World Graphics Day is an opportunity to recognise communication design, its role in the world and to celebrate Icograda's anniversary. It has been celebrated internationally since 1995.

On this occasion, designers reflect and hope that our international network can contribute to a greater understanding between people and can help to build bridges where divides and inequities exist.

Join Icograda in promoting what it means to 'lead creatively' in our global community. Send your plans to mark the day to the for inclusion in our list of World Graphics Day celebrations.

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Events around the world

Communication designers from around the world have shared their stories from World Graphics Day. Here is what they have said:

Cochabamba, Bolivia
Graphic design pupils, teachers and ex-pupils at the Universidad Privada Boliviana (UPB) will meet to discuss and debate the course of the profession within their country and the methods of improving social and professional development through design. www.upb.edu

Manitoba, Canada
Robert L. Peters, past Icograda President, is planning to plant trees to commemorate World Graphics Day this year. If you are interested in joining him (locally in Manitoba, Canada) or virtually, elsewhere, please let him know at www.robertlpeters.com.

Santiago, Chile
Federico Thumm Bock, from the Instituto Profesional DuocUC de la Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, tells us that Jorge Soto Veragua will give a speech about Graphic Design in Chile, to celebrate the World Graphics Day.

Organisers
-School of Design DuocUC
-College of Professional Designers of Chile A.G.

More info: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=14923051603

La Habana, Cuba
Daniel R. Smith has co-curated an exhibition linking designers from Seattle, USA and Havana, Cuba, which opens 17 April at el Centro Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales. Working with designers and curators from Cuba, they put together a concrete example of how those in the U.S. can work across boundaries despite embargoes, trade sanctions, etc. imposed by their own government. The Seattle-Havana Poster Show will run until 17 May. If you happen to be in Havana, stop in for World Graphics Day. More information at www.seattlehavana.com.

Claudio Sotolongo informs us that, in Havana, the students of graphic design at Instituto Superior de Diseno (ISDi) are working in a project on cultural identity and graphic design. To celebrate this day they will host a discussion after the opening of the Seattle-Havana exhibition, and a party in Old Havana. The project blog is http://designingtheworld.blog.com and it joins five teams from five differents schools around the world with the aim of exploring the visual environment, the cultural practices and the cultural identity that surrounds designers.

Mexico City, Mexico
Jacinto Salcedo is planning to launch a project about gender and graphic design on World Graphics Day. www.biograficas.com will feature Latin American women graphic designers. The first group will be from Argentina, Brasil, Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela.

Marina Garone Gravier, alongside BioGraficas (History of the Women Graphic Designers at Latin America), Cultural Spanish Center at Mexico (belonging to Spanish Embassy) and other gender and design Mexican institutions, has co-organized a series of roundtables about Women Publishers, Printers and Graphics Designers (9, 16 and 30 April). On 30 April, they will hold a round table on Women Graphics Designers Focusing in Educational Training. Download the program online, or visit http://generomexico.colmex.mx for more details.

Veracruz, Mexico
Magdalena Flores informs us that, to mark World Graphics Day, the graphic design department of the Universidad Cristóbal Colón is preparing an event that will begin at 10 am on Tuesday, 22 April, on the Torrente Viver  campus. The program will include: conferences with the prominent Mexican Eduardo Cartelistas Picazo, Daniel Arenas and Francisco A. Galvez; expressive and creative activities;  and an exhibition of works by students themselves. Visit the Universidad Cristóbal Colón website for more details: www.ver.ucc.mx

Berlin, Germany
Last year Nick Kapica and the Staendige Vertretung (SV) Associates celebrated World Graphics Day with an evening of informal discussion, drinks and food. The success of this evening resulted in a series of evenings with design colleagues throughout 2007 and has now lead to us initiating 'Blast', a new conference on multidisciplinary design.

This year SV Associates will be celebrating with a World Graphics Day Brunch in the studio. Attendees have been asked to bring a piece of work as a discussion point exploring the role of design in our everyday lives. If you would like to attend the brunch or learn more about the conference please email .

Kottayam, India
Milen Jacob has been helping a local organisation of artists (mostly from a fine arts background, who make a livelihood making signages and display hoardings) who,  when told of World Graphics Day, decided to put up a live art demonstration (the members and other artists throw their creativity on a big canvas) in the town square in Kottayam, India.

Lakewood, Colorado, United States
On the weekend of World Graphics Day Stuart Alden's small gallery will display the screen prints created by children, aged 10-12. The 6 week screen printing class was part of a non-profit working to bring art into public schools. Even though the purpose was to teach them how to screen print, he introduced the idea of "…is not a robot" - meaning, they have the ability to make their own choices in life. So in creating the posters, Stuart asked them "what do you care about in the world?"  See the kids' posters on Flickr.

Stuart states: "As designers we have the ability to do some good things. And I feel that it is our responsibility every chance we get to help not only our clients, but students of all ages, to think about the world around them and how the decisions we make, can effect all our lives."