Which Graphic Designer should brand 243 Union?
We were overwhelmed by the number of creatives in Vancouver that applied to help brand the Local Foods grocer at 243 Union Street. Thank you to all the talented designers and creatives that applied!
We’ve managed to narrowed it down to six candidates for your review. We met them all and had a hard time choosing among them. Thanks to the shortlisted candidates for supporting our project and participating in this process!
Who do you think is most suitable for us? Please help us pick:
#1. Shawn Parkinson
http://www.shawnparkinson.com
Lives in Gastown, Works in Chinatown
#2. Naomi Macdougall
http://www.naomimacd.com
Lives in Strathcona, Works from Home
#3. Lindsay Chetek & Åsa Cederholm
http://www.lindsaychetek.com , http://www.asacederholm.com
Lives in East Van, Works from Lindsay’s Home
#4. Isabelle Swiderski
http://www.seven25.com
Lives in East Van, Works in Gastown
#5. Studio Gris – Christopher Williams & Colin Poon
http://www.studio-gris.com
Lives in Downtown Eastside, Works in Chinatown
#6. Andy Dixon
http://www.andydixon.net
Lives in East Van, Works in Waldorf Hotel
By Travis B, January 11, 2012 at 12:37 pm
wow, all amazing designers. I think anyone would be a wise choice. but i like #2 or #3 for this gig
By Adrian, January 11, 2012 at 1:01 pm
I feel each designer/studio has a pretty strong personal aesthetic influencing the majority of thier work; Naomi Macdougals would fit the Yhis Space brand the best.
By jonathan Parkinson, January 11, 2012 at 1:04 pm
I vote for #1. My fav by far.
Jonathan
By Kay, January 11, 2012 at 1:17 pm
My vote would be for number 3! Love their work!
By Michelle, January 11, 2012 at 1:35 pm
I voted for Isabelle Swiderski (#4). I love her commitment to community based initiatives, and programs.
By zoe, January 11, 2012 at 3:21 pm
Ahhhhh. This was so hard. By far the most challenging of all your poll questions to date. I ended up going with my aesthetic pull, and Dixon so nicely blends contemporary sophistication with playful lightness.
By Caitlin, January 11, 2012 at 3:27 pm
I vote for Naomi – her stuff is clean, beautiful, modern yet timeless. We’re going to be looking at their stuff a lot I’m sure, considering I’m a block away, I want to look at something that’s going to last well.
vote #2!
By Andrew Perry, January 11, 2012 at 3:55 pm
For me, this was a very difficult toss up between #2 and #5. I feel that Naomi Macdougall would fit in well because she is passionate about cook books, also her designs are clean and iconic.
I like that Studio Gris are legit DTE-Chinatown boys and have good energy between them. Their work has a strong vintage appeal, which would work well in historic Chinatown.
I checked out both of their website portfolios. Although I am somewhat concerned that Naomi’s tidy and cut style will project feelings of gentrification in the neighbourhood, I prefer her minimalist and iconic designs over Studio Gris’ collage aesthetics.
By This Space, January 11, 2012 at 4:20 pm
Thanks Andrew and everyone else so far for the great comments! We’ve had lots of voting so far on Day 1, and the votes are spread out very evenly between all designers!
By Tim, January 11, 2012 at 4:22 pm
I’m pulling for #6.
By Leanne, January 11, 2012 at 4:31 pm
My vote is for number 3! Love their designs
By jaz, January 11, 2012 at 5:27 pm
good luck chris and colin
By Lisa, January 11, 2012 at 5:57 pm
Naomi and Isabelle, together!
By Hannah, January 11, 2012 at 6:01 pm
I vote for the girl that fly’s at it from home solo! Naomi Macdougall. I think her style is the right fit for the gig besides this should go to the one who (at least appears to have the least big name gigs under her belt already) and has the talent to pull it off with lasting class! The ones who worked on the Olympics stuff were too corporate in their designs for my tastes.
By Karen, January 11, 2012 at 6:29 pm
I vote for #2. Understated and classic work. I’d like to see her and Isabelle together too.
By BK, January 11, 2012 at 6:29 pm
I vote for #2. Naomi Macdougall
By Tracy, January 11, 2012 at 6:36 pm
Chris and Colin!!!!!!!!!!
By Deborah MacDonald, January 11, 2012 at 6:43 pm
Although all the designers definitely have talent, I think you might find that Naomi Macdougall’s style would best fit. Her work captures unique cleanliness and awareness of line.
