The 2016 Brand New conference took place on Sept. 15-16 in Nashville, TN, drawing designers, creatives and brand strategists from around the world. Dzung Tran, Design Director of Interbrand Canada, was there too, and shared these thoughts and photos from the event.
Cool start to #bnconf 2016 with this cool vinyl badge pic.twitter.com/sOmgaz7mF6
— Dzung Tran (@dzung_tran) September 15, 2016
Day One: When you have a design conference for designers, the results usually end in handmade items (and this conference is known for that). This year, each guest was given handmade name tags on printed conference-branded record vinyl, hand-glued rhinestone programs and hand-screened printed conference tote bags (the amount of hours that goes into doing all of this!)
The venue is at the gorgeous Schermerhorn Symphony Center, with a live country and blues band opening the show.
The highlight of day one was the very last speaker, Matias Duarte, Google’s VP of Design, who showed us the thinking behind the new Google logo and also a special treat of showing us the sketches and work that went into it (he showed us bad logos and other cool concepts that never made it to the Senior Team and CEO).
We did what designers love to do: draw a lot, pin up a lot… @MatiasDuarte on getting started in the Google logo redesign process #bnconf
— Brand New Conference (@bnconf) September 15, 2016
Turns out the @google redesign was a grassroots effort. Bottom up, not top down. @MatiasDuarte, VP Design, Google #bnconf
— Tori Tasch (@toritasch) September 15, 2016
"You know what else Google is great at? Measuring the crap out of things." #success @MatiasDuarte #bnconf pic.twitter.com/HqyHdP32RH
— Tori Tasch (@toritasch) September 15, 2016
I ❤ the squint test! Works for so much. Validation, from @MatiasDuarte #bnconf
— Beth Voigt (@twenty3eighty4) September 15, 2016
Key words and takeaway for today:
1. Manuel (fashion designer who’s known for making cowboy duds for the stars): “These rhinestones are not for you!” and “Whatever Liberace wants, Liberace gets!”
2. The best ideas are your first and last designs.
3. Break the rules when you make the rules.
4. Holistic Designs are the future.
5. Collaborate, Listen, take and give critiques from every discipline.
Day Two: Highlights included Hulse & Durrell from Vancouver, who worked on the identity for the Vancouver Winter 2010 Olympics, the rebrand for the Canadian Olympic Team, and now the daunting challenge of ICO Olympic Heritage Collection; and Theresa Fitzgerald of Sesame Workshop who showed us the cutest guidelines for Sesame Street (you can never flip Cookie Monster’s eyes — the right eyeball must always be lower than the left eyeball) and Do’s and Don’ts for Muppets.
The Sesame Street brand; consistent and woven into the hearts of ages 5-95. It is not happenstance. #bnconf pic.twitter.com/6nVnMTj6be
— Hollinden (@hollinden) September 16, 2016
Ben and Greg of @hulsedurrell give the design and past designers of the #Olympics the respect they deserve #bnconf pic.twitter.com/Xfyu1qEofA
— Kenny Isidoro (@MUDEO) September 19, 2016
Key words and takeaway for today:
1. Design for people, not your peers.
2. Design for distinction, not for approval.
3. Trust your gut!
4. Words can be powerful visuals.
5. “A hint of Muppet goes a long way.”
Follow Dzung Tran on Twitter and LinkedIn and check out more guest columns.