First of all, let me thank all of you who participated in the Make a Difference seminar in Stockholm in May. I do hope we will meet again next year in Copenhagen, where the theme will be SPACE.
Already, I can guarantee you an experience out of the ordinary. You can see the silhouette of the building where the seminar will take place in the logo on our Facebook page – taken from the small animation shown in Stockholm, created by Politiken’s Philip Ytournel.
Make a Difference was my eleventh SNDS seminar. I was quite taken by surprise myself when I started to look back. Tampere 2001 was my debut. It all began with a redesign project at Smålandsposten in cooperation with Ole Munk. He told me about an organization whose members were really enthusiastic about news design, and of course, I got very interested. I just had to become a member of an organization like that.
In Tampere, we made a presentation of the new Smålandsposten – and even won a silver award for the redesign.
Naturally, these were two major reasons for me to get involved with SNDS. Firstly, getting in touch with an enormous network with very competent designers all over Scandinavia; and secondly, winning an award in the oldest and most prestigious design competition in Scandinavia.
The most valuable of the two – of course – is the network. It is not only a professional network. Many have become close friends during the years, and the network has spread far outside Scandinavia. It’s a great advantage to be able to get help and tips from Argentina, Russia or Canada if looking for inspiration in one’s daily work – or if you just need feedback or a critical eye on an ongoing redesign project. The international exchange is very important, at least to me.
And I guess that is why we get involved in the work of an organization like ours – to gain something. During Make a Difference in Stockholm I encouraged everybody to log into Facebook and share photos, thoughts about the seminar or just tell us what YOU expect from SNDS.
So get in there and share your views and thoughts – the url is: facebook.com/sndscandinavia
I also hope you appreciate the international outlook presented in SNDS Magazine that was kick started in the previous issue under the label “SND Global”. Stefan Knapp from SND/DACH was the first to tell us about what goes on in his region – no. 16. Among other things he explained:
”My vision is to maximize the international network activities. As the world has become smaller it is from my point of view vital to position oneself internationally. It is absolutely necessary to act on a global level if one wants to act as a professional.”
I think he is so right.
In this issue, you meet Douglas Okasaki, regional director of SND Region 20, Africa and the Middle East. He has a very large region to keep track of. Furthermore, Douglas is a very energetic and creative designer at Gulf News in Dubai. And a good friend.
A newfound friend is also Jason A. Chiu, from The Globe and Mail and the new director for SND Canada, who reports from a very big and exciting region in this issue.
Finally I wish everybody out there a very pleasant summer!