ZHAO Chao, a professor of AADTHU, is elected as Vice President of ico-D

The general assembly of all members of the International Council of Design (ico-D), also reputed as the "United Nations General Assembly of the design industry", was held in Vancouver, Canada, from November 30 to December 2. Representatives from over 50 design organizations from more than 20 countries came to Emily Carr University of Art + Design to discuss design exchange, promotion, cooperation, and education. 

❏ Poster of ico-D General Assembly 

The General Assembly elected the new executive committee of ico-D, which is formed by eight design experts from Canada, America, South Africa, China, Malaysia, Italy, Jordan, and Lithuania, including one president and four vice presidents. Johnathon Strebly, President of the Graphic Designers of Canada, was elected as President of this Executive Committee, and ZHAO Chao, a professor at the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University (AADTHU), was elected as Vice President and Executive Committee Member of ico-D (term: 2019-2021). 

The election of Prof. ZHAO Chao is of great significance for strengthening the leading role of China's design subjects in international design organizations, facilitating the cooperation between China's design industry with international design authorities, and giving play to the positive influence of Tsinghua University in international design organizations. 

❏ Group Photo of the 2019-2021 Executive Committee

As the largest professional design organization in the world, ico-D was founded in 1963. Its members include the design education organizations, professional design organizations, design promotion organizations, and professional designers from over 65 countries. Covering all design subjects such as graphic design, architecture/landscape design, industrial design, information interaction design, and costume design, it plays a pivotal role in design globalization. 

As a multi-subject and comprehensive international design promotion organization, ico-D is committed to improving the professional design standards, advocating the coordination of human-environment relationship with design, taking outstanding designs as the key media for social transformation, and enhancing the public awareness and respect to the design. The mission of ico-D is to promote and help top international design organizations to communicate and cooperate with each other. It is also closely associated with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, International Organization for Standardization, International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations, and World Intellectual Property Organization. In addition to its member organizations, ico-D also built a global network, which is widely used for contacting non-member communities and for holding high-level conversations about the leading role of design in society, culture, and economy. 

❏ Photo of ico-D General Assembly

❏ Expert Discussion

ico-D holds Platform Meetings in different regions of the world every year to gather top experts and scholars around the world by its three major platforms (professional development platform, education platform, and promotion platform) to discuss the new trend and new development in international design and design education and find out solutions to new problems in the design and design education. 

❏ Prof. ZHAO Chao addresses the Platform Meeting. 

After the General Assembly in Vancouver, ico-D held a Platform Meeting that gathered international design experts and representatives of different cultural and design organizations and design institutes to have in-depth face-to-face discussions on "Professional Design Standard", "Design Ethics", "Collaboration", and "Aboriginal Culture" in forms of speech, group discussion, and workshop. ZHAO Chao, AADTHU's professor, delivered a speech titled "Chinese Design" on the meeting and expressed his hope in the following campaign speech that in the context of globalization, the design education and design industry in China would play a wider and more active role with the help of ico-D's platform. He also suggested that ico-D build a global design education center and offices in China, considering China's massive aggregate of art education, to promote cross-subject and cross-cultural design education, research, and practices around the world. 

Source: Arts & Science Research Center, Tsinghua UniversityPhoto & Article Edited by: LUO Xuehui and FENG Jiaqi.