Dear colleagues:

I am responding to recent posts that refer to the AIGA Designer 2025 effort. I am leading this work for the national organization that represents communication designers in the United States. Expanding on few points raised in the online discussion:


The document currently online is an early draft of trends compiled in October 2017 through the study of trend analyses in various fields and consultation with leaders in professional practice. Seven briefing papers (one on each trend) will be published this spring on the AIGA website (www.aiga.org <http://www.aiga.org/>). Each paper includes examples of the trend in professional practice; core concepts and principles related to the trend; challenges the trend represents for the profession; college-level student competencies; potential content for professional continuing education; and resources on the topic. Issues such as service design, software product development, and research in professional practice are addressed in the expanded discussions and greater detail on student competencies. Drafts of these briefing papers are currently under review by leaders in design practice and education.

AIGA is an affiliate member of the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), the accrediting body for college-level design programs in the United States. Several years ago NASAD dropped the term “graphic design” in its documents, replacing it with “communication design” to address a scope broader than what some perceived to be a print-based practice. Both organizations recognize unsettled nomenclature at this point in history. The expanded discussions in the forthcoming briefing papers should address some of the issues raised in recent listserv posts that are not apparent in titles alone.

In the United States there are variety of undergraduate degree types that teach design: BA/BS programs that offer breadth; BFA/Art programs in which the study of design is among a variety of visual arts requirements in the curriculum; and BFA/Design or BDes programs that offer depth in design through full majors. Further, design is taught in single-discipline schools of art and design and in multi-purpose universities. Therefore, programs will have different missions and varying curricular and resource capacities through which to address the competencies described in Designer 2025. AIGA programming that follows publication of the briefing papers will assist schools in responding within their institutional context.

Projections of future employment in the AIGA Designer 2025 draft come from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook 2014-2024. This projection by the American government provides definitions of various design practices, uses more than two dozen data points, is sensitive to the difference between salaried positions and self-employment, and compares positions to the number of students graduating from American colleges and universities in various fields. Its research methods are published online. We could find no other summary compiled under equally rigorous methods with unfettered access to national employment data, including the age and income of workers. Despite some skepticism regarding how well the government understands nuances among practices in the field, all traditional design practices addressed by the outlook (print and online publishing, graphic design, art direction, product design, interior design, architecture, and animation/multimedia) are expected to decline or grow new positions at rates below the national average of 7% growth for all types of employment. By contrast, web design and creative work in software design are expected to grow at 27% and 17% respectively and to add more than 226,000 new positions in the coming decade. Even with possible errors in these projections, a general trend is clear.

Although the competencies described in the Designer 2025 briefing papers largely address the content of undergraduate education, professionals who seek help in transforming the direction of their practices, and recruiters who hire designers, each of these trends has corresponding research imperatives that are of interest to AIGA. We discussed these opportunities at the recent conference of the International Association of Societies of Design Research at the University of Cincinnati.

AIGA welcomes discussion and feedback from the international research community. An email address — [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> — is the current method for collecting feedback, in addition to monitoring relevant blogs and lists such as this one. AIGA will alert PHD-DESIGN participants when the briefing papers are released.

Meredith Davis
Professor Emerita, Graphic and Industrial Design
College of Design / North Carolina State University
AIGA Medalist and Fellow
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