It’s nearly time for Offset Festival – final programme announcements

Last month we brought you the news that the likes of Jon Burgerman, Neville Brody, Marina Willer, Tom Hingston and Richard Turley were among the cast of creatives taking to the Irish capital, and now we can unveil more about what they are going to be getting up to.

There are three stages to Offset – Cyan, Magenta and Yellow – each showcasing talks, workshops, film screenings and discussions.

Highlights from the first day of the conference this Friday are Nobrow co-founder Sam Arthur, telling the story of the wonderful publishing company and store.

Taking a more combative approach, one of the afternoon sessions will be Stylus Wars – billed as ‘an art battle with a difference’ – where Offset delegates will be fighting it out on a virtual canvas, presumably to the virtual death.

We’re also interested to hear form a selection of food branding titans later on that day about how to successfully build a food brand.

The Saturday sessions open with a talk from illustrator Bjorn Lie, setting the tone for a day characterised by a distinctly cute overtone. There’s a run-through of the best contemporary Children’s Illustration, as decided by Children’s Books Ireland; as well as It’s Nice That’s founders, who are presumably outlining all things nice.

Things get a little less twee later on Saturday, however, with an ominous-sounding session entitled Panicdotes – Exorcize Those Demons, where tales will be told of ‘impending deadlines, deadbeat clients and human error’. Neville Brody will also be interviewed by Adrian Shaughnessy on Saturday afternoon.

The middle day closes with a rather exciting linkup to Milton Glaser, who will be in conversation with Steve Heller thanks to a New York-based documentary by Areaman.

Finally, Sunday features another appearance from Nobrow –  this time talking through getting book ideas ‘from pitch to publication’. Running concurrently to that session is the dynamic-sounding Speed Creatin’ session of ‘super-fast portfolio reviews’ from the likes of Steve Doogan and Simon Roche, though if you want to participate in those, you have to sign up prior to the session on Eventbrite (you can find the link on the Offset site here.)

We’re also keen to catch the Does Good Exist Talk? that same morning, which questions the slippery notion of what good design is, and what makes it so.

These ideas are taken to a logical conclusion in a session later that day entitled Heroes, where Offset speakers will be outlining their heroes in illustration and graphic design.

Offset runs from 21 – 23 March at Venue: Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Grand Canal Square, Docklands, Dublin 2. For more information visit  www.iloveoffset.com.