About
More than an Archive
AIAP CDPG, the Graphic Design Documentation Centre of AIAP (the Italian Association of Visual Communication Design), preserves materials and promotes initiatives to enhance the culture and history of graphic design and visual communication design. It currently holds more than 120 collections of various sizes and natures, dedicated to well-known and lesser-known personalities of graphic design. The materials collected are the result of donations and legacies from members and heirs of graphic designers, and of systematic research and acquisition work aimed at identifying the possibility of rediscovering and sharing case studies on an Italian and international level.
The Graphic Design Historical Archive preserves design archives, funds of various sizes and small collections dedicated to specific case studies. The Graphic Design Library collects more than 8,000 volumes and magazines dedicated entirely to graphic design culture.
The AIAP CDPG collaborates with professionals, researchers and students for the consultation of materials for study, research and valorisation projects, the conception and realisation of publishing initiatives on the history of Italian graphic design and the organisation of exhibitions. It is also available for loans and reproductions for exhibitions and publications, and to provide expertise upon request.
For AIAP, the need for a research and organisation centre for graphic design culture is the answer to fundamental requirements such as professional updating, design culture, training and specialised education. The aim is to stimulate a growing interest in the culture of design and visual communication, with clear objectives of dissemination to a wide audience of insiders and outsiders.
AIAP CDPG is today the custodian of a heritage of inestimable value, not belonging to the Association alone, but a collective heritage to be cared for and preserved.
Visit the Archive
The Graphic Design Library and Archive can only be accessed by appointment and a temporary membership. When making an enquiry, it is advisable to state the reason for the consultation in as much detail as possible: greater clarity will enable us to provide the best possible service to students and researchers and to prepare the materials accordingly.
Activities
AIAP CDPG welcomes students, scholars and professionals to consult the materials of the Historical Archive and Library for research and study purposes.
Since 2009, it has promoted activities and initiatives (exhibitions, research, publications, workshops) produced autonomously or in collaboration with external subjects and bodies.
Among the initiatives supported over time are projects such as La grafica del Made in Italy (Made in Italy Graphic Design, exhibited in various formats since 2010 in Milan, Segovia, London, Edinburgh, Bratislava, Copenhagen, New York); On the road. Bob Noorda, il grafico del viaggio (On the Road. Bob Noorda: Travelling with a Graphic Designer, dedicated to the work of the Italian-Dutch designer with the Italian Touring Club) or Archeologie del moderno (Archeologies of Modernity, exhibited in Rome on the occasion of the Graphic Design Week organised by AIAP and in Bologna between 2017 and 2018). In 2025, on a commission from MAECI (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and for International Cooperation), has been produced the exhibition PINK. Women of Italian Graphic Design. From the Origins to Contemporaneity, which is touring for two years in Italian embassies, consulates and cultural institutes around the world.
To date, there are about 60 exhibitions curated directly or to which AIAP CDPG has contributed with loans.
AIAP CDPG is among the founding subjects of the Circuito Lombardo dei Musei del Design (the Lombardy Circuit of Design Museums). Since 2019, it has been collaborating with the University of Macerata and the FGCAD Memories and Digital Humanities Master’s programme for the filing of individual funds and specific projects. There are currently active collaborations with various universities, including Iuav of Venice and the Politecnico di Milano. An agreement has been signed with AIS/Design, the Italian Association of Design Historians, to facilitate historical research and activities of common interest.
The Documentation Centre is also the promoter of two publishing series dedicated to single funds (CDPG Folders) and to specific monographic or thematic projects (CDPG AIAP).
Publications
Since 2011, two series published by AIAP Edizioni have supported the activities of AIAP CDPG. All books are in two languages (Italian and English).
All available titles can be purchased from the AIAP’s online bookshop.
