The mission of the Okanagan Institute
is to contribute to
the quality of creative engagement in the Okanagan through publications, events and collaborations.
» Home
» Events
» Publications
» Collaborations
» The Institute
» Contact
Kelowna BC Canada
Telephone 250.870.2690
Email: Click here
Click here to help us improve our programs.
|
|
Design
COLOURS, FLAVOURS AND TEXTURES
» Thursday 28 February 2008 | 4:30 pm
» BeanScene North, 1289 Ellis Street
An informal afternoon hour showcasing the people and ideas featured in Okanagan Home. Join us as design expert Douglas MacLeod and publisher and designer Robert MacDonald expore the role of design in business and life through their creative work and research.
» This is a free event. Refreshments will be available at a modest cost.
» Seating is limited, please reserve yours HERE
Sponsored by the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan, Wood Lake Books, UBCO-FCCS, and in support of Project Literacy Kelowna
Experts Proclaim the Need to Embrace Design
Everyone loves the iPod, but it's not the technology that shot the media giant into the stratosphere - it was design.
So says Douglas MacLeod, newly installed executive director of the Okanagan Science and Technology Council, who will be speaking February 28, at 4:30 p.m. at this week's Okanagan Institute event - Design: Colours, Flavours and Textures held at Bean Scene North in Kelowna.
MacLeod says the Conference Board of Canada didn't see the big picture last year when it gave Canada a dismal report card for innovation. He said the council assessed innovation by measures such as the number of times Canadians published articles in scientific journals when it should be looking at what really makes people buy products and services - design.
"People don't buy products based on the number of articles in a scientific journal. With both the iPod and the iPhone, there were no radically new technologies involved in either product. The big difference was in their designs."
MacLeod has a distinguished history in design, having worked as an architect, and before joining OSTEC was the executive director of the Canadian Design Research Network, a centre of excellence at Simon Fraser University.
Robert MacDonald, internationally recognized designer, publisher and entrepreneur, argues that design plays a key role in capturing the public eye, creating and selling products and services, and enhancing the way we live and work. He enjoins us to explore the impact of colour, one of the most powerful tools available to designers in all disciplines.
"Likes and dislikes vary from person to person, and are affected by social and economic factors that have nothing to do with us personally, but impact how we react to, and use, colour in our lives and our work," he says. "Colours do not only decorate our homes, our clothes and our style. They are also loaded with meaning. They communicate, they suggest. They evoke associations and therefore create feelings and bring back memories. Each colour has a psychological character entirely of its own. And each colour has a history of association with events, products, eras and styles."
MacDonald was the Director of the Publishing Workshops at the University of Toronto and the Banff Centre for fifteen years. He was a founder of the Canadian Periodical Publishers Association and the Graphic Arts in the Public Service Foundation. He is both the publisher and designer of Okanagan Arts and Okanagan Home magazines.
Design: Colours, Flavours and Textures is a free event, and takes place at BeanScene North. It's presented by the Okanagan Institute in association with Wheat King Publishing.
Express is sponsored by the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan, Wood Lake Books, UBCO Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, and supports the work of Project Literacy Kelowna.
Okanagan Insitute at BeanScene North A hearty feast of lectures, presentations, workshops and showcases celebrating our culture and community. Produced by the Okanagan institute in association with Wheat King Publishing magazines: Okanagan Arts and Okanagan Home.
Expresss is a cultural tonic that refreshes the mind. Join us at BeanScene North after work on Thursdays for a free hour of stimulation that will get your synapses tingling with new ideas and fresh images. Designed for inquiring minds looking for, among other things, the wild blue yonder.
|
