Future Perfect: the Book

Our fourth book is finally out there and in some ways it summarises what we’ve been up to since 2009. The first book was about branding. In 2011 we took a look at innovation and last year we dissected service design. 

This book puts those topics in the context of how we all meet our new challenges.

All our books you can find online. Or, even better, you can collect your paper-and-ink copies at the Brand Manual office. 

Sagmeister: An uncommon touch of sense

About a week ago our long wait to greet Stefan "The Sagmeister" Sagmeister in Tallinn finally ended. There he was, drinking bottled water at our office, happily accepting a job offer as Brand Manual's receptionist ;)

This happened many years after we made our first approach to Stefan through ADC*Estonia. A year ago at the festival in Cheltenham Dan, Brand Manual's founding partner, again approached Stefan with the offer to come to Estonia. This was followed by months of thorough preparations by the Estonian Design Centre (thank you, Sirli!) to organize the event, because Stefan said YES.

The wait paid off handsomely. The seminar was sold out and the 95 head audience kept Stefan talking for hours and hours. The longest seminar for him to run, EVER, Stefan confessed afterwards. What he talked about, seemed to move a lot of people in the audience. Some had arrived to meet an idol, others expected to see a stiff celebrity, some had professional interest, but few expected to be launched into a personal journey of Stefan's career.

Stefan didn't preach, teach, or try to prove anything other than what he does, rather than what he knows. He showed what good storytelling was all about, sharing his personal experiences in staying true to his gut feelings as well as those little clever thoughts he has put down in his notebook over time. "A good reminder of things you often forget at daily work - just dig a little deeper with your ideas and designs" as Ville and Tony from the Finnish design studio Kuudes Kerros saw it.

People were all ears and took priceless notes. And still it was only after the seminar that the audience realized that all this time they were part of yet another Stefan's project – the event was filmed and parts of it will probably be used in his newest work in progress – the "Happiness" documentary project.

This was all so common sense, that it felt uncommon. And inspiring. Thank you, Stefan.

Visit Estonian Design Cetnre's FB page to see more photos from the event.

Judging at the Russian Packaging Competition

In May, one of Brand Manual's partners, Dan Mikkin, will have the honour of participating in the jury of Part Awards 2013 ((Packaging: Art, Research, Technology). This packaging design competition is confined to all of Russian cultural space, not just any geographic or administrative borders. Judging by the level of work we witnessed in Moscow recently, the level of entries should be excitingly high.

The competition itself, by the words of the organisers, is a unique format not only by Russian standards, but on a much broader scale. These are packaging-focused awards, where brands and creatives measure up, not producers and printers. The jury is comprised of top notch pros from across the globe, both Eastern (Alexandre Kovalenko, Vasili Andreev) and Western (Sam Stone, Nocola Zinic).

If you want to participate, the deadline for entries is May 19. But you could just check out last year's winners, there's some world class stuff to enjoy.

Один из партнеров Бренд Мануал, Дан Миккин, вошел в состав жюри свежего русского конкурса упаковки Part Awards 2013 ((Packaging: Art, Research, Technology). Именно русского, так как участники не ограничены государственными границами, а соединяют весь русскоязычный ареал. Судя по упаковкам, которыми нас удивили недавно в Москве, уровень конкурсантов будет высок и работы сногсшибательные.

По словам организаторов, формат конкурса уникален не только в Российских маштабах, но и мировых - сфокусированный именно на дизайне упаковки, где мерится силами будут не производители и типографии, а бренды, студии и самостоятельные творческие единицы. Жюри высокого уровня по международным меркам - от Васи Андреева (Беларусь) и Саши Коваленко (Россия) до Сэм Стоун (Великобритания) и Николы Зинич (Хорватия).

Заявки принимаются до 23:59 17 мая 2013 года. Но советую и просто посмотреть на победителей прошлого года, это воистину крутые упаковки.