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Aspen Design Summit pairs designers with nonprofits to solve social problems

NEW YORK, December 10, 2009. Last month the Aspen Design Summit, with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, gathered a small group of experts, NGO leaders, funders and designers in Aspen, Colorado, to propose human-centered solutions to problems that challenge the quality of life.

Presented by AIGA and Winterhouse Institute, the four-day Summit was comprised of six designer-led workshops, each focused on a specific social problem such as delivering rural healthcare or counteracting childhood obesity. Projects were selected for their ability to benefit real people without the means to address impediments to human dignity and achievement, whether benefitting people directly or the environment on which human activity depends.

“Our purpose in convening the Summit was to demonstrate the value of design thinking in helping to solve complex problems,” said Richard Grefé, executive director of AIGA, the professional association for design. “It was wonderful to see such inventive approaches to global issues, and we’re looking forward to seeing how the proposed solutions turn into tangible results over the next year.”

Coming full circle

In many ways, the 2009 event was a return to the ideals of the original International Design Conference in Aspen (IDCA). When Chicago industrialist Walter Paepcke established IDCA in 1951, he and his wife, Elizabeth, envisioned Aspen as a place where designers, artists, engineers, business and industry leaders from throughout the world could gather to share ideas. The IDCA grew out of the Paepckes’ belief that Aspen provided an ideal environment for nurturing the whole human being—isolated from the distractions of urban life and inspired by the abundant natural beauty, people could take advantage of Aspen’s recreational, intellectual and cultural resources.

“When the International Design Conference in Aspen was launched… the goal was to bring designers and business leaders together to foster understanding of what design could accomplish. Foremost, design was shown to be a strategic force in improving business and cultural interests and enhancing global prosperity. More than a half-century later, the 2009 Aspen Design Summit restored a kernel of the conference’s original mission by uniting designers with the primary beneficiaries of their talents and insights,” wrote the editors of Change Observer, who reported on outcomes of the 2009 event.

In 2004, IDCA collaborated with AIGA to protect its legacy by raising funds and making arrangements for its archives to enter the collection of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. At the same time, the IDCA was transformed from a conference to the smaller Summit in which design thinking guided the integration of concerns and solutions, often presented in the context of broader forums of decision makers like the Aspen Ideas Festival or the World Economic Forum.

Outcomes of the 2009 event

This year’s Summit was especially successful: Five teams each came up with solutions that key stakeholders found both transformative and promising. Participating designers demonstrated their value—to foundation leaders, the Mayo Clinic, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and UNICEF—and helped to reinforce credibility for communication designers in a new role.

Change Observer, in cooperation with AIGA and Winterhouse Institute, has published the following reports from the 2009 Aspen Design Summit:

AIGA and Winterhouse Institute will continute to work with Change Observer to follow and report on projects as they progress over the course of the next year.

About Winterhouse Institute

Winterhouse Institute, a project of William Drenttel and Jessica Helfand, supports writing and publishing projects that further the understanding of design and visual culture. Winterhouse Institute focuses on nonprofit, self-initiated projects that support design education, as well as social and political initiatives. In January 2009, the Institute began a two-year project, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation with a $1.5 million grant, to develop collective action and collaboration for social impact across the design industry.

About AIGA

AIGA, the professional association for design, is the premier place for design—to discover it, discuss it, understand it, appreciate it, be inspired by it.

AIGA’s mission is to advance designing as a professional craft, strategic tool and vital cultural force. AIGA stimulates thinking about design through journals, conferences, competitions and exhibitions; demonstrates the value of design to business, the public and government officials; and empowers the success of designers at each stage of their careers by providing invaluable educational and social resources.

Founded in 1914, AIGA remains the oldest and largest professional membership organization for design. AIGA now represents more than 22,000 design professionals, educators and students through national activities and local programs developed by 64 chapters and 240 student groups. AIGA is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) educational institution.

For further information, please contact:
Jennifer Bender
Manager, communications and marketing
AIGA | the professional association for design
Tel 212 807 1990   Fax 212 807 1799