The Works of Glenn

Bank of Canada Style Guide

2011-02-16T13:48:00.009-05:00

I came to this project late in the game. It had been floundering for three years, languishing in a prison created by entrenched positions, power struggles and resentment. I won't bore you with the details ... I arrived as a fresh face, unencumbered by history, and ready to put this to bed.

My first step was to interview all the stakeholders. To my surprise, everyone wanted very similar things. So as I started in on the designs, I made sure to focus all my language on outcomes, kept the conversation away from the personal and always on the product.

My experience in dealing with editors allowed me to speak their language and translate their vision to the layout. The previous version had the most atrocious clip art and editorial was adamant that it stay. Moving the conversation away from the art, I had them talk about itsfunction. They wanted to break up the text and add humour and colour to the pages. I suggested we find some art that could be repurposed to our needs, creating the feeling without creating clutter. I met Hazim Jalil through iStockphoto, bought some illustrations there and commisioned the rest.

Being a reference book, it required quick and easy navigation by the reader. I colour-coded the chapters and text elements so that every usage could be instantly identified.

The text contained inconsistencies in its information architecture, providing a clear set of rules to editorial moved my changes from personal opinion to functional decisions. If one item had to be changed, all similar items would need to be changed too ... all small scale changes were checked against the big picture.

Throwing things against a wall ...

2011-02-16T13:11:00.009-05:00

The design of an annual report can be a long and involved process. When there are many stakeholders involved in the approval of the cover, you run the risk of a negative choice ... the cover that everyone doesn't hate, the least inspiring, mediocre choice. For the Bank of Canada I tried to ensure that every cover proposal I submitted would be one that could go to print; a cover that I would be proud to include in my portfolio ... so I did.

2010-02-01T18:48:00.004-05:00

This was one of the last pieces I completed for Kayak magazine. Also one of the most difficult and most successful.

The Challenge here was to fit the entire spectrum of ingenuity of the the Inuit into six small pages. There was a lot of ground to cover. My first step was to create a page architecture, for the editor. Working together, we molded it into shape using a series of storyboard prototypes, test several different ways of organizing the information. Initially we had had the inventions listed encyclopedia style. This didn't work as it gave two much weight to some items and not others (as well, it was a bit boring).

In the end we found that an architecture based on themes worked best. It allowed us to deliver the information in a more conversational, kid-friendly, manner.

The article was then story-boarded and sent to the the illustrator, after which I completed the final design based on his excellent interpretation of the text.

Interior Design for Nelson Science Connections

2009-09-04T17:12:00.003-04:00

These are some pages recently completed for Nelson Education. They are from a text book for the applied science stream in grades 9 and 10. For this job, I had to take and existing academic design and adapt to facilitate easier reading.

The text was broken into discreet sections and boxed to give students more digestible bites. Elements from Web 2.0 style design were sneaked in to give a sense of familiarity with the medium of choice.

The treatment of the page title and section introduction was taken from the magazine world, to give students an immediate overview of the forthcoming text.

Wayfinding elements have all been colour-coded, each unit has its own colour and each page, whether it belongs to a unit, a chapter or an appendix, were coloured accordingly.

...

2009-05-22T14:58:00.003-04:00

Nelson School Site

2009-04-02T08:57:00.004-04:00

It's been a long time since my last post because of this project, Nelson Education Ltd. School. A work in progress, it won't be fully functional until Sept. 2009.

I have been in love with Trebuchet MS ever since I first saw it. When I found out that it was on just about every computer in the world, that made me even happier. When the Nelson school design came to me, I know that this professional/playful typeface would be perfect. Although the main pages still need design tweeks to bring it in line with my original designs, I'm very happy with how this page turned out. As you can see, it is almost 100% Trebuchet.

Canadian Writer's Guide - Cover

2008-11-18T09:32:00.005-05:00

These are a series of covers I submitted for the new Canadian Writer's Guide for Nelson Education Ltd. Three submissions were requested.

1) Retro style based on graphical shapes. I tried my best to channel Paul Rand and Saul Bass, with limited success. Still, I like the palette and will use it again.

2) Photographic style based on the idea of young people traveling. I used Flickr as my photo research to capture a candid/now feel. Plus it always feels gratifying to give amateurs a bit of extra cash to help in their hobby.

3) My own interpretation of the content. For this I took my cue from the Table of Contents provided with the creative brief. To me it resembled a street listing so I decided on using a map on the cover. Going with what may be the most familiar cartographic language to you people, Google Maps, I put this together, using the chapter titles as street names.

I was well satisfied when the decision-makers in this process picked submission #3. ^_^

Rejected! - Website.

2008-07-30T17:32:00.000-04:00

This was an attempt at a monochromatic pixelly design for the french version of idée's website, submitted and rejected circa 2000. My eyes loved the sharp edges and tiny little high-contrast details. In retrospect, I can see why this proposal got passed over ... I was forgetting the user and the content and was letting the idea take over. It was all a bit too precious ...

Chick a DEE - Dr. Zed Storyboard - Writing

2008-07-29T15:39:00.001-04:00

When the editor of Chick-a-DEE thinks of a science guy, he thinks of me. Perhaps it's because I paid attention to all my high school science classes; perhaps it's because the natural world will always be an endless source of fascination for me; perhaps it's because I know how to talk to kids in a way that credits their intelligence rather than assuming their ignorance. Either way, here's a storyboard I made for Chick-a-DEE in collaboration with the previously mentioned editor.

