An entry on our research sheet immediately drew my attention: “1939 – Durham Athletic Park is rebuilt.” It took me a moment to realize what really struck me about that historical fact. In the mind of a person who grew up in Poland in the spirit of World War II martyrology, 1939 has one and only connection—the Nazi invasion of Poland, the beginning of destruction, and a massive loss of lives. It is also an onset of the next round of the loss of freedom and hope for at least two generations to come.

From among the submitted designs, ten works will be selected and printed to be displayed as part of an exhibition on view at various locations. All locations are open to the public. AIGA Raleigh is excited to partner in this endeavor with esteemed local companies and organizations that in various ways stand for and promote the value of design.

What has emerged recently is design for conversation. In this context, designers talk about platforms on which others build applications, service ecologies, and communities. Operating at this scale we [designers] must have a very different set of competencies than when operating at the level of designing objects. The elements of traditional practice do not go away, and there are still designers whose primary concern is about the physical and emotional qualities of objects and about craft. But now we also have larger design problems that are more complex.

When Caryn Sterling and I first started planning the AIGA Raleigh celebration of AIGA Centennial, we went back to the source—we met with David Burney. [...] In a conference room at New Kind, David takes us back in time to 1979 when he first joined AIGA.

To celebrate AIGA’s Centennial, AIGA Raleigh invited designers to create posters inspired by events that took place in the Triangle region over the past ten decades. Participating designers were asked to select a decade of interest and to submit work focused on an event occurring in that decade and designed in a style representative of the decade they chose. I was excited to participate in this poster exhibition. I’ve been long overdue for a personal project, and this was a perfect opportunity for me to make the time to design something for fun in a style that I wanted to work in.

To celebrate AIGA’s Centennial, AIGA Raleigh invited designers to create posters inspired by events that took place in the Triangle region over the past ten decades. Participating designers were asked to select a decade of interest and to submit work focused on an event occurring in that decade and designed in a style representative of the decade they chose. From among the submitted designs, ten works have been selected and printed to be displayed as part of this exhibition that will travel within the Triangle region from September 2014 until early January 2015. All locations are open to the public.

In celebration of AIGA Centennial, you are invited to enter the Centennial Design Juried Exhibition curated by AIGA Raleigh Centennial Planning Committee. Unleash your creative powers and mark your rightful place in the history of design! Join accomplished AIGA designers that delivered, as part of the national AIGA Centennial celebration, designs addressing significant events across the past ten decades.

It’s party time! Save the date! AIGA Centennial Party September 10, 2014 • 7 pm Busy Bee Cafe

To my great enjoyment the Triangle region, where I moved just a few months ago, represents the very ideals of tradition and progress combined, and one can find evidence of this symbiotic coexistence of the two all around. How brilliant to have repurposed old factories and warehouses to house preeminent firms in leading industries and inspiring arts centers. How clever to have dreamed up and created a research-oriented center as a sustainable economic model for the twenty-first century. How insightful to design the future of cities by investing in revitalization of their hearts—the downtown areas.

I moved to Durham, NC, in mid-February, and by early April I was on board with the planning efforts for the AIGA Raleigh edition of the AIGA Centennial. Wow, that was fast! But I was in. I found myself co-chairing the planning committee for the AIGA Raleigh celebration of AIGA Centennial, along with Caryn Sterling, a mere two months after moving to the Triangle. New to the area, with only a few familiar faces around, I thought I was out of my mind getting myself into deep waters right from the beginning. But it turned out to be a rewarding experience. And one that anyone could consider and succeed in.

“In 2014, AIGA turns 100! Established in 1914 as an institute dedicated to the graphic arts, AIGA’s focus and reach have continually expanded. From 40 founders to 24,000 members and from a New York club to a nationwide network, what began as the old guard of a new profession has become a rich and active community embracing diverse and rapidly changing expressions of design.” ~aiga.org/centennial At AIGA Raleigh, we have much to celebrate and to be proud of. Formed in 1986 as the eighth in the country (out of the sixty-seven currently in existence), our chapter champions design’s ability, design’s impact, and design’s critical place in uniting people. We advocate for design as a driving force in social and economic change, as a way of life, as a pursuit to shape the best kind of experience. The Raleigh chapter embodies the evolution of experience that design stands for as we implement an open-source model of organization whereby our activities are shaped and designed by the participants in the process.