Celebrating our 30th anniversary as a chapter
Hear from past presidents

Niki Blaker

 

What do you think was your most important contribution to the chapter or in the Arizona design community during the time you were president?

Growing up, I was never really part of the super-popular crowd. Sometimes I felt a little left out when I wasn’t included or not invited to a party. As an adult, it’s always been a personal mission to never make anyone else feel that way, so I guess you could say some overall themes to my presidency were collaboration and inclusion. Not only was I involved with all our own events, but I became a member of other local associations and was engaged with what they were organizing. 

The community calendar was important to me. That everyone who visited the AIGA Arizona site knew not just about our events, but about every creative event happening in the valley, Tucson, and Flagstaff. In addition to the website calendar, I would post upcoming events in the Facebook Designer’s group weekly and would encourage posts in the comments for any event or gathering I may have missed. 

That led to a lot of wonderful events that were co-events with other organizations, which allowed us to reach an audience that either never heard of AIGA or didn’t consider us relevant. One particularly funny moment was when we hosted an after-party for WordCamp Phoenix. At the end of the evening, the WordPress developers were chanting “AY-GA, AY-GA” instead of AIGA. We found that both hilarious and incredibly touching. That was a fun night getting to talk to so many developers. The experience inspired us to host a Developer / Designer Speed Dating event which was incredibly fun and successful. 

Patricia Gotari, then AIGA Vice President, and I had also prepared a presentation called Designing for the Nondesigner. It was an overview of basic design principles — layout hierarchy, typography, and color theory. Our audience was nondesign and creatively-related associations such as the Content Strategy Meetup, Start-Up Week and several marketing associations. Many of these groups weren’t even aware that a design association existed. As a result, they now had a reference as to where to find designers for job opportunities, advice, and insight.

Finally, even if we couldn’t be there to make an event happen, we wanted to promote and facilitate it the best we could. We set aside a small budget to give to anyone who would organize a coffee meetup outside of Phoenix. If someone wanted to organize a designer coffee meetup in Flagstaff, Casa Grande, the West Valley, we would promote the event on our website and social media. Organizers were reimbursed the cost of coffee and snacks up to $150 per event. That allowed for several satellite events in places where it would have been difficult for us to organize. 

So overall, I think we were able to create a real sense of collaboration and friendship in our design community. It felt like a family, and I haven’t seen such a close-knit design community ever since. 

What message would you like to leave to the future about where we’ve been as a design community, and where we’re going?

After being a part of three different AIGA chapters, don’t underestimate the uniqueness of the Phoenix design community. No other tight-knit community compares to my experience in Arizona. Everyone is genuinely friendly. They don’t let the competition get in the way, and the Arizona chapter hosts an amazing Design Week that it is just as good as the national conferences. Don’t take for granted how this community is truly special. 

Name one thing that is different about design now compared to when you were president. This refers more to the overall world of design.

I was president when the biggest shift to UX design was starting to emerge. There definitely is a greater separation and skillset involved between UX, digital, branding, and traditional graphic design. 

Name the single most significant shift in design that you’ve experienced. Is the world more or less design-savvy these days?  For example, how the shift from analog to digital design, social media or the web affect designers?

You know, so much depends on which circles you’re in. Within the design industry, I think there is a better understanding of the importance of strategy, user research, a content-first approach, and cross-discipline collaboration., Design reaches far beyond the aesthetic.

At the same time, tools for graphic design are more accessible to all when you peruse through business and marketing networking forums. You see a lot of nondesigners tackling those same tasks because they have the software but do not have an understanding of the strategy involved. 

I don’t think tools like Canva, Wix, Affinity Designer are inherently bad. I do feel more often than not I have to reach out to some business owners to say: “Wait! Before you make that website, have you thought about your values? Your mission? Have you done any user empathy mapping? Where are your core page models?” 

For the most part, though, I think there is a greater appreciation for the value of design and what design thinking and strategy brings to the table. 

Is there anything you still wish you could have accomplished as president?

I never did get to organize all the board documents Basecamp as much as I would have liked. Ha-ha!

What would you like to see the AIGA Arizona chapter tackle next?

There are so many talented and experienced designers who have been in the industry for so many years that can teach many up-and-coming designers. I would love to see Arizona tackle an in-depth, six-month, one-on-one mentoring program.