Niagara Snap Shots - Photography

2008-07-22T19:26:00.000-04:00

Recently, my partner and I took a crummy old plastic camera that we found at value village for $2.99. We cut the sticky part off of a postit note, covered half the frame inside the camera, and took some snapshots. We then rewound the film, covered the other half, and took some more. These are some of the better results.

Homage to Hockney - Photo Collage

2008-07-22T18:58:00.000-04:00

When I was asked to go take some photos for a Hockney-esque collage, I jumped at it. Grabbing my camera and many rolls of film, I tore down to the bridge where the Humber River empties into Lake Ontario. It was early morning, sunrise, and being Toronto and all, I thought I would not have to worry about people interrupting the shot … boy was I wrong. The bridge was crammed with joggers, walkers, scooterers and cyclists. The only thing that saved me was being quick on the shutter and managing to snap a few shots on the rare occasions that the bridge was actually empty.

Every Superhero Needs a Hideout - Photography

2008-07-22T18:02:00.001-04:00

There's no Photoshop manipulation here. This is a straight-from-the-film-development-house , double-exposed photo of a heroic lad in his superhero suit.

Ottawa Xpress - Covers/Pages

2008-07-22T16:48:00.001-04:00

In 1998 I left Ottawa to go and live in Toronto. It was hard to leave my work as art director of the Ottawa XPress. Here are some covers and pages that I managed to scan (forgive the quality, newsprint doesn't age too well). Last time I picked up a copy, I couldn't find any evidence that I had ever directed its visual identity.

Snowball Earth - Writing

2008-07-21T15:15:00.000-04:00

One of the highlights of creating each issue of Kayak, was the writing of its feature comic Snowball Earth, brought to life by the incredible talent of Kagan Mcleod. It was a fantastic combination of actual history, Norse mythology, controversial theory and a good deal of monster battling.
Although I could have kept this story running for years to come, the History Society wanted a comic that didn't need as much prior knowledge. So, once I wrapped this up with our heroes saving the world, I gave them the Card Shop, illustrated by John Martz.

As with all children, these characters have grown up and moved on to different things … like TVO for instance.

Keeping the Peace - Game

2008-07-16T22:49:00.001-04:00

How do you make not keeping the peace fun in a world that glorifies war? You play Keeping Peace!

This is a game created for Kayak Magazine, Canada's History Magazine for Kids. Illustration by Remie Geoffroi.

HyperBio - Mystery Project

2008-07-16T22:43:00.001-04:00

No, I was not immune to the excesses of the late nineties. 'nuff said …

Zyka Clothing - Catalogue

2008-07-16T22:19:00.001-04:00

There are some projects that you throw your heart into, fully believing in the product, even wearing as much swag as the company could cough up. I gave my heart to this one, worked late, did all the photography myself. Zyka loved the results, as did I. I wonder where they are now?

Rejected! - Brochure

2008-07-16T20:03:00.000-04:00

For a long time, I was looking for a chance to do a purely CMYK design. When this brochure dropped on my desk, it looked like the perfect opportunity; young, hip, recently ex-university student ... Sadly, the design never got past the first draft, which you see here.

Light! - Photography

2008-07-16T19:33:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I like taking pictures of lights, especially in places like the Pacific Mall.

Festive Earth - Interactive Map - Flash

2008-07-16T16:14:00.001-04:00

Around the turn of the last millenium, Festive Earth, a group of environmental activists, committed to protecting the Don River catchment asked me to create an interactive map to showcase their various members. Pity it isn't online any more. :-(

Kayak #2 - Cover

2008-07-16T15:16:00.000-04:00

This cover of Kayak's second issue, which I did the design and art direction, got dissed by some people (who shall at this time remain nameless). For me though, it is still one of the best we ever did.

Idée Inc. - Small Ad.

2008-07-16T12:43:00.000-04:00

Sometimes working in a small space can be very rewarding. This advertisement for Idée Inc. had to deliver a lot of information on a very cluttered page of similar ads. This was achieved by curving the outer edge, to break the visual grid and by using a large area of solid colour. The message was reduced to a few key words. I wish I had a copy of the final page, the result was an island of order in a sea of chaos.

WILD magazine cover - Publication

2008-07-16T12:27:00.001-04:00

Here's one of my favourite covers from my time designing WILD Magazine for the Canadian Wildlife Federation. This issue was published in the fall of 2003.

eSource - Logo

2008-07-16T11:58:00.000-04:00

Here are three logo submissions for the Teacher eSource online resource (not yet online, I'll keep you posted). The winner has been chosen, can you guess which one?

Marketing Yourself - Logo

2008-07-16T10:30:00.002-04:00

When asked to design a cover for the Marketing Yourself book, I was also asked to design a logo based on the two letters. As a first step, I did a night of sketching and came up with this as a starting point for discussion to get the group rolling. As you can see from the final result, there was quite a lot of discussion indeed.

Nelson Education USA - Website

2008-07-16T09:49:00.001-04:00

This was the first full website I designed for Nelson Education. The company was expanding to the USA and needed a presence that was both friendly and professional. I was involved only on the design side and not in coding. Also, with the guidance of many CDs and VPs, I designed the logo and company identity.

Profile

2008-07-15T17:12:00.000-04:00

I have been a designer of graphics and director of art for 15 years. Although still deeply in love with publication design; I have developed skills in a wide variety of areas, including: web design, photography, sound design and motion design.

Now working freelance in Carleton Place, Ontario, I hope, with my works posted here, to convince you to hire my many and varied services.

Please download my Curriculum Vitae