From the iconic Oscar silhouette to a Little League trophy, the look and feel of keepsake awards can convey something about the thing it’s honoring. Just ask Cliff Farbstein, the Creative Director of the Arlington-based company Dimension Creative Promotions. Dimension specializes in custom award designs, lenticular postcards (images that can create different designs or appear to move depending on the angle they’re viewed from), and branded gift items, including Rubik’s Cubes and USB drives. They’ve created animated lenticular postcards to advertise the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden’s Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors exhibit, patterned socks for the American Academy of Cardiology, and executive entry badges with a lenticular design for the Empire State Building.

For the first time since 2018, the DC design community gathered in person to celebrate the winners of this year’s AIGA50. This iteration of our biennial competition honored works created by professionals and students in the region between 2020 and 2022. 

More than 100 DCDWers sat enveloped in the dazzling display of DC’s ARTECHOUSE. Design keynotes shared their best non-traditional storytelling insights among wall-to-wall projections of swirling orange nebulas and sparkling stars captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. 

When we discuss AI as inherently good or bad, we reinforce this false idea that AI can make autonomous decisions. We also shift the responsibility for AI’s outputs from its creators to the tech itself. Rather than reinforce this narrative, Professor Patton led DCDW’s audience through an overview of AI and how designers can use it to improve our work

Can you get on our level? This year’s DC Design Week was centered around the theme of “Level Up,” inspired by requests from the local design community to focus on sharpening their skills and standing out in a tough job market. For our 15th year, we offered a range of the kind of programming that we do year-round, with an eye toward helping our members expand their careers, abilities, and networks.

Through AIGA DC, get 20% off your ticket to see this cinematic visual exhibit at ARTECHOUSE, Beyond The Light. Created in collaboration with NASA scientists, “Beyond the Light” uses stunning photography and data from the James Webb Space Telescope to tell the story of the universe in a wholly original way.

In honor of its 15th anniversary, DC Design Week has received an official proclamation from Mayor Muriel Bowser.

SHINE is a four-month mentoring program. The 2023 program matched 24 mentors and 24 mentees around the DC design community resulting in new connections, professional growth, and impressive projects focused on Design for Good.

We're excited to introduce our new addition to our AIGA DC Board of Directors. Read about them here

CreateAthon DC 2023 occurred on April 29-30 at Steampunk’s creative studio in McLean, VA. During this 24-hour hackathon, 30 local creatives and strategists completed pro bono projects for 5 local nonprofits.

Each year, the AIGA DC Design Continuum Fund awards scholarships to underrepresented students pursuing art and design careers at colleges and universities in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Applications for the 2023-24 year are now open. Apply by April 21, 2023!