Monthly news and updates for AIGA
members
June 2007
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Contents
News and information
Thanks to outgoing directors Gibson, Lausen, Neumeier and
Siegler
Design for Democracy demonstrates how design makes a difference
AIGA and INDEX work together to improve
the quality of life
Designer of 2015: Advisory council
develops preliminary models
Watch for your 2007 Salary Survey results in the mail
More than 50 recommendations received
for diversity archive
Call for papers for DUX07: Conference
on designing for user experience
AIGA installs a green roof at headquarters in New York City
Recent contributions to AIGA
www.aiga.org
Voice: AIGA Journal of
Design
Opportunities for inspiration and professional development
Register
for Image, Space, Object 4: People-Centered Brand Experiences
Join
your fellow designers at “Next: AIGA Design Conference”
Attend
the Icograda World Design Congress 2007
Resources
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News and information
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Thanks
to outgoing directors Gibson, Lausen, Neumeier and Siegler
One of the strengths of three-year, nonrenewable terms for national board
members is that it provides a continuing diversity of views and taps into
fresh energy and commitment every year. The downside is that it means
there are farewells each year to a number of noteworthy trustees, each
of whom has proven his or her commitment to the organization.
This year we lose national board members David Gibson of Two Twelve Associates,
New York; Marcia Lausen of Studio/lab, Chicago; Marty Neumeier of Neutron,
San Francisco; and Bonnie Siegler of Number Seventeen, New York.
David has worked tirelessly in developing the Aspen Design Summit, in
fundraising efforts and creating the Gala as a new legacy effort. Marcia
has been a leader in both design education and practice, helping the organization
develop policies, positions and activities that support both of these
realms, while serving as the powerful pioneer in AIGA’s Design for
Democracy work. Marty is a seasoned voice where design and business strategy
join, serving as a leader in the Center for Brand, publishing books on
branding under the AIGA Design Press mark, and spearheading the revised
mission statement for AIGA, with its associated positioning strategy.
Bonnie has been a strong voice for motion design within AIGA and an eager
proponent of great and fun design conferences, wrapping up her term with
the latest in competitive reality shows, Command X, the design reality
show to debut at “Next: AIGA Design Conference.”
All four of these board members have left their mark on AIGA and have
certainly lived up to the challenge given every director at the beginning
of their stewardship, which is to leave this institution in better shape
than they found it in. On behalf of all AIGA’s members, deep thanks
and best wishes.
Design for
Democracy demonstrates how design makes a difference
On June 14, in a public meeting of the federal Election Assistance Commission
in Washington, D.C., the report of AIGA Design for Democracy into research
on best practices in ballot and polling place signage design was accepted
by the commission. This action results in the first guidelines for local
jurisdictions on how to benefit from information design principles and
research in order to make voting easier and more comprehensible for all
citizens. The guidelines will provide examples for local jurisdictions,
who are encouraged to hire local designers to adapt the examples to local
content.
This project has involved a number of designers, brought together by AIGA.
This phase of the team was led by Elizabeth Hare and Mary Quandt in New
York, Michael Konetzka in Chicago and Drew Davies (with help from the
Oxide team) in Omaha. The project is one that AIGA first began to encourage
in 2000, shortly after the problems with ballots in South Florida. It
is hoped that it will be seen as a watershed project in which designers
have demonstrated clearly the value of design to civic purposes. It is
an initiative that serves AIGA’s goal of “demonstrating the
value of design by doing valuable things.”
The doyenne of this initiative is Marcia Lausen, national board member
and former AIGA Chicago president, who led the AIGA Design for Democracy
team that redesigned election materials for Cook County (Chicago) and
the state of Oregon. Marcia is publishing a book on ballot and election
design this fall (due in September) that is under a joint University of
Chicago Press and AIGA Design Press imprint.
