about us.

designed here.KC (dh.KC) is a vital digital preservation initiative created to capture and share the irreplaceable story of Kansas City design before it is lost to memory and dumpsters. The dh.KC interactive digital archive will serve as a permanent visual record of graphic and advertising design created for industry and culture starting with the twentieth century and updated yearly. dh.KC will be an indispensable resource to design historians; an inspiration to design students and designers, and a delight to fans of Kansas City design. Our remarkable design story began in the early 1900s when Joyce Hall came to Kansas City from neighboring Nebraska, and founded Hallmark Cards, establishing one of the largest creative staffs in the world. Walt Disney began in Kansas City in 1920 with his animated Laugh-O-Grams after studying in his youth at the Kansas City Art Institute. Although these well-known stories are part of Kansas City’s creative mythology, it is surprising how few of the other stories have actually been captured and preserved. Join us and help save the unique story of Kansas City Design.

The lack of a coherent record of Kansas City design was acknowledged in 2018 when President Ann Willoughby was conducting research for an AIGA national design preservation initiative. With encouragement from AIGA, and drawing from three years of research and exploration with a team of national experts, designed here.KC was created under the umbrella of AIGA Kansas City. In late 2019, AIGA KC and designed here.KC agreed to continue to collaborate and operate as separate not-for-profit entities. designed here,KC received its 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt designation in September 2020.

why we care.

kansas city’s design history is essential to our legacy and credentials. 

Design history is critical to our future as a city. Visual communication is a cultural force. The instinct to express a message visually is found as early as the prehistoric era in petroglyphs, pictographs, and ideograms. However, visual communication and advertising as design practices and disciplines are relative newcomers; we look to the early years of the 20th century for their beginnings. Kansas City has an irreplaceable role in American design history. 

Today, according to Bloomberg’s CityLab, Kansas City is listed among America’s leading design cities based on the number of practicing designers per capita. This is a testament to our legacy and place in American design history.