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Monthly news and updates for AIGA members
October 2004

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Contents
News and information
  NPR features Get Out the Vote posters
  Call for nominations to the AIGA board
  Gain: AIGA Business and Design Conference resources online
  Call for topics and speakers for AIGA Design Conference
    in Boston
  U.S. to participate in World Day of Design
  Design Legends Gala honors designers and influencers
  Tax planning and AIGA
  AIGA is U.S. partner in international design award
  MediaSpeak: Strategies for Raising Your Company’s Press Profile
  Top 10 CEO challenges
  Material ConneXion offers new benefits to AIGA members
  In the AIGA Gallery: 50 Books/50 Covers exhibition
www.aiga.org
  Loop: AIGA Experiment in Design Education relaunches
  Tools to manage your relationship with AIGA
Coming soon
  Designing for the 21st Century, December 8–12, Rio de Janeiro
  Harvard Business School for designers, July 24-29
  Biennial AIGA Design Conference, September 15–17, 2005
Resources

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News and information
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NPR features Get Out the Vote posters
On Tuesday, October 26, NPR’s “All Things Considered” featured a story on the Get Out the Vote initiative. The story made NPR’s home page; you can still hear the segment (about 4.5 minutes), with frequent mentions of AIGA and interviews with four designers on the NPR site. As a result of the link from NPR, AIGA’s website received 40 times the traffic of an average day. www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4127313

Call for nominations to the AIGA board
The AIGA board nominating committee, chaired by Ann Harakawa of Two Twelve Associates in New York, is looking for nominations, to be submitted by January 15, 2005. We encourage every member to consider nominating candidates for the AIGA board of directors. The process for nominations is published at www.aiga.org/nominationsprocess.

This next decade will be critical to how we achieve members’ ambitions for AIGA at its centennial in 2014. The committee invites nominations from all members and allows for self-nomination, although it also requires a relatively extensive application process to assure that the committee has the same information on all candidates, recognizes the work nominees have done at the chapter level, and reveals the level of commitment of the nominees.

The committee consists of members who are not on the board to make sure member interests are represented in the new nominations and that the board is not self-perpetuating (the weak point of many association boards). Committee members include Tamera Lawrence, Washington, D.C.; Tan Le, Seattle; Rosemary Murphy, Philadelphia; Petrula Vrontikis, Los Angeles; and Paul Wharton, Minneapolis.

Five seats are open. Nominations are due by January 15, 2005 and can be submitted by the nominee or by others on his or her behalf. The responsibilities of the position, which are also considerable, can be seen at www.aiga.org/boardresponsibilities.

Board members who are rolling off the board on June 30, 2005 (along with their special interests) are:

Cheryl Towler-Weese, Chicago (books and printing)
Brown Johnson, New York (K-12 initiatives)
Ann Willoughby, Kansas City (business and branding)
Stefan Sagmeister. New York (member recruitment)
John Bielenberg, Camden, Maine (mentoring, education)

Gain: AIGA Business and Design Conference resources now online
The 500 attendees at AIGA’s sold-out biennial Business and Design Conference enjoyed presentations by such speakers as Christopher Hacker, Aveda; Patrick Whitney, Institute of Design; and Paula Scher, Pentagram Design. These and other presentations are now available online. In addition, all current AIGA members can expect to receive a DVD documenting key presentations by the end of the year. gainconference.aiga.org/content.cfm/gainconference2004resources

Call for topics and speakers for AIGA Design Conference in Boston next year
If you have ideas on engaging, thoughtful and entertaining speakers for either the main stage or the smaller focused sessions at the AIGA Design Conference in Boston in September 2005, please forward them by e-mail to Michelle Stanek (programs@aiga.org) by December 15. Your recommendations should explain why the speaker or topic is relevant and also provide information on contacting any recommended speaker. The committee will consider initial recommendations by December 15, seeking to finalize the schedule early enough for members to make decisions about attending.

U.S. to participate in World Day of Design
World Day of Design is an international holiday celebrated on April 27 throughout the world, acknowledging the vital role of design in the public arena. U.S. designers and the public are invited to join in celebrating a day already recognized in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, Italy, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan and Turkey.

