Announcement – "2011 SEGD Conference + Expo + Awards in Montreal: Vive La Diversité – Designing the Difference"

From June 1 to 4, the Society for Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD) will be holding its annual event in Montreal.

Some of the guests speakers?

_ Andreas Uebele
Büro Uebele Visuelle Kommunikation, Berlin

_ Ruedi Baur
Integral Design, Paris/Berlin/Zurich

_ Renée Daoust
Daoust Lestage, Montreal

_ Garth Walker
Mister Walker Design, Durban

_ Tony Reich
Reich + Petch, Toronto

And many more…

Taken from the website:

“The word “diversity” has two meanings, one traced to the Middle English divers(e) (meaning several and many) and one from the Old French divers and Latin diversus (meaning different, contrary, or separate.) Thanks to these origins, we inherited a term with multiple and contradictory interpretations. Diversity is variety and multiformity but it is also the quality of being different, unique, unlike others.

So what about diversity in design? Aren’t we always looking for the design gurus? For a strong paradigm? For the iconic and different rather than multiple streams?

As the world becomes a global village without borders, we are more exposed than ever to a variety of expressions and possibilities. Can diversity in design be a driver of positive change, embracing the vast complexity of expressions and values in our world? Can designing our constantly changing environments become a primary catalyst for social and cultural change?

For this first international SEGD Conference+Expo+Awards, speakers from around the world and from diverse disciplines will discuss how the integration of science, technology, academia, new media, innovative approaches, and concepts can influence design, and how design communicates this to the world.

The perfect setting for a conversation on diversity is Montreal, a city that has embraced it throughout its history. A multicultural and cosmopolitan city, it showcases the beauty of diversity and reflects our conference theme:

Vive La Diversité – Designing the Difference.”

To visit the 2011 Montreal SEGD event website…

To visit the SEGD main website…

(Source: Jennette Keiser, Program Associate, SEGD)