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 The bully pulpit for American graphic design gets a major makeover June 2001
Given the organization's mission, it's ironic that the venerable AIGA Journal of Graphic Design has long been--with its generic type program and layout and skimpy black-and-white illustrations--a letdown graphic design--wise. There have been grumblings, too, about the AIGA's annual, traditionally a rather styleless affair. Something clearly had to give, and late last year the AIGA announced that its publications would be "redesigned and editorially rethought with a view to making them the most compelling documents and artifacts of contemporary design and design criticism." As a result, the annual has been jobbed out to name designers and redubbed 365: AIGA Year in Design, and the journal this year has been divided into three publishing "streams"--the first and foremost being Trace: AIGA Journal of Design. The reworked journal (note the conspicuous absence of graphic as a qualifier) is joined by the entirely new Gain, a twice-yearly Internet-oriented report on "design for the network economy," and Loop, dealing with interactive design education and available exclusively on the AIGA Web site. According to editorial director (and former I.D. staffer) Andrea Codrington, the makeover is part of a much-needed effort to revamp the AIGA's publication department and stretch the definition of graphic design to include motion graphics, interactive design, and visual culture at large. A commendable effort to bring the organization's publishing in-house, Trace (to be issued three times a year and sold on newsstands) is a more compact version of the old journal, with the welcome addition of full-color photo illustrations, less text-heavy features, and a hip editorial spin. The new look and feel marks a move to engage an audience that--whether by training or temperament--doesn't like to read a whole lot, preferring pictures and production values to the pleasures of text. "Designers are by nature fetishists," Codrington says. "They fondle paper, ogle type, and covet imagery. So we wanted to bring in a certain level of sensual satisfaction that wasn't in evidence before." A spiffy, and surprisingly legible, redesign by New York studio 2x4 notwithstanding, what jumps out about Trace is Codrington's take on content. Whereas the old journal tended toward ruminations by the likes of graphic design legend Milton Glaser, the new version ups the ante with a postmodern approach to a slate of trendy topics. Contin-uing with a long-established thematic approach, the first issue focuses on "Surprise," declaring its newfound attitude with a bold wraparound photo-essay depicting close-ups of dented automobiles, followed by articles about deceptive design (those hilarious fake trees used to disguise cell-phone towers), military camoufiage, the element of surprise in motion-picture title sequences, and a short discussion of anachronistic type treatments in films. So how does the new publication play to the AIGA's long-suffering membership? An informal poll of graphic designers failed to elicit much of a reaction, most refusing to be quoted for attribution (such is the AIGA's grip). But one member, budding novelist and book designer extraordinaire Chip Kidd, said, "Gee, who would have thought? The AIGA journal actually looks interesting!" Kidd then couldn't resist a knock on the organization's bland, institutional trademark: "Let's hope the logo's next."
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