Special update to AIGA members
September 12, 2001

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Contents
Design and a grieving society
Voice: AIGA national design conference is still scheduled as
  planned
AIGA community assistance
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Today, our endeavors are centered on contacting colleagues, friends and members in New York and Washington—and the design community at large—to offer the association's support, aid and comfort. Our thanks as an association are extended to our international members for sending their condolences and offering support to their American colleagues.

We should not feel helpless. Each of you has an extraordinary and special gift-the creativity and skill to help people understand better. No one is better than you in using images, text and ideas to communicate, identifying and bridging differences among people. Communication builds trust and trust is the cohesive force of societies.

Design is critical in creating civil societies. Civilizations differ from gangs by the quality of expression that occurs among their citizens. The vestiges of civilized thought reach us as designed objects and messages. Without the special gifts that each of you has, the quality of discourse would be lower and there might be no artifacts of civilizations upon which to build the future.

Each designer has an opportunity to use his or her special talents in ways that illuminate the important issues in our society and to build understanding of both shared and different values.

AIGA will work with you to find the means, so that we can help give sympathy a voice and aspiration of a trumpet. We welcome suggestions on how we can undertake this challenge in meaningful ways.

Voice: AIGA design conference will proceed as scheduled
The aim of terror is to destroy, with full intent that death and destruction will continue to disrupt societies through sustained fear and paralysis. Our nation is resolved that it will not be bowed.

We will hold the national design conference as planned, September 23-26 in Washington, D.C.

This gathering will be a statement that our remarkable profession will not become a further victim of wanton violence. As a community, we can share our commitment to higher values of public civility, reconsider what is important about our contribution to society and define ways in which we can make help society to deal with grief and the misunderstandings that fuel man's baser nature.

We believe "Voice" will offer an opportunity for a rich, thoughtful and desperately-needed conversation within our community of designers—one that will not be quickly forgotten.

We hope you will join us. We understand fully the many legitimate reasons that a member may decide not to attend. For those unable to be with us, we will look for ways to share the experience with all of you later.

AIGA community assistance
We are creating two discussion boards for those who would like to share your feelings. One is aimed at sharing your feelings with other designers. A second will offer a place where you can post thoughts you would like shared in the national memorial service for the victims of this attack. Ric Grefé will see that they reach the White House or others responsible for the national memorial service, either to be quoted or to be included in a memorial repository. These discussion boards will be available from the home page of our website www.aiga.org.

In addition, we are looking for an official directory of confirmed casualties. When we have located one, we will post the link on our home page on www.aiga.org so that you can check for the well-being of friends, colleagues and acquaintances.

We join our fellow Americans and citizens of the world in sending our prayers to those whose loved ones, friends and colleagues have been lost in this terrible tragedy. We join with you in applauding the heroic efforts of rescue personnel and all Americans who have responded with great heroism and bravery.

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