Monthly news and updates for AIGA members
August 2001
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Contents
News and information
Reflections of new AIGA president, Clement Mok
"Voice" hotel room reservation deadline approaching--August
31
International Council of Graphic Design Associations
Advocacy updates
Congressional directory now available on AIGA website
Members can participate in Designing Democracy campaign
Frequent questions and comments
Question: How are national board members selected?
Question: What is AIGA's position on certification and
accreditation?
Question: How does AIGA promote ethical accountability?
Comment: "AIGA should inform members better about upcoming
events."
Comment: "AIGA treats web design as an afterthought to
print."
Comment: "AIGA is biased toward established designers and
design firms."
Comment: "Have more judges and more selections in
competitions."
Comment: "The level of service at my local chapter is very
disappointing."
Comment: "AIGA is too New Yorkcentric."
Comment: "The national mailing list is bad."
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News and information
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Reflections of new AIGA president, Clement Mok
"It doesn't seem all that long ago that I first
became a member of AIGA. It was 1980 and I had just graduated
from Art Center and moved to New York City to work. I attended
an AIGA gathering honoring that year's medallist Herb Lubalin,
a celebration held in a meeting hall near Wall Street that was
decked with Rembrandt-esque bankers' portraits. The attendees
were dressed in 50 shades of designer black. Maybe it was the
cocktails, the slide show, the speeches, or the good-natured
toasts by Lubalin's friends, but I remember leaving the event
wanting to be part of this community that cared about its craft,
supported each other's challenges and celebrated each other's
accomplishments. I knew then, as I do now, that I made the right
choice."
New AIGA president Clement Mok has written a letter to members outlining his thoughts about how we are doing and where we are going. Please take the time to read his reflections and respond to him with your thoughts and reactions (clement@aiga.org).
"Voice" hotel room reservation
deadline approaching--August 31
"Voice: AIGA National Design Conference"
takes place September 2326, 2001, in Washington, D.C.
Have you made your hotel reservations yet? AIGA has a room block for attendees at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel (2660 Woodley Road NW, Washington, D.C.), but the deadline for getting the special discounted AIGA room rate is Friday, August 31.
For reservations, call 800 228 9290 or 202 328 2900. Be sure to ask for the AIGA "Voice" group block. All reservations must be accompanied by a first night room deposit, or guaranteed with a major credit card.
If you've already registered for "Voice," watch for an e-mail from the AIGA DC chapter describing a pre-conference event on Saturday evening and special post-conference behind-the-scenes tours on Wednesday, September 26.
And don't forget the pre-conference studio tours! See how some of D.C.'s finest design firms operate by taking part in the AIGA D.C. Design Studio Tours. At each studio you'll hear from the principal about studio ethos, check out award-winning work, the interior design and talk to employees over refreshments. The Alexandria tour will visit Grafik, Studio A, Carter-Cosgrove, Fuszion and Staples/Charles; the Washington tour will visit Gensler, Threespot, Axis, Kinetik/Kitchen K and Beth Singer Design. All this and a guided overview of the design highlights in the most interesting D.C. neighborhoods. Buses for either tour depart from the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel on Sunday, September 23 at 8:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Get your tickets now!
Now you can also find out who else is planning to attend the conference. Register for the conference today at www.voice.aiga.org or call 212 807 1990 for a registration brochure.
International Council of Graphic
Design Associations
The International Council of Graphic Design Associations
(Icograda) is a world body for professional associations for
graphic design and visual communication. Icograda seeks to unify
the voice of graphic and communication designers worldwide and
promote their vital role in commerce and society.
Icograda was founded in 1963 as a voluntary alliance of design associations (not individual designers) concerned with graphic design, design management, design promotion, and design education.
Currently, there is no U.S. representative to Icograda. The American Center for Design (ACD) was once a member and AIGA has had discussions with the organization about AIGA participation, the necessary financial commitment AIGA would have to make to join and Icograda's agenda. The AIGA national board has deferred further consideration of membership at this time, as hard decisions are made on member priorities and financial resources as a result of the current economic slowdown.
Icograda's website (http://www.icograda.org) has features which change weekly and provides information about graphic design around the world. Contents include exhibits of exemplary design work, a searchable database of design events worldwide, and design-related links around the globe.
