AIGA is actively involved in making contact with designers in the Gulf Coast region devastated by Hurricane Katrina and subsequent floods. As we work to assess how the design community can support our fellow designers most effectively, we are collecting information on the status of the affected, their needs and the offers of others to help (www.aiga.org/reliefeffort).

AIGA member Terry Stone (Los Angeles) is chairing an AIGA relief task force to coordinate actions and responses. Designers in southeastern states who would like to take an active role in the task force should respond at relief@aiga.org. AIGA will focus on creating a network to allow displaced designers to communicate with those who can help; we will also help displaced designers in regaining their professional practice.

AIGA will launch a relief fund with $10,000 to help designers re-establish their practices and will encourage our corporate partners to work through the task force to coordinate additional financial and in-kind support. Other organizations with experience in disaster relief are better equipped to handle humanitarian aid, and we encourage designers to support their efforts (links to many of these organizations are included at www.aiga.org/reliefeffort).

To help inform this and future efforts, two sessions will be added to the AIGA Design Conference program: one on how to be most effective in aiding relief in the Gulf Coast area and a second on what this dreadful experience suggests in terms of the power of design to aid emergency procedures and evacuation.

Ric and Bill

Richard Grefé and Bill Grant
Executive director and president
AIGA | The professional association for design
164 Fifth Avenue
New York NY 10010 | 212 807 1990
grefe@aiga.org

Stimulating thinking about design
www.aiga.org

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