ZURICH, Tuesday: Alt Group founder/creative director Dean Poole has been appointed the new president of global design organisation Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI). Poole is the first NZ president in AGI’s 67-year history, and only the second elected president from the Southern Hemisphere.
AGI is a prestigious club of 500 of the world’s leading graphic artists and designers from 42 countries, with a Secretariat based in Switzerland. The non-profit organisation hosts two major annual events, the AGI Congress and the AGI Open, which take place in a different country each year.
The alliance includes some of the world’s design luminaries who have “collectively shaped global visual language”, says Poole. High profile members include Milton Glaser (of I Love New York fame), design rock star Paula Scher (from design agency, Pentagram), and Kenya Hara, art director for more than a decade of Japanese design store, Muji.
“Poole will serve his term as president until 2021.”
Since founding Alt Group with Ben Corban in 1999, Poole says he has seen an enormous growth in maturity and stature in the New Zealand design industry. He cites the Best Design Awards, organised by the Designers Institute of New Zealand, which attracted more than 1100 designers and guests to their annual awards in September.
Poole will serve his term as president until 2021; he replaces Amsterdam-based Nikki Gonnissen of design studio Thonik.
World Congress in NZ?
As one of just two NZ members (the other current Kiwi member is leading font designer Kris Sowersby) of AGI, Poole hopes to bring the AGI Congress to New Zealand in the future. If successful, this will see more than 300 of the world’s leading graphic designers flocking to Aotearoa for a week, putting our local design culture firmly on the world stage.
- AGI: http://a-g-i.org
About Alt Group
Dean Poole founed Alt Group with Ben Corban in 1999. Alt Group is a multidisciplinary design firm based in Auckland. The company works across: strategy design, content design, graphic design, communications design, interactive design and experience design. Alt Group has won more than 500 international and national awards, and works for a diverse range of corporates and government organisations including Auckland Art Gallery, Fisher & Paykel, Auckland Council and City of Melbourne.
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