30th Anniversary

Since AIGA Minnesota's (http://minnesota.aiga.org) 30th Anniversary Celebration was celebrated in Minneapolis, Minnesota, November 9th, 2007, the following may also be of interest:

2008 is the 29th year since Patrick Redmond's 1979 term (January 1979 through the February 13, 1980 election of Tim Larsen) as the first person to hold the title "President" of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, Minnesota Chapter, AIGA/Minnesota (http://minnesota.aiga.org), when it was known as the Minnesota Graphic Designers Association (MGDA). Patrick Redmond was the fourth (or fifth, depending how one counts the leadership of the organization) head of MGDA following other Minnesota design community leaders: Tim Larsen and Dale Johnston, "Founding Co-Chairmen" 1976-1977; Jim Johnson, "Chairman", 1977; and Peter Seitz, "Chairman", 1978. Various MGDA printed material from the period, including exhibition brochures, etc., shows that each of these previous heads had held the title "Chairman". Though Patrick Redmond was not first to lead the organization, he was first to have (and use extensively) the title of "President" of MGDA since, during his 1979 term, the MGDA Charter was changed to read "President" rather than "Chairman" (in 1979). Elected at age 28, Patrick may have also been the youngest person to hold the title "president" of AIGA/Minnesota when it was known as the Minnesota Graphic Designers Association.

A member of MGDA/AIGA Minnesota for many years (from 1977 to 1993 and, more recently, from 2005 to 2007), Patrick also served as:

a publicity committee member and first editor of the first MGDA newsletters (now known as AIGA/Minnesota Issues), 1978-79;

First Lutsen Design Conference committee, 1980; Lutsen Design Conference committee member, 1984 (note: the Lutsen [MN] Design Conference became what is now known as AIGA/Minnesota's Design Camp(tm), which, according to aigaminn.org is "the most successful regional design conference in the country, attracting an average of 300 professionals from the Midwest, the United States and across the world");

Design For Society Award committee, 1983-85, Chair, 1985. Note: with 1985 MGDA president Bruce Rubin, Patrick Redmond presented MGDA's "1985 Design For Society Award" to Gordon Salchow of the University of Cincinnati Department of Graphic Design at the MGDA's 1985 Lutsen Design Conference.

For a brief history of AIGA/Minnesota see http://minnesota.aiga.org/.

1979 firsts for AIGA/Minnesota (when it was known as the Minnesota Graphic Designers Association):

First out-state (or "greater Minnesota"), non-Twin-Cities-metro member [Phil Mousseau, Moorhead State University] Note: recruiting and including out-state or greater Minnesota members, broadening membership beyond what had originally been membership from the Twin Cities metro area, was one of Patrick Redmond's priorities as president, having lived and worked in greater Minnesota from 1970-76 (as an artist-in-residence in rural communities, Parkers Prairie and Eagle Bend, Minnesota area, 1970-1974; as a graphic designer-in-residence, Grand Rapids, Minnesota area, 1974-1976). This effort would help the organization to truly become the "Minnesota" rather than the "Minneapolis" Graphic Designers Association. -pr

First out-of-state (non-Minnesota) member [Stu Doty, Wausau, Wisconsin]. Note: recruiting and including out-of-state, members who were not living and working in Minnesota, broadening membership beyond what had originally been membership from the Twin Cities metro area and the state of Minnesota, was one of Patrick Redmond's priorities as president. Patrick believes Stu Doty, then living in the Wausau, Wisconsin area, went on to become the organization's first out-of-state (non-Minnesotan) officer when Mr. Doty was elected to the 1980 position of "Vice President/Membership and Communications". -pr

First AIGA/Minnesota ("MGDA News") newsletter, later known as AIGA/Minnesota "Issues" (February 1979). Editor: Patrick Redmond; Design/Production: Patricia Dunn. Note: editorial content was requested from members by the editor, collected and/or written and/or edited then simply turned over to respective volunteers who then designed, typeset (or had typeset), and produced each respective issue, with no proofreading by the editor. After providing the volunteer member with the content, the next time the editor and other members would see the newsletter would be when it was finished and delivered. Each issue during 1979 and the February 1980 issue looked different from the other since each volunteer had complete design and production freedom. An issue-to-issue design format was intentionally not established.

