The days are flying by. On April 26-28 more than 35 GDC members from Chapters throughout Canada will converge in Moncton, New Brunswick for our Annual General Meeting. A lot of work will be accomplished, old acquaintances renewed and new friends made. During this time together, the globe will celebrate World Communication Design Day.

Icograda, an organization most of us are familiar with, was formed on April 27, 1963. Since 1991, April 27 has been celebrated as World Graphics Day to mark Icograda’s birthday. The occasion has been celebrated internationally since 1995. 

Beginning this year, the date will be celebrated as World Communication Design Day. This aligns with Icograda’s recent name change to the International Council of Communication Design adopted during the 24th Icograda General Assembly in Taipei, Taiwan in November 2011.

In addition to celebrating Icograda’s birthday, World Communication Design Day is an opportunity to recognize communication design and its role in the world. Communication Design is, at its core, a creative activity aimed to solve a problem according to local context and audience. On this occasion, designers worldwide reflect on our profession and are hopeful that our collective efforts can contribute to greater understanding between people and help to build connections where divides and inequities exist.

This year’s theme for World Communication Design Day is Convergence. For the last 30 years the communication design profession has been undergoing a revolution. Practices once separated have converged. The technological-digital revolution through computers, the internet, and mobile computing has made graphics, video, photography, sound, animation, and publishing all come together and accessible to all. 

Convergence speaks to the cross-disciplinary nature of our business today bringing together designers from different fields and different parts of the world. And designers today are collaborating with professionals in completely different fields such as biology, psychology, education, and economics to name a few.

Convergence explains ‘expanded media’ where communication design, advertising, wayfinding, editorial design, web design, are combining with emerging sectors such as game design, programming, user experience, interaction design, social media, and others. 

Finally, convergence relates to the open source creative capital that has people from around the world working together to create collective achievements such as Wikipedia, Linux, Kickstarter projects, and other examples, such as online participatory art.

If you want to do something unique to celebrate World Communication Design Day, Icograda suggests various points of creative departure to celebrate the day at www.icograda.org.

Jim Hudson BDes CGD
GDC National President 2010-2012

(with content from icograda.org)