Patrick Redmond Design

2009 is the 30th anniversary of Patrick Redmond's 1979 term as the first person to hold the title "President" of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, Minnesota Chapter, AIGA/Minnesota, when it was known as the Minnesota Graphic Designers Association (MGDA). He was the fourth head of MGDA following three other Minnesota design community leaders. Each of these previous heads had held the title "chairman". Patrick was first "President" of MGDA since the MGDA Charter was changed to read "President" rather than "Chairman" in 1979. Elected at age 28, Patrick Redmond may have also been the youngest person to hold the title "president" of AIGA/Minnesota when it was known as the Minnesota Graphic Designers Association. 

A member of MGDA/AIGA Minnesota for 20 years (from 1977 to 1993; 2005-2007; 2009-present), he also served as: a publicity committee member and first editor of the first MGDA newsletters (now known as AIGA/Minnesota Issues), 1978-79; First Lutsen Design Conference committee, 1980; 1984 (note: the Lutsen [MN] Design Conference became what is now known as AIGA/Minnesota’s Design Camp, which, according to aigaminn.org is "the most successful regional design conference in the country, attracting an average of 300 professionals from the Midwest, the United States and across the world"); Design For Society Award committee, 1983-85, chair, 1985. Note: with 1985 MGDA president, presented MGDA's “1985 Design For Society Award” to Gordon Salchow of the University of Cincinnati Department of Graphic Design at the MGDA's 1985 Lutsen Design Conference. For a brief history of AIGA/Minnesota see AIGA Minnesota website.


1979 firsts for AIGA/Minnesota (when it was known as the Minnesota Graphic Designers Association), as recollected by Patrick Redmond:

First out-state (or "greater Minnesota"), non-Twin-Cities-metro [Moorhead, Minnesota] member.  Note: recruiting and including out-state or greater Minnesota members, broadening membership beyond what had originally been membership from the Twin Cities metro area, was one of my priorities as president, having lived and worked in greater Minnesota from 1970-76. This effort would help the organization to truly become the "Minnesota" rather than the "Minneapolis" Graphic Designers Association. –pmr

First out-of-state (non-Minnesota) member [Wausau, Wisconsin, ]. Note: recruiting and including out-of-state, members who were not living and working in Minnesota, broadening membership beyond what had originally been membership from the Twin Cities metro area and the state of Minnesota, was one of my priorities as president. I believe this member, then living in the Wausau, Wisconsin area, went on to become the organization's first out-of-state (non-Minnesotan) officer when he was elected to the 1980 position of "Vice President/Membership and Communications"–pmr

First AIGA/Minnesota ("MGDA News") newsletter, later known as AIGA/Minnesota "Issues" (April 1979). Editor: Patrick Redmond; Design/Production: Patricia D.. Note: editorial content was requested from members by the editor, collected and/or written and/or edited then simply turned over to respective volunteers who then designed, typeset (or had typeset), and produced each respective issue, with no proofreading by the editor. After providing the volunteer member with the content, the next time the editor and other members would see the newsletter would be when it was finished and delivered. Each issue during 1979 and the February 1980 issue looked different from the other since each volunteer had complete design and production freedom. An issue-to-issue design format was intentionally not established.

First contact and serious discussions regarding affiliation with a national design organization (eventually -- years later -- becoming affiliated with AIGA as the Minnesota Chapter)

First year the organization promoted and co-promoted design-related speaker events (forerunner of "Insights" lecture series). Note: admission: $5 nonmembers; $1 students; free for members. source: 1979 MGDA newsletters

First female officers: Sandra J., Vice President; Pat D., Secretary

First time the terms "President" instead of "Chairman" and "Vice President" instead of "Vice Chairman" formalized as titles of these two MGDA officer positions

First member benefits, i.e., special discount on Walker Art Center membership; free or reduced admission to guest speaker events, etc.

First proposal to include a "People Seeking Positions, Positions Seeking People" section of the newsletter

First formation of the following committees: "programming, newsletter, education and exhibit" (source: MGDA Newsletter, April 1979, p. 3.)

First MGDA membership certificate, designed by Eric Madsen (source: Minnesota Graphic Designers Association News, The Newsletter for the Minnesota Graphic Designers Association, November 1979, p. 4)

First suggestion that the MGDA exhibition catalog include images of work in show, not only text identification and credits (source: MGDA Newslettter, April 1979, p. 3.)

