Monthly news and updates for AIGA
members
August 2006
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Contents
News and information
Corporate
Leadership Awards to be presented at Design Legends Gala
Aspen Design Summit launches
global projects
Gain: AIGA Business and Design Conference,
October 26–28
Urban Forest Project planted in Times
Square
Submit your life-changing designs to
INDEX (five $125,000 prizes)
Design activity pages in Scholastic
Instructor magazine
AIGA Design Educator Salary Survey
2006
Winterhouse Awards for Design Writing
& Criticism
AIGA Design Press releases two
new books
AIGA finances given top rating
by Dun & Bradstreet
Design leaders see a softening
of design economy
Thanks to recent contributors
to AIGA
Advocacy
Promoting
a new standard definition for “designer”
AIGA supports plain language
bill
www.aiga.org
Voice:
AIGA Journal of Design
Opportunities for inspiration and professional development
Emergence, Carnegie Mellon’s
first design conference
AIGA regional education conferences
DesignEd Asia 2006. November 27-28,
2006
Innovation, Sustainability and Leadership
in Design, January 2007
Aspen Design Summit, June 3–6,
2007, Aspen
Next: AIGA Design Conference, October 9–11,
2007, Denver
Resources
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News and information
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Corporate Leadership Awards to
be presented at Design Legends Gala
Target Corporation and Viacom Inc. have
been selected as the recipients of the 2006 AIGA Corporate Leadership
Award.
Target Corporation has changed the mass market understanding and appreciation
of design, communicating the importance of design to consumers, and their
steadfast commitment to championing and advocating design.
Viacom has created influential television networks—MTV, VH1, TV
Land, Nickelodeon—that use design to communicate added value, assuming
a role in the industry as design leaders, and producing brands known to
the world over as cultural icons.
Don’t miss this year’s Design Legends Gala, celebrating 2006
Medalists Michael Bierut, Rick Valicenti and Lorraine Wild, the 2006 AIGA
Fellows, the AIGA Corporate Leadership Award honorees and the first-ever
winners of the Winterhouse Awards for Design Writing and Criticism, an
initiative of AIGA and the Winterhouse Institute.
This is a special black-tie event to honor the accomplishments of our
2006 award recipients, and also offers an opportunity for designers to
contribute to the ongoing celebration of design excellence. Funds raised
at this year’s Gala will benefit the Worldstudio AIGA Scholarship
program, AIGA’s Diversity Archive and AIGA’s endowment to
secure the future of the organization. Tickets are now available online.
Tickets
Patron $750
Friend $350
Tables
Leadership $10,000
Benefactor $5,000
www.aiga.org/designlegendsgala
Aspen Design
Summit launches global projects
In June, the Aspen Design Summit launched
a new concept within the vaunted history of the Aspen Design Conference
and among design conferences. The event has been transformed into a workshop
setting in which designers work with NGOs, political figures and social
entrepreneurs to address global problems with achievable solutions.
In the weeks since the Aspen Design Summit 2006 concluded, the Summit
has begun to prove itself as an incubator and a catalyst for understanding
and using design as a tool for innovative leadership, fostering new strategic
partnerships and initiating direct action and positive change across society.
A number of specific actionable initiatives that resulted directly from
the Aspen Design Summit studio experience and “big idea” presentations
are currently underway. Read
the email sent to attendees with updates on the initiatives that are
already in motion, and stay tuned for future developments.
The Aspen Design Summit 2006
website has been updated to include:
- Descriptions and presentations from each of the Summit studio teams
- Podcasts
- Updates from the Aspen Action projects launched at the Summit
- Articles and reports about the Summit
Gain:
AIGA Business and Design Conference, October 26–28
Register by September 26 to be included in the attendee directory!
Are you using design to its full effect to guarantee your company’s
success? Featuring experts from a variety of industries, “Gain”
will demonstrate the broadening role design plays in your business strategy,
leadership, process and product.
Hear from the world’s leading business and design experts as they
share their innovative approaches to generating greater return on investment,
fostering emotional connections and providing positive brand experiences
for customers. “Design means business” also means finding
real world solutions for everyday tasks like research, development and
organization.
Tom Kelley, general manager, IDEO, and author, The
Ten Faces of Innovation, will moderate “Gain.”New speakers
added include:
Lauren Eckhart-Smith, IAC/InterActiveCorp
Ji Lee, The Bubble Project
Bobby C. Martin Jr., design director, Jazz at Lincoln
Center
Harry Rich, deputy chief executive, Design Council, UK
Arrive early for pre-conference workshops and design studio tours. Space
is limited and you must register in advance.
