Diversity & Inclusion Initiative

Encouraging diversity in design education, discourse, and practice to strengthen and expand the relevance of design in all areas of society.

Despite progress made over the course of AIGA’s 100-year history, especially since its landmark 1991 symposium (“Why is graphic design 93% white?”), there are vast opportunities to support a more diverse audience of design students, practitioners, managers, thinkers, enthusiasts, clients, consumers, and policy makers.

Recent passionate conversations among AIGA members have catalyzed the Diversity & Inclusion Initiative to augment ongoing AIGA programs with new ideas and resources that take a comprehensive approach, considering race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability and disability, age, and other factors that shape creative perspective and professional experience.

Join us to:

• Celebrate a diverse array of influential designers, including historical figures and contemporary role models.
• Cultivate greater opportunity, awareness of diversity issues, and inclusive design cultures.
• Connect with students, emerging designers, and like-minded groups to support a broader range of future practitioners and leaders.

There are more ways to get involved:

• Attend a Diversity and Inclusion event near you.
• Encourage design students from minority or economically disadvantaged backgrounds to apply for a Worldstudio AIGA Scholarship.
• Explore the learning basics of Diversity & Inclusion, and then delve deeper with the growing list of Diversity & Inclusion resources.
• Join the discussion on Twitter @AIGAdesign with the hashtag #AIGAtogether.
• Meet the new Diversity and Inclusion Task Force.
• Nominate a designer for a Design Journeys profile or a diversity expert for an AIGA chapter or national event: contact AIGA strategic initiatives.
• Research with academic resources provided by the Diversity & Inclusion task force.
• Tune into the Diversity & Inclusion webcast series, which started December 8, 2016, and has new episodes rolling out through Summer 2017. The program will address approaches to diversity in design that demonstrate how designers can develop solutions for complex societal issues and, ultimately, make us more inclusive.
• Volunteer with an AIGA chapter mentorship program to support a diverse new generation of designers.

The “Perspectives across AIGA” video series was made possible with support from Herman Miller.

This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.