I recently had the privilege of attending the AIGA  (the professional association for design) Leadership Retreat this year in Chattanooga, Tennessee, representing the Portland Chapter. A few members from all 65 of the nation’s AIGA Board of Directors converged in Chattanooga to meet, mingle, plot and plan the direction of the organization. It was my second AIGA retreat, and my first adventure into the South.

The purpose of the yearly retreat is to gather representatives from each chapter together to discuss the future direction of AIGA, review successes from the past year, determine areas of improvement, and to create dialog among the chapters through a variety of workshops and break-out sessions. Chapters share inspirational success stories debate/discuss initiatives, and brainstorm new ideas.

Here is a summary of a few things I learned this year.

“What’s wrong with the world is that we are not finished yet” William Faulkner

While AIGA is still the strongest, most united design organization in the nation, they still face the challenge of overcoming a perception of being snooty, of the old guard, and elitist. They are battling this perception with a new approach to content development at the national level. They are flipping the pyramid upside-down so instead of news/information filtering from the top down, it will be generated from the bottom up. Regional chapters will bear more of the responsibility to develop content, and share at the national level. The AIGA.org website is undergoing a re-design to reflect this new display of content.

Artisan v. Strategist

AIGA Executive Director,  Rick Grefe spoke about the relevancy and importance of design in today’s environment, and how designers need to be re-positioned away from being thought of as developers of artifacts and move toward being defined as developers of strategy. This falls in line with Frank Chimero’s talk at AIGA Portland’s  Designspeaks last month. Frank agreed that a re-brand of the role of designers is necessary and suggests the title, “a planner with an aesthetic sense” is a more accurate description of what a designer does.

Living Principles

Gaby Brink and Phil Hamlett of the AIGA Center for Sustainable Design have been diligently working on the next step for the center. The result of which is a website and movement called the Living Principles (still in beta). The Living Principles website will be an online community where designers can share case studies, and feature stories on successes or trials and tribulations as they relate to sustainability in design. It will have an extensive list of resources, including a dictionary of sustainability terminology, videos of influential speakers, and various impact calculators to evaluate design decisions.

5% Campaign

AIGA announced its new initiative for the year, and that is to create programs for chapters to encourage the design community to contribute their talents and their time towards pro-bono work. The idea is based off the similar initiative promoted by the American Bar Association for lawyers. AIGA wants designer’s pro-bono commitment to exceed that of the legal community and set the goal at 5%. That is, asking designers to contribute 5% of their time to pro-bono work. Designers in certain regions can be connected to non-profits through the Taproot Foundation, and AIGA will be listing pro-bono projects in a separate section of the jobs listing section of the new website. Rick Grefe strongly believes as I do, that designers have much to offer the non-profit community, and that we play an integral role in the national push for social change.

Drinks with Debbie is now open to the entire conference

AIGA’s President, Debbie Millman attended and spoke at the conference. She is focusing her presidency on the idea of connectivity, hence the conference’s theme, “Engage.” She walked the walk by inviting the all 400+ people in attendance to “Drinks with Debbie” at the hotel bar, an event previously limited to 9 spots. The purpose of the theme, “Engage” is to further discuss how AIGA can reach out to a broader audience. These audiences include: in-house designers, the business community, and the general public. While many chapters have been implementing some programs to address these audiences, there still is much room for improvement. Many break-out sessions focused around issues of engagement from these sometimes disenfranchised entities.

Southern Hospitality

From the pizza employee at Lupi’s  who gave me an extra-full wine pour because he loved Portland (we bonded over our shared Rogue nation membership), to the taxi driver who drove us out to see the Chattanooga Choo-Choo plus gave us a full history lesson of that and surrounding landmarks for no extra charge,  to all the hotel employees at The Chattanoogan who called me “ma’am,” the residents of Chattanooga definitely reinforced the idea of southern hospitality. I also enjoyed my first foray into authentic Southern foods. It seems as if there is nothing they will not fry. I delighted in the fried stuffed sandwich at Terminal Brewery (to go with the delicious beer sampler and sweet potato fries), and devoured fried green tomatoes with cheesy grits at the riverfront restaurant, Blue Plate. Others in my group sampled fried pickles and okra. At one establishment I saw a huge plate of nachos go by, only the tortilla chips were replaced by potato chips.

Ain’t no party like a designer party

It’s no secret that designers know how to party, and many AIGAers are known for their wild and crazy antics (hotel hallway pyramids) lasting until the morning hours. I had a wonderful time reconnecting with my friends from last year’s conference, Chris from Hawaii; Janie from South Carolina;  Patrick from Jacksonville; and of course my Portland ladies: Shona and Lisa. And, I made new memories with new friends, getting caught in the pouring rain and lightning, dancing up a storm to jazz music, and closing down the bar at Hair of the Dog.

Check out photos from the retreat on flickr.

I am proud to be a part of such a substantial, relevant, and inspiring institution. I look forward to our Portland Chapter Retreat where we share what we learned, and plan the next evolution of AIGA in Portland. I have many ideas for how to shape our local chapter, and if you want to be an active part in helping AIGA meet the new objectives, please reach out to me with your ideas. We always are looking for input and help.

Thanks to the many folks at AIGA for making the retreat possible, and Chattanooga for being a great host! I enjoyed my visit to the relaxed, sleepy town on the riverbend, and hope to be back to the South again soon.