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A book published by the Department of Industry, Trade and Commerce (unusually not under the Design Canada banner) written by distinguished design educator and industrial designer Arthur J. Pulos. At the time Pulos was professor and dean of the Design Department at Syracuse University, New York and president of Pulos Design Associates.

‘Contact’ is aimed squarely at designers in an attempt to help market and sell their services more efficiently to industry. The title is broken into 5 chapters: The Designer, The Client, The Contact, The Commitment, Conclusion. It is not a lecture of theory, or a short cut to success, but middle-road distillation of some thirty-years’ experience of the author. “If the industrial designer accepts that the burden of proof of the value of his/her services rests with them and applies the information offered in ‘Contact’, we will have been successful in our efforts to increase the utilization and quality of industrial design skills in Canada. to benefit of both industry and the design professions.”

Design and concept for this double sided bilingual publication was undertaken by Carl Brett. There does seem to be some continuity with an earlier Design Canada title on a similar theme, ‘Industrial Design — The Competitive Edge‘  designed by Burton Kramer. The proportions, the strong use of yellow on the title pages and the use of Times New Roman throughout the piece all bear similarities. The striking cover introduces 4 quadrants of 22 diagonal arrows (2 sets in orange, 1 in yellow and the other in a deep magenta) each anchor themselves in 45º rotation towards centre creating  a patchwork graphic pattern. The interconnections evoking interaction, cooperation and process. The whole greater than the sum of its parts. The bonus maples leaves emerging within the design is a nice subliminal touch.

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