AIGA Atlanta Caps Off Their Best Year Ever

Great things are happening for the Atlanta chapter of the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) these days. Not only is this 12-year-old organization of graphic designers experiencing a tremendous growth in membership, but they recently launched a new AIGA Atlanta web site (designed by Point of Vision), presented their first AIGA Fellows Award (to Bob Wages, President of Wages Design), and established the first-ever AIGA Atlanta Student Scholarship fund. They've also just capped off a string of well-attended events with their greatest success to date: “Big Night * At the Fair.”

Held May 2, at Swissotel in Buckhead, “Big Night *At the Fair” was a three hour festival featuring a vendor fair, the AIGA year-in-review, and the Annual Meeting (where Noosh Tehrani of Georgia State University was named the first recipient of the newly-established AIGA Atlanta Student Scholarship). The third annual “Best Shot,” a multi-media showcase of the Atlanta design community's best projects was another highlight of the evening. Those fortunate enough to attend this fun and frivilous event were treated to freshly made popcorn, pretzels and ice cream, as well as roaming bands of balloon artists, jugglers, magicians, and a barbershop quartet.

AIGA Atlanta President, Peter Borowski, worked closely with AIGA Atlanta Board members, Critt Graham + Associates and various event sponsors to pull off the “Big Night” extravaganza. “This was definitely our biggest event to date,” says Borowski, “with about 600 attendees and over 30 vendors turning out. It was a tremendous success. The entertainers really set the stage, the “Best Shot” projects were a great display of local talent, and we were very pleased to present the first AIGA Atlanta Scholarship award.”

Other AIGA Atlanta events throughout 1999 may not have been as big as “Big Night,” but they were, by all accounts, equally as successful. These organized get-togethers and panel discussions ran the gamut from fun, to informative, to downright inspirational, and included a “Portfolio Review Day,” a “Shadow Box” competition, and a discussion on the topic of “How to Touch Someone's Heart with Graphic Design,” featuring Stefan Sagmeister as guest speaker.

One of the most popular events, “AIGA Atlanta's Annual Chili Cook-Off” on October 23, pitted nine teams of chili cooking “experts” against each other for the coveted prizes of “Hottest Chili,” “Best Chili,” “Worst Chili,” “Best Presentation,” and “People’s Choice.” The Portfolio Center, see see eye (formerly Collateral Communications), Chameleon Design and Critt Graham + Associates all took home honors.

Another fun event, “20/20 a Fun(d) Raiser,” held November 11 at the Woodruff Arts Center, featured 20 entertaining performances by local designers, garnered a lot of laughs, and raised $2,000 for the AIGA Atlanta Student Scholarship Fund.

MTV Art Director, Tracy Boychuck headlined yet another AIGA event, speaking on the topic of “Staying Fresh: I Want My New Ideas” at The Resource Forum on October 20. Her presentation of print and broadcast work was a hit, generating an enthusiastic response from the audience.

And finally, the important issue of mentors and role models for young designers of color took center stage at a panel discussion titled “Color Bind” on April 4. The distinguished panel included Scott Perkins, Design Director at CNN, and was moderated by Matt Porter of Porterwrite.

“One of my goals as president is to encourage diversity in our membership,” states Borowski. “I hope the Atlanta design community will continue to support minority focused programming. “Color Bind” was a first step, but we have to do more.”

So, with such an amazing year behind them, what can AIGA hope for in 2000? “Well, on a personal note, I'd like to get my green card,” laughs Borowski, “But for the organization, I'd like to increase awareness of AIGA within Atlanta's business community, add another 100 members or so to our 600 person membership, and continue providing a forum for discussions on a wide range of relevant topics. We've already lined up several exciting guest speakers for future events, and have recently hired an outside agency, hardboiled [ full service, to perform PR and copywriting duties, so the future's looking pretty bright.”

This June, Atlanta will play host to over 2,000 attendees for the HOW 2000 Design Conference. To celebrate and participate in this grand event, AIGA Atlanta has created a “designer’s” Guide Book to Atlanta. The book will be distributed to conference attendees, and there's even talk of having it published for mass consumption at a later date. AIGA Atlanta has also recently won the bid to host the AIGA National Leadership Retreat in 2001. It will be the first time this retreat has been held in Atlanta.

The purpose of the AIGA is to further excellence in communication design as a broadly defined discipline, strategic tool for business, and cultural force. The AIGA is the place design professionals turn to first to exchange ideas and information, participate in critical analysis and research, and advance education and ethical practice.