Disaster relief

Immediately following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, AIGA launched the relief effort “Leave No Designer Behind.” The campaign first focused on assisting AIGA’s New Orleans chapter to locate every AIGA member. Then, with $10,000 from AIGA and $10,000 from the Society of Publication Designers, the campaign expanded to help designers, whether AIGA members or not, who were displaced by the hurricane.

Partnering with the studio Chopping Block, who developed the Displaced Designer website, AIGA sought to connect every affected designer with the appropriate resources. For those who had left the New Orleans area, AIGA and Displaced Designer coordinated designers and resources elsewhere in the country. Additionally, AIGA enlisted sponsors to connect designers through events planned by the New Orleans chapter and other chapters throughout the Gulf Coast.

Results and stories
A task force of AIGA volunteers chaired by Kenneth White of Nashville worked with AIGA and Winterhouse Studio to personally contact all 150 designers who sought help, and located 236 more designers from the area who were in need. Matching needs included providing housing, design contacts, job opportunities, printing of new stationery and business cards, software or equipment replacement, and other forms of professional assistance. The task force was managed on site by Lori Reed, AIGA New Orleans chapter president. The national task force, fund raising efforts and networking were led by Bill Drenttel, president emeritus of AIGA. Some of the task force's success stories are documented at Displaced Designer.

Project M and AIGA also dispatched a refurbished ambulance that drove from Maine to New Orleans, picking up surplus equipment and supplies from studios and chapters along the Eastern Seaboard. Five iMacs, five G4s, eight monitors, seven printers, four scanners, portable hard drives, Pantone chip books, several tons of office supplies, books and furniture, and over $1,200 in monetary donations and gift cards were distributed by the AIGA New Orleans chapter at events in Louisiana. Photos from the Mbulance trip can be seen here.

Next steps
The AIGA Disaster Relief Fund, which continues to be supported by corporate and private donations, provided aid to chapters that hosted displaced designers and made direct emergency grants of over $5,000 to designers who needed immediate help.

AIGA’s task force has now moved into the next phase of its mission, creating guidelines, based on lessons learned, to help all chapters become central information resources for designers in other regional disasters which may occur.