Report from the Dublin Creative Conference
At the beginning of the month I took a trip to Ireland, principally for the Offset Conference, Dublin. A high calibre of guest speakers made it almost impossible to find a session worth missing. U.S. heavyweights such as George Lois, Gary Baseman, David Carson stood alongside more contemporary European names (Emily Forgot, Alan Clarke, Studio AKA).
Gary Baseman’s anarchic tendencies in front of a microphone became all too apparent in his Q&A session. Within 5 minutes he had himself and interviewer, Irish illustrator Steve Simpson, wearing masks of his characters click here to see. And inferred that the timing of him smuggling his sidekick toy Toby into the Vatican for a photo and the death of the late Pope, was more than coincidental.
Wired Magazine Creative Director Scott Dadich enlightened us with the process of bringing Condé Nast’s portfolio into the digital age, rolling their magazines out in iPad application format.
Steven Heller gave historical insight, while Lance Wyman recalled the process of branding the Mexico ’68 Olympics. Alan Clarke was as humorous as his illustrative work.
Probably the highlight of the weekend was Art Director George Lois frank presentation and even more candid Q&A session. His hilarious impersonation of Andy Warhol had the audience in fits of giggles as he recalled the tale of convincing the artist to feature on on of his many iconic Esquire covers, drowning in a giant tin of Campbell’s Tomato soup.
I do hope the conference returns next year – perhaps with a little less hectic schedule to give a little more time to network. If you are a graphic designer, illustrator, or anyone involved in the creative industry and you missed out, make sure you keep your eye out for this one in the future.