend of mine based in Philadelphia is concerned about the rising murder rate in the City of Brotherly Love. He did something about it, and despite a mid-level bureaucrat in city government blocking his campaign, he is succeeding in bringing attention to his cause. The following are several links to articles about this campaign.

AIGA Voice :: Journal of Design

Philadelphia Inquirer, 7-4-07

Philadelphia Inquirer, 8-22-07

Tell Me More with Michel Martin, National Public Radio, 8-28-07

Meyer & Liechty is now Dialect

Meyer & Liechty, Inc. has changed its name to Dialect: Global Brand Rollout Specialists. With this change in branding, we are also changing our focus. With this, we are changing our focus from a generalist agency with international skills to what we call Global Brand Rollout Specialists. This basically means that we are focusing on providing global tactical creative for in-house marketing communications groups at medium and large corporations. We do not threaten the relationship with a lead agency like Ogilvy, Sattchi, Landor, etc. but compliment them by providing high-quality implementation of "below-the-line" creative on a global scale. A website update will be launching soon.

Lecture at BYU Kennedy Center

On 13 June 2006 I gave a lecture at Brigham Young Univeristy's Kennedy Center for International Studies. I started off the lecture with a shadow puppet show on the theme of empathy in design. We had a lot of fun and it seems I got the audience's gears turning which is one of my main goals.

My son Karl is helping me here with the shadow puppet show.

This lecture covers the following topics:
- AIGA Center for Cross-Cultural Design (AIGA XCD) -- programs and my role
- My philosopy on experiential or integrated marketing communications which includes:
- Customer orientation and ethnographic research
- Using a brand promise in place of a traditional mission statement
- Case studies on delivering a brand experience

Watch a video of this lecture here.