By Gillian, January 11, 2012 at 7:55 pm
So many great designers to chose from! Nice work everyone!
By Jenny, January 11, 2012 at 8:25 pm
#2 Naomi Macdougall is the one for that gig…
By DH, January 11, 2012 at 8:38 pm
2# – Naomi Macdougall!!
By stephen senini, January 11, 2012 at 8:51 pm
#2 no doubt
they are all very talented, however, Naomi is the best pick for Union St.
By Nancy Wu, January 11, 2012 at 8:52 pm
Everyone in the shortlist demonstrates creativity.Without a doubt, Isabelle Swiderski is my #1 choice. Intelligent, thoughtful, passionate, talented, experienced and always a fresh point of view in everything she creates.
By Marie, January 11, 2012 at 9:01 pm
I vote for Colin and Chris. In my opinion they are the best
Pingback: 50 Days Till Harvest | This Space
By William Marchant, January 11, 2012 at 10:27 pm
#3. clean. bloodful. playness.
By Sebastian, January 11, 2012 at 11:10 pm
Holding a public vote for a designer(s) to brand your business is quite possibly the most absurd exercise that a business could undertake. I’m all for the “let the community be involved” concept when it came to deciding what type of a business is best for the community, but the recent “vote for a name” and now “vote for a designer” has taken it a bit too far. What’s next? Vote for the contractor to build out the space, or vote for the products we’ll carry in our store? At some point the people behind this project have to take the reigns and choose what is best for them. Now is that time.
Branding any business is the most important task one undertake, and in many ways can be the deciding factor of whether this business can make it in the long run. The person(s) tasked with this undertaking should be hired based on whether they are the right fit for the task at hand. Not based on a communal vote by a majority of people who have no experience with branding a business, and which will ultimately lead to a popularity contest. People are already voting purely based on who they know, who their friends know or who they subjectively feel has a style that appeals to them. Where is the strategy, the planning, or the brief upon which to choose the proper designer with? How can someone be chosen without considering these factors?
By Sarah, January 12, 2012 at 10:49 am
Holy buzz kill.
By This Space, January 12, 2012 at 11:40 am
Sebastian, sincere thanks for your comments. We’re very appreciative of people taking a moment to opine on our business startup process. You make very fair points and we struggle quite a bit with the question of what we can have people vote on. And yes, there are many things that are in our hands now to get this business up and running (especially if we are targeting a March 2012 opening date!).
We received many designer applications from our open call. We thoroughly examined their work and carefully considered different factors in coming up with a shortlist. We like all of the six designers that we are presenting, and frankly are having a tough time deciding on who would be most appropriate (it was overwhelming enough to even just shortlist six designers).
We are comfortable with the ability of each of these designers in branding the small business and believe we can work well with each of them (the interviews were too lengthy to post individually). And we are THANKFUL TO EACH OF THEM for being willing to participate in this unconventional process. We will of course work closely with the selected designer on the business concept. Before agreeing to take part, all designers were made aware of the budget and deliverables.
This Space is not only about letting the community participate in building a business in their neighbourhood, but also sharing some of the process of how a business gets built and what local resources are available to help. As part of this, we are trying to showcase some of the many talented designers in the area (among those who have been willing to being highlighted).
By Gary Russell, January 11, 2012 at 11:47 pm
Obviously Naomi M.
By Karin, January 12, 2012 at 12:09 am
I vote for #3, Åsa and Lindsay. Nice work!
By Iris, January 12, 2012 at 4:58 am
O vote for #2, Naomi MacDougall.
By Anna, January 12, 2012 at 8:01 am
Vote #2 Naomi Macdougall is an undeniable talet!
By Linda, January 12, 2012 at 8:04 am
I vote for No. 1. He has the skill and talent to do an amazing job.
By George, January 12, 2012 at 9:08 am
Why any self-respecting designer would subjugate themselves to a public vote for a job is beyond comprehension. This vote is based purely on the public making a decision based on a brief examination of these designer’s past work, along with who their friends are.
It’s clear the people in charge of this have a limited understanding of the complexities of branding a business as well as a lack of respect for design profession. Like Sebastian said, this is a popularity contest as opposed to an examination into who can provide the most successful and effective branding.
You are doing a disservice to yourselves and the design community. The designers participating in this farce should be ashamed of themselves.
