The 2024 AIGA Design Conference
Exploring the theme of MARGINS
I was thrilled to speak at the 2024 AIGA Design Conference this past Friday, and it was an incredible experience to engage with such a vibrant community of designers. The conference theme, MARGINS, resonated deeply with me as it pushed us all to explore design from the edges — both in terms of the voices we elevate and the perspectives we bring to our work.
To that end — and hot on the heels of speaking at Seattle Design Festival in August— I gave the new talk “Design is ‘Connection’ Made Manifest” at the event for only the second time. Having not engaged with AIGA National since 2020’s Portfolio Festival talk, I honestly couldn’t have been more excited to connect with this organization once again.
A Competitive Margin
On the sub-theme of having a competitive margin as a designer in a crowded field, I crafted the messaging of my talk around three core pillars:
⭐️ What if we were able to identify and prioritize our values to leverage in our design practice — for the betterment of the connection of us to one another, us to our design, and our design to those who engage with it?
⭐️ What if we created in an environment supportive of our growth evolution as designers? — that respected us as unique individuals with diverse perspectives?
⭐️ What if we were tool agnostic, focusing on evolution of approach, strategic thinking, and overall craft? — letting the medium of creation be whatever drives the most effective process, and the highest quality outcome?
I’m also a big believer that ‘inspiration’ isn’t a swear word in design. What matters is where it’s derived from, and how it’s utilized.
Both with teams I’ve led and clients past and present I’ve engaged with, ensuring there’s time to *be* inspired is a fundamental step one. Advocating for, and ensuring, time exists within planning and engagements to complement / function in parallel with strategy, research, UX, prototyping, iteration, design, and on and on.
As much as this ties back into the work, it’s also about humanizing and connecting with one another — teammate and client alike. What fuels each of us? And why? In tandem with that: we’re seeking out fuel beyond our screens. Beyond the Google searches of “top design trends 2024.” Letting the world around us, and the people within, energize our thinking and help defy the stagnancy of today’s digital landscape. This was another essential theme in the material.
A Solid Virtual Foundation
The Accelevents platform for this virtual event proved to be a tremendous fit, and seemed to garner nothing but praise from attendants. As a speaker, it was incredibly intuitive to engage with people in the midst of my prerecorded talk and throughout the full 3 days, in kind.
It was inspiring to share the virtual stage with so many brilliant minds, all of us committed to challenging the status quo and expanding inclusivity in the design world. The AIGA conference was a celebration of creativity, culture, and connection, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to have been part of such an impactful event.
More on the AIGA Design Conference:
https://www.aiga.org/design/aiga-design-conference
More on Anomali by Design:
https://anomalibydesign.com/
