NEW YORK, March 12, 2008. AIGA and the Association of Professional Design Firms (APDF) have entered an alliance to provide AIGA members with access to information and activities on improving their business practices. This will include a quarterly survey of firm operating and financial data and discounted attendance at APDF events, beginning with Exchange in New Orleans, May 15-18.
All AIGA members will be able to participate in and have access to the results of the APDF Financial Performance Survey, a financial tool that allows businesses to compare their firm’s performance to survey averages in order to help them analyze their own performance. The survey provides a reliable set of business ratios and financial indices that can be used as reference points for comparison and evaluation purposes.
AIGA members will be able to participate in APDF Leadership Forums, Teleforums and Exchange, providing unique opportunities to learn and share best practices in running a successful design business. Leadership Forums and Teleforums are held on specific topics, sometimes with a single presenter and other times with APDF member-led discussions. Exchange, APDF’s annual conference, is held each spring at an upscale venue in a city or at a resort. Attendees take part in two days of speaker presentations mixed with member interaction and a networking breakfast. Exchange also includes receptions with evening “dine-arounds” that are organized for attendees to break into groups to sample the best local dinner fare — and continue networking.
AIGA discounts are $150 off the nonmember registration fee for Exchange, $100 off the nonmember registration fee for Leadership Forums and $25 off the nonmember registration fee for Teleforums.
APDF currently holds one Exchange, two Leadership Forums, four Teleforums, and one Royalty & Licensing Summit per year. The APDF website (www.apdf.org) has a list of upcoming events, as well as registration details.
About APDF
Founded in 1985, the Association of Professional Design Firms (APDF) is made up of leading firms that consult in the use of design, including identity, experience, environment, brand, packaging, new media, product and engineering, and industrial and commercial interior design. APDF serves its member firms by providing a forum for industry leaders to grow their business skills, and their businesses, through education, interaction and collaboration.
APDF is an organization dedicated to elevating the standards of professional business practices for design consulting firms through education and the exchange of knowledge. APDF aims to gain greater recognition for the role the design consultant plays in achieving the goals of business and society. Its strength lies in its members’ ability to learn from each other by networking and openly sharing information, thereby helping member firms improve their performance through better internal management and procedures.
Membership in APDF is open to consulting firms whose primary business is industrial, communication, interactive, packaging, or environmental design. The firm must subscribe to high standards of design professionalism and business conduct. Candidate firms should be established in business for at least three years. Firms must be financially stable and maintain a suitable place of business. Although member firms may be owned by a larger organization, they must provide evidence that they operate independently.
Member firms are located in the United States and Canada. APDF events are held in cities and resorts across both countries, and an effort is made to balance the locations from east to west and north to south. Member firms run from ten employees to several hundred in size. APDF member firms have traditionally been about half product design and half communications/interactive, with many offering a mix of strategy and service offerings.
About AIGA
AIGA, the professional association for design, is the oldest and largest membership association for design professionals engaged in the discipline, practice and culture of designing. AIGA’s mission is to advance designing as a professional craft, strategic tool and vital cultural force.
Founded in 1914, AIGA is the preeminent professional association for communication designers, broadly defined. In the past decade, designers have increasingly been involved in creating value for clients (whether public or business) through applying design thinking to complex problems, even when the outcomes may be more strategic, multidimensional and conceptual than what most would consider traditional communication design. AIGA now represents more than 22,000 designers of all disciplines through national activities and local programs developed by 59 chapters and 240 student groups.
AIGA supports the interests of professionals, educators and students who are engaged in the process of designing. The association is committed to stimulating thinking about design, demonstrating the value of design and empowering success for designers throughout the arc of their careers.
For further information, please contact:
Spencer Bruce
AIGA | the professional association for design
Tel 212 710 3146 Fax 212 807 1799
spencer_bruce [at] aiga [dot] org
This article was last modified on December 17, 2022
This article was first published on March 17, 2008
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