Welcome to our February edition of eNews. As you can see, we’re publishing more frequently to keep our communications more timely and relevant. It takes extra work of course, but we’re hopeful we can continue bringing you GDC related news on a regular basis. I would like to thank Peggy Cady CGD, FGDC and Matt Warburton CGD, FGDC for putting in the extra effort that makes these issues of eNews possible.

We’re full on winter now (at least here on the east coast), but with more and more minutes of daylight everyday, and increasing heat in the sunshine, we’ll soon be on the downward slope of the cold weather and thinking about summer vacations. At least I will be. And with the coming of spring so too does the GDC annual general meeting.

This year our AGM will take place in my hometown of Moncton, New Brunswick. Moncton is the hub of the Maritimes and one of Canada’s fastest growing cities. We’re not a huge city by any stretch of the imagination, but we have an abundance of community spirit, and an intense joie de vivre fostered by our English and Acadian cultures. While the majority of our GDC Atlantic Chapter members hail from the Halifax area, we’re hopeful many will make the two and a half hour trek to Moncton to join us. Without trying to steal any of their thunder, the Atlantic Chapter is planning to entertain us in true Maritime tradition, and everything we need is within walking distance from the hotel. It should be a memorable and production AGM for everyone involved.

Most of the Chapters have held their AGMs and elected their executives for the coming two years. Those new to the executive role are getting their feet wet and learning the ropes of their areas of responsibilities, guided by their more experienced executives. The great thing about the GDC is that you can be as involved as you want to be. You can dive right in and take on as much as you can handle, or you can take on a small role if you prefer to take it slow. Member driven organizations such as ours depend on those who have the appetite to get involved and make things happen in our profession.

Our annual report is hot off the press and in bindery now. It’s always exciting, and I think this is something all designers share, to see the fruits of your labour culminated in the final product. This year’s annual report was designed by Isabelle Swiderski CGD and her team at Seven25 and printed again this year by Blanchette Press. Both firms have done an amazing job, raising the bar yet again. I hope everyone will spend some time reviewing the report and gain more insight as to what the GDC does for the graphic design profession in Canada.

The member survey I mentioned last issue is now closed as of this past Sunday. This was another big effort by Adrian Jean CGD who put the survey together with input from the national communications committee and Chapters across the country. We had approximately 370+ responses to the survey which we feel is a solid response rate. The next step is to tabulate the results and inform the Chapter Presidents of the results for their region. And we’ll also throw everyone’s name who responded into the bin for the draw of an iPad 2 WiFi 16GB. Good luck to everyone in the draw.

Thanks everyone for your continued support and participation in the GDC.

Jim Hudson, BDes, CGD
National President 2010-2012