First, I would like to thank, Marc Stress and James Wondrack for their years of service to AIGA and the Upstate New York board as officers. Their departure from the board is sad but we know they will continue to participate in AIGA as strong advocates for the organization. Gentlemen, thank you.

Next, thank you for your membership to this organization. It demonstrates a profound commitment to our design community and profession. If your membership has lapsed, please take this moment to update your status. http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/membership

Please read the following message to know what is planned for the organization in the next year. (more…)

Accelerating efforts to improve education using new communication technologies, both within and across global cultures and societies, present many opportunities.  But the barriers can be as formidable as the successes are productive. Developing new strategies to maximize the promise of communication design and create new collaborations will bring teachers and researchers in design and communication from around the world, in person and online, to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on October 22 for the 1st Biennial Design Web Conference. (more…)

Gatherings About Professional Skills was a series of events that was organized by Wendy Kelly and Marj Crum in Rochester. They were casual events that were member organized and open to the public to share knowledge. (more…)

The following is a suggestion for members in different geographic locations to gather and network in a casual manner.

We are fortunate to have Lori Reed join our board as Treasurer. Lori is a native of the Upstate and comes back to us from New Orleans where she was President of their AIGA chapter during Hurricane Katrina. She shared with us a very simple suggestion on how we can have a meaningful, casual networking opportunity. Simple: Get together and eat. The NOLA chapter members would get together once a month and eat at a local restaurant. Sometimes 2 people would attend, other times 20. (more…)

I have moved this comment to begin a new thread. Thanks to Lori Reed for great insight and making her concerns known to the AIGA Upstate community.

Bill Klingensmith, Membership

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

As probably the newest member to the upstate NY AIGA chapter, and a past member of several chapters over the years including in NYC, SF, SD and most recently NOLA, I have heard similar concerns regardless of city/chapter…HOW DO YOU GET MEMBERS MORE INVOLVED IN THE CHAPTER? Because an active chapter is a more successful one, and being involved and active in your organization can help you as an individual become more successful by yielding meaningful connections, providing inspiration, furthering your education in the design field, and reiterating how great it is to have chosen an engaging, creative line of work. (more…)

Dear Friends and Members,

It is with serious consideration that I write this letter to you all asking for your attention, feedback and direction.

Since its founding in mid-eighties, AIGA Upstate New York (then AIGA Rochester) has endeavored to bring compelling, unique design-related member focused programming to our vast chapter. Over the past 10 years, We have brought design films like Ben Day and Helvetica, lectures from world-class designers such as Dana Arnett, Doyald Young, Clement Mok and Michael Jager, Social, educational events like Syracuse ’Tinis and the IDSA mixer and educational events like BrandGAP, NittyGritty Teleforums and Rochester GAPS, just to name a few. We’re happy to bring these events to you independently, and with the help of our friends and allied professional organizations like Ad Club, IDSA, and Adobe.

(more…)

As part of our commitment to strengthening the Upstate New York design community, we are starting a blog were we can openly discuss any thoughts, comments, concerns or recommendations.