To be continued

To be continued
Presentation at the
University of Bedforshire
in Luton at 17.2.2011

[•] TEST

[•] TO BE CONTINUED [•]

‘One of design’s most fundamental tasks is to help people deal with change.

Designers stand between revolutions and every day life.’ (‘Design & the Elastic mind’,

Paola Antonelli)

[•] ABSTRACT

[•] Thank you for inviting & offering me the opportunity to re-think design education on

paper and on screen.

‘Design is everything. Everything!’ (Paul Rand, graphic design pioneer and educator)

[•] Although we all know fifteen minutes is not enough to consider and review a

complex subject like design & education or design education, I will try to answer your

question ‘WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE KEY CHALLENGES TO HIGHER EDUCATION IN ART

AND DESIGN?’ in a nutshell.

‘Our guiding principle was that design is neither an intellectual nor a material affair, but

simply an integral part of the stuff of life, necessary for everyone in a civilized society.’

(Walter Gropius, architect & founder Bauhaus)

[•] But there are quite some items to discuss . . . Feel free to stop me, if I am running

out of time.

‘To design is to communicate clearly by whatever means you can control or

master.’ (Milton Glaser, graphic designer)

[•] KEYWORDS

[•] First: Atari, last: questioning.

Atari, blurring, brain, future, globalisation, interdisciplinary, lateral, logic, look a like,

multidisciplinary, neural scientific, program, yellow power, research, sketching, skills,

simplicity, team, technology, thinking, TOTAL, turtle graphics, USP, quick scan,

questioning.

[•] ONE

[•] Most Art & Design Institutes offer quite a number of bachelor courses [•] which are

rooted in the past and can be catogorized in 2D, 3D and 4D.

[•] Just a recent quick scan: three institutes 28 courses. Is n’t this fragmentation

levelling education and narrowing research, experiment and innovation?

[•] (Questionmark)

[•] Are the no-zone in between diciplines not the most interesting?


[•][•][•][•] Will multi-di-sci-pli-na-ri-ty transcend the boundaries between disciplines?


But of course some exceptions should be mentioned:

[•] One of the unique and defining features of the Berlin Weissensee School of Art is the

fact that all students attend a one-year interdisciplinary art foundation course together.

[•] This foundation course is principally oriented towards the perception and visualisation

of humans and their environment.

[•] Ensci Paris has a very interesting, open, project based curriculum. [•] Students of

different years may choose freely and can mingle each trimester to work on dedicated

assignments.

[•] Design Academy Eindhoven offers a fresh curriculum, created by industrial designer

Jan Lucassen (TEL). He centered MAN in eight programs: 1. Man and living. 2. Man and

communication. 3. Man and well-being. 4. Man and leisure. 5. Man and mobility. 6. Man

and identity. 7. Man and Activity. 8. Man and public space.

[•] The Design Academy now present itself as The House of Concepts.

[•] For over thirty years The Department of Typography & Graphic Communication at

The University of Reading has been the only one of its kind in Britain. [•] The university

offers just one bachelor course . . .

[•] Concerning another sophisticated way of organizing an updated actualized

curriculum: [•] is the next subdivision relavant? [•] Note: two sizes fits all, check it

yourself. [•][•][•][•][•][•][•][•]

Updated actualized curriculum © ®

Public Private

Work Mind

Education Body

Culture House

Leisure Garden

[•] TWO

[•] I will not predict the future of design. [•] I do not think the discours is very fruitfull.

[•] Most talks prattle on till all latest futuristic gadgets – probably some nanodevices or

smart textiles products – are listed and described.

[•] Besides Paola Antonelli’s introduction concerning historically wrong predictions about

progress, during the last century, in Design and the Elastic Mind – the most recent

available overview in print [•] featuring innovating design – is rather hilarious . . .

[•] Concerning our future: we all know by now not only our climate, [•] but also the

economic order is gonna change quite fundamentally.

