The 2011 SEGD Conference+Expo+Awards in Montreal will feature a multidisciplinary, international roster of keynote speakers including Andreas Uebele, Ruedi Baur, David Gibson, Garth Walker, Michel Dallaire, and Sylvia Harris.
Themed “Vive la Diversité: Designing the Difference,” the conference will explore the nuances of design in an increasingly diverse world, one in which designers are buffeted by rapidly changing technology, multicultural and multidisciplinary influences, and vast complexity in projects.
“In Montreal, we will explore how diversity in design can be the driver of positive social and cultural change, embracing the vast complexity of expressions and values in our world,” says Conference Chair Udo Schliemann, design director with Gottschalk+Ash (Toronto).
Keynote speakers will bring perspectives from a wide array of design disciplines, geographies, and applications:
Andreas Uebele, founder and director of Stuttgart-based Büro Uebele Visuelle Kommunikation and author of Signage Systems & Information Graphics. Uebele’s work is known for its marriage of architecture, typography, and information design, and his firm has won more than 270 national and international awards.
Ruedi Baur, works from offices in Paris, Zurich, and Berlin through his cross-disciplinary design partnership Integral. He and partner Jean Beaudoin are the architects of the visual and identity plan for Montreal’s revitalized Quartier des Spectacle neighborhood. A renowned design educator, he also founded 2id, the Interdisciplinary Design Institute.
David Gibson, cofounder and managing principal of Two Twelve (New York) and author of The Wayfinding Handbook. His focus on delivering thoughtful, user-centered design established his firm as the first advocate of public information design. He has directed large-scale wayfinding and signage projects for cities, hospitals, and university campuses.
Garth Walker, founder of two of South Africa’s most successful design studios, including his current firm Mister Walker Design (Durban). He may be best known for his passion for encouraging and helping develop a design language “rooted in the African experience.” Since 1995, he has published the experimental graphics magazine i-Jusi.
Michel Dallaire, founder and president of Michel Dallaire Design Industriel (Montreal). Dallaire designed the award-winning Montreal public bicycle system. The Bixi bike-sharing system has since expanded to London, Toronto, Melbourne, Washington, and other cities worldwide. He has also designed a wide range of consumer, industrial, and institutional products, as well as urban furniture and transportation materials.
Sylvia Harris, information design strategist and founder of Sylvia Harris LLC (New York). Harris has devoted 25 years to the design and management of public-interest communications. She led design strategy for the 2000 U.S. Census and has developed information master plans for New York Presbyterian Hospital, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Columbia University.
“A strong and compelling roster of speakers, an increased international focus, and new and interactive networking opportunities promise to make our first-ever conference outside the U.S. an extraordinary success,” says Jessica W. London, SEGD’s CEO. “We look forward to hosting our conference in this beautiful, design-centric city.”
The 2011 SEGD Conference+Expo+Awards will be held June 1-4 at the Hyatt Regency Montreal and the Palais des Congrès de Montréal. It will combine presentations from design leaders, clients, and change agents, with panel discussions, technical sessions, and networking and social events. There will also be SEGD’s signature Workshops on Wheels, which invites attendees to experience project sites firsthand. An awards celebration on June 2 will honor winners of SEGD’s 2011 Design Awards Program, which recognizes excellence in environmental graphic design worldwide. An all-day Expo on June 3 will feature 70-plus manufacturers, suppliers, and fabrication partners.
