Value of AGDA - Testimonial from David Whitbread

12th December, 2011

This week AGDA member and design author David Whitbread shares his position on the value of AGDA membership:

What I value about AGDA is:
the opportunities to meet and talk with great Canberran, Australian and international designers about the profession. Since 1989 (I am AGDA member 00006), I have enjoyed having conversations like a pre-dinner chat with Stefan Sagmeister on the verandah of Old Parliament House, a discussion around the fireplace of Gorman House with Frank Arnold, Jennifer Prosser, Richard Thomas and Bill Pearson about the business in Canberra, enjoying Stefanie Kenyon's talk about SBS TV graphics and their 'audient', witnessing an inspirational talk by Charles Spencer Anderson at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney after a four-hour drive from work, the first meetings in Canberra hosted in our homes with Mary-Jane Taylor and Chris Gray, doing a design workshop at CMAG with Arthur Leydin, hosting breakfast after the fabulous Canberra AGDA Awards that Frank Arnold hosted the night before, drinks after another inspirational talk with Chip Kidd at CSIRO Discovery, a Korean lunch with Liam Camilleri and Fiona Edge in Garema Place about hosting the AGDA Awards again in Canberra, sharing a fabulous dinner with 20 designers at Courgette Restaurant with Andrew Hoyne about why he moved his studio from Melbourne to Sydney, Wayne Rankin's talk at the National Press Club, all our families planting trees for a couple of years on World Graphic Design Day (until the drought), even planting trees with Scott Santoro, sharing a fabulous contemporary Japanese dinner in Adelaide with Rita and John Siow, enjoying the company of Massimo and Lella Vignelli at a design education conference in Sydney, a fantastic weekend mini-conference and trip though Shoalhaven Paper Mill, dinner at Grande's in Manuka with Russell Bevers after he opened an AGDA Awards exhibition, an AGDA-only tour of 'Virtual reality' with Alan Dodge of the National Gallery, dinner after another inspirational talk on typography by Anthony Cahalan at CMAG, drinking Canberra wines with a table of ACT designers at Southbank in Brisbane before their wonderful AGDA Awards night, subs at Subway after playing pool with David Ansett and Dean Butler of Storm, emailing Mimmo Cozzolino for his talk at another conference in Brisbane, laughing with Shaun Micallef at the Myer Music Bowl at Melbourne's AGDA Awards, pleasant evening AGDA meetings turning to night at the studio of Kathie Griffiths and Adrian Young, visiting Gary Wilson at Paperpoint in Melbourne to discuss details of the forthcoming AGDA boxing event (with printers and IT people) at the Australian Institute of Sport, drinking with former students at the Press Club before events, folding and stuffing envelopes at Jennifer Prosser's home for AGDA mailouts, presenting AGDA student awards at graduation ceremonies at CIT and UC, organising searchlight permissions for the AGDA multimedia and animation session at the Film and Sound Archive...

David Whitbread
www.thedesignmanual.net





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We will be hearing from AGDA members around the country on why they value their AGDA membership and what they enjoy about being part of the AGDA community.

Whether it is a story about connecting with someone, being inspired by a guest speaker, an AGDA Award they have won, or an AGDA event that made a difference in their designer life. 

Share your story and write to communications@agda.com.au