Did you know this is actually the second Grown in California show? Read more about the history of the exhibit, the judging process and the incredible state-wide collaboration between designers in this article about the award-winning call for entries.

Twenty years after the San Francisco and L.A. chapters held the first AIGA California show, San Francisco president Brian Jacobs began planting the seeds for another competition. Much had changed since 1982, namely the incorporation of two additional chapters, San Diego and Orange County. To address the wide variety of expected entries, 11 categories were created to encompass this unique crop of California-specific work.

Then came the juicy task of selling a new show to thousands of California firms. "Sometimes I'm turned off by a competition if I don't connect with the theme or design," says Jacobs. "We tried to connect with designers by allowing freedom of expression in the call for entries."

The orange was tossed to artists in a variety of disciplines and the resulting diecut cards depict each category as a slice of California: A spiraled peel is packaging, a pie chart of orange exports exudes corporate communications, and an eerily familiar producebased logo represents branding.

Due to the overwhelming support and collaboration between the chapters, over 3,000 entries were received (they had hoped for 1,500). Pentagram also created a website, published a winners book, and commissioned an exhibit designed by Mitchell Mauk that will travel south through the state before finding its bicoastal home in New York.

Reprinted with permission of STEP inside design, Volume 21, Number 2 (March/April 2005). www.stepinsidedesign.com

Grown in California Opening Night is November 17th at the Wind Tunnel Gallery at Art Center. To see gallery hours and more information go here.

For complete list of designers and studios included in the exhibition, visit www.grownincalifornia.org