New studio tour added:
frog design
Visit gainconference.aiga.org for more information and to reserve your seat.
Urban Forest
Project planted in Times Square
One hundred eighty-five of the world’s
most celebrated designers and artists have joined together for “Design
Times Square: The Urban Forest Project,” an unprecedented outdoor
exhibition in the heart of New York City organized by Worldstudio Foundation,
AIGA New York and Times Square Alliance.
For this project, designers employed the form of the tree, or a metaphor
for the tree, to make a powerful visual statement.
This “forest” of banners which includes the work of such renowned designers as Lawrence Weiner, Massimo Vignelli, James Victore and Paula Scher of New York, Vaughan Oliver and Alan Fletcher from London, Vince Frost from Sydney, Hideki Inaba from Japan and Uwe Loesch and Fons Hickmann from Germany, as well as 22 young artists from Manhattan’s High School of Art and Design, will be hung from light posts throughout the Times Square district. Following their display (September 1 to October 31), the banners will be recycled into tote bags designed by Jack Spade and auctioned to support mentoring and scholarship programs. For more information, visit www.urbanforestproject.org.
Submit your life-changing
designs to INDEX (five $125,000 prizes)
AIGA will partner with INDEX in
promoting U.S. entries to an international competition for design projects
that significantly improve life for a large number of people. One prize
of 100,000 euros will be given in each of five categories.
AIGA will recommend one U.S. entry for each category: body, home, work,
play and community. The AIGA nominations will then be judged against entries
from other countries around the world. In addition, entries can be submitted
directly to INDEX, although their probability of success is stronger with
national organization endorsement.
The U.S. entries will be judged by the AIGA board using the following
criteria:
- Social, ecological, cultural and economic impact
- Accessibility
- Affordability
- Flexibility and simplicity
- User-friendliness
- Optimism
- Level of innovation
- Future potential Appropriate aesthetics
The design must have improved the lives of a vast number of people, before it qualifies. The Index Award nominations continue until November 18, 2006. Entries may be sent, digitally, to AIGA at index@aiga.org. For more information on the competition, visit www.index2007.dk
Design activity
pages in Scholastic Instructor magazine
AIGA has entered into a project with Target
and Scholastic magazine to promote design thinking in the K-12 classroom.
The first of three planned issues of Instructor magazine will
be distributed to more than 200,000 teachers nationwide in August.
The first poster and activity pages were designed by Alexander Isley to
respond to Andy Warhol’s “Soup Cans.” Hettie Jordan-Villanova,
designer and educator worked with AIGA to create a design-related activity
for kids, using cans, an inexpensive, readily available and relevant material.
The next poster in the series will be designed by Rafael Esquer, in response
to the work of Picasso.
AIGA Design Educator Salary Survey 2006
The results for AIGA’s
first design educators salary survey are now available to members. This
survey provides the most complete compensation data available for education
professionals in the United States in the communication design disciplines;
although there are other educator salary surveys, none differentiate this
important and rapidly growing field of educators. The ongoing success
of this survey will depend upon the participation of design educators.
For more information, visit www.aiga.org/de_initiatives.
Winterhouse Awards for Design Writing &
Criticism
After receiving more than 100 submissions,
the writing awards are in the process of being reviewed by judges Kurt
Andersen, Julie Lasky, Meghan O’Rourke and Jessica Helfand. AIGA
and Winterhouse Studios will announce the winners on the AIGA and Winterhouse
websites on September 25, and the winners will be invited to the Design
Legends Gala dinner on October 25. Plans for next year’s awards
are in progress, and will include international entries.
AIGA Design
Press releases two new books
Inside|Outside:
From the Basics to the Practice of Design, Second Edition,
by Malcolm Grear
Young designers are well trained in design
techniques, yet they are losing the tradition of the mentoring experience.
This loss leaves them without the insights of a more seasoned designer.
As designers work to address more complex communication challenges, the
need to lead designers from tactile to strategic solutions is critical.
Grear is an extraordinary teacher, bringing elements of a problem to a
more manageable scale. In Inside|Outside, he sets forth his own
experiences, helping to define the journey and its potential.
www.mgrear.com/inout01.html
Designing for Interaction, by
Dan Saffer
Over the past two decades, a fundamental
and revolutionary transformation in technology has allowed more people
to express and design their own experiences. Dan Saffer’s Designing
for Interaction provides us with an accessible and thoughtful guide
to interaction design and should fast become a standard reference in the
process of designing thinking for purposeful interactions.
http://designingforinteraction.com/
AIGA finances
given top rating by Dun & Bradstreet
In its authoritative evaluation of AIGA’s finances and practices,
Dun & Bradstreet ranked AIGA in its highest category (Category 1)
again in 2005/2006. The Dun & Bradstreet rating is an objective mark
of the credit-worthiness and financial risk profile of an institution.
