The AIGA provides some great free resources
The “AIGA, the professional association for design” which used to stand for “American Institute of Graphic Arts” a silly and confusing change in my opinion, but the site is still a wealth of information and inspiration for designers. I will hit on the areas of the site I think are most useful.
Inspiration - Over 20,000 designs from competitions are located in the Inspiration section of the web site, a great resource for those moments when you get a mental block. There are also some interesting “reads” in this area.
Professional Resources – This is one of my favorite resources as a designer, they have Standards of professional practice, and annual salary survey that can help when searching for that next shift in jobs or getting that overdue raise and various other freelance oriented resources.
There is also an education section and a business section that discusses ethics and spec work. AIGA also has the ubiquitous “green” section where sustainability, democracy and diveristy are king. This “Society and Nature” section also contains a good reference to a set of 50 symbols produced by AIGA and the U.S. Department of transportation back in 1974 that can be downloaded as eps or gif artwork free of charge!
As a designer you can spend quite a bit of time on the site the first time around and I am sure you will set some bookmarks. Student membership is $95 and individual membership starts at $230. Check out the site here
After you get done with all your research there, have your new inspiration in hand, and design complete, come back here and let allow us to provide you with a superior product!
Christopher Robinson
Tags: aiga, Designer resources
