A Meeting of Members

We like Salvage One. Located on 1840 W. Hubbard Street in Chicago the multilevel building is decorated with quirky chandeliers, strange odds and ends and things that you would definitely find in an old, abandon building garage sale. It is awesome. The strange items intermingle with beautifully restored furniture and stained glass makes the space sort of enchanting and wonderful. This environment does not come to being on its own, but through the tireless efforts of those with a mission to make this world a better, more beautiful place; a mission that resonates close to our hearts. It’s evident that they communicate this through the excellence in their work.

Something else we also really like is AIGA. You can find their logo sprinkled all throughout our website and on our promotional pieces and that’s because we are proud to be associated with them and a part of the organization. Much like Salvage One, AIGA is quirky and has its fair share of oddities, but also stands for things we find very important. Things like sustainability, professionalism and integrity within the design community and a willingness to engage in conversation all people from any walk of life. We like these things and we like being a part of an organization that is willing to talk about and take a stand for good.

Considering this, when we arrived at Salvage One on May 20th for the AIGA Annual Members Meeting it was like a delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Some things just go really well together.

Rule29 has been a part of the AIGA since we started but the organization has been around for quite some time now. Started in 1914, AIGA is the oldest and largest professional membership organization for design. Designers across the country boast of membership and for good reason. Based in New York, AIGA provides opportunities for designers to interact with other designers, potential clients and employers, gain valuable information about the design industry and become more educated about related industry and trends just to name a few of the things this organization does. So it makes a lot of sense that all levels design professionals would want to be able to tap into these extensive resources. Last Thursday was just another opportunity among many to connect, be inspired and honor design and its designers in Chicago.

At this particular gathering Morningstar was honored with the AIGA Chicago Corporate Design Leadership Award. Morningstar CEO, Joe Mansueto, talked about the company’s early commitment to clean, structured design that empowers their clients to make better financial decisions. In contrast Kevin Lyons of Anomaly, formerly Creative Director of Urban Outfitters, shared his library on inspiration that ranged from beautifully destructive to straight up strange. Both share a deep appreciation for design and had been able to build industry leading companies that are supported by strategic design decisions. Their differences in style where quite evident but in this environment both belonged and were honored.

This is another element we appreciate about the AIGA, the opportunity to be challenged to be better. Better at design, better at communicating, better at strategical thinking and better at embracing new ideas. Being able to embrace ideas that are different than your own is an essential skill to have in your tool set, a skill AIGA helps to foster in its members by giving them the opportunity to be in close proximity with professionals from a variety of industries that understand the significance of design. This gives any designer an advantage if they chose to take it.

The night ultimately ended with tasty finger foods, wine/beer and the connecting and exchanging of ideas, which most designers agree go together perfectly like PMS 644 and 648 , or peanut butter and jelly. Whichever works.

There are several organizations in the Chicago area and across the country that help push their members to be better. What organizations are you a part of that challenge you to be better at your profession? We’d love to hear where your inspiration to exceed expectation comes from.