Would you like to see a Creative Marketplace in Digbeth / Eastside?

The East Birmingham & North Solihull Regeneration Zone (ebns Ltd) with our funders Advantage West Midlands have been investing in the development of Digbeth and Eastside as a Learning and Leisure Quarter and a centre for the creative industries, particularly the digital media sector. We have worked with a range of partners including Birmingham City Council, the Custard Factory, the Bond, Vivid, Groundwork, the Learning & Skills Council and others to develop a range of projects, create new workspace and provide new learning opportunities. One of the project ideas now under discussion is the establishment of a Creative Marketplace, and we would like your input to help decide whether there is the demand for this, and if so what it should be.We therefore want to take this opportunity to canvass your views.

We would welcome your responses to the following questions as an addition to the Plus+ festival blog:

Would you like to see a Creative Marketplace in Digbeth / Eastside?

Click here to take the survey

In Baskerville’s memory

Visit the 2008 Plus International Design Festival and you will be able to watch history in the making.

For more than 230 years John Baskerville has been at rest in an unmarked grave in the city, but this is about to change as Gabriel Hummerstone, sculptor of bespoke memorials will carve a commemorative plaque in memory of Birmingham’s typographic genius.

Baskerville had composed his own memorial:

Stranger –Beneath this Cone in unconsecrated ground
A friend to the liberties of mankind directed his body to be inhum’d
May the example contribute to emancipate thy mind
From the idle fears of superstition
And the wicked arts of Priesthood.

and it is this text that Hummerstone will use as he carves the plaque using Baskerville’s letters on Welsh slate.

Come and watch as history is made.

For more information visit http://www.youplusus.net/.

Bookings for the Festival are open and can be made online at http://www.youplusus.net/.

One-day ticket £15.00 (£10.00 concessions)
Full-Festival ticket £40.00 (£25.00 concessions)

Exhibitors in Plus+

Visit the 2008 Plus International Design Festival and view the work of some of the most inspirational and innovative work from both established an up-and-coming agencies, designers and illustrators which this year include:

4Talent
Jane Anderson
Baskerville Project
Birmingham City University
Matt Cannon
Clusta
Coventry University
Designers Republic
Timothy Donaldson
Feed
Fluid
Fused
Girls Who Draw
Illuminate Lighting Ltd
Periscope
Karoline Rerrie
Joe Rogers
Smile
Stereographic
Andrew Spackman
Type
We Make Art
WOK Media
Wolverhampton University

For more information visit http://www.youplusus.net/.

Bookings for the Festival are now open and can be made online at http://www.youplusus.net/.

One-day ticket £15.00 (£10.00 concessions)
Full-Festival ticket £40.00 (£25.00 concessions)

Discounts available on groups of 10 or more.

Stereographic exhibiting at Plus+

Stereographic is a design duo that puts ideas at the core of all it does. It was formed to provide an antidote to design without substance. Once Stereographic has arrived at a killer concept, it turns top pencil, camera, computer or a mixture of techniques to deliver striking visuals. Stereographic loves what it does and believes in having fun with design!

Stereographic is design and photography duo Sam Underwood and George Benson.

Working on both commercial and arts projects, they develop arresting visuals through a mix of their photography and design combined with made media, illustration, motion, sound and more.

Also working on consultation and branding projects, they help organisations engage with their audience more effectively through the development of distinctive ideas and visuals in design.
They create work for print and the web but also work on animation, video and exhibition projects. Clients include The New Art Gallery Walsall, Birmingham Opera Company, New Scientist, Autodesk and Dorling Kindersley.

Come to Plus+ and put a smile in your face

Plus is welcoming Smile Creative Consultants a partnership consisting of Matt lees, Susan Coles and Nathan Monk. Smile loves clean, modern lines partnered with contemporary typography. They are also very passionate about the finer details of their work. Smile has been lucky to work with other creatives such as Victoria Hill and Alex Bermingham. Beside exhibitng at Plus+, Smile is working at The Baskerville Project.

BIAD at Plus+

For third time Birmingham City University and its Faculty Birmingham Institute of Art and Design will be exhibiting and being Industry Partner in Plus+. BIAD is one of the largest faculties of art, design and media education in the United Kingdom, provides education for nearly 4,000 students on five major campuses located in the centre and to the north and south of Birmingham. The faculty offers a comprehensive portfolio of courses at all levels from further education to higher research.

Jonathan Barnbrook

For the typographers out there we have a treat in store for you with Jonathan Barnbrook speaking at the Plus Festival. Barnbrook is arguably most-recognised for his work on the cover artwork of David Bowie's 2002 album Heathen which featured the debut for his 'Priori' typeface. This is particularly appropriate as Barnbrook cites record cover artwork as an early design influence, and possibly the interest that drew him to graphic design. Other well known fonts designed by Barnbrook (and released through 'VirusFonts') include Bastard, Exocet, False Idol, Infidel, Moron, Newspeak, Olympukes, Sarcastic, Shock & Awe, and Tourette. Many have emotive and controversial titles reflecting the style and themes of Barnbrook's work. From 1997-2003 Barnbrook collaborated with Damien Hirst, most notably on the design, layout and typography of his book 'I Want To Spend the Rest of My Life Everywhere, with Everyone, One to One, Always, Forever, Now', and on artwork associated with his restaurant Pharmacy.

MarieJoe Raidy Douaihy

Mariejoe Raidy Douaihy. Creative Director from the Raidy Printing Group in the Lebanon will be speaking at Plus this November. Mariejoe will be talking about the role of leadership in the printing industry. In the fast changing world of printing and technology, where typography, design and printing come into one, where the creative is combined with the technical and concepts mingle with reality constraints, the role of leadership and consultancy play are vital for a quality end product.