FINE Loves Brand New Chicago

Last week, a group of our FINE designers (Verity, Mehran, Arune and North) traveled to Chicago for the annual Brand New Conference. Hosted by Bryony Gomez-Palacio + Armin Vit of Under Consideration, this is the fifth installment of the conference and we don’t hesitate in saying that they did a marvelous job! It wasn’t FINE’s first time at the rodeo, so to speak, as Arune attended last year in NYC. But this year, the conference was extended to two full days filled with amazing speakers and content. The conference opened up with a bang as the legendary Lance Wyman led us through his iconic career, starting with the 1968 Mexico Olympics system. He encouraged us to create a sense of place, and use the environment in branding. His process and care in research was inspiring; while creating iconography for the National Zoo, he watched a hippo for an entire day to gain an understanding of the animal in order to make an icon that represented it well.
{:element=>{:name=>"div", :attributes=>[{:name=>"class"@1141, :value=>"BPVBnc"@1148}, {:name=>"dir"@1156, :value=>"ltr"@1161}], :children=>[["<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-14904" src="http://www.wearefine.com/mingle/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/unnamed-11.jpg\" alt="mexico olympics" width="970" height="644" />"]], :ignore=>true}}
Another of our favorites were Bobby C. Martin Jr. and Jennifer Kinon from OCD, The Original Champions of Design. They showed us that ‘what was once old can be new’ with their identity for St. Bart’s Cathedral in NYC. They also reminded us that the logo is the most important thing, and the system is the most important thing.

On the second day, we were all blown away by the work of Roanne Adams, founder and creative director of RoAndCo. Her work in the fashion industry is beautiful and truly artful. Adams reminded us that to make groundbreaking work, one must have an authentic connection to the brand, and making a statement can be done through understatement. We also heard from big names like Jonathan Lee from Google, Jim Coudal, and Adrian Shaughnessy, and some lesser known names withincredible work and history like Keira Alexandra who is behind the on-air graphics and branding for Vh1, Comedy Central and the Sundance Channel, and finally, Mario Eskenazi who isn’t well known in the States, but is a legend in Spain and who has designed, what seems to be, every piece of public design in Barcelona. What an inspiration!! Next year, the conference returns to New York City. Get your tickets early. Until next time, thank you Chicago!