AIGA takes its fiduciary responsibility to safeguard members’ investment
very seriously and attempts to abide by the highest standards of professionalism,
financial integrity, business practices and entrepreneurship. This has
resulted in a level of financial stability that is the envy of other associations,
many of which are plagued by marginal financial security.
Design
leaders see a softening of design economy
In the July survey of design leaders, confidence in the growth of the
economy generally and the design economy specifically has begun to falter.
AIGA’s quarterly survey of more than 300 design leaders revealed
an index of 90.73, down 6.03 from the previous quarter and 11.16 from
last year at this time.
This perception is consistent with the opinion of corporate leaders in
the United States and abroad, as reported by the Conference Board and
McKinsey.
The business perspective in the United States
The Conference Board’s latest Chief Executives’ Confidence
Measure, which had edged up to 57 in the first quarter of 2006, declined
to 50 in the second quarter.
A reading of more than 50 points reflects more positive than negative
responses. The survey includes about 100 business leaders in a wide range
of industries.
“CEOs’ confidence has waned in the second quarter and expectations
signal slower economic growth in the coming months,” says Lynn Franco,
director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. “However,
the majority of CEOs do not foresee slower growth having an adverse impact
on corporate profits.”
The global perspective
Executives around the world are less optimistic about economic conditions
than they were three months ago, according to the latest McKinsey Global
Survey of Business Executives confidence index from July 2006. During
a quarter marked by falling stock markets and global worries about inflation
and interest rates, the executives’ level of confidence in overall
economic conditions fell by 8.5 percent from its two-year high, in March
2006. Confidence in national economies fell further—mostly in North
America and India (even before the Mumbai train bombings)—than did
confidence in industries.
Nonetheless, the executives remain more positive than negative, and upward
of three-quarters of the companies that employ them will at least maintain
the workforce at its current size. A slight plurality of the companies
plan to hire additional employees.
www.aiga.org/confidence_index
Thanks
to recent contributors to AIGA
AIGA thanks the following recent contributors to the AIGA Creative Leadership
Campaign:
$500+
Marta Brunsting
Up to $500
John Donaghue
Laura Gruenther
Michael McErlean
Steve Mignogna
Melanie Roher
Sara Struever
In addition, the AIGA Seattle chapter recently made a contribution to
the AIGA Disaster Relief Fund
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Advocacy
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Promoting a new standard definition
for “designer”
AIGA testified this month before the commission
on redefining the standard occupational classifications for “designer”
used by the U.S. government in its economic research. This is another
step in an effort that AIGA has pursued consistently for ten years. The
occupational classification for designer is at least two decades old and
captures the functions of a designer prior to the introduction of the
Macintosh and securely anchored in the realm of commercial artist.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s contractor for the Occupational Information
Network (O*NET), the government’s database on occupational characteristics,
is conducting a survey to gain a sense of the relevance of the current
definition. The survey will be sent to 80 opinion leaders within the profession,
and their responses will govern the future definition. The definition
is important to designers, since it governs both the literature about
the profession that the government issues, but also influences the economic
data collected about the profession.
AIGA supports plain language bill
AIGA has sent written support of The Regulation
in Plain Language Act of 2006 [HR 4809] to the House Subcommittee on Regulatory
Affairs. HR 4809 touches on a critical aspect of the challenge of using
information design to make the complex clear, which is how to improve
the communication between government and its citizens.
“AIGA believes strongly that if this communication can be made easier,
more accessible and clearer, it will strengthen trust in the government,
since so much of the relationship between a government and its citizens
is captured in the asking or and giving of information. With a stronger
sense of trust and understanding, government policies and services become
more effective, raising the potential for increasing informed participation
in democracy.
Plain language and clear information design can, at marginal increased
cost, improve understanding and compliance. They can help to reach audiences
with reading or comprehension challenges and reduce the cost of enforcement
actions. We believe that plain language is an issue deeply embedded in
realizing the full potential of American democracy. This issue is key
to increasing accessibility, involvement and the creation of citizens
capable of thoughtful decision-making.”
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www.aiga.org
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Voice: AIGA Journal of Design
Voice has become the go-to place for lively, thoughtful articles
on design (and a few on what pops into the mind of designers, an intriguing
discovery!). Be sure you’re up to date on this rich anthology of
engaging writing.
