The International Council of Design (ICoD; formerly known as ico-D, International Council of Communication Design or Icograda, which was formerly an initialism for International Council of Graphic Design Associations) is an international organisation representing the professions of design. The Council was founded in London in 1963 and celebrated its 50th anniversary on 27 April 2013. It is a non-profit, non-partisan, "member-based network of independent organisations and stakeholders working within the multidisciplinary scope of design."
The membership of the Council is composed of national entities including professional design associations, design promotion bodies and design education institutions. Design media are affiliated through the International Design Media Network (IDMN).
Members The International Council of Design is an organisation of organisations. The council has over 120 Member bodies from over 50 countries. As a representative body, the Assembly of its Members is its highest power and has the ultimate decision on all matters that govern the council. The organisations that make up this membership are national-level Professional Associations, Educational Institutions and Promotional Bodies. As the core membership category, Professional Associations representing individual professional designers and design studios, have particular powers within the Assembly.
International affiliations ICoD coordinates best international practices for professional design. It maintains affiliations with other international organisations such as Cumulus Association, IFRRO, ISO, UNESCO, UNIDO, WIPO, and ECOSOC.
International meetings As a way to establish inter-organisational cooperation, the International Council of Design provides a series of in-person touch-points between design organisations. ICoD Meetings offer a variety of ways for representatives of Members organisations and the design community to connect. ICoD Meetings are attended by, on average, 30-70 organisation representatives speaking on behalf of their design communities. There are several categories of Meetings that respond to specific needs.
ICoD Platform Meetings (PMs) gather ICoD Members at one place and time, every year, to explore common challenges and action for change. ICoD Regional Meetings (RMs) provide an opportunity for ICoD Members located in the same region to engage with the design community at the regional level on common topics and challenges. ICoD Special Meetings (SMs) foster collaboration and exchange between various promotion and valorisation entities (Design Weeks, Festivals, Museums, Cities, and more) to address overlapping challenges and objectives and to determine how the international design community can better collaborate to achieve mutual goals and tackle shared challenges.
ICoD General Meetings (GM) assemble Members on issues of governance and policy. The General Assembly (GA) and Annual General Meeting (AGM) happen on alternating years.
Professional design practice The International Council of Design maintains that design is a profession. Like architects, doctors or lawyers, they advocate that designers have obligations and responsibilities that they must adhere to, to maintain their professional standing. The Council advocates that the title of "designer" implies adherence to a code of professional behaviour that ties their professional practice to obligations towards society at large.
The Council publishes a series of white papers, best-practice documents governing the professional conduct of the individual designer as well the organisation of design awards, design conferences and design exhibits. One of these is a code of conduct for professional designers.
Professional Code of Conduct In 2020, the Council presented their updated Professional Code of Conduct for designers. The document positions design as a profession, focusing on ethical issues and the overarching responsibility of designers to humanity. The document has many features including a Lexicon of terms and detailed explanations of concepts relating to design, new technologies, intellectual property and professional practice. In 2021 an official translation to Spanish of this document was announced. Translated by Council Member RAD (Colombia), the translation process was supported by a review board composed of Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico), Bolivia Poster Biennial BICeBé and Universidad de Monterrey (Mexico). The bilingual document contains a Spanish/English lexicon of terms and the entire document in parallel translation to easily access all explanations in both languages.
Publications Reflecting its origins as the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda), the Council has a long history of having publications. The earliest iteration of this is Icographic which was founded in 1971 and subsequent iterations include Iridescent and Communication Design.
Icographic Founded by John Halas, and edited and designed by Patrick Wallis Burke, Icographic was a review of international visual communication published by Pergamon Press. The publication was quarterly at its inception and then became bi-annual. In its inaugural issue it was stated that the new magazine "intends to study this field [newsprint and publishing industries as well as television, cinema and computers] as well as examine the designer's role in it. It will attempt to serve as an organ expressing the designer's point of view in the new scene. It will attempt to reveal new ideas in the technical aspect of design and to become an essential information source in the area of visual communications to many of our members throughout the world."
There were 14 issues of Icographic printed between 1971 and 1978. The entire back-catalogue is available on the website of the Council. Iridescent Iridescent: Icograda Journal of Design Research, was the second iteration of the Council's design research journal. Coined the "prism on design research" the publication aimed to break boundaries and was. Initiated by Russell Kennedy (Icograda President 2009–2011), Edited by Omar Vulpinari (Icograda Vice President 2009-2011) and printed by Fabrica, this beautiful limited edition work includes papers by Elizabeth Tunstall, Lawrence Zeegan, Zhao Jian, and many more.
The journal existed in paper and digital form, running from 2009 to 2011. The entire back-catalogue is available on the website of the Council.