First contact and serious discussions regarding affiliation with a national design organization including STA, the Society of Typographic Arts, Chicago, later known as the American Center for Design, Chicago, with MGDA, the Minnesota Graphic Designers Association eventually becoming affiliated with AIGA, the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the national organization based in New York, as the Minnesota Chapter.

First year the organization promoted and co-promoted design-related speaker events (forerunner of "Insights" lecture series). Note: admission: $5 nonmembers; $1 students; free for members. source: 1979 MGDA newsletters

First female officers: Sandra Johnson, Vice President; Pat Dunn, Secretary

First time the gender-neutral terms "President" instead of "Chairman" and "Vice President" instead of "Vice Chairman" formalized as titles of these two MGDA officer positions

First member benefits, i.e., special discount on Walker Art Center membership; free or reduced admission to guest speaker events, etc.

First proposal to include a "People Seeking Positions, Positions Seeking People" section of the newsletter

First formation of the following committees: "programming, newsletter, education and exhibit" (source: MGDA Newslettter, April 1979, p. 3.)

First MGDA membership certificate, designed by Eric Madsen (source: Minnesota Graphic Designers Association News, The Newsletter for the Minnesota Graphic Designers Association, November 1979, p. 4)

First suggestion that the MGDA exhibition catalog include images of work in show, not only text identification and credits (source: MGDA Newslettter, April 1979, p. 3.)

First exploration into the possibility of an office for the organization (now located in International Market Square, Minneapolis)

Other:

With the intention of making membership more affordable to a wider range of members and prospective members, dues were kept at $30.00 before a 50% increase in late 1980.

A summary of 1979, including a list of identified needs for the future, appeared in the Minnesota Graphic Designers Association Newsletter, February 1980.

MGDA's largest nonjuried exhibition, 2nd MGDA Show: "Minnesota Graphic Design 79" ('79 in title, even though show opened December 15, 1978). Note: "19 designers represented by 31 display panels". Committee members: Bob Fleming, Tim Larsen and Jim Johnson. Source: MGDA News, April 1979, Vol. 1, No. 1, p.1.

1979 MGDA Officers: Patrick Redmond, President; Sandra Johnson, Vice President; Pat Dunn, Secretary; Peter Seitz*(1978 MGDA Chairman), Board Member; Robert J. De brey* (1978 MGDA Vice Chairman), Board Member. Jan Nuedeck and Tim Larsen served as 1978 MGDA Co-Secretaries. Jan Nuedeck had moved out of state and was not available to serve as a Board Member; Tim Larsen was also a 1979 Board Member since previous officers became Board Members.

First time "The Gold Book, Twin Cities" (Prime Publications) included a separate listing for "graphic designers"... in earlier editions, graphic designers had been listed under "artists" and "art studios" categories.

Thank you to all who were members of MGDA during 1979 and for all of the dedicated effort and accomplishments of the various officers, members, and volunteers.

- Patrick Redmond

* Earlier in his career, Patrick Redmond had worked for Robert De brey at De brey Design (1969) and for Peter Seitz at InterDesign (1970). Peter Seitz is the first AIGA/Minnesota Fellow.

