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Hello, hello, hello. 
A belated Happy New Year 2024 or

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an early Welcome to the Year of 
the Dragon. 

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For all who celebrate, I'd like 
to do a quick solo episode to 

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give you an update and a preview
of what we have in store for you

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this year on the AIG Design 
Podcast and at AIG and more 

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broadly. 
For those of you who don't know 

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me, my name is Lee Shawn Huang, 
the Senior Director of Learning 

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and Programs here at a IGA. 
The theme for this year's 

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podcast and our programming more
generally is margins. 

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I'll get more into what I mean 
by margins a little bit later 

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on, so stay tuned for that. 
As for the podcast, we are 

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committed to about one episode a
month, at least eight episodes 

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for this year, with some 
surprises and special features 

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in between. 
One of the things we wanted to 

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do differently here at AIG this 
year is a return to more 

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webinars. 
If you've been with us for a 

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while, you'll remember back in 
2020-2021 we were doing a ton of

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webinars, sometimes multiple 
ones a week, and then when we 

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could do in person events again,
we really scaled down our online

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live programming and really 
focused on the in person 

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conferences, which have been 
great for those who've come out 

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to see us and gather with us in 
Seattle and in New York City. 

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Last year we sold out that New 
York City conference and I hope 

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to be able to announce more 
details about the 2024 

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conference very, very soon. 
So with more webinars throughout

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the year, they'll be free live 
streamed online to help you with

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support and ideas for your 
career and creative growth as a 

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designer. 
So be sure to follow us on at 

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AIGA Design on social media or 
subscribe to our e-mail list 

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with a link in the podcast show 
notes or in this post caption if

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you're watching the video 
version of this AIG. 

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As competitions are live and we 
are getting submissions coming 

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in and it's great to see, 
entries are currently open for 

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both AIG as Fifty Books, 50 
Covers and 365 AIGA Year in 

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Design, 50 Books, 50 Covers is 
celebrating its 100 year 

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anniversary this year, so we are
super excited for that. 

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And 365 is back in its third 
year After relaunching this 

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classic competition this year. 
We are emphasizing the 

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competition not just as an 
opportunity to celebrate 

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excellent design, but as an 
opportunity to celebrate 

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impactful design and to create a
historical snapshot of what 

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design was like in 2023. 
Stay tuned, we will be 

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announcing our jurors very soon 
and also a reminder that our 

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early submission deadline where 
you can submit at a discounted 

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price is February 26th, so the 
earlier you can get your stuff 

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in, the better. 
We look forward to seeing your 

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submissions, some other updates 
and changes here at a IGAI. 

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Want to talk about the AIGA 
Professional Design 

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Certification? 
2024 marks our second official 

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year after our successful launch
and pilot of the AIGA 

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Professional design 
Certification programs, the 

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professional Designer, the PD 
and the design leader DL tracks.

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And we couldn't be more excited 
about the progress and 

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engagement we've seen so far. 
Almost 20 designers have earned 

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their full certifications with 
us, so we wanted to make things 

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easier and more accessible to 
designers who want to go through

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the certification program first.
We've introduced a flexible 

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learning path so participants no
longer have to complete the 

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online learning modules to 
schedule their portfolio 

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reviews. 
You can do it in any order that 

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you would like. 
We believe that this just adds 

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more flexibility to cater to 
your learning preferences and to

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your schedule. 
We've also made the portfolio 

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reviews fully online. 
Previously we were doing the 

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Professional Designer reviews 
online, but we were doing the 

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design leader portfolio reviews 
in person. 

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We now have automated scheduling
for participants in the 

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certification program. 
We actually have a round of 

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interviews coming up later in 
February and then another round 

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in June and we'll announce some 
later dates for the second-half 

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of the year. 
And then finally, we have more 

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affordable AIGA design leader 
certification prices as well. 

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Since we've removed the in 
person elements from the price, 

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we've added in more online 
learning in the form of the 

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leading innovation certificate 
which is now bundled with that 

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certification. 
So I hope you will sign up and 

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go to aiga.org or click on the 
link in the show notes to learn 

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more about that certification, 
if you think that is for you. 

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As I mentioned before, we are 
almost ready to announce our 

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AIGA Design conference for 2024.
We are still negotiating with 

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venues and other logistics and 
things like that, but stay 

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tuned. 
We are intending to do an event 

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in October. 
So finally circling back to the 

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theme of margins for this year. 
For both the conference and for 

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our podcast programming, there 
could be different ways of 

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interpreting the theme of 
margins. 

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The first one being competitive 
margins. 

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How do you stand out from the 
crowd? 

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How do you find an edge in the 
market? 

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As a designer, as a design team?
As a design firm, we can also 

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look at innovation at the 
margins. 

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How do we center marginalized 
communities? 

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Focus on emergent practices, 
pushing boundaries, looking at 

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recently possible technologies 
and sustainable transitions. 

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The 3rd way to look at margins 
is margins of error. 

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What are some experiments, 
mistakes, and failures that 

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you've made over the years and 
how can we learn from them? 

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#4 is margins of victory. 
So this is about designing for 

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democracy, getting out the vote,
which will be launching soon at 

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AIG as well, and mobilizing 
movements for change, 

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particularly important with the 
elections happening this year. 

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At the federal level, the 5th 
way of looking at margins is 

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profit margins. 
We want to look at 

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entrepreneurship, ways of 
measuring value, new business 

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models, as well as redefining 
what success even means. 

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Finally, scribble in the 
margins. 

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We want to see doodle sketches, 
commentary and critique about 

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design, or propose your own 
interpretations of the margins 

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theme. 
So these are just some initial 

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ideas to get you thinking of 
things to propose. 

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Maybe to come on to the podcast 
as a guest yourself, or to 

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propose something for the 
conference later this year or as

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a webinar. 
Coming up on the podcast later 

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in February. 
Danny Spitzberg and Humphrey 

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Obobe, who are design 
researchers based in the San 

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Francisco Bay Area and they'll 
be talking to us about why 

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design research is stuck. 
So that's the update for the 

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podcast and for AIGA for the 
start of the year. 

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Look forward to seeing you 
online or in person at a future 

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event.