REPRESENTATIVES
Of Designers
American Institute of Graphic Arts EST. 1914 (NEW YORK, NEW YORK, USA)
In a profession that is hard to define succinctly and its effects even harder to quantify, no matter who the client, graphic designers can find solidarity in organizations that serve as hubs for the industry. The breadth, scope, and agenda of these groups varies, and benefits for members are rewarding in proportion to individual levels of commitment and involvement. Whether they establish standards, advocate for the profession, celebrate best practices, or simply provide networking opportunities, these organizations solidify the practice of graphic design.
Detail of PROMOTIONAL POSTER FOR THE AGI TO KYO TO BOOK / Hesign International / Germany, 2007
American Institute of Graphic Arts
EST. 1914 (NEW YORK, NEW YORK, USA)
With an initial focus on commercial printing, the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) was established in 1914 in New York by a group of approximately 40 people. By 1923 it had 500 members in 15 states and 1,000 members by the end of the 1940s. After World War II and into the 1950s and 1960s, as the practice of graphic design began to be shaped by broader projects like corporate identity and communications, editorial, and package design, the AIGA and its membership reflected this change. In 1981 it was proposed that the AIGA establish chapters, with Philadelphia serving as a model, and Boston, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and Texas established in 1983; there are now 62 chapters representing 22,000 members. Each chapter is run independently and is responsible for the programming and resources it offers its local members. At the national level, the AIGA organizes conferences and competitions and serves as a vocal advocate for the profession through a variety of initiatives. In 2005, to reflect the broader scope of its membership, the organization was renamed AIGA|the professional association for design, distancing itself from the limited, if not outdated, term graphic arts.
AIGA LOGO / USA
THE AIGA MEDAL / USA
365: AIGA YEAR IN DESIGN 26 / C&G Partners; Emanuela Frigerio / USA, 2005
365: THE AIGA IN DESIGN 27 / Two: Deborah Littlejohn, Santiago Piedrafita / USA, 2006
365: THE AIGA IN DESIGN 28 / Photo: Jennifer Krogh
Art Directors Club
EST. 1920 (NEW YORK, NEW YORK, USA)
As illustrators like Norman Rockwell were blurring the lines between fine art and advertising art during the 1920s, the Art Directors Club (ADC), initiated by Louis Pedlar in 1920, brought together a group of layout artists, managers of art departments, and art buyers to explore the role art could play in advertising. No more than a year later, Earnest Elmo Calkins organized the first juried exhibition; this effort survives, nearly 90 years later, as the competitive ADC Annual Awards, which now receive up to 11,000 entries from more than 50 countries. Its Young Guns Award, offered to the top creative talents under the age of 30, has also seen an increase in popularity and fierceness since its inception in 1996. With a remarkable location in Manhattan, the ADC is host to events from exhibits to portfolio reviews to incendiary programming like 2006’s Designism and its 2007 sequel.
ART DIRECTORS CLUB LOGO
ART DIRECTORS ANNUAL 85 / ADC Young Guns: Rob Giampietro, Kevin Smith / USA, 2006
ART DIRECTORS ANNUAL 86 / ADC Young Guns: Rob Giampietro, Kevin Smith / USA, 2007
ADC YOUNG GUNS 5 ANNUAL / Alan Dye, Joanna Maher / USA, 2006
ORIGINAL ADC SIGNAGE
ADC GOLD CUBE
Society of Typographic Arts
EST. 1927 (CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, USA)
Since its inception in Chicago in 1927, the Society of Typographic Arts has been a vital participant in the Chicago design community, sponsoring seminars and conferences and developing publications, including Trademarks USA (1964), Fifty Years of Graphic Design in Chicago (1977), Hermann Zapf and His Design Philosophy (1987), and ZYX: 26 Poetic Portraits (1989). For a brief time in the late 1980s, STA became the American Center for Design. In 1990, the STA reorganized with a renewed commitment to design in Chicago. Today, STA presents a diverse schedule of events, sponsors the annual Archive competition, and hosts the Chicago Design Archive, a collection of significant work from the city.