A perspective:

1979 was... 5 years before the Apple(tm) Macintosh(tm) 128K computer, with Mac OS 1.0 system software, was introduced. It was "in production from January 1984 to October 1985" at a cost of "$2,495.00" [or about "$4,953.98? in 2007 dollars] Note: "In December 1983 Apple Computers ran its famous "1984" Macintosh television commercial on a small, unknown station" the month before "the same ad ran during the NFL Super Bowl." source: Bellis, Mary. "Inventors of the Modern Computer" http://inventors.about.com;/ 2007 dollar calculation source: http://minneapolisfed.org/research/data/us/calc/

6 years before Aldus(tm) Pagemaker(tm), later known as Adobe(tm) Pagemaker(tm), was "developed for the Mac." source: Howard Bear, Jacci. http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/beginners/f/when_dtp.htm

8 years before the first version of QuarkXPress(tm) was released (1987) source: http://www.quark.com/about/profile/history.html

20 years before "Adobe(tm) began to ship InDesign(tm) 1.0" (1999) source: Joss, Molly W.http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/19066.html For further information, contact Redmond@PatrickRedmondDesign.com.

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The following "third person" description is provided re: a career in the field

A creative director, designer, consultant, artist, and author, Patrick Redmond, 58, is founder and owner of Saint Paul, Minnesota-based Patrick Redmond Design (PatrickRedmondDesign.com), an independent brand identity and design firm, a consultancy tracing its beginnings to 1966 when Patrick began working in the field. Patrick's career, to date, has included providing design for over 130 clients through his firm; and, in addition to owning and operating his own ongoing business, has included positions as: senior layout artist and special projects designer at $1.5 billion diversified retail corporation Gamble-Skogmo, Inc.; creative art director, Norwest Corporation (now known as Wells Fargo); a senior art director, Carlson Frequency Marketing Company, Carlson Marketing Group, Carlson Companies; designer for the University of Minnesota's Department of Design, Housing and Apparel (DHA) and the Goldstein Gallery (now known as The Goldstein: Museum for Design) [note: DHA is now part of the University of Minnesota's new College of Design]; independent consulting art director/designer for publishers Mid-List Press and Dos Tejedoras Fiber Arts Publications; co-founding and serving as vice president of pioneering computer graphics firm COMCEPT; and teaching at the University of Minnesota (for many years in the evening extension program), the College of Visual Arts, St. Paul, MCAD, and Augsburg Weekend College. Patrick was the first person to lead the graphic design sessions at the University of Minnesota Design Institute's first "Design Camp" in 2000.

Design by Patrick Redmond has been included in Graphic Design+, Japan; Graphis Annual and Graphis Packaging, Switzerland; Biennales of Graphic Design, Brno, Czech Republic; Print Regional Annual; SIGGRAPH; Colorado International Invitational Poster Exhibition; and in competitions including New York Art Directors Show; Society of Publication Designers; Creativity, Art Direction magazine, New York; Desi (now known as the American Graphic Design Awards), Graphic Design: USA magazine, New York, and American Corporate Identity 23; and The Show, Advertising Federation of Minnesota & Art Directors/Copywriters Club, Minnesota. He has presented at icograda and UNESCO conferences. His memberships have included: AIGA Minnesota (1977-1993; 2005 to 2007; president, MGDA, AIGA Minnesota, '79), AdFed (the Advertising Federation of Minnesota, AdFed.org, a member club of the American Advertising Federation, AAF.org), and the College of Design Alumni Society, University of Minnesota Alumni Association.

Memories of the beginning of MGDA by James E.Johnson First President of MGDA.
IBM Designer 1968 -1970, Walker Art Center Designer 1970-1980,
Partner JohnsonPlusJohnson Graphic Design 1980 - 1990, Principal James Johnson & Associates. 1990 - Present

- In the early 70's while working as head Designer at the Walker Art Center I got a call from Tim Larson. Tim said that he wanted to meet at the Walker with me and some other designers and talk about setting up a professional organization that would promote the profession and establish a professional code of ethics.