AIGA and INDEX
work together to improve the quality of life
The Aspen Design Summit is AIGA’s workshop that brings together
designers, NGOs (non-governmental organizations), business leaders and
civic leaders to develop solutions to social problems confronting the
world. Unlike the inspirational Design Conference and business-oriented
“Gain” conference, attendees at the Aspen Design Summit solve
problems for implementation; social capital is the return on design investment.
This month, AIGA entered into an alliance with “INDEX: Design to
improve life” in Copenhagen, in which the Aspen Design Summit will
be one element in a joint program to recognize and encourage designers’
contribution to improving the quality of life. INDEX, which is funded
by the Danish government and corporate sponsorships, awards the most significant
design prizes in the world every two years. INDEX also holds a summer
camp of design students who work on a major social problem and a summit
meeting of opinion leaders in design. The Aspen Design Summit will now
play the role of the summit, beginning with a gathering in Aspen in January,
2008. The joint program, which is currently being refined, will also involve
“Aspen Challenges” to faculty and students around the world
to work on a number of projects that will then be judged.
This is an important development in AIGA’s strategy to define roles
for designers as players, rather than spectators, in a global economy
where social and cultural considerations are as important as aesthetic
and economic ones. AIGA is determined to create a path for designers to
become a valuable asset in a global future. At the same time, AIGA’s
international activities validate the importance of AIGA as a voice for
its members in the United States.
Designer of
2015: Advisory council develops preliminary models
Earlier this year AIGA and Adobe launched a project to develop a better
understanding of what the most effective designers in the year 2015 will
need to know and do to be successful. With the help of a group of leading
design thinkers and educators, along with information gathered from surveys,
interviews and focus groups of AIGA members, the project team has begun
to craft models of the future designer and design practice.
The initial concepts will be shared with chapter leaders at the annual
leadership retreat this month; revised concepts will be presented for
comments at the AIGA Design Conference in October, encouraging feedback
from all members, educators and students by December. It is anticipated
that many members and faculty have gone through a similar experience in
their own long-range planning and that AIGA will benefit from being able
to synthesize the many different visions. The value of this exercise for
AIGA is to work with educators to adapt curricula to meet the needs of
the future and to work with individual designers and studios to help to
provide additional professional development support. Adobe, an invaluable
partner in this initiative, will be able to use the personas of the future
designer in its own product development and professional support work.
Watch for your
2007 Salary Survey results in the mail
Professional and associate members should receive a printed copy of the
2007 AIGA|Aquent Survey of Design Salaries by late June. The interactive
calculator will be updated with 2007 data and available on the AIGA website
in late June.
More than
50 recommendations received for diversity archive
Members and others responded admirably to the request for candidates for
the online database dedicated to the professional lives, achievements
and portfolios of leading design pioneers with diverse racial and ethnic
identities. More than 50 recommendations have been submitted. This database
will lead to an archive and exhibition of role models for young people
who do not see a place for themselves as designers and to celebrate achievements
that have been largely invisible in the design curricula. If you haven’t
had a chance to suggest a candidate and wish to, visit www.aiga.org/diversity-archive.
The archive will highlight graphic designers, information designers, art
directors, advertising designers, design planners or strategists, interactive
media designers, time-based media designers and experience designers who
are either deceased or who have been working for more than 25 years in
the industry. The archive’s board of advisors will review recommendations
and make their selection in late July.
Call for papers
for DUX07: Conference on designing for user experience
Deadline extended to July 13
Presented by AIGA in partnership with ACM’s SIGGRAPH and SIGCHI,
the conference will investigate how social media and networks are producing
a new set of expectations regarding people’s opportunities to contribute,
create, personalize and share experiences. Given the shifting landscape,
the conference co-chairs want to hear your thoughts on the following propositions:
1. How we share experiences is changing
2. Experiences define who we are
3. Everyone designs
4. A new global communication shorthand is being created
5. Mobile is not a device
Send your papers for DUX07 (Conference on Designing for User Experience)
by July 13. The conference will be held November 5–7 at the InterContinental
Hotel in Chicago.
