WHAT BECOMES A LEGEND MOST

AIGA is trying to outdo itself. Its inaugural Design Legends Gala last year in New York honored 20 designers while raising $80,000 for the organization. This year, they hope to raise just as much money but with slightly less pomp and circumstance. It’s still a pricey ticket at $350 for cocktails and dinner, but on Sept. 14, only three designers will receive the Design Legend medals: Bart Crosby of Crosby Associates in Chicago; Meredith Davis, N.C. State professor of graphic design (and founder of the school’s Ph.D. program, which she now directs); and Steff Geissbuhler of C&G Partners in New York. AIGA is reinstating its “Leadership Recognition Award” to pay homage to corporate giants Gillette and Hallmark for their design sensibilities. And to balance the scales, local AIGA chapter fellows will be honored, deemed “Local Heroes,” at the black-tie event.

BUILDINGS AS ENDANGERED SPECIES

Every other year the World Monuments Fund (WMF), a nonprofit organization that preserves historic, artistic, and architectural heritage, releases a list of the 100 Most Endangered Sites in the world. This year, eight of them are in the U.S. A few are predictable picks, including the iconic marble “lollipop” facade of 2 Columbus Circle in midtown Manhattan which is the center of a long debate between Modernist design preservationists and the Museum of Arts and Design, which plans to renovate it (strip the facade) and move in by 2007. The others, however more historic in value, have not stirred as much controversy. One of America’s last surviving cycloramas, a 360-degree circular oil-on-canvas painting, is in desperate need of removal and restoration at The Cyclorama Center in Gettysburg, Pa. The 359-foot-long painting, which depicts Pickett’s Charge during the Battle of Gettysburg, was completed in 1884. WMF hopes to repair unstable sections of the three-ton canvas and restore original details removed by previous preservation attempts before the next list comes out. An amazing photo gallery of all 100 endangered sites, including every cultural heritage site in Iraq (approximately 10,000), can be viewed online.

THE BRITISH INVASION

When ad agency BBDO needed a pair of rotisserie chickens to leap onto their hind legs and sumo wrestle over a 2-liter bottle of Pepsi, they turned to Framestore NY for their commercial visual effects expertise. The New York office is the first U.S. outpost settled by Framestore CFC, the largest visual effects and computer animation studio in Europe (movie credits include Harry Potter, Troy, and Cold Mountain; 2 Oscars and 11 Emmys attest to their artistry). With a killer reel and an army of 10 digital artists enlisted from the London office, Framestore veteran Jon Collins is quietly dominating the commercial effects market on Madison Avenue. The heated rivalry with The Mill’s successful U.S. satellite office notwithstanding, Framestore NY plans victory by running an efficient unit. “We work two jobs at once while preparing for a third; it’s a steady flow of work which is ideal for us,” says Collins. “Sure, there’s a demand to do . lm work here, but we want to keep our focus on commercials.” At least, that’s what he says now. Framestore’s been in New York less than a year and has already recruited U.S. clients like GMC, Miller, and Cingular.