Design policy advocacy
AIGA is engaged in an extended campaign to raise awareness of
the value of effective information design in the public sector. The
purpose of the campaign is to make information design an integral
part of national legislative reform initiatives, including election
reform, Social Security reform, Medicare reform, immigration
reform, tax reform, the census and e-government.
The goal is not only to raise awareness but to see that
designers become part of policy discussions, by demonstrating that
designers can make a meaningful contribution through their mastery
of integrative design thinking. By improving the quality of
federal, state and local governmental design as a means to improve
democracy, AIGA's efforts will set an example for both the public
and private sectors.
Recent results
Building on the success of AIGA Design for Democracy's work with
ballot and election design reform, AIGA continues to support the Election Design Fellows program
and advocate for the designer's role in society through the
following initiatives:
2012
2011
2010
- AIGA proposes to use the Adelphi Charter as the
core beliefs guiding AIGA's stance on intellectual property law, in order to provide a set of principles that guide the association’s position in legislation and on regulations.
- AIGA, along with American Society of Media Photographers
(ASMP), Graphic Artists Guild and Picture Archive Council of
America (PACA), files an amicus
brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals in an effort to protect
designers’ interests.
- AIGA advocates for better U.S. Census data on the design
economy by filing recommendations for changes in the classification of design to
be used in the 2012 Economic Census.
2009
- AIGA Design for Democracy provides a vision
for clear disclosure of credit card terms for The New York
Times and contacts legislators, advocating that national
credit card industry reform efforts include requirements about how
consumer credit card terms are communicated.
- Design for Democracy makes
recommendations to Obama's transition team to advocate for the
role of communications and service design in improving government
service.
- AIGA publishes a list
of recommendations in support of design’s role in the civic
experience, many of which reinforce and complement the findings of
the U.S. National Design Policy Initiative.
2008
- AIGA participates in the
U.S. National Design Policy
Initiative, which advocates for a governmental plan of action
to support design in service of U.S. economic competitiveness and
democratic governance. A copy of the group's policy
brief—Redesigning America's Future (download
the 2.3 MB PDF)—is mailed to all Members of Congress in January
2009.
- AIGA Executive Director Richard Grefé represents AIGA at the
inaugural meeting of the Council
on Competitiveness, an organization of corporate and university
CEOs developing and advocating far-reaching policies for improving
U.S. competitiveness, which believes strongly that design thinking
is a key driver of innovation.
- AIGA partners with INDEX: and the Aspen Institute to launch the
Aspen DesignChallenge, a global call to students for a design solution to
an environmental problem.
- AIGA sends copies of
Marcia Lausen’s Design for Democracy:
Ballot and Election Design to all members of Congress,
Secretaries of State and chief state election officials.