In support of this initiative, AIGA is issuing a call for entries for a juried exhibition of posters to acknowledge April 27, 2005 as the first World Day of Design celebration in the United States. In keeping with American values, the theme for the exhibition is “Diversity,” broadly defined as “a point or respect in which things differ.”

AIGA members will receive a call for entries in mid-December to participate in the 2005 celebrations by submitting a poster design by January 28, 2005. More details will be available soon on the AIGA website www.aiga.org/worlddayofdesign.

Design Legends Gala honors designers and influencers
The inaugural Design Legends Gala was held September 30 in New York City, celebrating and honoring the 2004 recipients of the AIGA Medal and the ninetieth year of AIGA. Nearly 600 guests enjoyed an elegant evening with friends and members of an extraordinary community. The event resulted in raising $75,000 toward preserving the history of AIGA and the profession.

By the end of the year, all current AIGA members will receive a copy of the brochure for the Gala, including the illustrated essays describing each medalist. Selected moments from the evening will be included separately on the “Gain” conference DVD (see above), including Milton Glaser’s address to guests. Essays and image galleries for the 2004 Medalists have also been added to AIGA’s online gallery. www.aiga.org/content.cfm/aigamedalists

Tax planning and AIGA
For those of you who are on a calendar year tax cycle and are planning to make contributions to your preferred charities before the end of December, please do not forget the role AIGA, as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, can play in advancing your future and the success of subsequent generations of young designers.

Contributions to the Creative Leadership Campaign are encouraged and welcomed. The campaign raises funds for special initiatives, like mentoring high school students in design, preserving archives or celebrating great design. None of the funds are used for operating expenses.

Donations can be made out to “AIGA Creative Leadership Campaign” and sent to Creative Leadership Campaign, Attn: Richard Grefé, 164 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. We will provide a receipt and tax letter to document your contribution.

AIGA is U.S. partner in international design award (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, which have been defined as body, home, work, play and community.

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 final deadline for U.S. submissions to AIGA will be December 15. Entries may be sent, digitally, to Ric Grefé at aiga@aiga.org. For more information on the competition, see www.index2005.dk.

MediaSpeak: Strategies for Raising Your Company’s Press Profile
AIGA has teamed with IDSA to prepare a seminar on raising your press profile on December 3, 2004 in New York.

Design continues to be a hot topic in the press, which, for those who know how to attract it, is a key business tool. For consultants, having your designs praised in the media will drive clients to your door; for corporations, it will strengthen your department's position within the company.

This one-day seminar will address successful means of getting the design message across to the media. Communication experts and journalists from top publications will outline strategies that go far beyond the distribution of press releases.

For more information and to register, visit new.idsa.org/webmodules/articles/anmviewer.asp?a=1175&z=31

Top 10 CEO challenges
As you try to respond to the concerns of your clients, it may be useful to know what CEOs are reporting as their ten greatest challenges in rank order (according to the annual Conference Board CEO Challenge Survey):

  1. Sustained and steady top-line growth
  2. Speed, flexibility, adaptability to change
  3. Customer loyalty and retention
  4. Stimulating innovation/creativity/enabling entrepreneurship
  5. Cost/ability to innovate
  6. Availability of talented managers/executives
  7. Tight cost control
  8. Succession planning
  9. Seizing opportunities for expansion/growth in Asia
  10. Transferring knowledge/ideas/practices within the company

These priorities offer an insight into how you may want to pitch your work or in which areas you may be able to use designing as a competitive advantage.

Material ConneXion offers new benefits to AIGA members
Material ConneXion is an extraordinary resource of unexpected materials in New York and Milan used by designers and architects to discover materials that can be used to solve both functional and aesthetic challenges. Its library is one of materials, fully indexed, and its staff is available to help you find what you have not yet uncovered yourself. AIGA has recently entered into an agreement with Material ConneXion® Inc. to offer discounts on access to their library services. Whether you want to stay updated with the latest of materials innovation or try to find materials solutions for your projects, this service will provide you basic and quick access to the latest materials developments and technologies.

