Opinion BY Armin

Brand New Conference, Speaker Change

Due to a recent conflict of schedule that involves a joyful family occasion, Howard Belk of Siegel+Gale will not be able to speak at the Brand New Conference this September. We are sad that we won’t be able to hear from Howard but we are very excited about his replacement. Filling in a small void, well two voids, that we had in the original line-up — in-house representation and techie subject matter — we’ve tapped Ben Barry and Everett Katigbak, both the first Communication Designers hired at Facebook (2008), who have been responsible for building the visual internal culture there which is gradually seeping into the outside world. Following is a quick interview with both designers, which we are aiming to follow-up with interviews of the other speakers.

Facebook’s Analog Research Laboratory.

What can we expect from your talk?

Ben Barry: An overview of Facebook Design, and more specifically what we’ve done to help shape and build our team to do bigger and bigger projects.

Everett Katigbak: Insight into how we engage various audiences both internally (employee facing) and externally (users and media). Also, how we approach each project with a hacker mentality with the mantra “move fast and break things”.

Facebook coasters.

What have you been doing the last year? Professionally speaking.

BB: Helping to announce and celebrate 500 Million people using Facebook, lots of various illustration, Mark Zuckerberg’s stationery, video / filmmaking projects, environmental design for our new Menlo Park Campus, and a hundred other things.

Video for Facebook Messages. Everett worked on the script, creative direction, and stars in the title role of doodler.

EK: Video/filmmaking, sound design/audio branding for products, environmental design of our new campus.

Since you are a local… What’s one logo/brand/identity-related landmark you think people should visit?

BB: 826 Valencia—Pirate Supply Store. A store front for a children’s writing lab. With some beautiful work by local design firm Office.

Heath Ceramics—factory and store in Sausalito. Great store, with really nice products, they also give tours of the factory. Identity design by local firm Volume.

California Academy of Sciences—science museum and aquarium. One of my favorite places in SF. Logo design by Pentagram and exhibition design by Volume.

EK: Not sure if this applies, but Golden Gate Bridge is closely tied to SF graphic identity.

Is there any particular speaker of the Brand New Conference you are excited to see?

BB: Brand New School.

EK: Brand New School.

Who would you invite to speak next year?

BB: Joel Templin, Adam Brodsley & Eric Heiman, Joe Finocchiaro, Jim Parkinson

EK: Roland Young.

Many thanks to our ADV @ UnderConsideration Partners