[•] Like Angela Davis once proudly introduced Black Power, Kishore Mahbubani may

actually be the first intellectual representative of Yellow Power. [•] He is reasoning

change for already quite some time. [•] I quote: ‘The simplest answer is that from year

1 to year 1820, the two largest economies were China and India. However, with the

passing of the era of Western domination of world history, there will be an almost

natural return of China and India to the number one and number two slots in Global

GNP ranking.’ [End of quote.]

The issue in China and India somehow seems related to big numbers.

[•] Anyhow some multinationals like [•] AKZO and Philips are actually moving

management and staff since they are producing in Asia ánd [•] – be aware this is a

bolean equation – are opening up local markets simeltanously.

Also the first Dutch agencies – [•] like Dumbar, Mattmo, and [•] Northern Light – are

opening offices in Shanghai, while [•] Rem Koolhaas is succesfull all over the world,

[•] especially in Beijing. I think education should catch up really fast . . .

[•] Cumulus presents an impressive list [•] of somehow related institutes.

[•] Thanks to Erasmus-funding students are able to travel the world, [•] and study

abroad.

[•] We started to connect & link institutes, and shared some projects, either here or

there. Of course the tutors joined.

But this all seems to be rather incidental and for a relatively short period of time.

[•] If we want to face the world and – [•] oops, some Bolean once more – to change

our students perspective is n’t we by now to try to deepen collaboration?

[•] Why don’t we promote global cross-overs and co-creation working on the same

assignment in two places?


Shouldn’t we?

[•] THREE

[•] Already some time ago, on the streets, and in the fields, all my beloved friends

wore hats . . , high boots . . , and a gun on every hip . . . [•] Yes, sure, its a Bolean!

[•] Of course, at the time, I was not aware of my very first USP . . .

I’m afraid most Art & Design Instututes are look a likes from an outsider point of view.

[•] All those slightly different design programs seem to level.

Overview. Some design programs

Advertising, Audiovisual Design, Animation, Architecture, Ceramic Design, Design and

Craft, Digital Media Design, Environmental Design, Experience Design, Fashion Design,

Film and Screen Studies, Graphic Communication, Graphic Design, Illustration, Interior

Architecture, Jewellery Design, Lifestyle & Design, Motion Graphics, Packaging,

Photography, Product Design, Service Design, Surface Design, Three Dimensional

Design, Textile Design, Visual Communication, Visual Culture

(Aside: shouldn’t specialisation be the end of an educational career instead of the

beginning?) Wouldn’t it be interesting to emphasize one’s strenght. To present and use a

realistic USP as a starting point for future educational development?

[•] Always think opposite! [•] Think different.

Two examples. [•] Again, just examples, huh?! [•][•][•]

USP: global ©

‘Your culture (whoever you are) is as important as our culture (whoever we are)’

(Tibor Kalman in Colors)

At the University of Bredforshire we face the world: design is everywhere.

USP: skills ©

At the University of Bredforshire we discovered some new skills . . .

Our first year is rather progressive.

The updated course is generic to all designers: only drawing & thinking.

Drawing

Conceptual drawing

Mindmapping

Storytelling

Drawing the human body

Drawing type

Digital drawing (Illustrator & Vectorworks)

Technical drawing & constructing

Postscript

Thinking

Logic (Carnap)

Programming

Lateral thinking (De Bono)

Design thinking

[•] FOUR

In this context I’d like to share some actual insights.

[•] After visiting the Shanghai International Fashion Culture Festival in 2010 and

listening to a stunning lecture titled: What guides the designer’ hand? Inside the

ultimate design studio: the brain by Art Historian John Onians [•], I am prudently

concluding every design programme might need some tuning, re-introducing the manual

experiment to equalize subjects like ‘concepting’, ‘design thinking’ and ‘strategy’.

[• ] Recent neuroscientific insights seem to confirm not only the eye and the hand need

training, also the designers brain needs manual feed to keep in optimum condition.

[• ] The key concept to grasp is that of neural plasticity.

