Friday, April 23, 1999

The Cyber Scene in Dallas ~ By Eric Olsson

The Dallas Society of Visual Communications (http://www.dsvc.org) hosted the 1999 Dallas Awards Show on April 17 in Fair Park (home to the Texas State Fair and the tallest Ferris Wheel in the Western Hemisphere). The Show featured outstanding examples of print, radio, television and multimedia advertising, as well as graphic design, photography and illustration.

focus2 (http://www.focus2.com), a Dallas design firm, probably made the biggest splash, with about 8 pieces on display including advertising and packaging for local game developer id software. focus2 creative director Todd Hart has also recently founded Big Theory (http://www.bigtheory.com), a new firm that deals exclusively with interactive and web-based media.

Entries in the "interactive multimedia" category were rather difficult to appreciate, as there were no computers to be found at the show. Nonetheless Pennebaker.LMC Design of Houston (http://www.pennebaker.com) took home an award for Houston freelance photographer Drew Donovan's website (http://www.drewdonovan.com). Great use of Flash, though one also hopes the DSVC will introduce a "most efficient use of bandwidth" category at next year's show.