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A Division of UnderConsideration

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2009
–
2017

This past July, creative and business geniuses gathered in Oxford for TEDGlobal 2009, an intellectual bacchanal that takes place every two years. Most of the gestures at this conference are grand and sophisticated and this year’s program guide was no exception. Commissioned by frog design from Cahan & Associates, the program guide is a subtle and elegantly designed print piece. The program’s designer, Sean McGuire explains in depth:

The theme of the conference, “The Substance of Things Not Seen,” was a great place to begin our concepting, but the client kept making our job easier. They wanted this year’s guide to serve as a memento and a keepsake for the attendees and they wanted it to have a scrapbook quality where people would be encouraged to add notes and tokens of their time in Oxford. To achieve the client’s goals and to convey the theme through the guide, we chose to be as subtle as possible, beginning with the cover. The front cover features a gatefold and blind embossed logo, while the gatefold on the back has been glued to create a pocket in which attendees can collect scraps. Inside the guide we kept the color palette to three colors and included a ribbon as a bookmark. Our solution for the “scrapbook” feel the client wanted was to put representative images of the speakers on short sheets and disperse them throughout the guide. In order to keep the guide feeling like a collectible we moved the advertisements into their own booklet which was placed in the back pocket.

I really like the understated design and the simple production that resists being laden with printing tricks, instead relying on a nice red ribbon that gives it a comforting literary feel along with simple paper, strong photography and sweet typography. Somewhat appropriate to the larger-than-life nature of TED, the program guide had interesting company while on press:

The day the guide went to press turned out to be a sad, June day as both Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett passed away. At Lithographix in Los Angeles our project was on press next to Michael Jackson’s concert tickets. It was somewhat surreal to hear the news about Michael and then to hear our work had some indirect, loose connection was increasingly odd.

Additional images, photographed against greener pastures, can be found at frog’s blog.

This is Ed # 13 Balance

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TEDGlobal Program Guide

Production Method

Design

Design: Sean McGuire
Art Direction: Todd Richards
Production: Liisa Turan-Walters

Printing

Editors: Emily McManus and Bruno Giussani
Design Consultant: Sharrie Brooks
Photo Editor: Mike Femia
Managing Editor: Sam Martin
Producer: Tim Leberecht
Printer: Lithographix