David Berman, RGD, FGDC
Expert Speaker in Technology, Branding, Strategic Balance and Corporate Social Responsibility
David Berman helps organizations get great things done, through his passion for sharing knowledge, and through the motivation and techniques he provides for applying strategy, design, ethics, and creative branding and communications to business problems. He has over 20 years of experience in design and strategic communications, including Web design and software interface development.
As an expert speaker, facilitator, communications strategist, graphic designer and ethics chair, his thought-provoking speaking and professional development engagements have brought him to over 12 countries.
David is a senior strategic consultant to Canada's largest Web sites. His clients include IBM, Nortel, the International Space Station, the Canadian government, the World Bank, the Aga Khan Foundation, and the Norwegian Design Council.
David's revolutionary, practical systems that ensure strategic projects deliver on time, on budget, and on target have helped hundreds of organizations creatively apply themselves more effectively toward strategic outcomes.
As early as high school, he created and produced a magazine which was distributed in four countries. While training at the University of Waterloo in computer science and at Carleton University in psychology and typography, he became deeply involved with the student press. David worked in the federal government as a computer systems analyst before turning his passion into his career.
Early in his career he developed a lasting interest in plain writing and information design. He was commissioned to write a paper for the Prime Minister's office on how best to republish the laws of Canada using plain writing and design, and then led the design of such a prototype. His work includes award-winning projects for the City of Ottawa, the Ontario government, and Canada's federal government.
Other notable assignments involving plain design, accessibility, custom typeface design, and knowledge management principles include work for IBM, Justice Canada, HRDC, Canada Revenue Agency, the Region of Ottawa-Carleton and the Ontario Literacy Coalition. He has also provided design, branding, and consulting work for Metropolitan Life, the Sierra Club, Statistics Canada, Treasury Board, and the Department of Canadian Heritage, including extensive work involving applying content management principles, accessibility and common look and feel guidelines to large government Web sites. He has juried competitions internationally, including serving as a jury member for the DaimlerChrysler OpenAd competition.
David has been called the "David Suzuki of design". He is dedicated to realizing the potential of communicators to help improve the human condition and the global environment. He helps local and international audiences align their professional and person values, recognize their power and stewardship role, then challenges them to apply their skills to help repair the World: honestly sharing messages the World desperately needs to hear, rather than messages crafted to mislead.
In 1984, David began his work to establish a code of ethics which embraces social responsibility for designers throughout Canada. The Society of Graphic Designers of Canada ratified his draft nationally in May 2000, which has been adopted as an international model by ICOGRADA, the world body for graphic design. He served as the first elected president of the Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario, North America's first accredited graphic design organization, from 1997 to 1999. He drafted the association's constitution and Rules of Professional Conduct and authored Ontario's accreditation examination section on ethics and professional responsibility. In 1999, the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada named him a Fellow (the second youngest to have achieved the country's highest professional standing in this field) for his work on the Code of Ethics, accreditation and other national issues. In 2000, he was elected Vice-President Ethics of the Society, and has served as National Ethics Chair since 2002. He is a vice-president of Icograda, the World body for communications design.
David holds enhanced security clearance with the Canadian government. He is a National Professional Member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers and the International Federation for Professional Speakers. His opinions have been featured in the Financial Post, Marketing, and Applied Arts magazine.
Popular Keynotes by David Berman
Seven Habits of Highly Effective Web Sites:
Get the Web Results You Deserve
Over the past ten years, David Berman has developed systems that allow non-technicians to get the strategic results they deserve through highly effective Web sites. He has coached and facilitated hundreds of managers, designers, and programmers, and his travels have brought him to a dozen countries. Along the way, he has discovered common properties in the sites that succeed and in the people who drive them. In this keynote lecture, David will share some nuggets of uncommon sense: seven pivotal ideas that will help you get the outcomes you deserve from your Web presence.
Weapons of Mass Deception:
Design & Social Responsibility
In this dramatically-illustrated presentation, David Berman forwards his thesis that global branding strategies are the most powerful tools used today to encourage over-consumption amongst growing Developing World populations, the largest long-term threat to global harmony and the environment. He argues that communications professionals have more conspicuous power than they realize, and play a core role in helping some corporations mislead audiences in order to invent unfulfilled "needs" in larger and larger markets. In a World where design has become a recognized corporate asset, designers have the opportunity to use their persuasive skills responsibly and to accelerate awareness of the messages the World really needs shared. Recent developments regarding professionalism and ethics offer hope that there is great opportunity for designers and other professionals to choose what their still-young profession will be about: creating visual lies to help sell stuff or helping repair the World by bridging knowledge and understanding.
