ASID RealWorld DesignWeek 2012 (RWDW) took place Nov. 4-10, 2012, yet Lindsay Marshall, ASID professional development associate, is still receiving photos and stories of the highly successful shadow days from both students and mentors. This past year, 750 students shadowed a practicing design professional in the field, becoming fully a part of the design industry.

Only in its fifth year, RWDW set new records for total number of shadow day events created, total paired events, total shadow day hosts, and total number of student participants. In fact, seven of the ten categories measured on an annual basis showed an increase compared to RWDW 2011- making it the most successful RWDW to date. These include amount of students and designers registered, amount of shadow days created and members who hosted multiple students.

A portion of this success is attributed to ASID Industry Partners’ Cosentino North America, a worldwide leader in the distribution of natural stone, based in Texas, and Virginia-based Ferguson, the largest wholesale distributor of residential and commercial plumbing supplies in the U.S. Both companies opened its doors to more than 65 students in various showrooms during one day of RWDW. Photos submitted by various participants have now been compiled into an album, which can be found on the ASID Student and Emerging Professionals Facebook page. To view the album, click here.

For more information about RWDW, such as how to participate or how you and/or your company can host interior design students during RWDW 2013, taking place Nov. 3-9, visit www.asid.org/rwdw.