The CDPG / AIAP series brings together monographic research and broader readings. The titles published to date are:
- CDPG 4 – Sonia Chianchiano, Lorenzo Grazzani (eds.), A Guide to the Funds. AIAP CDPG Summary (2025)
- CDPG 3 – Lorenzo Grazzani, Francesco E. Guida (eds.), The Unbroken Sign. Simonetta Ferrante: Graphics between Art, Calligraphy and Design (2011) – Out of Stock
- CDPG 2 – Cinzia Ferrara, Francesco E. Guida (eds.), On the Road. Bob Noorda: Travelling with a Graphic Designer (2011) – Out of Stock
- CDPG 1 – Mario Piazza (ed.), Made in Italy Graphic Design. Communication and Companies Design Oriented. 1950-1980 (2nd edition, 2012) – Out of Stock
In 2015, an editorial series of booklets (called CDPG Folders) was launched, bearing witness to micro-histories related to the AIAP CDPG materials and documents:
- 12 F AT – Chiara Barbieri, Antonio Tubaro: Behind the Scenes of the Graphic Design Practice (2019)
- 11 F MW – Claude Marzotto, Maia Sambonet, Lorenzo Grazzani, Metaworkshop (2018)
- 10 F – Mario Piazza, Foto-grafici. Grafici fotografati e grafici fotografi. 1930 -1980 (2018)
- 09 F CM – Francesco E. Guida, Claudia Morgagni: Commitment as a Professional Model (2016)
- 08 F CD – Giulia Martimucci, Carlo Dradi and the Field of Modern Graphic Design (2016)
- 07 F MV – Mario Piazza, Marco Volpati: The Everyday Work Inspiration (2016)
- 06 F NR – Francesco E. Guida, Nicola Russo: On Peripheral Graphic Design (2015)
- 05 F FC – Daniela Piscitelli, Franco Canale: The Social Dimension of Design (2015)
- 04 F MD – Francesco E. Guida, Mario Dagrada: From the Book Design for Rizzoli to Advertising (2015)
- 03 F HW – Mario Piazza, Heinz Waibl: Rhythm, Harmony, Synthesis, Design (2015)
- 02 F DP – Michele Galluzzo, Silvio Coppola, Diego Prospero and the El Prosper Restaurant (2015)
- 01 F IN – Francesco E. Guida, Ilio Negri: Method and Reason (2015)
People
SCIENTIFIC COORDINATOR
Francesco E. Guida
francesco.guida@aiap.it
ARCHIVE, RESEARCH AND LIBRARY MANAGER
Lorenzo Grazzani
biblioteca@aiap.it
HONORARY MEMBER
Mario Piazza
Over the years, the following people have collaborated in the work of collecting, studying, documenting and sorting information:
Paola Abbiati, Erica Agogliati, Guglielmo Albesano, Marco Anello, Chiara Barbieri, Francesca Barzanò, Nicole Bergel, Giulia Bertuzzo, Letizia Bollini, Giuseppe Mendolia Calella, Federica Carletti, Sveva Castellano, Sonia Chianchiano, Paola Ciandrini, Tiziana Cittadini, Giulia Colombo, Giuseppe Colombo, Francesco Cosmai, Caterina Cottatellucci, Daniela D’Avanzo, Gaia Daverio, Laura Ennas, Giulia Ferrari, Natanaele Fiorito, Cristina Flora, Monica Gabas, Michele Galluzzo, Giuseppe Davide La Grotteria, Francesco Lattanzi, Claudio Lietti, Gloria Luongo, Emma Mapelli, Giulia Martimucci, Camilla Masciadri, Viviana Molino, Edoardo Nardella, Ayanta Noviello, Marilyn Jr. Paniagua, Pietro Tedeschi Polmonari, Claudia Polpetta, Mariasilvia Poltronieri, Davide Porro, Stefania Sabbi, Gina Sorce, Ricciotti Valle-Rugo.
Do You Have Archive Materials?
Graphic design materials are infinite, immense and ephemeral. The AIAP believes that it is a crime to dissipate them or to leave them to a mere collector’s reading, where the value attributed to the artefact is represented primarily by commercial esteem or the curiosity of custom, completely cancelling out the cultural unity of the project (and of the author) in favour of a value reading of the artefact itself.
Collecting, cataloguing and archiving these testimonies is not only useful but also strategic, and it must be done with a view to the immediate return and use of the materials.
The AIAP CDPG, an environment where materials can be stored, catalogued and re-read, exists to facilitate the recovery of new materials.
If you have archive materials, books, magazines… Contact us!