Communication Design In 2016, the third iteration of the journal, Communication Design, Interdisciplinary and Graphic Design Research was launched. The initiative was led by Editor-in-chief Teal Triggs of the Royal College of Art and supported by an editorial team, including authors on design. The journal was published by Routledge/Taylor & Francis until 2019.
International Design Day The concept was developed in 1995 by Kim Paulsen (Vice President 1993–1995) to commemorate the foundation of the Council on 27 April 1963. The day initially known as "World Graphics Day" became "World Communication Design Day" in 2012, "World Design Day" in 2015, and "International Design Day" in 2020.
Themes 2015: How are you designing today? 2016: Design in Action! 2017: Start Young 2018: Kids can too! 2019: Women in design 2020: Be Professional! 2021: Design for each and all! 2022: Suspended in Transition 2023: Peace. Love. Design! 2024: Is it kind? 2025: Outlandish Optimism
Secretariat Initially based in London (United Kingdom), the Secretariat of the International Council of Design was in Brussels (Belgium) from 1999 to 2005, at which time it moved to Montréal (Canada), where it still resides.
The Secretariat office is where all the staff of the Council is based. The current team includes: Marnie Guglielmi-Vitullo, General Manager Yuzhu Hou, Administrator Alisha Piercy, Communications Officer Tara Farsky, Events Coordinator
Management Mary Mullin was Secretary General from 1987 to 1999. In 1999 the position was officially changed to "Director" Thierry van Kerm held this during the period the Secretariat was based in Brussels from 1999 to 2005. In Montréal, Brenda Sanderson took over this role until 2012, followed by Marilena Farruggia until 2013, Jovana Milović until 2015 and Ana Masut until 2023. From 2023 onwards, management of the Secretariat has been in the hands of Marnie Guglielmi-Vitullo.
Executive board ICoD's executive board consists of individuals who are duly nominated and elected by ICoD's Member organisations at the biennial ICoD General Assembly. Members of the executive board serve in a volunteer position and donate their time and expertise to further Icograda's mandate. Board meetings are typically held four times a year in different locations around the world, usually in conjunction with regional meetings, seminars or other scheduled design events.
Executive Board 2022−2024 Melike Tascioglu Vaughan (Turkey), President Ting Xu (China), Past President Jonas Liugaila (Lithuania), Treasurer Anssi Kähärä (Finland), Secretary General Qin Du (China), Board Member
History
Founding Peter Kneebone proposed the idea to establish an international organisation for graphic design and was involved in Icograda's founding. The Society of Industrial Artists (which changed its name in 1963 to the Society of Industrial Artists & Designers, and is now the Chartered Society of Designers, or CSD) set up a working group under the chairmanship of Willy de Majo, to promote the creation of an organisation to represent internationally the many professional graphic design associations throughout the world. No such organisation existed. The profession was rapidly growing in importance, and also attempting to clarify its identity and objectives.Susumu Sakane, 1990. 'Icograda: the first 25 years'. In Graphic Design, World Views: ICOGRADA'S 25th Anniversary edited by Jorge Frascara. Kodansha: Tokyo It was involved in increasingly complex social and technological situations. National associations were developing, but international dialogue and action were intermittent and uncoordinated. It was important to create links between the professional associations in all countries, and between the profession and the rest of the world.W.M. de Mayo, 1990. 'A vision realized'. In Graphic Design, World Views: ICOGRADA'S 25th Anniversary
The inaugural conference of Icograda (the International Council of Graphic Design Associations) took place at Watney House, London, from 26 to 28 April 1963, attended by delegates from 28 associations in 17 European countries.Peter Kneebone, 1990. 'Icograda: reflections on a history'. In Graphic Design, World Views: ICOGRADA'S 25th Anniversary edited by Jorge Frascara. Kodansha: Tokyo The meeting was chaired by H.K. Henrion and supported by Kneebone as secretary. On 27 April, the meeting agreed to formally establish Icograda. Proposals that were ratified include the development and drafts of a Code of Ethics and Professional Practice, a Code of Contract and Conditions of Engagement for Graphic Designers, Rules and Regulations for International Graphic Design Competitions, an International Directory of Organizations Concerned with Graphic Design and the publication of a News Bulletin.
The first Executive Board was elected at the meeting in London, composed of Willy de Majo (Great Britain, President), Wim H. Crouwel (The Netherlands, Secretary General), Martin Gavier (Sweden, Treasurer), Peter Hatch (Great Britain, Vice President), Hans Neuburg (Switzerland, Vice President), Jukka Pellinen (Finland, Vice President), D. Stojannovic-Sip (Yugoslavia, Vice President), John Tandy (Great Britain, Member), Pieter Brattinga (The Netherlands, Member) and Paul Schwarz (The Netherlands, Honorary Treasurer). This Executive Board served from 1963 to 1966.