STA LOGO / One of 12 iterations / Essex Two / USA, 2004
32ND ANNUAL DESIGN IN CHICAGO PRINTING EXHIBITION CATALOG / Its 1927 inaugural edition was one of the country’s first exhibitions devoted to design and printing / Larry Klein / USA, 1959
DESIGN JOURNAL, STA / Ron Kovach / USA, 1986
ARCHIVE06 CALL FOR ENTRIES POSTER / Hartford Design / USA, 2006
Design Council
EST. 1940 (LONDON, ENGLAND, UK)
Originally established in 1944 as the Council of Industrial Design to promote design in the products of British industry, the government-funded Design Council (renamed in the early 1970s) made important strides in the improvement of industrial design education and pushed the case for design to manufacturers and retailers. As the British market became more design-conscious in the 1980s and then experienced a perceived loss of relevance in the 1990s, the Design Council had to adjust. In 1994 John Sorrell, a Design Council member and graphic designer by training, submitted a proposal to restart the organization. Its new purpose would be to demonstrate the role of design in the improvement of economy and society through a range of incisive initiatives. Now, more than 50 case studies reveal the influence of design, the Design Index® report shows that share prices of companies making effective use of design outperform the stock market, the Value of Design Factfinder provides convincing facts and numbers, and a wide range of additional publications further advocate for the embrace of design.
DESIGN COUNCIL MAGAZINE, PREMIER ISSUE / UK, Winter 2006
DESIGN COUNCIL MAGAZINE, ISSUE 4 / UK, Summer 2008
5 STORIES OF GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS; DESIGN COUNCIL ANNUAL 2005/06 / Design Council / Bibliothèque / UK, 2006
FACTS AND FIGURES ON DESIGN IN BRITAIN 2002–2003 / Design Council / johnson banks / UK, 2002
THE GOOD DESIGN PLAN / Design Council / UK, 2008
DESIGN BLUEPRINT / Design Council / NB: Studio / UK, 2008
THE BUSINESS OF DESIGN: DESIGN INDUSTRY RESEARCH 2005 / Design Council / Cartlidge Levene; illustration, Russell Bell / UK, 2005
Type Directors Club
EST. 1946 (NEW YORK, NEW YORK, USA)
Founded in 1946, the Type Directors Club (TDC) is devoted to all things typographical. It provides inspiration, education, and information to all who knock on the door. Located in New York City in a downtown space crowded with rare books and treasured typography specimens, the organization hosts lectures and workshops throughout the year. Its newsletter, Letterspace, is published three times a year, and it presents the renowned Typography Annuals (HarperCollins), which compiles the best of worldwide typography and typeface design each year.
TDC LOGO / Gerard Huerta / USA, 1994
LETTERSPACE, THE TDC NEWSLETTER OVER THE YEARS / Diego Vainesman / USA
TYPOGRAPHY 1–27, THE ANNUALS OF THE TDC / various designers / USA, 2007
Alliance Graphique Internationale
EST. 1951 (PARIS, FRANCE)
In 1951, five designers—Jean Picart le Doux, Jacques Nathan Garamond, and Jean Colin of France and Fritz Bühler and Donald Brun of Switzerland—established the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) in Paris. By 1952, more than 50 designers from Europe had been invited to join, and by the end of the decade American designers including Herbert Bayer, Lester Beall › 146, Saul Bass › 158, and Paul Rand › 159 had been admitted. Unlike other professional organizations, AGI does not accept members; rather, members are recommended by existing members, selected on the basis of merit and work, and vetted by a committee that makes its decision when the AGI constituency gathers for an annual congress. AGI does not advocate for designers or their causes, nor does it protect their interests; it simply leads by gathering the most influential and celebrated designers (more than 600 since its inception), who in turn represent the organization’s ideals through their practice and contributions.
