This year’s Fellow award event will illuminate how the Seattle design community truly embodies the AIGA mission.

No matter who you are, you're one of us.

As the largest professional association of designers in the world, AIGA is committed to advancing the value and impact of design, both locally and globally, and working together to inspire, support and learn from each other, at every stage of our careers.

Together we can do amazing things.

By focusing on design as the common denominator , the 2019 Fellow Award Panel & Ceremony event aims to bridge the gap of design disciplines, to change perceptions and to focus on Design as the connective tissue of the community. We are doing this by inviting a group of various designers from multiple disciplines to talk with us about how important it is to be responsible for the communities we are all a part of.

At the end of the panel discussion, we will be presenting the 2019 Fellow Award to our newest Fellow and they will present a Pecha Kucha on their lives. From there we will all enjoy beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and light bites while mingling for the rest of the event.

Event Timeline
6-6:30pm: Check-in & Registration
6:30-6:40pm: Introduction
6:40-7pm: Opening Remarks by Xerxes Irani from Amazon
7-7:45pm: Panel Discussion
7:45-8pm: Fellow Award Announcement, Presentation, and Speech
8-9:30: Mingle & Networking

The 2019 AIGA Seattle Fellow Nominees (in no particular order)
Karen Gutowsky Zimmerman
Steffanie Lorig
Michael Ellsworth
Karen Cheng
Gage Mitchell
Kristine Johnson
Wendy Quesinberry
John Van Dyke

About the AIGA Fellow award

The Fellow award program is a means of recognizing designers who have made a significant contribution to raising the standards of excellence in practice and conduct within their local or regional design community as well as in their local AIGA chapter.

The areas of education, writing, leadership and reputation, as well as the practice of design are given equal consideration in measuring significant contribution.

An eligible nominee is:
A practitioner and/or educator with more than fifteen year’s experience in the profession.
An AIGA member in good standing.Making or have made a significant contribution to AIGA.
Making or have made a positive impact within their local or regional design community.
Advancing or have advanced excellence in design as a discipline, profession, and cultural force.