Strategic Partners

AIGA, the professional association for design, stimulates thinking about design through journals, conferences, competitions and exhibitions; demonstrates the value of design to business, the public and government officials; and empowers the success of designers at each stage of their careers by providing invaluable educational and social resources. AIGA’s mission is to advance designing as a professional craft, strategic tool and vital cultural force. Founded in 1914, AIGA remains the oldest and largest professional membership organization for design and is a nonprofit, 501©(3) educational institution.

The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) is a community of people—designers, industry representatives, educators and students—committed to interior design. Through education, knowledge sharing, advocacy, community building and outreach, the Society strives to advance the interior design profession and, in the process, to demonstrate and celebrate the power of design to positively change people’s lives. As the largest and most historical professional association for the interior design community, its more than 36,000 members engage in a variety of professional programs and activities through a network of 48 professional chapters and over 300 student chapters throughout the United States and Canada. Representing both the commercial and residential design markets, ASID members create engaging and functional spaces to meet client needs, while protecting the health, safety and welfare of people in interior environments.

The 2010 Design Ignites Change mentoring initiative will be developed and implemented in partnership with the Designers Accord, a global coalition of designers, educators, and business leaders working together to create positive environmental and social impact.

A brief or challenge will be created to address the project theme of sustainability and will be designed to be multidisciplinary and multicultural, engaging a wide variety of design disciplines from around the world. This initiative is the first of its kind, unique in scope and scale around the issue of sustainability. The project will tap into an army of creatives ready to actively focus on the complex environmental and social issues facing our world today. The initiative will elevate the conversation and provide a higher order directive to the next generation of leaders.

Public Architecture is a San Francisco based nonprofit centered around the belief that design can affect social change. The organization undertakes public interest design initiatives, targeting problems of broad relevance that require innovative research and design in circumstances where both client and financing must be imagined in new ways. Through its innovative pro bono design program, The 1%, Public Architecture also encourages design firms nationwide to formalize their commitment to the public good. Nearly 1,000 firms have pledged one percent of their billable hours to pro bono service through The 1%, totaling close to $40 million in design services each year directed towards the public good.