On July 27-28 the Dayton campus of the Sinclair College will be hosting the 2026 Design Educators Conference (DEC) for the American Institute of Graphic Art, or AIGA.
2026 is the first time the conference will be hosted at a community college. Zack Tucker, a professor and new chair of Sinclair’s design department, helped to coordinate the event and will serve as a keynote speaker.
Related: Tartan Spotlight: Zack Tucker helps shape future of design education
The conference will be from 8 a.m.-6:15 p.m. on July 27, and 8 a.m.-4 p.m. on July 28, located in buildings 12 and 13.
Founded in 1914, the AIGA began as a small group of graphic artists, printers, publishers and illustrators in New York City, and has since grown into a much larger nationwide network for designers at every level. The Design Educators Community was established in 2004, and the educator conferences have been running since 2005.
The theme of this year’s conference, “Throughlines,” refers to the various steps along the way of a design-learning journey, which is an important concept for designers and their advocates.
Workshops will focus not only on design skill, but other areas of consideration such as designing with empathy, designing for health disparities, sustainable design, and manual art such as sketching within a landscape of growing AI.
These discussions will be led by researchers and instructors from all parts of Ohio and all over the country, including from Texas, Minnesota and California.
Two keynote speakers who will be presenting at the conference are Reneé Seward Nettle and Jacinda N. Walker, Hon. D.A.
Nettle is a professor and program coordinator at University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning. She has been teaching students in the communication design program for the past fifteen years, and her research has been primarily focused on developing digital and physical tools that will address society’s literacy problems.
Walker is the founder of designExplorr, and her Experiential Learning Center (ELC) is equipped with diverse mentorship and cutting-edge technology designed to empower marginalized students who want to explore design careers. Her extensive research has offered practical solutions to facilitate increased diversity in the design field.
Erik Larson, reporter
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