Events: Arizona - Phoenix - Scottsdale

PHOENIX DESIGN WEEK 2018 DRAWS INDUSTRY ICONS TO THE VALLEY

Week-long celebration of visual design has been uniting the community for a decade

The 10th Annual Phoenix Design Week, which celebrates Arizona’s strong design community, will return this October with a new crop of creative exhibitions, educational workshops, lively presentations, networking opportunities and inspirational open houses held throughout the Valley. The week-long community event will kick off Friday, Oct. 5 and culminate with a closing party Friday, Oct. 12, 2018 which will feature the international traveling poster show, The National Poster Retrospecticus - visiting us for a third time.

Phoenix Design Week brings together creatives from Arizona and around the country to celebrate their craft, learn from one another, enhance connections and make new friends. The pinnacle event of Phoenix Design Week, the Beyond Design Conference, takes place on Oct. 6 and 7, 2018 at The Phoenix Convention Center and will deliver provocative speakers, interactive panels and hands-on workshops. This year’s conference will pull in notable keynote speakers from across the country, including:

• Aaron Draplin, founder of Draplin Design Co. and consistently rated as the most-requested keynote

• Amin Vit, co-founder of UnderConsideration

• Lynn Fisher, designer at &yet

• Nakita Pope, owner of Branding Chicks

• Steve Thompson, principal designer at The Walt Disney Company

• Jon Arvizu, Illustrator/Designer

Tracks and sessions will cover a cross section of topics ranging from design principles to branding to business growth, development, design education and diversity in design

"The Beyond Design Conference and the programming throughout the week provide an array of incredible opportunities for creatives of all stages to up their game and make new friends in the industry," said Jenn Monroy, Phoenix Design Week 2018 director and AIGA Phoenix chapter manager. “We’re excited to bring in some industry heavy-hitters as conference keynotes and look forward to making this the biggest and best Phoenix Design Week yet. This event helps boost the energy of our local community and shines a spotlight on Phoenix as one of the greatest creative cities in the country.”

Phoenix Design Week is a non-profit event founded by Lost Creature in 2009 and now wholly owned and presented by AIGA Arizona, a 501(c)(3) organization – one of 72 chapters of the Professional Association for Design  (AIGA). What began as a grassroots effort by designer Mark Dudlik quickly gained steam and, a decade later, has evolved into one of the most anticipated community events of the year.

In addition to bringing experts from around the nation to share their knowledge, Phoenix Design Week seeks to celebrate and honor local talent as well. Creatives throughout Arizona are invited to submit work they’ve done over the past year to the “BEST OF 2018” exhibit, which will be showcased at the Beyond Design Conference. The call for submissions will kick off later this summer.

Early bird tickets, which are limited to 100, for the Beyond Design Conference are currently available at phxdw.com. Many of the events and workshops throughout the week are free or low cost to make them accessible to all local creatives.  For more information about Phoenix Design Week and to keep up to date on events and programming, visit phxdw.com or  follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Volunteer, breakout speaker and sponsorship opportunities are also available at phxdw.com.

Origins of Phoenix Design Week
Early in 2009, designer Mark Dudlik penned a passionate open letter to the creative community, urging designers to stand up and be recognized, thereby helping to elevate the profile of Phoenix as a vibrant and viable city. A number of community design leaders, including the board of AIGA Arizona, recognized the potential for these ideas to “bring together the best creative and industrious parts of this city and showcase them.” Their combined efforts led to the first large­-scale effort to unite the visual design disciplines in one local event: Phoenix Design Week.

About AIGA Arizona
AIGA Arizona is one of 72 local chapters of AIGA, the oldest and largest professional association for design. Representing over 25,000 members worldwide, AIGA unites practitioners, enthusiasts, and patrons to amplify the voice of design and create the vision for a collective future. The national association defines global standards and ethical practices, guides design education and offers tools and resources for professional development. AIGA Arizona connects with designers of all disciplines on the local level, with a primary presence in Phoenix metro area, and satellites in Tucson and Flagstaff. The chapter’s four-tiered mission is to improve design ability, connect complementary disciplines, encourage social impact, and promote community excellence.