Most Requested Seminars by David Berman
Successful Management of Web Projects:
Great Sites, On Time and On Budget!
This seminar teaches essential principles for delivering effective Web and new media projects on time and on budget. Participants learn a system proven in hundreds of organizations for planning and managing Web sites. David Berman's process addresses project management issues specific to the Web, resulting in quality control, quality assurance, and timely delivery on strategic Web objectives. Participants become more valuable to their organization by equipping themselves with a step-by-step process which reduces risk and stress, anticipates hurdles, and dramatically increases the likelihood Web project success.
Developing Your Web Strategy:
The 10 Steps to Successful Sites
Learn the successful and straightforward methodology that has helped hundreds of organizations utilize the Web to not just get results, but get the results that help fulfill their missions. Participants get to work through a case study, gaining hands-on experience as they learn the principles of applying strategic techniques in aligning Web implementation to organizational objectives. Attendees learn a step-by-step system that applies strategic approach to planning each Web presence, whether crafting it for the first time or elevating existing sites to higher effectiveness. David's celebrated approach addresses strategic issues specific to the Internet, and builds buy-in from everyone on the way, resulting in solutions that don't just work right: they get the right things done.
Accessibility:
Liberate Your Web Site
Most adults suffer from some level of disability or difficulty that can be mitigated through accessible Web site design. By using the immediately-applicable tips and techniques learnen in this powerful one-day Web accessibility seminar, not only will sites comply with standards: participants will broaden the audience for their Web site while enriching the experience of all visitors.
Principles of Graphic Design and Electronic Publishing:
Communicating Effectively On All Channels
In this seminar David Berman helps you explore the qualities of excellent visual design and how they can be realized through the variety of technologies we use to publish today. Take full advantage of the experience and knowledge of over twenty years’ blending of great cognitive design principles with electronic publishing technologies.
Solving Everyday Ethical Dilemmas in Professional Life
The true measure of our commitment to ethics as professionals is not in lofty ideals, but in the choices we make every day in our work. The good news is that these dilemmas have answers: choices that aren't just good for your principles, but are also good for clients’ bottom lines... and careers. Attendees of this seminar enjoy being challenged with the kind of tough situations professionals are confronted with day-to-day. Learn refreshing approaches, in a forum that is fun and thought-provoking, to achieving a professionalism that sleeps well at night.
David's Partial Client List for Keynotes, Workshops, Facilitation and Seminars
ACI Manitoba
Algonquin College
Association for Manitoba Archivists
Canadian Association of Professional Speakers
Canada Revenue Agency
Carleton University
Concordia University
Danish Design Center
Go Training
Health Canada
House of Commons
Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts (Hungary)
ICOGRADA
Industry Canada
International Advertising Association(Bahrain)
International Centre for Creative Innovation and Sustainability (Denmark)
Internet Institute
Lebanese American University (Lebanon)
London College of Printing (UK)
Magdalena Festival (Slovenia)
National Research Council
Norwegian Design Council
Performance Management Consultants
PPAC
Promotional Products Association International
Public Service Commission of Canada
Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada
Society of Graphic Designers of Canada
Statistics Canada
Union for Democratic Communications (United States)
Virginia Commonwealth University (United States)
Yarmouk University (Jordan)
What Clients Say:
"David is an exceptional facilitator and extremely knowledgeable in the field."
- Jane Hawksworth, Royal Roads University,
Victoria (Canada)
"...perhaps the most compelling of all the presentations [at the Czech Republic international ICOGRADA conference] came from Canada's own David Berman."
- Sara Curtis, Editor, Applied Arts Magazine, Toronto (Canada)
"It is always good to be reminded about good behaviour."
- Nete Oensholt, Lego Corporation, Copenhagen (Denmark)
"We were left enlightened by his information, ideas, and projects ... we hope to invite Mr. Berman for another visit in the coming year."
- Matt Woolman, Acting Chair, Virginia Commonwealth University (USA)
"Due to his profound knowledge on the subject, his positive thinking, his humour and especially his readiness to question his own statements...pure inspiration! Thank you."
- Selma Prodanovic, Brainswork, Vienna (Austria)
"Excellent event. David is spot on."
- Sheikha Haya Al Khalifa, Manama (Bahrain)
"You have a unique gift for teaching."
- Parvin Kolahdooz, NRC Internet Services, Ottawa (Canada)
