Summit Explores National Design Policy

Leaders from the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) and other professional art and design organizations met for two days at the close of 2008 in Washington DC to develop a draft for a new US national design policy. The executives shared a common vision of the way that art and design plays a vital role in the nation"s economic competitiveness and democratic governance, and worked to find unique proposals. The administrators came from many fields, including architecture, interior design, and colleges of art and design.

 

Specifically, the group wanted to focus on how art and design could advance learning across subjects in the educational system, how the industry could shore up its environmentally-friendly practices, and how originality could reinvigorate the American dream. The group produced a multitude of options, looking in part at what other nations include in their own national design policies. In the 1970s, under President Nixon, there had been similar attempts at federal design improvement policies; an executive at the National Endowment for the Arts managed the program. 

 

 

The group brainstormed more than 100 proposals to support design promotion and innovation policy for economic competitiveness, and 140 proposals to support design standards and policy for democratic governance. It was concluded that seven steps needed to be immediately taken. They are:

 

 I.      Re-establish the American Design Council to serve as a unified body representing all US design fields.

 II.      Create a report of the Summit.

 III.      Seek support to develop a US version of the British HM Treasury Cox Review on the contribution of creative industries to the British economy.

 IV.      Encourage the National Education Association to propose a US National Design Assembly and Federal Design Improvement Program in upcoming years.

 V.      To demonstrate the value of design, develop a case study from each field of design that tells the story, and include supportive statistics.

 VI.      Invite "captains of industry- who demonstrate the value of design to provide testimonials and demonstrations of the value of design.

 VII.      Propose a holistic design award to represent the highest honor in American design.

 

To learn more about the American Institute of Graphic Arts and its participation at the summit, visit http://www.aiga.org.