Get the Vote Out!

2020 is a year filled with unprecedented events – the Pandemic, Black Lives Matter Protests, Wildfires, and more. AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Artists) is one organization working toward getting the vote out to make sure we save our democracy. With their "Get Out the Vote" campaign, AIGA is encouraging members to create posters and submit for both "Get Out the Vote 2020" and "Get Out the Vote: Empowering the Women's Vote." Both submission checklists require posters are nonpartisan to comply with nonprofit guidelines.While submission requires AIGA membership, viewing the gallery of posters does not and visitors are encouraged to share the posters widely with full credit to the designer.If you are a US citizen, take a look at the gallery of posters for sharing. If you are an AIGA member, look into designing a poster yourself—and above all else, Get the Vote Out! 

Decolonizing Design

The notion of decolonizing design, designers, design organizations, and design education is a good one. Several initiatives have been underway that attempt to tackle the problem.Decentering Whiteness in Design History Resources has been put together by a self-described group of white design historians with the goal of decentering white people within the history of American design and the global history of design.They feel that the bibliography that they have put together is unique in that it focuses on race and ethnicity, looks at design history broadly within a wide theoretical and political range, is flexible and expansive, is thematic rather than chronologically organized, has a complete bibliography with annotations, and has a superior set of hashtags. The bibliography has a section of compelling assignments and student projects too.On another front, George Aye is tackling the problem by looking at design organizations, and primarily at one of the biggest ones around, AIGA.In his article, Dismantling White Supremacy Culture Within AIGA, featured on Medium this summer, Aye calls upon AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Artists) to check what the "A" in AIGA stands for. Aye states that if you look at the list of medalists featured on AIGA, the organization might be ready for a rebrand with a more apt name being WAIGA (White American Institute for Graphic Artists.)In June, as Black Lives Matter protests grew, the organization proclaimed solidarity with the movement. Aye noted that AIGA did not credit or give attribution to those from the DEI taskforce, like Antionette Carroll, who publicly resigned from AIGA's board in this past December due to the organization's unwillingness to address DEI issues from within. Others involved in this work who were also ignored include Caroline Hill, Michelle, Molitor, and Christine Ortiz.Aye composed a letter to AIGA asking them to take a pause and do some deep reflecting  about what it means today to be an American designer instead of furthering white supremacy culture through their self-congratulatory cycle. His letter calls upon AIGA to look deeply into governance and operations and national strategic initiatives.As you read through the letter, you will see it's a big ask, but it's about time. If AIGA is sincere in their claim of solidarity with Black Lives Matter, it seems like they have no other choice.Sources:https://designincubation.com/design-news/decentering-whiteness-in-design-history-resources/https://medium.com/@george_aye/decolonizing-aiga-a6cc8fb8692e

Teach our Girls to Code!

Historically, women are woefully under-represented in computing and technology fields. Today, women earn just 18 percent of tech degrees and get 11 percent of tech executive positions. This trend extends into the field of graphic design, where women hold a small percentage of the jobs in the rapidly expanding disciplines of game design, UX, UI, and web design. Research has shown that the industry would likely benefit economically, as well as socially, from an increased female presence. Equal pay for women is still an issue in the U.S. with women typically earning 79% of what men are paid, and around the world earning even less. Tapping into the tech industry would be one area where women could grain ground for equal pay, and create parity within the industry sector.In recent years, there’s been a debate about whether or not graphic designers need to know code. Some argue that it’s not necessary; stating that they simply need to design and then hand their designs off to others for coding. Others contend that employers increasingly expect their designers to have experience with front-end development and coding.In AIGA’s 2016 article “What do graphic designers need to know?” they mention that technique is the most recognizable, yet rapidly changing part of what designers know. In addition to being able to manipulate type, forms, and images for both print and digital media using contemporary software, graphic designers need to know basic programming like HTML, CSS, and Javascript.A quick look at job listings might settle the argument. Take a look at job listings on AIGA’s site or Behance and you’ll find a high number of them do require some coding skills. If you need any more convincing, take at a recent NY Times article about workers turning to coding for a career change; it’s a sellers market; companies cannot hire fast enough with the average base salary for software engineers starting at $100,000.Let’s stop arguing, and in honor of Women’s History Month, instead, let’s start encouraging the women graphic designers we know to learn code.Sources:http://girlswhocode.com/http://www.aiga.org/guide-designersneedknow/http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2015/01/women-and-workhttp://artbistro.monster.com/careers/articles/8794-10-fastest-growing-design-jobshttp://azraelgroup.com/should-designers-code/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/29/technology/code-academy-as-career-game-changer.html?smid=nytcore-ipad-share&smprod=nytcore-ipadhttp://time.com/3836977/un-women-wages-and-careers/http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/

