Rafael Fajardo
Director, SWEAT collaborative
Associate Professor,
Emergent Digital Practices
University of Denver

 

Service: American Institute of Graphic Arts

The AIGA is the professional association for design in the US.

AIGA Colorado Chapter
Board of Directors 2002-2004
Director of Education Initiatives
Oversaw an increase in student membership statewide of threefold, with new student groups initiated at CSU, RMCAD, MSC-D, and University of Northern Colorado.
Agitated with national leadership for peer-reviewed conferences and journals for experimental pedagogy. 2004 saw the first national AIGA education conferences with open calls and peer review.
I plan to continue active participation in our chapter. I am now focused on the coordination of our student chapter at the University of Denver.

AIGA National
My activism on the regional board has won me the notice of the national board of directors.

AIGA and CAA
AIGA is an affiliated organization of the College Art Association. I was asked to chair the panel for the special session in Atlanta 2005. As an experiment in method, I posed a research question that overlaps teaching and practice. Proposals were judged in a double-blind jurying process for the abstracts. This was a highly experimental process for the AIGA. The organization is attempting to adapt scholarly rigor to its methods across several communities of interest. Details

AIGA Center for Cross Cultural Design
1999–present
I am one of the founding members of this (inter)national community of interest. I remain on the steering committee, advising the board of directors. Details

AIGA Get out the vote
My assistance at the national level has also taken on the form of visual work. AIGA has an ongoing initiative to help communicate the importance of voting. It sponsors the creation of Get Out the Vote posters, which it distributes for free. The posters for this campaign are selected by a combination of competition and affirmative action. In year 2004 I was invited to provide a Spanish-language poster which was circulated nationally. Mine is the one with the masked wrestler on page 5. Details