Virtual Library Access. Virtual Library Access gives you unlimited access for one year to the Material ConneXion database online, which contains references to more than 3,000 variations of innovative materials. With a few clicks, you can find materials information, descriptions and pictures, as well as contact information for the vendor/material manufacturer. A monthly materials update on the newest materials selections will also be sent to you via e-mail. $150 per year (value of $200)

Library Service Contract. The Library Service Contract gives you unlimited access for one year to the Material ConneXion database online as well as our physical libraries in New York and Milan, where more than 3,000 variations of materials are currently showcased. $340 per year (value of $450)

Student Virtual Library Access. The benefits of the Student Virtual Library Access are the same as a regular Virtual Library Access; the only difference is the price. You will need to provide a proof of full-time enrollment in an educational institution. $75 per year (value of $100)

For more information visit www.aiga.org/aigamembersonly

In the AIGA gallery
Designed by Glen Cummings, of Scan, New York with Yve Ludwig, New York, this year’s “50 Books/50 Covers Exhibition” displays the winners of AIGA’s longest-running competition in a nostalgic transmedia setting. The entries include books and book covers designed between January 1 and December 31 of 2003. Categories range from trade, reference and juvenile books to university and museum publications and include limited-edition and special-format books. Make sure you stop by the National Design Center before November 24 to see the show.

Also, on the mezzanine until November 5: The VICO Collaboration. This exhibition showcases original woodblock prints by Jack Stauffacher (one of AIGA’s medalists of 2004) and photographs by Dennis Letbetter, all inspired by Giambattista Vico’s The New Science.

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www.aiga.org
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 Loop: AIGA Experiment in Design Education relaunches
Twice a year, designers and writers will be brought together to invite experimentation, inquiry, risk, and international collaboration.

One writer and one artist or designer will be invited to make a subject-specific contribution. The writer will not only submit text, but will engage a broad audience in discussion, critique, and topic-related questions and answers. This site must challenge us to go beyond what we think is possible and look into the world of the unknown.

This re-launch begins with one of four versions that address different components of new media. The topic of the first issue is “Sound.” Future topics will be: color, structure, and typography.

You are all invited to join this investigation. Welcome to Loop: AIGA Experiment in Design Education. loop.aiga.org

Tools to manage your relationship with AIGA
Did you know you can use your AIGA login ID and password to:

Don’t know your login information? Use the “send me my login information” link to receive your login ID and password by e-mail.

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Coming soon
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Designing for the 21st Century, December 8–12, Rio de Janeiro
This is an extraordinary moment. Never before in history have we been as varied in age and ability as we are at the start of the new century. Design matters more than ever. We must make choices about designing places, things, information and policies that not only reduce barriers but welcome everyone and enhance human health. AIGA has collaborated with Adaptive Environments in beginning dialogue between nations and across disciplines in the third conference on Designing for the 21st Century in Rio de Janeiro, December 8-12, 2004. Visit www.designfor21st.org for more details.

Harvard Business School for designers, July 24–29, 2005
AIGA and Harvard Business School will offer the third annual advanced leadership program, “Business Perspectives for Design Leaders,” a one-week program to provide experienced designers with a chance to master the perspective of their clients toward business. It is available to only forty candidates who will live (and work) in the executive housing at Harvard Business School and be taught by the school’s best faculty. Selection is competitive, based on the qualifications and experience of candidates. The program will be offered from July 24–29, 2005, at Harvard.

The intent is to help experienced designers occupy comfortably the role many of you have expressed an interest in attaining—the role of strategic advisor to your clients on communication strategy, brand positioning and product or service development. It will also, undoubtedly, give you new insight into your own practice, although its purpose is not to provide personal management techniques for you to use in your studio.

This is an opportunity for a significant mid-career enhancement in your skills, perspective and effectiveness. The timing is perfect for offering new services to clients as the economy rebounds. Apply today. Visit www.aiga.org/businessperspectives for more information, testimonials from previous attendees, a list of previously graduates and an application form.

Biennial AIGA Design Conference, September 15–17, 2005
The next National Design Conference will be held September 15–17, 2005 in Boston, Massachusetts. Until May 15, 2005, AIGA members may register for just $600 (or $575 if you register online). www.aiga.org/design_conference_2005

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Resources
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Want to renew? www.aiga.org/renew

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Want to know what’s going on? Check out local and national events at www.aiga.org/calendar.

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