I quote: [• ] ‘Another is that the laying down of those memories is associated with

structural changes in the brain. [• ] We have always known that previous experience is

important for artistic success, but we never knew exactly why. [•] Now we know that it

is because each experience we have actually changes our brain’s structure, leaving us

with better resources for dealing with that particular experience if we have it again.’

And: [•] ‘Each trained artist or designer acquires over time a brain whose structure helps

him or her to perform the particular tasks he or she is engaged in. [•] The process by

which this happens is one that only recently has been understood. [. . .]

[•] By concentrating on a particular activity we re-design the area of the brain that we

use for it. [. . .] [•] Of course those neurally based motor skills will then influence his

own work, [•] and they will do so without him being conscious of it.

[•] This is one of the most important insights yielded by neuroscience.

[•] In a field like art or design you can have lots of bright ideas, [•] but if you don’t

have the required motor skills with pencil or mouse your work will not be a success.’

With reference to John Onians, [•] and with the help of Claudia Mareis (Forschungs-

dozentin für Designtheorie at Hochschule der Künste Bern), recently, I have been

reading quite a number of scientific papers concerning the significance of sketching to

the profession.

Distinguishing sketches from prototypes

Sketch Prototype

Suggest Describe

Explore Refine

Question Answer

Propose Test

Provoke Resolve

Tentative Specific depiction

What sketches (and prototypes) are & are not, Bill Buxton

[•] Most studies carry sturdy titles like: ‘The Dialectics of Sketching, or ‘What does

drawing reval about thinking’, or ‘Sketches for design, and design of sketches’. To share

a few insights:

[•] ‘Designers sketch to expolre design solutions, to record their ideas, or to illustrate

them and communicate them with others.’

[•] ‘The ambiguity of design sketches, rather than promoting confusion, promotes

innovation.’

[•] ‘I see the real causal factor as taking the time to focus and make what is seen

conscious.’

[•] In this context I’d like to recommend a short vimeo on drawing by Pentagrams

Daniel Weil. [•] Like many designers, Weil uses sketching to visualize, generate and

refine his ideas. [•] He is a passionate advocate of imaginary notating, and a true

collector. Daniel Weil has, by his estimation, more than 375 sketchbooks, going all the

way back to 1978.

[•] ‘In a way the books become both a diary and record for my thoughts: the things

I see, the things I think about, and the designs I’m designing,‘ says daniel Weil.

‘Drawing is a designer’s most fundamental tool; it is design thinking made visible.’

[•] FIVE

Society is rapidly transforming, and technique is always innovating.

[•] The profession changed radically due to a number of technologic innovations.

Probably design and technology are linked due to mass-production.

[•] Recently the Espresso Book Machine is available at the American Book Center in

Amsterdam and will deliver anybody a book within minutes if an accurate .pdf is

provided.

[•] Meantime, over time, we all changed pencils, [•] and bought quite expensive digital

ones. [•] And as it seems the individual independent designer is disappearing. Nowadays

most designers, which are oriented towards complex intellectual challenges, are part of

multidisciplinary teams while blurring the boundaries between disciplines.

I’m quoting ‘Engineering design thinking. Teaching & learning’:

[•] ‘To an increasing degree, design is being recognized and thought as a team process

with multiple socio-technological dimensions. Design is defined as a social process in

which teams define and negotiate decisions . . . And:

[•] ‘Results indicated that student design teams that challenged assumptions throughout

the designproces, with clynical semantic coherence, performed better than teams that

had little variation over the designprocess. These results support the hypothesis that

high performing designteams cycle between divergent and convergent patterns of

thinking & questioning.’


Why do we keep training students as if individual designers?

[•] SIX

‘To describe the problem is part of the solution. This implies: not to make creative

decisions as prompted by feeling but by intellectuel criteria. The more exact and

complete these criteria are, the more creative the work becomes. The creative process

is to be reduced to an act of selection.’ (‘Designing Programmes’, Karl Gerstner)

[•] ‘To describe the problem is part of the solution’, Karl Gerstner [•] states in [•]

Designing Programmes. (Please be aware of the subtitle: instead of solutions for

problems programmes for solutions.)

