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Design Category
Illustration, 1997
Design firm
Concrete Design Communications, Inc. (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Collection
(1998) Communication Graphics: 19
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The poster series was designed for the 20th Congress of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design. Marshall McLuhan’s quote “It’s not about the world of design, it’s about the design of the world” was the conference theme. We thought that the use of 1960s iconography and design styles would be appropriate for the McLuhanesque topics being discussed. But at the same time, the happy face would provide a bit of whimsy to counterpoint the weighty intellectual tone these conferences can take on. We knew that people who took themselves too seriously would hate it. And we liked that.