Icograda eNews (http://www.icograda.org/web/home/index.html) is a weekly e-mail newsletter sent to thousands of subscribers worldwide.
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Advocacy updates
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Congressional directory now available on AIGA website
We have now added a congressional directory to our
website, providing you access to profiles and websites of your
members of Congress based on your zip code. The legislative action
center (http://legislation.aiga.org)
also includes instructions on our advocacy positions and allows
you to e-mail your members of Congress directly from the site.
This is the basic tool you will need to help in improving the
quality of public sector information design.
Members can participate in Designing
Democracy campaign
AIGA submitted a statement
for the record of the proceedings of the Senate Rules and
Administration committee in the consideration of Senate bill
565, Senator Dodd's legislative initiative on electoral reform.
Members of chapter advocacy teams are writing their members of Congress now and will be setting up appointments to meet with key members of their staffs on Designing Democracy Day, September 26, when we are all in Washington, D.C. for the "Voice" conference. Review our advocacy resources on the AIGA website and call your chapter president if you would like to become involved.
With the support of advocacy teams around the country, we hope that there will be support for our position to be added to the legislation when it is taken up on the Senate floor in November. As a result of Hill visits, we have the support of the Rules committee staff for our proposed legislative language.
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Frequent questions and comments
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In May 2001, professional and associate members were invited
to participate in AIGA's first comprehensive member survey in
five years. The survey, conducted by Readex Research, was designed
to help evaluate which activities are most important to members.
Results included more than 250 pages of open-ended responses. Members may appreciate understanding what their colleagues have reported.
The most frequently cited personal challenges for designers are: motivation, keeping up with the times, balancing work and home life, finding a way for personal expression to find its form and remaining fresh, in both outlook and inspiration.
Among the most compelling professional challenges are: educating clients about the value and nature of design, expanding one's business and client base (or finding and holding a good job), finding challenging work and finding and retaining good employees.
Our members believe the most critical concerns for the profession to consider include the issues of clients, balance and inspiration. For the first time in several years, concerns also include, technological advances, education (our clients, our professionals and our children) and the environment.
In the survey, members raised a number of questions and comments, the answers to which may be useful for all members:
Question: How are national board
members selected?
All professional members are invited to nominate themselves
or others as candidates for the national board. A call for nominations
is sent out in the fall. A nominating committee chaired by a
member who is not on the board considers the needs of the association
and recommends a slate for consideration by the members. All
professional members are entitled to vote on the slate. A more
complete explanation of the process is on the AIGA website.
Question: What is AIGA's position
on certification and accreditation?
Members regularly ask AIGA's position on certifying
designers, as some other professions do in registering those
qualified to practice. This is an issue on which our membership
is split. The value of certification is clear to all; yet a large
number of members believe it would simply be too difficult to
find a meaningful way to certify designers. Many also feel that
certification is an inappropriate way to define the kind of judgment
that good designers offer their clients.
Consequently, AIGA has chosen to develop accreditation standards for design programs in colleges. This effort would begin to identify those programs that would be expected to prepare students adequately for the rigors of today's professional requirements. At the same time, we are observing the experience of the Society of Graphic Designers in Canada, which recently began a registration process (and where they, too, are struggling with the challenge of the examination and requirements).
We have explored the institutional systems that would be needed if we were to begin testing designers. One of the inevitable hurdles would be the substantial cost of designing a test and administering it, which other organizations have indicated must be budgeted at a level of $500,000 or more.
We are also raising the visibility of AIGA membership as one indicator of a designer's commitment to professional standards.
Question: How does AIGA promote ethical
accountability?
AIGA has actively undertaken an initiative to raise
awareness of ethical considerations within the profession. Through
a brochure series on design business and ethics, AIGA will provide
an authoritative position on a variety of issues that will be
useful with both designers and their clients. These brochures
will be available this fall. We will also use the brochures to
educate the next generation of designers through our student
membership.
This fall, we will launch an enhanced directory of designers on the AIGA website. AIGA members will be asked to affirm their commitment to AIGA's standards of professional practice (you will need your login ID and password, printed on your AIGA membership card.). If members indicate their commitment to these standards, their name will appear with an AIGA logo in any searches, to differentiate them from designers who are not AIGA members and not willing to commit to the standards.
In addition, AIGA regularly advocates the professional standards on behalf of members who raise issues about their relationship with clients, agencies and the media. In the past several years, we have successfully argued on behalf of designers with the White House, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the software industry and individual clients.
