AIGA’s strength is its people. A quick conversation with any board member shows there’s always more than meets the eye. 

Aprile Smith joined AIGA DC’s board last year as our Design for Good Chair. Within her first year, she hosted her first Createathon, a core chapter event that pairs DC-area creatives with nonprofits that need their services. In her day job, Aprile serves as a senior graphic designer on Bozzuto’s brand development team, where she leads corporate brand creative initiatives throughout the company. It’s an ideal fit given her master’s in publication design.

Aprile sat down with AIGA DC for our ongoing I Am Board series highlighting the volunteers who lead our chapter. She shared her surprising undergraduate major, the professor who spearheaded her design career, her AIGA journey’s start in Baltimore, and her plans for an event on design throughout indoor spaces!!

Tell me about yourself! More specifically, tell me about who you are, where you’re from, and what kind of design you practice.

Thank you for having me! I’m actually a Baltimore native who still resides in the DMV. I’ve always been into the arts. I started out in dance, which is completely different from design. But I feel like as a kid, I was always practicing my signature, doodling, things like that. 

So, as an adult, I didn’t take wanting to be in the design space as a big epiphany — instead, it kind of gradually happened. A more specific moment occurred during undergrad with one of my professors, Nancy Shahani. She really pushed me in my graphic design classes, and I feel like she saw my potential before I really saw my potential. I still keep in contact with her, [and] I feel like she played an integral part in how I decided to directly go into graphic design. Right after college, I went for my master’s in publications design, and she was a part of that big push.

Publication design sounds really interesting! I know that a fellow board member who serves with us has an editorial background as well, but it’s an area of design that I don’t think many people know too much about. Tell us about it.

I’m not sure if they’ve changed the program now, but the main goal of it was that as a designer, you work hand in hand with a copywriter. So the courses were structured to emphasize design techniques, but you also took writing courses so you’d be able to handle your own copywriting needs. 

It’s a really good program, and whenever you mention the name of the program, it kind of catches their ear like it did yours, Lauren. They’re like, “Wait, what’s that?” So I will look into it and see if the name’s the same.*

[*Note: The University of Baltimore’s former M.A. in Publications Design – Aprile’s alma mater –  is now an M.A. in Integrated Design. The curriculum covers writing, motion graphics, web design, and graphic design.]

That sounds very similar to UX writing. It’s interesting because on my team this week, my product/design/engineering teams did a norming session, and the subject of UX writing and microcopy came up. That’s something I really enjoy, but lots of designers do not.

I’ve never heard of microcopy!

Microcopy is those tiny pieces of text in a digital product. It’s used when you’re guiding users to perform specific actions, and typically you’re trying to use the fewest words to have the maximum impact. Microcopy is things like the text in a call to action button or other similar spots of an interface.

That’s what I thought. I learned a new term, I’m going to use that next week!

We talked about your creative origin story; now, let’s discuss your AIGA origin story! How did you first become part of the AIGA community, then pivot to joining the DC community?

Everything’s full circle, because as I just talked about, since I’m from Baltimore and did my master’s there, it was more suitable for me to be a member of the AIGA Baltimore chapter. At that moment, [AIGA] was purely a networking resource for me to connect with people at the same level of work and life, having just completed my graduate program. 

Fast forward to the past couple of years. I had set a goal now that I’m on the other side of Maryland to attend some [AIGA DC] events for work inspiration to network again. I was on social media, and I saw the AIGA DC board announcement that they were recruiting new board members and would host a webinar for anyone interested in joining. I followed up thinking there could be alignment, so I just followed the application process and now I’m here with you, Lauren! 

I’ll say that I manifested it, and that I’m more active as a board member with the DC chapter than I was as a grad student with the Baltimore chapter.

That makes total sense, especially since you jumped in to lead a high-visibility initiative for AIGA DC right away! Tell us about what you do on the board, and which initiatives you’ve led for the design community.

I lead Createathon DC! Slight plug, it will return later this year. For those who do not know, it is a 24-hour hackathon that pairs creatives with nonprofits who need help in the DC Metro area. We were very courageous in hosting it last November around the election, and it was my first time hosting Createathon since I joined AIGA DC’s board.

I feel like I stepped in and didn’t really know what I was doing, but the board (including Createathon’s past leader) was definitely helpful. And based on the feedback from last year, a lot of Createathon volunteers are eager to help this year as well. 

Aside from Createathon, which is my main initiative as the Design for Good chair, I’m trying to cook up something around design and spaces. It’s all just a thought right now, but I want to host an event that explores all elements of designing a space. How does lighting affect an indoor space? How does greenery affect the same space? 

So, that’s something for our community to look out for. I’m also hoping to step in and assist with some other programming opportunities that board members are leading.

That’s very interesting, because AIGA DC advocates for all aspects of design, but we don’t have any interior designers on our board at the moment. And it’s a skill that I don’t feel like I have: Designing interior spaces to maximize light, greenery, etc.

I’m trying to bridge my networks. I work at Bozzuto (a real estate company headquartered in Greenbelt, MD), so I always see the interior of a space through that design lens: It’s more than just the furniture. So, I’m trying to blend my networks and communities to hopefully host an intimate, informative event.

You just mentioned your work at Bozzuto. Tell us a bit more about your design practice as a professional.

I’m the Senior Graphic Designer on Bozzuto’s brand development team. I lead creative initiatives for the corporate brand and do most of the branding for Bozzuto’s events. I most recently worked on our company awards show, the Bozzuto Management Awards. 

The awards show kicked off in early March and will occur in seven cities. I work with the VP of Marketing & Creative Director on all corporate brand needs, whether it’s photoshoot, a quarterly campaign or corporate event branding. We’re an elite duo!

What’s your favorite part of serving on the AIGA DC board?

Lauren, it’s the people. Firstly it’s our volunteers, because I feel like the volunteers are always so aligned when they show up to events. They share their time for free because they want to serve and want to be there. But the board is there for me as well. 

Before my last Createathon, I had personal family things come up. Everyone, with no question, just jumped in to help me bring this event to life. The board was so compassionate, and I’m really grateful for everyone in AIGA DC’s community because even though we all have our own lives, everyone was still able to pull this event off while helping me on a personal level. So I think our support from the board is my favorite part.

What’s a fun fact that you think our community would be surprised to learn about you?

I was a Computer Science major who minored in Visual Arts, which is how I got into graphics. I haven’t coded since probably my first year out of undergrad. I feel like once I got a dose of the visual classes with Professor Shahani, I saw that I was always a visual learner. 

That made me think, “Okay, I can pivot into design and my work will still align with my learning style. So I took that, ran with it, and it worked in my favor, but I also feel like I could always go back to code if I wanted, which I appreciate and am thankful for.

Thanks so much for taking time to chat with us today! Is there anything we didn’t mention that you want our audience to know?

Keep your eyes out for AIGA DC’s next Createathon in November 2025 and more events from Design for Good!

This interview was edited for length and clarity.