thanks Lindsay – I agree that Sanky was a great speaker and also enjoyed James Jean, Kate Moross and Harry Pearce.

For me there seemed to be an overall theme of sheer hard work and commitment to the craft – especially in James Jean’s case. He is dedicated to say the least! I loved seeing his early drawing and painting and that he came from a place of careful observation and mastered looking and recording before moving onto abstraction.

Sanky also mentioned “Everything is more interesting than your desk” and Harry Pearce talked about “Seeing things and recording them”. This really resonated with me in terms of sources of inspiration – as really I think the point there was that life all around us is inspiring and its a matter of getting stuck in.

Thanks to The Church!

I had a great time, Carson was entertaining but you can see most of the hits in his TED Talk http://www.ted.com/talks/david_carson_on_design.html The “No Parking” signage example is a must see.

I was a bit bummed that I couldn’t attend on the first day—heard that Alexia Sinclair did a wicked presentation. She did put up her stop-motion post-production technique but it wasn’t the same, if you know what I mean?

James Jean, Kate Moross and Harry Pearce were my highlights for the second day. Gets better every year

Here are some of the video interviews we did with the speakers and David MacGregor blogged as well.

To be brutally honest I found the conference a little dry and boring in places. I’ve put this down to the mental model of what I was expecting, differed from what was delivered. I did get some value out of what was presented, just maybe not as much as others. If I was still at university I think I would have loved it.

There were definitely standout presentations from notably Sanky – Allofus, Phillip Hunt – Studio AKA, James Jean and Alexia Sinclair. This can be attributed to the shear beauty of the work they presented. Seeing others creating at a way higher level to you is usually very inspiring.

I didn’t mind the core premise behind Duke Stump’s talk (If you remove all of the American-ness and the silly activity at the start.) His core concept challenged me and this was what I wanted to get out the conference; I wanted someone to say, “Hayden, you need to check yoself.” I understand if others were not so excited by his proposition. It was wrapped pretty heavily in American infused emotion.

One overarching aspect that resonated with me is that all of the presenters are at the point where the “fun” contracts come to them. This was purely because they followed their dreams, created their own style and persisted with their way of doing things. They have all done very well at creating their own brand that the big companies want to work with. For Kate Moross to have done that by 23… that’s inspiring! What am I waiting around for?

Thanks DA for this conversation and thanks for all the posts we love feedback, so please keep it coming. From a Church POV our goal is to make every year better than the last and I think we did it. The range of speakers was a conscious decision, we’re trying to push it out – and that will mean there will be loves and hates, but it’s been interesting how balanced this has been – some love Duke, some hate, same with Carson, Cleve etc. The aim is to broaden minds, and if you’re bored with the talk, take a break! – I personally can’t watch all 12 speakers as my brain gets melted so breaks are good.

Yes David did repeat some old talks, but he also showed some new stuff, and believe me when I say we were building his Keynote preso for him, for the 2 hours before he went on stage – hence we got Kate to swap and run over time. I could go on – but it all adds to the legend that is David Carson and speaking (or not) at events.

Just as a side note – the reason he was getting filmed coming on stage was for a documentary someone is doing about him – he asked us if we could do it. It’s not that we think he’s god or anything.

I thought Te Radar was an awesome MC, he got it and he really connected with the audience, we’ll def have him back – and he loved it too.

If you have any other questions about speakers or stories, I’m happy to answer.

Cheers on behalf of all from The Church crew, we would have an event without sponsors or people buying tickets!

Te Rader stole the show! I found his website http://www.radarswebsite.com

Oh man, where do I start on this one. Personally this was the best Semi-Permanent I’ve ever been to. I think a lot of this had to do with the fact that every speaker seemed to delve into the personal aspects of their work, which for me humanised the entire show.

Favourites for me were Bibliotheque and Pentagram – just amazing to see how involved these guys are with their work – literally living and breathing design. Probably the main thing I took away from that was simply be passionate about what you do – but the lovely thing was EVERY speaker emphasised this point – great stuff.

Oh, and Te Radar was fucking great – awesome idea to have someone seriously funny to lighten the atmosphere between what can often be quite serious and involved presentations.

Once again The Church boys put on a fantastic event.

Thanks guys!

Brilliant to catch part of the Wellington spin-off of Semi-Permanent tonight.

Sanky certainly packed a lot into 20mins. and made the valid point of serving people over stuff. Great to see the scope and development of Philip Hunt’s work. Sadly missed Harry Pearce’s presentation but managed a quick catch-up beforehand on his recent internship of one of my former students from India in his London office.

Hats off to the British Council & the New Dowse for sharing the wealth of Semi Permanent down in Welly-ville.

What an incredible event to attend for any aspiring designer…

All speakers showed a huge amount of enthusiasm and confidence in their work and careers,showing their love and passion for design.

Most of the designers were also easily approachable and not at the least bit intimidating which was great to see that their careers had not taken over their egos!

For me i would have to say Harry Pearce and Duke Stump fitted my interests best as they were not over-powered by consumerism, but making a difference -
or at least trying to. It was not only their design that interested me but mainly the strong simple ideas that worked so powerfully and were very engaging to the viewer.

Semi Permanent is defintely a must see. You will leave feeling overwhelmed, invigorated,inspired,and also tempted to leave your job to find something bigger and better!!

See you next year!

Wow! I think everyone above has said it all… let’s re-cap here:

I’m with Louise on reiterating what Sanky and Harry Perce had to say – “I think the point there was that life all around us is inspiring and its a matter of getting stuck in”. Ideas and inspiration are all very well but at the end of the day it’s about execution.

Hmmmm, it seemed that many were stumped by Duke’s rather ‘controversial’ presentation (online and off), but I’m actually in the same mind with Caroline about both Duke’s and Harry Pearce’s presentation, that “they were not over-powered by consumerism, but making a difference”. I think design is most powerful & valuable when this is taken into account. Like Hayden said “If you remove all of the American-ness and the silly activity at the start” the core concept of the presentation was good and probably, well… hopefully challenged the ideals of many designers out there.

Ooh yes and I have to agree with Suyin, Nick Riley that it “Gets better every year”, I’ve been to a handful of SP events and have to say this was the best yet for me. Te Rader of course had a lot to do with that too, setting the tone of the event right from the start.

Big thanks to Paul, Anna and The Church, as they say you can’t win em’ all but despite whether individuals love/loathed certain speakers, I think people would be lying if they didn’t walk away with a ‘broaden mind’ of design and what it means to be a designer.

Now, if you haven’t already… I suggest you follow: @alexiasinclair, @allofustweet, @processrecess, @katemoross, @pentagramdesign who coincidentally were all also highlights of my SP09 experience.

Thank you Lindsay for initiating the conversation, nice to meet you too!
Til next time…

Hey Lindsay,

Nice review, seeing some photos of the event lingering around Facebook was pretty cool, but it’s nice to have it put in words—good stuff! I’m going to make an effort to go to the next one for sure.

Cheers,
Andy

Thanks for the great feedback guys, noted and planning starts for 2010 in 4 weeks! We want it to be bigger and better, and I’m sure we’ll be using forums like DA and other sites to keep checking in with what you guys are looking for.

Meena, the New Dowse event was the first time SP has come to Wgtn but it won’t be the last, hopefully we’ll make it bigger next year – possibly even a 1 day event…

Stay tuned.

Thanks for this year’s great speakers. I was really overwhelmed with such inspiration I have received in SP09.

Since I’m a huge fan of James Jean, I want to thank The Church for inviting him!

best

Dennis