Comment: "AIGA should inform
members better about upcoming events."
It is always difficult to give enough advance warning
of events, particularly when we all rely on volunteers to design
print materials. Fortunately, within the past year, we have launched
a dynamic
calendar on the AIGA website on which each chapter can post
all of its local events. This allows any member to keep current
on upcoming AIGA events anywhere in the country.
Comment: "AIGA treats web design
as an afterthought to print."
While this might once have been true, AIGA is strongly
committed to an internet presence and to the design disciplines
involved in the network economy. Our largest investment of resources
is in developing our web presence, which we expect to be the
most important resource we have in communicating the value of
design to potential clients and in linking potential clients
with designers. Our publications have a web edition and in some
cases are available only on the web.
AIGA competitions include experience and interaction design, and a considerable effort has been made to develop AIGA Experience Design, a community of designers dealing with pan-media design.
There is no question that there is a stubborn preconception among many that AIGA is a print-oriented organization. Many of our members excel at two-dimensional design, yet most are also involved in strategic, conceptual and multi-media design. In our recent survey of members, 80 percent stated that they had recent projects that were designed for the Internet.
Comment: "AIGA is biased toward
established designers and design firms. Designers who are not
famous should be on panels, board, etc."
When we develop panels and juries, we definitely look
for designers whose opinion others value; by nature, that will
tend to attract better known, more experienced candidates (although
they may be well-known anti-establishment candidates). For presentations
at conferences, we look for speakers who are articulate and have
a clear message; this may involve lesser-known designers, although
we also want to make sure that known role models are on the schedule.
In terms of national board candidates, we consider well-known
designers as well as designers who have demonstrated their ability
to make a contribution to AIGA through chapter activities, even
if they are not well known nationally.
Comment: "Have more judges and
more selections in competitions to demonstrate a range of design
styles and solutions."
Members have mixed feelings on this issue. At the
national level, we are making our competitions more selective,
not less so. Although we believe a range of design styles and
solutions are still evident across our selections, each competition
results in five to fifteen selections. Over the past several
years, we have been told by our members that a more selective
competition is more appealing and more meaningful than one in
which many pieces are selected. We have also expanded our juries
so that, in total, we may have 25-30 jurors for the full "365"
suite of competitions, although each category has only three
or four jurors.
Comment: "The level of service
at my local chapter is very disappointing. No one returns my
phone calls or e-mails."
AIGA is a volunteer-based organization. Many chapters
do not have paid staff; inevitably the chapter board's officers
must juggle their real life with being responsive on AIGA issues.
If there is a concern with the response of anyone at the national
level, call or e-mail Ric Grefé
or Denise Wood directly.
Comment: "AIGA is too New Yorkcentric."
This is an old saw. It is not clear that it is true
any longer. While there are nearly 3,000 members in the New York
City area, there are 14,000 outside New York. All chapters have
equal representation in the chapter presidents' council. The
national board has five members from California, including the
president; three members from Boston; and only two from New York.
The president, treasurer and all members of the executive committee
are from outside New York.
Nominating and awards committees rarely have disproportionate New York representation; designers working on national materials tend to be geographically dispersed (although we tend to use local New York designers for exhibition design in the gallery and for projects with insanely tight deadlines). The annual is designed outside New York. Most conferences are outside New York.
AIGA's national design center can be justified in New York because it is the location of more members than any other single city and it is also the nexus of national media and corporate clients.
If there seems to be a New York attitude in our activities, to the extent that you feel it is a detriment, we welcome thoughts on what needs to change.
Comment: "The national mailing
list is bad. I know people who did not receive a mailing."
There is only one membership database, which is also
the source of national mailing lists. Each member can check and
change his or her profile at www.aiga.org/profile.
(You will need your login ID and password, printed on your AIGA
membership card.) Once this is done, it will be used immediately
for all future mailings. This mailing list is available online
to chapters so that they only use the most up-to-date information.
While most materials go to all members, the annual is only
sent as a membership benefit to full professional members (not
student or associate members) who were fully paid as of December
31 of the year in which the featured competitions were held.
If you join in January, you will not receive the annual that
is mailed in that spring; you will receive the annual that covers
the competitions held in the year you joined and which is actually
distributed in the spring of the following year.
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