Approaches and Strategies for Working Today
Lecture Material
Collaboration around the Globe
Hato
“We set up Hato Student Society formally as a way to really support students’ educations. Initially as a complementary service to their actual BAs or MAs, their university education, but I think we’d like to see it 10 grow into a space where maybe we are able to support students outside of traditional forms of design education. Essentially, it’s a platform where we offer free portfolio reviews, free printing workshops in our space in London. There’s also large discount, around extra 50% discounts on printing bills, more like maybe items that students really benefit from, such as simple as business cards to postcards and posters and things that could help them launch their creative practice. That’s something that we really wanted to set up for that community, as an extension to our engagement as a practice.”
The idea of doing things voluntarily and not for anything other than to help those in need is a great thing. Hato mention how they have set-up these services above in London, but want to expand to Hong Kong or even any other places in the UK. This is a global community; something that is now possible thanks to all of the worldwide tools such as social media, internet, video calling applications.
New Studio
“We had the other day, when we had a group discussion about the thing, we
described it as a veggie garden, a common veggie garden. Everybody is taking care, 8 one person plants the tomatoes, the other fixes the fence, the next one whatever, takes the weeds out, the next one puts a little bit of water on everything. Then altogether, we make the salad out of the vegetables. Everybody has to somehow care and contribute to it but it’s not like you’re obligated in a way, or you’re forced to do certain things. It should be more like everybody’s seeing it as their own studio. It’s not like it’s one of those things where it’s Axel’s studio or Marius’s studio, it’s not that. Simply I’m just one part, and Rita is just one part, but for her it’s her studio, for
me it’s my studio. Altogether it’s a group studio.“
Collaborative working will result in a great outcome, and it could be for various levels of work towards the final piece. Ultimately it’s all about individuals collectively working together to create a project.
From this discussion between Alec, Axel and Rita I have come to the conclusion that in their experience, being a multidisciplinary designer pays off. Axel explains how he has fingers in different pots all of the time, but that’s what probably keeps it exciting. Also if you have multiple projects running at once, you are likely to take inspiration or lessons from each project to the other. They all feed themselves in a way. It’s also great to hear how the inexperienced designers will have fresh ideas in comparison to the experienced designers, and experienced designers will have the background knowledge to be able to suss out a project. I think this is why it would be beneficial to consider a varied age range of staff when beginning a business, collective or studio for example.
The future of Graphic Design Globally
How will globalisation and advancements in technology affect graphic design education?
Simon:
• Many people can collaborate that wouldn’t be able to in their every day lives. You are likely to meet people from backgrounds and cultures easily and conveniently.
• Interesting point about something being made is more likely to sway viewers and opinions.
• No longer referring to the prestigious companies for ‘good design’ and instead looking at more complicated, unique and forward-thinking scenarios and cultures for design ideas and solutions; love the comment about eco conscious design too – this is definitely more of a trend than it was say, 10/20 years ago.
Sarah:
• More connected, Instagram and Facebook allowed networking worldwide. This is beneficial when having a small business, opens a lot of doors. Important not to forget that meeting people in person is still beneficial; you sometimes get more that way.
Intro:
• It enables studying flexibility worldwide and is constantly evolving in comparison to when they studied; I imagine the differences between their education and mine would be vastly different. I would love to know which students became more successful (statistically); education now such as online flexible learning, or traditional study within universities/schools/colleges? Personally I feel like I’m gaining more from an online course than I ever did physically at university for 3 years. Maybe that’s down to structure of the course (weekly projects vs term projects) more than the advancement of technology.
Sam:
• Access to so much more information and data thus resulting in knowledge.
• “How do you embody information” – Sam states this isn’t usually done through the screen. I agree with this in the sense that in order to learn and process information I usually have to physically write or draw things as notes to remember them; or visualise them better.
• Sam summarises some thoughts that I’ve mentioned above for ‘Intro’ – education will change through globalisation yes, but ultimately the way humans learn will remain the same. Really interesting point there and I agree. However, I would also argue that technology can actually improve the way we learn things and be used as a tool to benefit education.
What do you think are the creative opportunities for the students studying on a global online course, such as the MA Graphic Design at Falmouth?
• Bringing together ideas in a super collaborative sense – it’s enabling students to come together from various experiences and backgrounds to create ideas that wouldn’t necessarily happen if studying at the uni together was the only option (foreign students may struggle with language for example; online this would be translated)
Sarah:
• Much broader ideas, far more open minded.
Intro:
• If students are communicating they can create a varying dynamic between them; people from different cultures can inform ideas and design work effectively.
• You may feel that you have one idea but then globally find others who have the same idea and you can collaborate. This is extremely efficient!
• Distancing learning and communicating via technology can benefit collaborations.
Sam:
• Global culture enables challenges to be resolved or discussed in more efficient ways than before.
Regular practice:
• People can come together who have similar interests; processes can be collectively evolved and therefore the project may begin as ideas but then progress into wonderful projects.
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