- As I recall the designers at that first meeting were Tim Larson, Eric Madsen, Peter Seitz, Dale Johnston and myself. Tim brought up our first issue that had to do with the new design of the Minnesota license plates. He felt that it needed to be designed by a Graphic Designer. In order to do that we needed to introduce the profession of Graphic Design to State officials and that it had a Professional Organization,

- After the first meeting we had more meetings including more designers.
and established the name MGDA and officers.
I was to be the President and Tim and Peter
would be Vice President and Treasurer.
We decided to be provincial. We did not want to become a chapter of AIGA. We wanted to stand alone as independent Minnesota Designers not dependent on New York and the rest of the Country.

- In 1966 I graduated as a Graphic Designer from Minneapolis School of Art now MCAD. There were no Graphic Design Firms that I knew of. I started my career as a " Commercial Artist. "
On my second job my Art Director told me "You are using to much design in your art work " After that I found a small graphic Design Firm by the name of Brookson & Bronen and went to work as a real Graphic Designer.

- Its been a real honor to be there in the beginning of MGDA, Design became my life style. I have met some fabulous people along the way. It has amazed me to see all the growth, of the profession, the programs, activites and events that AIGA has accomplished.

- Congratulations MGDA AIGA on 30 years of Service to Minnesota Design and Designers

Memories of MGDA by Heather Olson, director of human resources at Larsen and director of education for AIGA Minnesota. The actual dates are fuzzy, but the events and players are mostly clear in my mind!

~ In fall 1980, Pat Dunn (now Dunn-Walker) invited me to come up from Des Moines for the first MGDA Design Conference at Lutsen. Tim Larsen, Bob Fleming, and Barb Reichmann (now Pederson) became fast friends.

~ Months later, I visited Minneapolis again, this time for the first MGDA Office Tour. We inspected the new construction of Design Center in Bloomington, led by Dale Johnston and John Reger.

~ August 1981: I took a job in Edina as a corporate graphic designer and started attending MGDA events, helped with the traveling design show, edited the newsletter, listened to lectures by Peter Seitz, and got to know many chapter members including Rick Cucci, Cliff Koidahl, Monica Little and Deb Cohen, and Ken Ushio.

~ By 1983, I co-chaired the Design Conference at Lutsen with Leslee Avchen, then house sat for her! We worked with poster designers Malka Michelson and Esther Malabel, and met Todd Nesser, Susan Hopp (in a leg cast), and Mike Smith in the process. Tim Girvin wrote my name in calligraphy as a thank-you gift!

~ Shortly thereafter, Monica, Tim, and Dale took me to the Black Forest patio for lunch and a little arm twisting to become the first female president of MGDA.

~ Those days included meeting at the AIA office on Clifton; introducing events at Walker Art Center; taking bus trips around town escorted by Bruce Rubin, Jim Cordaro, and Linda Wood; and getting advice from Jim Johnson and Patrick Redmond.

~ Somewhere along the line, I joined the luncheon series team of Marty Skoro and Ross Rezac, David Vogel, Ann Brownfield Brown, and others who arranged for guests like Hideki Yamamoto and Miranda Moss to speak on package design and Kolean Pitner on the history of graphic design.

~ Along came the mid '80s freelance days and gatherings at Monte Carlo with sole proprietors Mary Brandenburg, Mary Wiseman, and Mary Jane Miller. A group of us including Kolean, Linda Henneman, and Karl Schweikart studied PageMaker with tutor John Townsend.

~ Fast forward through the birth and raising of three kids; brief stints in publication editing and community mural coordination; then marketing roles at The Office of Eric Madsen and Larsen Design (finally back in Edina). After that long absence from what is now AIGA Minnesota, in 2000 I helped Eric and Tim Eaton present our chapter's first Fellow Award, and assisted Tim Larsen and Doug Powell with the formation of the Business Leaders Forum.

~ Since my appointment to the board earlier this year, I couldn't be happier to participate again. Meeting design students and college faculty, and collaborating with our outstanding current board members, makes it feel like I'm starting my career anew!

Thanks to everyone I've met through MGDA and AIGA. You have truly enriched my life.