By Caitlin, January 12, 2012 at 11:05 am
blame the client not the designers. It’s a decent gig, and for some right in their neighbourhood, with lasting import. I disagree with the public poll, but I don’t blame the designers for participating.
I voted, because I wanted a voice given that others were to have a voice too. That said I agree that the designer should be chosen by the client to best represent their brand etc., rather than subjecting them to a popularity contest.
By Sean, January 12, 2012 at 9:27 am
Definitely #3!
By Fern, January 12, 2012 at 9:28 am
# 5 Chris and Colin, Very original
By George, January 12, 2012 at 10:09 am
Why any self-respecting designer would subjugate themselves to a public vote for a job is beyond comprehension. This vote is based purely on the public making a decision based on a brief examination of these designer’s past work, along with how many friends they have, as opposed to what is actually important when designing an identity. It’s clear the people in charge of this have a limited understanding of the complexities of branding a business as well as a lack of respect for the design profession. Like Sebastian said, this is a popularity contest as opposed to an examination into who can provide the most successful and effective branding.
You are doing a disservice to yourselves and the design community. The designers participating in this farce should be ashamed of themselves.
*This post was poster early in the day but not approved by moderators. It’s a shame you’re only interested in interacting with the community when their opinions align with yours.
By This Space, January 12, 2012 at 11:51 am
We are very grateful for the time and openness of our six busy designer candidates in participating in this process. They are all very talented and each bring some unique qualities to the table–it would be difficult for us to choose among them.
If you’ve been following our project, we hope you would agree that we’ve tried to be as transparent as possible in this experimental approach to business startup. We certainly do not think we are doing the design community a disservice by highlighting a few capable designers through this process, but we understand the viewpoint of those who would not want to participate and those who disagree with this step of our process.
By George, January 12, 2012 at 10:43 am
I just had a chance to watch the video and wanted to add one last point.
You’ve commodified all these people with this cute little reality web show without paying anyone any actual money but instead with the promise that you’ll give them the job if other people like them enough.
By This Space, January 12, 2012 at 11:47 am
We’ve tried to highlight our designer candidates as much as possible. In the end, we made a decision that it wasn’t practical to post the lengthy video footage of our individual meetings).
And as Trevor states below: “When they put out the call for designers it clearly stated that there would be no work done up front and there is no bidding for the price so its really just a portfolio review which will result in a contract. You hire a studio or freelancer based on their book and personality, so why not let the public look at the designers books and give their two cents.”
By Guy Incognito, January 12, 2012 at 11:10 am
What’s the deal with designers taking themselves so darn seriously? Crowd-sourcing is real. The results vary from good: https://www.victorsandspoils.com to dismal: http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com
Choose to participate or don’t. Remember when iTunes started up and Lars Ulrich from Metallica cried his eyes out over and over and over about it to no avail? This is what many designers sound like these days in regards to crowd-sourcing.
In my humble opinion as someone with 10+ years working big agency and small, I think it’s nice that this small (read: very, very tiny) business is employing a designer at all. Most places this size would either do the work themselves, or get their sister’s friend’s boyfriend to do it for a six-pack of Highlife.
Have a nice day!
By Sebastian, January 12, 2012 at 12:22 pm
Really? Your comparison of crowd sourcing design to Metallica and iTunes is like comparing apples to asteroids.
Why do you deem crowd sourcing appropriate for design? What merits can be gained from it? If crowd sourcing is such a great idea then why don’t we apply it to ever service based company of individual?
By Guy Incognito, January 12, 2012 at 3:24 pm
We do. They’re called job interviews.
By Sebastian, January 12, 2012 at 6:48 pm
Since when are job candidates interviewed and then showcased on a company’s website for the public to choose the right person to fill the roll?
By Jeff, January 12, 2012 at 7:23 pm
since now
By Trevor Sheaths, January 12, 2012 at 11:34 am
I don’t see why people are getting so ornery about a very small company just trying to approach things with a fresh perspective. I think its a unique approach and not sure it i would classify it as crowd sourcing. When they put out the call for designers it clearly stated that there would be no work done up front and there is no bidding for the price so its really just a portfolio review which will result in a contract. You hire a studio or freelancer based on their book and personality, so why not let the public look at the designers books and give their two cents. Plus, the designers are getting a lot of promotion so its really mutually beneficial. Lighten up people – don’t take yourself so seriously! This is supposed to be fun. You may remove the stick from your ass now.
By Hala B, January 12, 2012 at 12:14 pm
#2 is the best by far… Love her work, very talented.
