Read Time: 4 minutes
Happy New Year to our SEGD community!
As we turn off our holiday “away” messages and begin to scribe new 2022 “to-do” lists, let’s take a brief moment here to look back and celebrate all that we accomplished in 2021, despite its numerous challenges. We ended last year on a high note, coming off our first in-person SEGD Conference in Philadelphia after a two-year hiatus. Despite our distance, one thing continues to rise to the top about SEGD: our organization is filled with impassioned hearts, minds and creative excellence! Energized from reconnecting and the inspiring content shared, we embark on the new year, set to expand our outreach, programming and impact.
Read Time: 5 minutes
"It's through mistakes that you actually can grow. You have to get bad in order to get good." Paula Scher, SEGD Fellow
I have always been an advocate for experimentation and allowing ourselves to be vulnerable in order to be truly creative. I think that Paula Scher’s quote is a good reminder particularly in these times for doing just that. We are all yearning for a crystal ball to understand what our workplaces will be like and how our businesses will need to adapt in the future. I’m guessing that over the last 18 months many of you have tried something new with your clients and peers. Most likely some things failed and others resulted in new ways of thinking and doing.
Like many of our member firms, SEGD is a small business. We have eight employees; half worked remotely prior to COVID-19 and now the other half work remotely as well. In the new normal, we’re working hard to stay healthy, stay sane, and stay productive. We’re learning how to keep our personal world small, meanwhile letting everyone zoom in to see us—cats and pajama bottoms and all.
The SEGD Board of Directors and SEGD staff are thrilled to announce that as of November 18, Ann Makowski has rejoined the SEGD team as Interim Chief Executive Officer.
This has been an interesting quarter defined by the term "change is our only constant." As a designer by training and probably a lot like you, I would not want it any other way. We believe that you can always improve. It is what we do. However...
There is an SEGD event somewhere in the world every 2.4 days. And, with 38 Chapters currently and more coming this year, it's become one of the liveliest design communities you can join.
This past summer was a very busy one for SEGD—and for SEGD Members, I've been told.
In July, we hosted a record-breaking crowd at the Wayfinding event in LA, which boasted some amazing tours as well. We built on that success with the Exhibition & Experience Design event in August in Washington DC. The format of running educational events for SEGD's specific practice areas is working very well to deliver targeted learning experiences alongside opportunities to network.