TO KYO TO BOOK BY AGI, edited by Jianping He / Hesign (Berlin/ Shanghai) / Hesign International: design, Jianping He; Annika Wolfzettel / Germany, 2007 / Photos: Phillip Birau
NEW VOICE BOOK BY AGI, edited by Jianping He / Hesign Publishing Berlin / Hesign International: design, Jianping He; Hongbiao Zhao, Tim FeßNer / Germany, 2006 / Photo: Phillip Birau
AGI-NEW VOICE POSTER FOR WHAT MAKES BERLIN ADDICTIVE. E.V. / Hesign International: design, Jianping He / Germany, 2006
Icograda
EST. 1963 (LONDON, ENGLAND, UK)
Founded in 1963 by Willy de Majo, Icograda (the International Council of Graphic Design Associations) is—in its own words and for lack of a description that better captures its magnitude and influence—“the world body for professional communication design.” It is a voluntary conglomeration of international organizations, professional member organizations, educational institutions, corporations, and individuals from around the world that support its broad mission to represent the interests of the profession, to increase awareness of it, and, without any sarcasm intended, to make the world a better place through design. Icograda is the voice of designers heard through affiliation with international organizations like ISO and UNESCO. It endorses design events, signifying that such events are organized according to approved international guidelines and standards. Every two years, Icograda hosts the World Design Congress in cities around the world, connecting international practice and expression with local design cultures. In 1995 ICOGRADA declared April 27, the date when the organization was founded, as World Graphics Day.
ICOGRADA IDENTITY / Pentagram: Fernando Gutierrez / UK, 2006
MASTERS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: ICOGRADA’S HALL OF FAME, edited by Mervyn Kurlansky / Graphis Press / design, Mervyn Kurlansky / UK, 2001
ICOGRADA LONDON DESIGN SEMINARS TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY POSTER / Alan Fletcher / UK, 1994
WORLDWIDE IDENTITY, Robert L. Peters / Rockport Publishers in partnership with Icograda / USA, 2005
ICOGRADA WORLD DESIGN CONGRESS IN LA HABANA / CUBA, 2007 / Photo: Stuart Alden
ICOGRADA EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBERS AT THE HISTORIC FIRST MEETING WITH CHINESE MEMBERS / China, 2002
VISUALOGUE, ICOGRADA WORLD DESIGN CONGRESS IN NAGOYA / Japan, 2003 / Photo: JAGDA
D&AD
EST. 1962 (LONDON, ENGLAND, UK)
Founded as British Design and Art Direction in 1962 by London-based designers and art directors including Alan Fletcher, Colin Forbes, and Bob Gill › 161, D&AD was established to celebrate peers and their work, and to raise industry standards. While the organization has long been committed to the development of young designers, placing much of its energy and resources into developing programs in collaboration with educational institutions as well as competitions celebrating early output, D&AD is most notorious for its unbelievably selective annual design and advertising awards, first introduced in 1963, when 25 judges reviewed 2,500 entries. Today, up to 300 judges can spend a week combing through 25,000 entries from more than 60 countries. While hundreds make it into the annual, the real competition comes in the form of Yellow (silver) and Black (gold) Pencils, given to a remarkably low number of winners; in 2003, no Black Pencil was awarded in any category, and in 2008, not a single entry in the graphics category scored even a Yellow Pencil.
D&AD LOGO / First designed by Colin Forbes in 1962, the hexagon was introduced in 2006 by Rose / UK
D&AD AWARDS / original design, Lou Klein / UK, 1966
2006/44 D&AD ANNUAL AND SHOWREEL/ Design Project / UK, 2006
Photos: Courtesy of D&AD
The Society of Typographic Aficionados
EST. 1998 (WESTBOROUGH, MASSACHUSSETTS, USA)
Established by type enthusiast Bob Colby as the supporting organization for the first edition of TypeCon in 1998, SoTA’s mission is to “increase public awareness and appreciation of the art and history of typography and its function in creating beautiful and successful communications.” The nonprofit, volunteer-driven SoTA has since sustained TypeCon, an affordable and highly rewarding annual conference of type aficionados, and it works with other organizations on a variety of publications and educational projects. Once or twice a year, SoTA publishes the magazine Interrobang. Through Font Aid, manifested in the creation of a collaborative font rallying around a specific theme, SoTA is able to raise funds for a variety of philanthropic concerns.
SOTA LOGO / Typeco: design, James Grieshaber / USA, 2001
SAMPLE GLYPHS FROM FONT AID II (SEPTEMBER 11) AND III (FLEURONS OF HOPE), which to date has raised $5,300 for the Red Cross and $21,000 for relief efforts in the countries affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami respectively / various designers / USA, 2001, 2006