By George, January 12, 2012 at 12:20 pm
Instead of the designers doing spec work for this company, they are specing themselves out as individuals for evaluation. However well intentioned This Space is, it’s undeniable that they’ve taken the time, work, and the interviews with these designers to create a campaign of community involvement that will inevitably provide a fiscal reward them. It’s all fine and dandy for the one studio that gets chosen, but the other 5 designers won’t be compensated for allowing themselves to be commodified and build interest, which will build profit, in this project that provides them with no compensation.
To the people saying crowd-sourcing or spec work is acceptable or should be tolerated please read the following links:
http://www.no-spec.com/articles/ten-reasons/
http://www.no-spec.com/articles/why-speculation-hurts/
By Jeff, January 12, 2012 at 3:57 pm
Looks to me like the designers are getting a pretty good return on their time by having their work viewed by many who otherwise wouldn’t have seen it. File that under guerilla/social media advertising. Creative professionals develop presentations and concepts all the time to compete for jobs they never get. This is a far, far cry from spec work.
By Chris, January 12, 2012 at 4:52 pm
“Instead of the designers doing spec work for this company, they are specing themselves out as individuals for evaluation”
I’m sorry but any job I’ve ever applied to I’ve been evaluated, not only on my past work but how I handle myself as a individual. The art director, creative director, director, producer, marketing director, all of these together or end client(smaller job) gets to evaluate you and decide weather you or one of the other 20 people they talked to gets the job. If a lead strictly based hiring someone on there portfolio alone and not on the individual you will be working with day in and day out you’d be stupid. Myself, as a creative director, would choose someone that I can stand over someone with a better portfolio who has a big ego and is a know it all.
I’ve been following this project from the start. Seems to me the community, which I live in, is the CLIENT. The fact that we, the client, get to decide from a short list of fully capable designers is amazing. Sure this is more then likely a way to get attention from the community by This Space but its fun, and lets us, the community, be a part of something and stay involved. And like Guy Incognito said, the fact that a small business is actually setting aside a budget for a designer is dope and shows they do think a brand is important.
“but the other 5 designers won’t be compensated for allowing themselves to be commodified and build interest, which will build profit, in this project that provides them with no compensation.”
If This Space asked for the designers to do a pitch, or to create a logo, that was being voted on then I’d say your right and I’d be on here doing the same thing you are doing, but they didn’t. They simply posted the designers portfolio’s and filmed a interview with them. Is having your portfolio picked from a huge list and showcased ever a bad thing? By your thought process, if any blogger, even a design blog or design magazine, showcases a new project of mine, thus giving them content to gain followers and charge advertisers money to then in turn make a profit off my posted work is wrong? Its give and take. That’s why we make portfolios so people can see them, and in turn hopefully get our foot in the door to get seen or get recognized and then in turn get work. This is why I have to keep my portfolio updated, be current, get press, meet people, do self-initiated work, try new things, etc, etc, etc. Sure the other 5 designers don’t get compensated by This Space with money but will get introduced to a community that more then likely didn’t even realize they exist. They do now. If they win the job or not, their work still got published, with out actually having to do any spec work.
The fact is, the more places you can show off my portfolio the better. If no one knows you exist you won’t get work, no matter how good you are. I commend all of these designers for putting themselves out there and taking part in this. Wouldn’t be easy to do an on camera interview, but it would humanize a portfolio, which IMO is a good thing.
By sir, January 12, 2012 at 12:28 pm
#2, naomi!
elegant and classy.
By Clinton, January 12, 2012 at 12:30 pm
Ooohh! So much localized talent. I like Naomi’s work, she’s a food darling and she lives on the same street as the project for darn sakes!
By Jeff, January 12, 2012 at 12:51 pm
Naomi has the food thing down already, plus she lives in the neighbourhood and will surely be the most likely to actually shop at the store regularly.
By selina, January 17, 2012 at 2:56 pm
i like the originality and playfulness of #3!
By Mel, January 19, 2012 at 3:47 pm
Seems like a popularity contest to me. Who gives a crap about the designers themselves and what junk food they stuff their faces with. Just show the design.
By Jazmin, January 23, 2012 at 12:02 pm
wow, so many great designers!!!I like designer #3 Lindsay Chetek & Åsa Cederholm. I think her whimsical designs would be best suitable for Harvest, through my vision of Strathcona and Chinatown being a playful neighborhood.
By Sam, February 15, 2012 at 10:34 pm
#5 Studio Gris