Your stories, opinions and insights will be juxtaposed against those of
the conference organizers who represent diverse companies including Yahoo!,
Feedburner, Fit, Helio, Starcom, Bridge Worldwide, Amazon, Motorola, Smart
Design and others.
Find out more and submit your design case study, research study or practice
study at www.dux2007.com.
AIGA installs a
green roof at headquarters in New York City
AIGA has just installed a green roof—a vegetated roof cover—at
the AIGA National Design Center in New York City. Weston Solutions, Inc.
was contracted to create a 1,156 square foot GreenGrid roof system to
top the four-story historic building. Eight varieties of sedum are planted
in four-inch deep containers, lined by a walkway of recycled rubber pavers.
This initiative is part of AIGA’s ongoing environmental stewardship
effort. Green roofs have been shown to reduce heating and cooling loads
on a building; counter the urban heat island effect; filter pollutants
and carbon dioxide out of the air; filter pollutants and heavy metals
out of rainwater; as well as increase wildlife habitat in built-up areas.
For more information on AIGA’s sustainability efforts, visit sustainability.aiga.org.
Recent contributions to AIGA
AIGA can only advance the interests of all designers based on the commitment
of its members and the generosity of those who support our broad mission
and activities. AIGA thanks the following for demonstrating their commitment
through generous contributions:
American Design Archives
Judy Kirpich
Legacy Campaign
Karen Oleri
Pamela Zuccker
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www.aiga.org
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Voice: AIGA Journal of Design
If you’re not reading Voice, you’re
missing out on engaging, thoughtful articles on design. Be sure to keep
up with an ever-growing anthology of timely interviews, essays and articles
on visual culture.
“Ghost Rider: David Gross on Remaking a Motorcycle Brand”
by Phil Patton
A graphic design memoir laced with pseudonyms and intrigue? Oh my! Patton
gets drawn in by Fast Company, Ducati creative director David
Gross’s “tell-some” book.
www.aiga.org/ghost-rider-david-gross-remaking-a-motorcycle-brand
“A Scanner and a Mission: An Interview with Paul Ford”
by David Barringer
How did Harper’s archive 157 years’ worth of original pages
in a searchable online index? Barringer investigates the single-minded
obsession of the person responsible.
www.aiga.org/a-scanner-and-a-mission
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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Register
for Image, Space, Object 4: People-Centered Brand Experiences
Denver
August 9-12
Immerse yourself in the ultimate collaborative design workshop, working
closely with the world’s top design innovators at the foot of the
Rockies. As you convert theory into practice, learn how to create multi-dimensional
environments, human interactions and brand strategies in which images,
spaces and objects work together. For more information and to register,
visit www.aiga.org/iso-2007.
Join your fellow
designers at “Next: AIGA Design Conference”
Denver
October 11–14
AIGA’s 12th biennial design conference will look toward the future
to see where the design profession is going, and to set the course it
should take. As designers, visual thinkers and innovative creators, we
shape the future every day. Take part in the creative playground and unique
learning environment of “Next”—to improve your practice,
connect with a diverse group of design peers, expand your way of thinking
and experience new directions in design. Hear from inspired voices on
the evolution of designing and discover what’s on the horizon.
Save $25 when you register online! designconference.aiga.org
Attend the Icograda
World Design Congress 2007
Havana, Cuba
October 20–26
The Icograda World Congress will celebrate fresh perspectives on the intersection
of contemporary culture and the evolution of design. The congress will
address the influence culture has on design, how design shapes urban identities
and the opportunity to use design as an economic development tool.
Havana will become the international capital of graphic and communication
design in October—a place for designers, consultants, design managers,
buyers of design services, educators and students to gather, share and
learn.
www.havana.icograda.org/web
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Resources
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Want to renew?
www.aiga.org/renew
Want to know what’s going on? Check out local and national events. www.aiga.org/calendar
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