Fashion Monday with JJ Lee

No. I'm not refering to my site. But I am talking about the hot labour market and the potential effect it has had on the design industries in Vancouver. VBD knew something was up when designers across the board - architects to fashion designers - were complaining about how difficult it was to staff all their projects. That was the topic On The Coast with CBC Radio host Belle Puri. Listen to today's column: The Design Deficit featuring communication designer Todd Smith , Stephen Webster of the Vancouver Film School , and Stantec Vice President Brian Johnson .

from cbc.ca To hear from the first designer behind the Canucks original hockey jersey, check out my interview with Joe Borovich which aired on Monday. Now, for my perspective, I listened to the Team 1040 last night. Talked to John Horn subbing for Blake Price about the hottest design topic in the city - THE NEW CANUCKS JERSEY. Things to dislike...making the players wear the words, "Vancouver," during home games. Hello, we know what city we're in. Why not put "Canucks"...oh yeah, it would make the Orca C logo redundant. Also, I thought the new design rules stressed a more vertical look, so why the big horizontal trim on the bottom of the jersey? Then there's the Orca. I like Fin, the mascot. But the logo, hate it. The fact that it's called the Birthing Orca is enough to tell you it fails. Pseudo First Nations elements really makes for unfettered cultural appropriation. If you want a whale, go for it, but don't pretend to be First Nations. Unless, of...

VBD hasn't bothered to mention Helvetica, the film, because it was sold out in Vancouver. Even more depressing, Helvetica director, Gary Hustwit, above, will be taking questions at the screening that you aren't going to be able to attend. Awww - but wait, despair not! The Graphic Designers of Canada have just announced it, there's going to be a second screening. Hurrah. Details . How can you say no to a feature length film about typography on its 50th anniversary. That's right. You can't.

The Graphic Designers of Canada awarded typographer Jim Rimmer an honourary fellowship at its general meeting in Montreal. Scott Cohen, who recently had his design for Gastropod received a silver medal by Vancouver Magazine's Restaurant Awards , is designing a new Tomato, the iconic Cambie street eatery. The location - behind Mark James on West Broadway. And word is, the time is ripe to bid adieu to the Canada Line chaos at Cambie. Erin Templeton just opened her first boutique at the location of Modernize Tailors. That's 511 Cambie. With her experience in vintage retail, design, and as a green grocer in UK, marvelous Ms. Templeton will definitely turn it into a grand success.

Typecasting machines spewing hot lead. Basement studio. Tons (metric?) of cast iron. What's not to like? Jim Rimmer has been working in printing and typography for the last 50 years. And the last few years his dedicated self to the letterpress and limited edition books. Now his work has caught the attention of the Graphic Designers of Canada. This week the GDC will vote on whether to bestow him their highest award - an honorary fellowship. To find out more about Jim Rimmer, VBD visits Jim's studio.

On Monday, the design of newspapers was the topic. And why not, especially when there's a story as big as Robert William Pickton's trial? How do and should newspapers design headlines to get your attention when the news is as explosive and gruesome as this? The Vancouver Sun 's page-one design marking the first day of the Pickton trial was pretty dramatic. It's a page that's hard not to notice and even harder to forget. It has the words, "Day One," in bold, 2-inch, upper case letters. Under it in smaller letters, "Pickton on Trial", and below that are the pictures of the six women Pickton is accused of murdering. You could see everywhere around town (I did on my commute to the CBC) and it garnered quite a few comments from non-newspeople. Of course, there were questions about what is tasteful and what is not. Word choice, font size and the use of negative space all add up to some impression - it could be seen as salacious or, depending on who you...

(This column originally aired on CBC Radio One AM 690, On The Coast, April 3, 2006) A recent exhibition called "Graphex '06 - Do The Thing That You Do - Canadian Style" at the Pendulum Gallery in Vancouver asked, "Is there such a thing as a Canadian graphic design aesthetic?" The Graphic Designers of Canada organized the show as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations. An international jury including Rick Poynor, an influential design writer and founder of Eye magazine, selected over 60 works from over 600 submissions by Canadian graphic design firms. Representing the best works from 2005, a great local winner was Rethink. They're mostly known for their cheeky ads (a personal favourite is Rethink's TV campaign for Junior Achievers of BC featuring ethically-challenged business people teaching school kids shady, Enron-like practices and the tag line, "Teach kids everything you know about business...Well, almost everything.") but the agency has...

The Design Exchange mailed the below in its Express newsletter: Oops! We Made a Mistake! Our recent Express alert included a teaser announcing an upcoming project with Culture.ca. This project is only at the conceptual stage and no decision to proceed has been made. We apologize for any inconvenience the announcement may have caused. For further information, contact: Paola Poletto, Senior Director, DX Programs. paola@dx.org

A competition sponsored by the Department of Canadian Heritage has raised the ire of graphic designers. The contest is called My Canadian Cultural Gateway Webpage Competition. The Design Exchange, a design museum in Toronto, is running the open call to redesign the website, Culture.ca. Culture.ca is a gateway into Canadian cultural content. It provides links to Canadian architecture, film, graphics, literature, arts and culture in Canada. It also has links to the CBC archives and Radio 3. There’s design news and a listing of festivals and events across the country. The redesign contest will consider all entries. A committee will pick the top three proposals and there will be an online vote. The winning project team will receive $2500. So what’s the controversy? Mark Busse, design director of Industrial Brand Creative of Vancouver, is infuriated by the whole idea. He says, “The open competition solicits free work from anyone who cares to call themselves designers.” He says, “It’s not th...