Visual Communication

Marian is a designer, typographer, writer and illustrator working internationally from a small island off the west coast of Canada, near Vancouver. She is known for her detailed and lovingly precise vector art, her obsessive hand work, her patterning and ornament and has lectured on her work and thoughts at over 100 conferences and events worldwide since 2006.

Marian began working as a book typesetter in 1984 and opened her own design firm in 1994. In 2003, she left all of that behind to begin an experiment in following love instead of money, by doing work that was highly personal, obsessive and sometimes just plain weird. At the same time she began writing for the design weblog “Speak Up” and her cheeky but thoughtful articles soon gained her recognition in the blogosphere.

In 2008, she was accepted as a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI). Her 2010 book “I Wonder”—an exploration of the marriage of word and image—is included in the permanent collection of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York.

Much of Marian’s work has been published in publications around the world, including Wallpaper, Creative Review, Azure, Communication Arts, Print, Design Indaba and étapes.

Marian Bantjes

Dr. Shelley Gruendler, founder of Type Camp, is a typographer, designer and educator who teaches, lectures and publishes internationally on typography and design. She holds a PhD and an MA in The History and Theory of Typography and Graphic Communication from the University of Reading, England and a Bachelor of Environmental Design in Graphic Design from North Carolina State University, United States. Shelley has presented at TypoBerlin, ATypI, TypeCon and How; has published articles in Communication Arts, How, Slanted and Step; and has judged international typography for Communication Arts and Canadian book design for the Alcuin Society. She travels the world for Type Camp but always returns home to the Canadian Typographic Archipelago.

Dr. Shelley Gruendler

Mark is a Vancouver-based photographer, publisher, video producer and the creative director of Vancouver Review Media, an online offshoot of the award-winning arts and culture quarterly Vancouver Review which he co-published and art directed from 2004 to 2011.

Mark spent much of the last 20 years providing cultural, entertainment and editorial photography for a variety of Canadian & international magazines. He continues to provide images for music packaging, book covers, film and video productions and annual reports. He has received numerous regional and national awards and nominations for his editorial photography.

Publications include Vancouver Review, Creative Review, Georgia Straight, Globe & Mail, WIRE, Vancouver Magazine, Western Living, EVENT and many others.

Vancouver Review Media

Paul is an editorial Creative Director with over twenty years of experience working in lifestyle magazines.

He dedicated the first stage of his career as a Creative Director and journalist for numerous magazines in Canada and the U.S. such as Garden Design and Saveur and most notably for InStyle magazine in New York, a Time Warner publication acclaimed as the most successful magazine launch in recent U.S. history. With work that has been widely recognized by international award-granting institutions, including the Society of Publication Designers and the National Magazine Awards, Paul has lectured, taught and judged publication design in Canada and the U.S.

In 2006, Paul changed directions and moved into strategic corporate communications, crafting brands and communications for diverse global clients from luxury hotel groups to retail hair product manufacturers. Returning to magazine life, he currently holds the position of Art Director for Vancouver Magazine and Western Living in Vancouver, the western division of TC Media.

Vancouver Magazine