More than 1,500 design professionals, educators and students converged in Memphis this fall for the biennial AIGA Design Conference to connect with each other, with ideas, and with the power of the community.
From October 8-11, presenters and attendees came together at the conference, titled "Make/Think," to explore the ways that designers focus both on making beautiful things and thinking about problems strategically, and the unique and powerful combination of both roles.
Sharing an Enriching and Entertaining Event
From Stefan Sagmeister inspiring the audience with the results of his yearlong sabbatical of design experiments to Roger Martin discussing why design thinking is the next competitive advantage and Stefan G. Bucher making and sharing his monsters, those in attendance participated in three days of enriching, entertaining, educational and meaningful programming and experiences.
To extend the experience and give those who were unable to attend a chance to enjoy the wealth of knowledge shared at this biennial event, the insights and inspiration from "Make/Think" will now live on through a collection of free audio and video presentations at www.aiga.org.
Each video will be available with a full transcript, closed-captioning and, when possible, a PDF copy of the speaker's presentation. By making these videos available to a wide audience with a broad range of abilities, AIGA continues its commitment to stimulating thinking about design and strives to demonstrate the value of design to the world at large.
The First Batch of Inspiration
Stefan G. Bucher, founder of 344 Design and creator of the drawing and storytelling experiment dailymonster.com, discusses the creative challenges of being both a maker and a thinker, communicating to large audiences across a wide range of media. Sharing animated examples of his work for Maverick Records, Wieden+Kennedy and his own practice, Bucher entertains the audience with a detailed exploration of his process.
Roger Martin, dean of the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, makes the case that businesses can do a better job of innovating if they embrace design thinking. He examines how companies can combine analysis and intuition to transform themselves into successful design-thinking organizations, integrating the future with the past in a constructive way.
Stefan Sagmeister, graphic designer, typographer and founder of Sagmeister, Inc., explains why he closes his studio every seven years for a yearlong sabbatical, and shows how his studio's work has improved as a result. Sharing photography of his experimental projects in Indonesia, he explains the pitfalls, highlights and lessons learned, ending with an audience sing-along about client relations to the tune of "Ode to Joy."
In the first round of "Command X," AIGA's live graphic design reality show, seven up-and-coming designers brave the main stage to present a redesign of the Graceland logo; a favorite is chosen and two contestants are eliminated. Pentagram partner Michael Bierut hosts the event with judges Bonnie Siegler of Number 17; Chip Kidd, graphic designer and author; and Paul Sahre, graphic designer, illustrator, educator and author. Carol F. Butler, vice president and director of worldwide licensing for Graceland, serves as guest judge.
Coming Soon
Videos of presentations by David Butler of Coca-Cola, Elizabeth Coleman of Bennington College, artist Daniel Eatock, designer and educator Charles Harrison, Nick Law of R/GA, Marissa Mayer of Google and many others-as well as audio presentations from affinity sessions on everything from in-house design to practice management-will be released over the next few weeks on www.aiga.org.