AIGA history

The first AIGA Medal, designed by James Earle Fraser, is first awarded to Norman T. A. Munder at the AIGA “Printing Exhibition” (1920)

In 1926, Aaron Douglas loaned his talents to the first and only issue of Wallace Thurman's magazine FIRE!! and later designed the cover of Thurman's short-lived magazine Harlem.—Michele Washington

Charles Dawson also produced a poster for the Pageant of Negro Music, O, Sing A New Song, which took place at Soldier Field as part of the Fair in August 1934. —Daniel Schulman

Leroy Winbush moved to Chicago from Detroit as a teenager and became a graphic designer there in 1936, one week after he graduated from high school.

Emory Douglas was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1943.

The bimonthly AIGA Journal is launched, reaching 1,000 members (1947)

Diane and Leo Dillon first crossed paths in 1953 while attending college together.

AIGA logo by Paul Rand appears for the first time in the masthead of the AIGA Newsletter June/July issue (1963)

The organization was so well-received by the surrounding community and by aspiring artists that operations soon outgrew the 2,000 square foot facility. Its subsequent conversion into an art studio and gallery enabled the group to open the doors of Self Help Graphics in 1972.

Soon after, they relocated to Boyle Heights with a gift from the Order of the Sisters of St Francis and by 1973, the organization was reestablished as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and changed its name to Self Help Graphics & Art (SHG).

Ever since 1974 the organization staged the now nationally recognized East Los Angeles Dia de los Muertos Celebration.

In August 1975, following an exhaustive fundraising campaign, Self Help Graphics & Art instituted the Barrio Mobile Art Studio.

AIGA chapters begin to form, based on a model in Philadelphia organized by Robert O. Bach (1981)

In 1982, the New York Chapter was formed and the organization began creating local chapters to decentralize leadership.

Represented by Washington, D.C., arts advocate and attorney, James Lorin Silverberg, Esq., the Washington, D.C., Chapter of AIGA, was organized as the American Institute of Graphic Arts, Incorporated, Washington, D.C., on September 6, 1984.

By 1985, the Dia de los Muertos celebration had become so popular among the residents of East Los Angeles that the program could be sustained without the primary support of Self Help Graphics & Art.

The first “AIGA Survey of Design Salaries” is published, later published online at designsalaries.aiga.org (1987)

Sister Karen passed away in 1997 and facilities and financial management continued to impart the organization’s health during the twenty-first century.

The “Design for Democracy” initiative is launched to make interactions between the United States government and its citizens more understandable, efficient and trustworthy (1998)

AIGA launches its first “Get Out the Vote” poster campaign, a coordinated voter mobilization initiative (2000)

AIGA establishes an executive education program for creative leaders, initially held at Harvard University and now at the Yale School of Management (2003)

AIGA Design Educators Community was established to support the unique activities and responsibilities of the design educator at the k-12, non-traditional, undergraduate, and post-graduate levels in a wide variety of institutional settings (2004)

The AIGA Design Archives are created, making more than 20,000 works accessible online (2005)

AIGA China is launched in Beijing as AIGA’s first international affiliate (2006)

Stealth was designed to promote The Map Office (Map) at the opening of the 2007 summer-season exhibitions at the Studio Museum in Harlem, a contemporary art institution that focuses on artists of African or African-American descent.

AIGA launches the “Design for Good” initiative, a movement for design-driven social change (2011)

AIGA celebrates its centennial with events across the country: 100.aiga.org (2014)

Emory Douglas: 2015 AIGA Medalist video (2015)Original Source: Emory Douglas, 2015 AIGA Medalist