WELCOME TO THE 59TH ANNUAL

GORDON KAYE AND SASHA KAYE-WALSH ARE EDITORS AT GDUSA Comments, suggestions and letters can be sent to editorial@ gdusa.com. The most popular toast at old guy birthday parties (believe me, I know): “The best part of being in your 60s is that you did all your stupid stuff before the internet.” GDUSA is turning 60 this year and, yes, the magazine took shape and did stupid stuff — and some good I hope — before the internet. More on all this in upcoming 2023 editions.

For today’s purpose, I note the milestone to make a point about today’s Annual showcase.

Anticipation of our anniversary year has led to many discussions, among ourselves, about how graphic design has changed over these six decades. There is a surprising amount of writing on this topic, some deep and some shallow, that tends takes its cue from art history or craft history or tech history, focusing on individual designers, designed objects, the evolution of materials and styles, innovations in input and output. All good and valid. But as editor and publisher of a creative business magazine, I come at it from a slightly different angle.

From my perspective, there are three fundamental — and fundamentally interrelated — changes that have transformed the graphic design community and its role during these decades. This has happened right before our eyes and unfolded so gradually, as historical trends often do, that it has largely gone unremarked.

First, graphic design has evolved from a decorative afterthought to emerge as a fully recognized and appreciated strategic tool that adds value to business and society. Second, as such, graphic designers are increasingly treated commensurate with their talent and contribution, no longer be undervalued (especially by themselves), and prepared to assert greater control of how, when, why and for whom they work. Third, there is a growing consensus that graphic design has the power to enhance, advance or even shape commerce and culture, part and parcel of a broader understanding that ‘design’ in general can be a vital factor in the economic and social success of business, nations, and communities.

All three of these transformational elements are present in today’s 59th GDUSA Design Annual showcase. The pieces showcased — and their creators — are among the best and brightest of our community. The numbers alone are prodigious: a surge of 14,000+ entries leading to a showcase of nearly 750 pieces reflecting the endless ways in which creative professionals do, in fact, shape commerce, culture, ideas and movements.

Equally exciting is the sheer breadth. Projects run the gamut from print and packaging and point-of-sale to websites and social media and motion graphics. From bread and butter projects to inspirational assignments. From Fortune 500 clients to non-profits and startups, from design studios to ad agencies to inhouse departments and a healthy dose of student work, from red states and blue. From the great and established to the upcoming and disruptive.

Circling back to the central point, this showcase stands as evidence of the three-fold transformation: Graphic design harnessed to effectively crystallize and express the essence of companies, brands, products, cultures, causes. Graphic designers in the room where it happens the authenticity, transparency and human connection that they can provide are more crucial to organizational success than ever. Creative professionals taking more control of their destiny by choosing work that makes the world better as they see it, exemplified by the fact that our new “Designing For Good” is the largest professional category in the competition.

If we’re lucky and blessed, GDUSA will continue to document the next evolution and the next, to bask in the reflected glow of your achievements, and to keep the stupid stuff to a minimum. – GK