First exploration into the possibility of an office for the organization (now located in International Market Square, Minneapolis)


Other:

With the intention of making membership more affordable to a wider range of members and prospective members, dues were kept at $30.00 before a 50% increase in late 1980.

A summary of 1979, including a list of identified needs for the future, appeared in the Minnesota Graphic Designers Association Newsletter, February 1980.

MGDA's largest nonjuried exhibition, 2nd MGDA Show: "Minnesota Graphic Design 79" ("79" in title, even though show opened December 15, 1978). Note: "19 designers represented by 31 display panels". Committee members: Bob F., Tim L. and Jim J.. Source: MGDA News, April 1979, Vol. 1, No. 1, p.1.

1979 MGDA Officers: Patrick Redmond, President; Sandra J., Vice President; Pat D., Secretary; Peter S.*(1978 MGDA Chairman), Board Member; Robert J. D.* (1978 MGDA Vice Chairman), Board Member. Jan N. and Tim L. served as 1978 MGDA Co-Secretaries. Jan N. had moved out of state and was not available to serve as a Board Member; Tim L. was also a 1979 Board Member since previous officers became Board Members.

First time "The Gold Book, Twin Cities" (Prime Publications) included a separate listing for "graphic designers"... in earlier editions, graphic designers had been listed under "artists" and "art studios" categories.


Thank you to all who were members of MGDA during 1979 and for all of the dedicated effort and accomplishments of the various officers, members, and volunteers. - Patrick Redmond


* Earlier in his career, Patrick Redmond had worked for Robert De brey at De brey Design (1969) and for Peter Seitz at InterDesign (1970). Peter Seitz is the first AIGA/Minnesota Fellow.



A perspective:

1979 was...

5 years before the Apple(tm) Macintosh(tm) 128K computer, with Mac OS 1.0 system software, was introduced. It was "in production from January 1984 to October 1985" at a cost of "$2,495.00"[or about "$4,545.75" in 2004 dollars] Note: "In December 1983 Apple Computers ran its famous "1984" Macintosh television commercial on a small, unknown station "the month before" the same ad ran during the NFL Super Bowl." source: Bellis, Mary. "Inventors of the Modern Computer" http://inventors.about.com; 2004 dollar calculation source: http://minneapolisfed.org/research/data/us/calc/

6 years before Aldus(tm) Pagemaker(tm), later known as Adobe(tm) Pagemaker(tm), was "developed for the Mac." source: Howard Bear, Jacci. http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/beginners/f/when_dtp.htm

8 years before the first version of QuarkXPress(tm) was released (1987) source: http://www.quark.com/about/profile/history.html

20 years before "Adobe(tm) began to ship InDesign" 1.0” (1999) source: Joss, Molly W. http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/19066.html


For further information, contact Redmond@PatrickRedmondDesign.com


A creative director, designer, consultant, artist, and author, Patrick Redmond is owner of Twin Cities-based/Saint Paul, Minnesota-based Patrick Redmond Design, an independent design firm and consultancy tracing its beginnings to 1966 when Patrick began working in the field.  He has provided design for local, regional, national, and international clients, from small businesses and start-ups, to major corporations, organizations, and institutions.

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Note: Patrick Redmond, PatrickRedmondDesign.com, while
a graphic designer-in-residence in Grand Rapids, Minnesota
(1974-1976) designed the original "GR" logo used by the
Grand Rapids High School Hockey Team.  This team won
the Minnesota State High School League's State Hockey
Championships in 1975, 1976, and 1980. When the team 
won in 1980, a photo of the event, featuring players wearing
the "GR" logo on their jerseys, appeared on the front page
of the Minneapolis StarTribune newspaper (further
bibliographic details to be provided).  Over the years the
original "GR" logo design has been altered and modified
by individuals other than Patrick Redmond.  The version
that is available on "JV" or "Junior Varsity" jerseys at
www.grhshockey.com is a modified version of the
original "GR" logo designed by Patrick Redmond.

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What is "brand identity"?
For further information see Designing Brand Identity: A Complete Guide to Creating, Building, and Maintaining Strong Brands by Alina Wheeler at amazon.com excerpts link