• NSW Branch
• Queensland Branch
• SA Branch
• Victoria / Tasmania Branch
• WA Branch
• ACT Branch
• Practice Groups
• Practice Groups
• Textile Practice Group
• Victorian Industrial Design Practice Group
• NSW DIA Student Council
• I Me Mine
• Off The Cuff
• Why I’m In The DIA

Practice Networks/Practice Groups

Discipline specific Practice Networks

Practice Networks that address the interests of specific design disciplines operate as sub-committees within state branches and, in some cases, are coordinated nationally.

Practice Networks arrange separate meetings and events to focus on issues of unique interest or concern to their discipline group.

Freedom to concentrate on professional issues

This mechanism highlights the strength of the DIA. The national administrative system and state branch organisation deals with the administrative requirements of maintaining a professional organisation leaving the discipline meetings free to concentrate on professional issues.

A great example of this is the Textile Practice Group. The core of this group formed around the membership of ATDA that joined with the DIA in 1998. Many of these designers are based in Melbourne and Sydney making these the active centres for this group.

What Practice Groups are there?

Discipline specific practice networks vary from state to state depending on the available champions and the relative discipline numbers.

For current details contact your state president or council, or contact the National Office.

There is a very active Commercial Interior Practice Group in Melbourne, a dedicated Residential Interior Design group in Sydney and a strong student Practice Group also in Sydney.

On-line Practice Networks

Email chat networks are an interesting development initiated by the Queensland branch. They are used for instantaneous practice network communication. These produce lively debate on topical issues such as Free Pitching and Professional Indemnity Insurance and provide a quick way of requesting and sharing professional information on a daily basis.

Some of the on-line networks are:

• IDQLDNET - Queensland industrial design network - groups.yahoo.com/group/idnetqld
• IDPG - Victorian industrial design network - groups.yahoo.com/group/idpg
• IDNSWNET - NSW industrial design network - groups.yahoo.com/group/idnetnsw
• IDWANET - Western Australian industrial design network - groups.yahoo.com/group/idnetwa
• GDPG - National graphic design network - au.groups.yahoo.com/group/GD-net