The Chartered Society of Designers - Annual Review (London, 1991)

President's report It is inevitable that a Society such as ours will reflect the changes in the society it emanates from and for the last few years those changes have been great. There is no doubt that to be President during the latest raft of recession has not been a particularly enviable task in some ways. Nevertheless it has been the honour that I spoke of when taking office and I have enjoyed most of my time in the hot seat! Surveying the achievements of the past year it becomes clear that the Society is continuing to play a vital role within the design profession. The CSD offers a forum for the profession, an opportunity for designers to work together to uphold standards of design within business, industry and our society at large. The role of the profession has been clarified during 1991: through the Society's revised Code of Conduct, its policies on quality and management within the design field, its strong programme of events and publications and its newly instituted Minerva Awards for excellence. To see such developments is heartening. Our policies and services are changing to meet the needs of designers in the early nineties. The Society has re-established itself as an active, outward looking voice for the profession. Our views are reaching an ever-widening audience in both government and industry. Relevant policies on education are high on our present agenda. In parallel with this external progress, this has also been a time of internal change. Our membership procedures have been reviewed, to place the emphasis both on maintaining standards, and on the provision of a clear, easily accessible route to membership through a regular programme of assessment sessions, taking place throughout the country. These changes, taken together, both consolidate and develop the Society's essential work of representing the design profession. The Society, on behalf of the three international design bodies, ICOGRADA, ICSID and IFI, is organising 'Design Renaissance', a great International Design Congress in Glasgow in September 1993. The event will reinforce, on the international stage, the importance of the designer in our culture. After two years as President of this Society I have made many friends and have numerous 'thank you's' to record, to staff and designers, Honorary Fellows and sponsors. A major thank you is owed to Brian Lymbery, the Society's Director and Stefan Zachary, the Honorary Treasurer, who have provided the solid and responsible financial management essential to the Society's continued success. Inevitably I leave the position of President with conflicting emotions: a little sadness, a certain amount of relief perhaps, but chiefly with the firm expectation that the Society will continue to change, and in so doing, to develop, strengthen and promote the community of designers it represents. David Pocknell pcsd The Chartered Society of Designers annual review 1991

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