AIGA launches its redesigned website

NEW YORK, March 1, 2007.  AIGA, the professional association for design, has launched its redesigned website, www.aiga.org, to further the organization’s role as the place design professionals turn to first to exchange ideas and information, participate in critical analysis and research, and advance education and ethical practice. The redesign, visualized by interactive design studio Happy Cog and made functional by AIGA’s longstanding technology partner Thirdwave, improves the site’s usability and moves closer to an open source platform, to allow more of the design community to participate in future development.

Under the creative direction of Jeffrey Zeldman and Jason Santa Maria, Happy Cog created an architecture and visual design that brings the site’s most valuable content to the surface, where users can find it; communicates AIGA’s relevance to the modern designer; and offers clear navigational pathways for AIGA’s audiences that allow them to quickly find content that applies to them. Happy Cog’s design allows for the site to become even more interactive and media-rich over time, without sacrificing ease of use by all audiences, including those usually challenged by the web and digital media. Universal design is a particular strength of Happy Cog's expertise.

“AIGA online is the manifestation of all that AIGA can be to its various audiences: a channel of communication, a source of information, a networking tool, an arbiter of business practices, and a means of engaging and informing everyone from the designer to the businessperson to the design enthusiast,” said Richard Grefé, AIGA executive director. “We are proud of the fact that www.aiga.org has regularly exposed an audience 10 times our membership to the stories of design excellence and effectiveness, providing inspiration and education, and we are confident that the redesigned site will go even further toward meeting those ends.”

The AIGA website continues to recognize design excellence in its own members and the community-at-large, through such features as the AIGA Medalists and the Design Archives. Voice: AIGA Journal of Design, edited by author and educator Steven Heller, offers a forum for insightful interviews, engaging essays, thoughtful criticism and an open discourse on all manner of design. Additionally, the site provides ongoing resources to students and professionals, including the AIGA|Aquent Salary Survey, Design Jobs and online hosting for member portfolios. 

About Happy Cog

Based in Philadelphia and New York, Happy Cog was founded by executive creative director Jeffrey Zeldman to deliver effectively designed websites without losing sight of the human beings using them. From site structure to interface design and from branding to content development, Happy Cog has served an extensive list of clients including Amnesty International, Capgemini, Dictionary.com, New York Public Library and Fox Searchlight Pictures. For more information, visit www.happycog.com.

About Thirdwave

Thirdwave, AIGA’s technology partner for the past six years, is a professional services firm that works to develop strategies and implement innovative business solutions. The Chicago-based firm assists businesses by combining the expertise of strategy, Internet technology and marketing communications. Thirdwave specializes in building custom content management systems and online data driven solutions for many different tiers of businesses and organizations. For more information, visit www.thirdwavellc.com.

About AIGA

AIGA, the professional association for design, is the oldest and largest membership association for design professionals engaged in the discipline, practice and culture of designing.

Founded in 1914, AIGA has become the pre-eminent professional association for communication designers, broadly defined. In the past decade, designers have increasingly been involved in creating value for clients (whether public or business) through applying design thinking to complex problems, even when the outcomes may be more strategic, multi-dimensional and conceptual than what most would consider traditional communication design. AIGA now represents more than 18,000 designers of all disciplines through national activities and local programs developed by more than 55 chapters and 200 student groups.

AIGA supports the interests of professionals, educators and students who are engaged in the process of designing. The association is committed to stimulating thinking about design, demonstrating the value of design and empowering success for designers throughout the arc of their careers.

More information may be found at www.aiga.org.

For further information, please contact:
Katie English
AIGA | the professional association for design
Tel 212 710 3136   Fax 212 807 1799
katie_english@aiga.org