Branding the Olympics—“worst practices” in design

While the Olympic games themselves are steeped in excellence and “best practices” in athletics—the design of the 2020 Olympic logo has spiraled into an example “worst practices” in graphic design.This past September the 2020 Tokyo Olympic logo that was designed by Kenjiro Sano was scrapped when he was accused of design plagiarism. Sano’s design has characteristics of a logo designed by Belgian designer Olivier Debie for the Theatre de Liege.Initially, organizers defended Sano, but then changed their minds, asserting that using a logo that is not supported by the public is not in their best interests and the success of the Olympics. Instead, they decided to crowdsource the logo design, opening it up to anyone. The organizers received nearly 15,000 entries from people competing for $8,250 and tickets to the opening ceremonies.This week AIGA firmly stated their position with an open letter to the Tokyo Olympic committee. Executive Director Ric Grefé discussed several reasons why crowdsourcing logos is damaging to designers, the highlights follow:

• Crowdsourcing takes advantage of designers, asking them to work countless hours without a guarantee of any compensation. Furthermore, the amount of the proposed award, is much lower than what the appropriate compensation would be for a brand identity that will have global value, being reproduced millions of times.
• By opening the contest to the general public, the committee demonstrates a complete lack of respect for trained and experienced professionals.
• The valuable collaboration with the client when creating a brand identity is completely ignored with crowdsourcing , compromising the ethics and global standards for professional designers.

U.S. designer Michael Raisch’s response to the controversy echoes AIGA’s stance. With over a decade of experience in sports branding, Raisch thinks that crowdsourcing brand identity devalues creative professional careers and thei contributions to the world. He decided to point to the absurdity of the committee’s decision to crowdsource the logo by opening the contest up to three-year-olds, emphasizing the point that crowdsourcing results in amateur work. Raisch created an endearing video about the experience entitled, “A 3 Year Old Explains the Olympic Logo.”The contest just closed this past week—stay tuned for the results—no doubt more controversy is in store.http://eyeondesign.aiga.org/against-crowdsourcing-logo-design-an-open-letter-from-aiga-to-the-tokyo-olympic-committee/http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/02/sport/tokyo-olympic-logo-scrapped/index.htmlhttp://www.designweek.co.uk/a-three-year-old-could-have-designed-that-the-olympic-logo-made-by-a-toddler/

Women! Learn to ask for more

The gender gap in compensation and the lack of women in leadership are issues that all women face. AIGA’s Women’s Leadership Initiative celebrates and fosters women’s achievements in design. As part of their commitment to empowering women designers they have sponsored a series of webcasts on the topic of negotiation.Graphic designers are visual communicators and problem-solvers. Negotiation is a communication discipline—it’s not a battle—just a conversation. Negotiation has roots in improvisation and all improvisation adds information. It’s about bringing information to the conversation in order to problem-solve your way to agreement. Yet despite this fundamental relationship between problem-solving and negotiation, women in design often struggle with negotiation. Many have the opposite experience—they cringe at the prospect. Fears of being thought of as being too bossy, too emotional, or not being taken seriously, hold many women back. As shown above, women are four times less likely to negotiate then men. 20% of women refuse to negotiate at all and women ask for 3-32% less when they do negotiate.In the first webcast, AIGA Women’s Leadership Initiative, that aired last November, Lisa Gates, co-founder of She Negotiates, talks about how women need to understand their natural way of operating, and change the conversation to match their style, not feel the need to match someone else’s style. Women need to add communication and negotiation skills to their toolbox, use them in their own way, and practice every day. Gates talks about assessing your market value and takes us through the steps to find out how. The webcast has been archived and is available for viewing through AIGA’s site.The second webcast which aired in January, Blueprint for Everyday Workplace Negotiation, is also available for viewing.The third, Set and Get Your True Market Value, takes place on March 19, 2015. As you celebrate this month’s Women’s History Month, tune in to learn more—it will be well worth your time.Sources:http://www.aiga.org/webcast-advancing-leadership-negotiation/http://www.aiga.org/womens-leadership/http://www.shenegotiates.com/

