AIGA Honolulu’s Goals for 2016

BY MALIA WISCH, PRESIDENT, HONOLULU CHAPTER

In January, the board of AIGA Honolulu met to determine what our focus should be for 2016. The past few years have been a whirlwind of change for design in Hawaii and we wanted to take a step back and see how we could be of more value to the local industry.

Our role, it is a-shifting

We need to work harder to educate Hawaii’s businesses about the value of design. Whereas AIGA Honolulu once focused on providing inspiration and education primarily to our membership, we believe we can serve you more effectively by reaching out to potential clients: those small to medium businesses out there who used to be the design industry’s bread and butter [“Ha! What a dated term,” chortles the lactose-intolerant celiacs.]

The following are our priorities for 2016:

1) Educate the community-at-large (aka “normal people”) about the value of design

We need to show the community how design can solve problems, to dispel the notion that design is decoration, to prove to those who use crowd-sourcing sites that you get what you pay for, and to tell the stories about successful design relationships and their results. We need to get to a point where the power and value of design is evident to the public, so we don’t have to tell them. We want to be able to connect clients with the right local designer for their project, so they don’t end up with a bad fit and a bad experience.

2) Broaden our reach 

In order to have a greater impact, AIGA Honolulu hopes to increase brand awareness to a broader audience. We aim to build stronger partnerships with local businesses as supporters or sponsors and consider if and how our existing events could be of more interest to non-designers.

3) Strengthen membership

You, our members, are our front line advocates for design. We need you to continue doing great work, solving design problems and educating those around you about what you do. We need to support each other as a community of designers and related professions. We need to bring up the next generation of designers to be well-equipped representatives for our industry. We need you to hire junior designers because there is no class as effective as real-world client experience. And we need you to pay your interns, and help to pressure anyone with unpaid interns.

We need a strong membership. If you’re already a member, consider upgrading to the next level. If you’re a business owner, please cover the memberships of your designers. There is a membership drive coming up this March. Please get ready to take advantage of the offers therein.

AIGA’s objective as a national organization is to advance design as 1) a professional craft, 2) a strategic advantage and 3) a vital cultural force. And that we “work to enhance the value and deepen the impact of design across all disciplines on business, society, and our collective future” through 1) content that defines the global practice and 2) events that connect and catalyze.

We believe that our 2016 objectives are in alignment with this mission. Our chapter is small, so it will continue to be a challenge to have our desired level of reach and impact and it will take time, but we hope to be more strategic in our efforts this year.

Aloha,

Malia Wisch, President

Miha Banu, Education
Leslie Cariaga, Mentorship
Matt Honda, Vice President
Stevie-Lyn Kim, Communications Co-Chair + Programming Chair
Louis Scheer, Secretary + Communications Co-Chair
Spencer Toyama, Partnership + Sponsorship Chair
Ryan Yamamoto, Membership Chair
Jen Zheng, Treasurer