“Art of The Vietnam War: The Vietnamese View”
By Sarah Williamson
What differentiated North Vietnamese propaganda from other propaganda
of the war-torn era? Williamson examines the role of symbols in the Ho
Chi Minh’s socialist agenda.
journal.aiga.org/content.cfm?ContentAlias=%5Fgetfullarticle&aid=2131398
“Since When Did Children’s Books Have a Museum? Interview
with H. Nichols B. Clark”
By Steven Heller
Are picture books the next extinct art form in this digital world? Not
if Clark’s museum has anything to say about it.
journal.aiga.org/content.cfm?ContentAlias=%5Fgetfullarticle&aid=2299638
Please join in the discussions and submit ideas for future issues at voice.aiga.org.
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Opportunities for inspiration and professional
development
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Emergence,
Carnegie Mellon’s first design conference, September 8–10
Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Design
will host its first annual design forum, “Emergence,” at the
David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This
transdisciplinary event will bring together people from diverse fields
in order to explore emerging themes and practices in design. This year’s
topic will center around service design.
The three-day event will feature keynotes Dr. Mary Jo Bitner of Arizona
State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business; Prof. Birgit
Mager of University of Applied Sciences Cologne’s Köln International
School of Design; and Oliver King, a co-founder and director of Engine,
United Kingdom. Emergence will also feature an optional workshop “Designing
for Service: A Hands-On Instruction.” Participants will engage in
activities that explore how experience can serve as a focus in designing
for service. For more details, and to register visit www.design.cmu.edu/emergence.
AIGA
Regional Education Conferences
The AIGA Design Education Steering Committee is pleased
to announce the following schedule of design education conferences. The
conferences will cover a wide range of critical and pertinent topics,
while their various locations make them accessible to a national audience.
With the generous support of Adobe, four conferences will occur over the
next two years.
The Design Frontier: Graphic Design Education in Small Programs and
Non-urban Regions
December 1-3, 2006
Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, Denver, Colorado
Conference chairpersons: Fred Murrell, Michael Mages, and Katherine McCoy
www.designfrontier.org
Schools of Thoughts III: What's so graphic about graphic design?
Educating in the age of ubiquitous media
Los Angeles, Spring 2007
Conference chairpersons: Denise Gonzales Crisp, Louise Sandhaus and Petrula
Vrontikis.
DesignEd Asia
2006. November 27-28, 2006
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design
Creativity is a fundamental human ability. Growing that creative capacity
requires stimulating, understanding and supporting a context for human
behavior that reaches beyond the ordinary. “Creativity : Point :
CounterPoint” addresses this challenge, uniting a regional and international
community to share and discuss educational strategies to extend creative
culture.
Design faculty and practitioners will gather November 27–28, 2006,
at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, to explore regional and international
creative practices. Meet like-minded people, gather new ideas, and extend
your regional and international design network among the “creatives”
attending.
Watch for further conference details at www.sd.polyu.edu.hk
Call for Participation: Deadline September 15, 2006
Send a course description, 100 words or less, and images of the process
to:
DesignED Asia
School of Design
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hung Hom, Kowloon
Hong Kong
For course description guidelines, a list of speakers and other details,
contact Xin Xiangyang sdxin@polyu.edu.hk.
Innovation, Sustainability
and Leadership in Design, January 2007
In January 2007, creative leaders from around the world
will gather at the International Centre for Creativity Innovation and
Sustainability (ICIS), just north of Copenhagen, Denmark for the Innovation,
Sustainability and Leadership (ISL) Certificate Programme. Traditional
design education often fails to properly address the business element
inherent in the design profession. The ISL programme addresses this need
and equips designers at the professional and postgraduate level with the
knowledge, tools and skills necessary to successfully navigate and compete
in today's fast changing markets. The program teaches advanced skills
in business development and innovation, sustainability, leadership and
international networking. It is comprised of three residential modules,
each lasting two weeks, that span the course of a year; the time between
each module provides an opportunity for reflection, evaluation, digestion
and implementation.
Visit iciscenter.org/isl for
more information about the certificate program and a list of lecturers.
AIGA members will receive a 15 percent discount on the registration fee,
for a total of $12,750 for the year-long program. This fee covers the
cost of lectures, tutorials, assessments, mentors, facilities, materials,
food, lodging and excursions.
Aspen Design Summit, June 3–6,
2007, Aspen
Next: AIGA Design Conference, October 9–11, 2007,
Denver
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Resources
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