Brandon Gien, Managing Director of Good Design Australia and Chair of the Australian International Design Awards has been elected President-Elect of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid). The announcement was made at the XXVII Icsid General Assembly in Taipei.
Gien is the first Australian candidate to be chosen as Icsid President-Elect. He will take over leadership of the world's most important design organisation in 2013 in Istanbul following a two-year term as President- Elect.
This position will further elevate Australian design internationally and position the Australian International Design Awards as one of the leading design awards in the world.
Gien was first elected to the Board of Icsid in 1997 at the San Francisco General Assembly, and has spent the past four years serving on the Executive Board and as the Treasurer of the international non-government organisation.
"My first priority will be to continue open dialogue with the broader international design community. We need to make sure Icsid is able to adapt to the rapid changes taking place in the design profession, particularly the expanding fields of design such as service design, design strategy and user experience design," Gien said.
"It is clear from the overall theme of this year's World Design Congress that our world needs design. There is an unprecedented number of social, environmental and economic challenges that face our planet and although design can't solve them all, it can certainly play a leading role in helping solve some of them.
I see Icsid taking a lead role in positioning design at the highest levels of government as an agent for change and showcasing design's ability to paint more positive futures for our world. Design and the value it brings when used effectively should continue to be positioned and promoted as part of the solution for the world's many and varied challenges."