Last Friday I attended the AIGA Seattle 25th Anniversary Party. The event benefited two fantastic organizations for youth – Art With Heart and LINK – while celebrating the past and future of AIGA Seattle. Everyone seemed to have a blast laughing with old and new friends, snacking on food-truck food, and watching the “Memories” slideshow. It wasn’t a night of serious networking (though it could have been for some), it was a night for celebrating our Seattle community of talented designers and having fun while doing it.

To celebrate the past, AIGA created a timeline dating back to 1986 with design pieces that made a mark in our collective, Seattle design portfolio. To celebrate the future, they collected a dozen or so poster submissions for the Future of Design Exhibition to illustrate what the next 25 years might look like. Anyone could enter a poster, so I recruited two local designers to collaborate with. Brooke Brisbois and Janelle Lawless (who I met through AIGA), joined me in a great conversation about the future of design. Our conversation and brainstorming sessions were probably the most enjoyable part of the project! Using a “?” as our frame, each designer took a section to express our questions, hopes and thoughts on the future of design.

Finally, as a part of the evening’s festivities, the 2012 Fellow Award was presented to Jack Anderson of Hornall Anderson. The Fellow Award recognizes designers from around the U.S. who have significantly raised the bar in their design community. Take a look at Anderson’s video acceptance speech.

Happy Anniversary AIGA Seattle!

- Katy Harrison