At last week’s Greater San Diego Business Association mixer at the San Diego Art Institute, members voted on their choice of three designs for the cover of the 2004 GSDBA business directory. Chris Calabrese of Alternative Strategies, a local marketing and public relations agency, designed the winning entry.

According to Joyce Marieb, the executive director for the GSDBA, an RFP (request for proposal) was sent out to all of the members of the GSDBA who work in the graphic design and marketing fields, requesting design ideas that reflected the fact that the GSDBA is a diverse business organization.

“Also, this year, for 2004, it’s the 25th anniversary of the GSDBA, so we asked them this time to reflect the anniversary on the cover,” Marieb added

The 111 members who were in attendance at the mixer overwhelmingly choose the design submitted by Alternative Strategies.

“For me personally, I thought it captured everything that we were looking for,” Marieb said. “It’s colorful, it reflects the anniversary and it shows a lot of people. We are an organization of people, a membership organization, so I thought that was good. It has a traditional look to it, but it is also contemporary, which is quite a combination.”

Chris Calabrese, who designed the winning entry, said that he wanted to give the directory a human feel but also represent the idea of moving up or forward in business.

“I went with the places, faces, spaces kind of title and it all fell together,” Calabrese said. “I wanted to represent business men and women.… It was kind of a technical design and I didn’t want to make it as soft as some of the last years. I felt like I captured a lot of faces because I wanted to give it a human feel.”

“Sail Into Fall” is the theme for the next GSDBA business mixer, to be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Oct. 16, at the Southwestern Yacht Club, 2702 Qualtrough St., in Point Loma. Sponsors include: Jennifer Flynn of MetLife, Catz Plush of Plush Puppies Kennel and Daycare Center, Tony Azar of California Key Realty and Lauren Smith of Bodywork by Lauren. The cost is $5 for members and $7 for guests. For more information, call the GSDBA office at (619) 296-4543.