Alas rather late, [•] at the start of the new millennium in 2001, I discovered the

compact but influential title, at [•] TOTAL DESIGN the famous identity agency in

Amsterdam. [•] The book, first publicated in 1964, had not lost its impact.

‘Designing programmes: why is it so difficult to define what is meant in a nutshell. The

subtitle: instead of solutions for problems, programmes for for solutions is more exact

certainly but scarceley more graphic. The position is probably this: there can be no clear

concept of something [...]’. (‘Designing Programmes’, Karl Gerstner)

[•] I am used to de-compoze and atomize, because Design is driven by [•][•] vertical,

as well as [•][•] horizontal thinking and practised by [•][•] deducting and combining.

[•] If a division in approaches on protocol analysis can be made in ‘formal’ and

‘informal’ like Barbara Tversky, professor of Psychology at Colombia University and

emerita at Stanford University, is suggesting in ‘What do architects & students perceive

in their design sketches?’, I’d stick to the first catagory. I quote:

[•] ‘In formal protocol analysis, design is seen as a rational problem-solving search

process through a “solution space”. [•] Its main focus is to describe design in terms of

general taxonomy of problem solving [. . .]’.

[•] ‘In informal analysis, on the other hand, design is seen as a proces in wich each

designer “construct his/her own reality” by his/her own actions that are reflective,

reponsive and opportunistic to the design situation, as Dorst & Dijkhuis characterized it.’

[• ] Indeed, my motto is already for quite sometime: ‘Ordening. Structuring.

Programming. Simplifying Complexity’.

[•] You might spot some evidence in the next three examples.

[•] First: a series of covers wrapping up [•] Louis Couperus (1863-1923), a quite

famous Dutch novelist of the late 19th and early 20th century.

[•] The design, [•] from 1981, [•] is infact not much more [•] then a color scheme. [•]

[•] Second: a magazine production – for number ten of 2007 – on the public

appearances and the body language of George Bush. [•] First my notes, [•] then some

selected studies [•] concerning sequence, [•] format and rythm.

[•] Third (last): a commission by Royal Dutch Post. [•] This is a very special stamp,

which is distributed [•] only in the beginning of december, [•] just before X-mas.

[•] These early digital sketches, [•] are made with Degas, [•] the popular, much

cheaper rival of Mac Draw, [•] because I could not afford a Mac as a starter at that

time.

[•] So we mainly used Atari those first years . . . [•] Besides the (German) machine

was quite good, [•] especially because the ST was ‘open’ & all ports were easy to

program.

[•] The final sketches, however, are again just plain framed papercuts: precize, accurate

and effective.

[•] But apart from illustrating a specific mindset, these early examples show the effects

of a powerfull research driven methodology, caused by curiosity, beyond questioning and

expressed by the urge to investigate: on color, on rythm, on technology.

[•] They also show experiment might produce valuable result within any laboratory,

i-lab or designkitchen.

[•] When possible, in my spare time, I am studying LOGO – a LISP-dialect – producing

simple pen-up-pen-down Turtle Graphics . . .

[•] . . . Yes, I think programming – writing code – should be part of every up-to-date

curriculum to offer students another perspective and influence design-methodology.

[•] So, at the end of this presentation, I’d like to quote Harold Abelson – [•] a mathe-

matician and professor of Computer Science at MIT – who is stating in the Preface of

‘Turtle Geometry’:

[•] ‘It is our hope that these powerfull but simple tools for creating and exploring richly

interactive environments will dissolve the barriers to the production of knowledge as the

printing press dissolved barriers to its transmission.’

[•] ‘This hope is more than our wish for students to experience the joy of discovery and

the give and take between investigator and investigation that typifies scientific research.

[•] Like Piaget, Dewey, and Montessori, we are convinced that personal involvement

and agency are essential to truly effective education.’

[•] Thank you!

[•] Any questions?

To be continued

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