The annual AIGA | Aquent Survey of Design Salaries provides the most complete compensation data available on communication design professionals and the design economy in the United States. Characteristics of survey respondents, trend analysis, and compensation figures categorized myriad ways are all cleanly designed for ease of use and woven together through a conceptual framework that reflects the theme conveyed through short essays from noted designers. In the forefront of everyone's mind in the current survey is the obvious impact of the economic downturn on the design profession. The question: How to survive? The answer: Emphasize that a designer is everything plus—a student, anthropologist, business owner, marketer, explorer.