Encouraging Bullshit

When I was growing up my mother would often yell “bullshit” during dinner time discussions. In fact she used it so often it's become a bit of a legacy for her. Now in her 80s, those who were present for those lively discussions—typically involving politics, the Viet Nam war, women's rights, or other hot topics  during the sixties and seventies—fondly recall hearing her use her “favorite” word. As I remember it what prompted my mother to say bullshit was when anyone tried to use sensationalism, emotional appeal, fear mongering, or other tactics besides hardcore facts to win their argument.The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) medalist Paula Scher recently wrote an article for Imprint in reaction to AIGA's contest “Justified”—a design competition that will select examples of good design that are also described in terms of their effectiveness in meeting the client’s objectives. In the article, “AIGA: Unjustified,”  Scher discusses her objection to the competition which in part is due to the fact that "Justified" is AIGA's only competition and thus sets a standard for excellence that focuses solely in an area that is based on meeting client goals rather than creativity and inspiration. She goes on to describe the many ways that meeting client goals are not necessarily in sync with design innovation. In the article Scher states that “judging design work by the quality of the designer's bullshit as required in this criteria seems pointless. If the work is terrific the bullshit is irrelevant. If the work isn't terrific, but the jury is moved by the entrant's arguments, it demonstrates the dangers of bullshit. Is this something we want to encourage?” (1)Scher raises a very valid question about what the goal of the organization's competition should be— proving the value of design to clients, or inspiring designers. Who should AIGA be serving?What do you think? Should AIGA's only remaining competition be based on the value of design to the client, or by how innovative and inspiring it is to designers?Read the full article along with many comments here and Scher's follow up article, “Unjustified, Part II,” where she addresses comments and offers her own suggestion for a competition.Notes:(1) http://imprint.printmag.com/design-thinking/aiga-unjustified/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=aiga-unjustified&et_mid=548293&rid=23821332Sources:http://imprint.printmag.com/design-thinking/aiga-unjustified/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=aiga-unjustified&et_mid=548293&rid=23821332http://www.aiga.org/justified/Photo courtesy of Tristan Nitot via Flickr

WANTED: Jack of all trades (aka Graphic Artist)

This ad is pretty standard in terms of the laundry list of skills required of a graphic artist these days. Design skills, plus technical skills—and being well versed in all the software and hardware that goes with them—is expected. Writing and editing skills are often on the wishlist too. So where does a young graphic designer begin figuring out their worth?The AIGA|Aquent Survey of Design Salaries is a good place to start. The survey does have a category for "Print, web, and interactive." However, within this category it's broken out into senior designer, designer, junior designer, and producer—creating a division between design and production skills which in the "real world" is often not there.This situation is not unique to graphic design, many industries demand a large amount of multi-tasking from their employees these days. What complicates it a bit more in graphic design is the rampant practice of crowdsourcing. Graphic designers have a difficult time negotiating a fair wage in an industry where job requirements are becoming increasingly more complex, on top of this, the median salary has barely risen since 2000. If you throw crowdsourcing into the mix, they are also forced to compete with graphic designers from all over the world—some who can afford to work for a much lower rate—along with clients who use crowdsourcing to find an alleged huge pool of talent with rock bottom prices.The issue is compounded by the fact that many young and emerging designers don't know much about crowdsourcing or why it's considered evil. A comment was recently made on a post about crowdsourcing entitled "How Low Can You Go." The author made the very valid point that she honestly didn't know what crowdsourcing was and it took her 3 days of sorting through angry and emotional outcries to get to the meat of the issue. After her research she came to the conclusion that useful information about the value of graphic design services is sorely lacking. In fact, she realized that a "real client's" low offer made her feel more disrespected than the crowdsourcing sites she had visited (a claim that many of its critics make.)Letterer, illustrator, designer, (and author of Should I Work For Free? flowchart) Jessica Hische wrote an aptly named and helpful blog post entitled "The Dark Art of Pricing" that addresses how to price for image usage. Hische also directs designers to the Graphic Artist's Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines for help. While this advice is useful, it still doesn't address the combination of wide and diverse skill sets that are required in many graphic design jobs.While this issue can be particularly confusing and challenging to young and emerging designers, it causes stress and anxiety among seasoned professionals as well. In an environment where competitive crowdsourcing companies are thriving and the list of skills required of graphic designers is rapidly growing, what's the best advice we can give graphic designers about calculating their worth?Sources:http://regionalhelpwanted.com/Search/detail.cfm?SN=1&ID=62640522http://designsalaries.org/http://www.jessicahische.is/obsessedwiththeinternet/andhelpingyougetpaid/the-dark-art-of-pricing

Students and pro bono work

"The Role of Graphic Design in Social Awareness," "Issues in Design," and "Can Design Touch Someone's Heart?" are all graphic design courses with the common theme of creating pro bono work (volunteer work done “for the public good”) to teach social responsibility. As AIGA Philadelphia and others are taking a pledge to support paid internships, where does pro bono work done by students fit in? Nonprofit organizations clearly have a need. Organizations like DesigNYC partner designers with nonprofit groups in New York City to create pro bono work on a local level to benefit the city. The Ad Council has been working with volunteers from the advertising and communications industries since 1942 to create public service campaigns to effect positive change in the lives of Americans. Other organizations like Design Global Change have a similar mission, sending students to India and Africa to create design that will effect change and create a better world.Students gain valuable experience designing brand identities, packaging, poster design, and more by working pro bono for nonprofit organizations. They can also fill out their portfolio with "real" work. Is this any different than student internships that are unpaid? If so, why?