AIGA club is a ‘family’ for artists and designers
By Melissa Wilkinson
Editor-in-Chief
The Meramec branch of the American Institute for Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a graphic design club accepting of all art majors interested in the design field, according to President Lacey Call. AIGA is the largest professional association of designers in the world according to the AIGA website.
The club had its first meeting on Oct. 11 in the Humanities East building, where Call was elected president alongside Vice President Leah Frazier. The two planned the second meeting on Oct. 25, which featured a Halloween theme. Attendees made art pieces out of candy corn and prizes were handed out for spookiest costume.
“If you’re interested in design and want to further your education and hang out with like-minded people…this would be a great place to come,” said Call. “If you’re in class and you want extra feedback, or if you’re wanting to expand your knowledge and experience.”
Call said that the agenda for the next semester incorporates “a lot of exciting field trips” including Atomicdust, a branding and marketing firm in St. Louis. She also plans to find a deserving nonprofit for which club members can design a group poster.
Frazier said she hopes to return to Central Print, a local nonprofit devoted to spreading knowledge of the printmaking arts. Frazier also attended AIGA club meetings last year through the suggestion of club advisor and design professor Michael Swoboda.
“[Swoboda] was like, ‘Hey, it’s super fun and it looks good on your resume.’ From there I went to a meeting or two,” said Frazier. “One part I really got out of it was the student conference.”
The AIGA St. Louis student conference is a yearly conference for area students to submit their design portfolios for professional review. The event also offers guest speakers and design workshops. In 2017 the conference was held Feb. 24-25 at the Luminary on Cherokee street.
“You got to meet like-minded people and see other people’s work, and then you got these little lectures. It was just a whole lot of new things that I didn’t know about at the time,” said Frazier.
Frazier also said she would like to host in-house design workshops where members could show their recent design work, receive round-table feedback and grow as designers.
“Since we’re not as big as other colleges [art students] all feel really comfortable with each other,” said Frazier. “Even in our classes we become little families. [AIGA] is kind of like that but on a larger scale.”
AIGA club meets once monthly on Wednesday evenings. Check posters around the Humanities East building for more specific dates and times.
