Neshan 45

About ten centuries ago, Khajah Abdullah Ansari said: “Life is an expedition, not relaxation.” His statement has certainly awakened many individuals so far. Contrary to usual trends, these individuals no longer fear problems. They have been told that problems are not stop signs for humans, but motifs for trying harder. Problems make us flexible, and cause individuals to become familiar with thinking, curiosity, problem solving and discovering new approaches. Solving problems can be interesting and enjoyable, and give us a taste of the pleasant... > more

In his account of the 1991 feature film, The Adjuster, Atom Egoyan portrays insurance agent Noah Render, who attempts to restore the damaged lives of his clients through unorthodox methods. His code — “You may not know it yet, but you’re in shock.” — acts as a gateway into the lives of his clients. He assures them that they will eventually return to their normal lives after placing them in designated hotels for a period of time and slowly inserting himself into their lives without their realizing.... > more

Between October 2017 and January 2018 we gave our first ever semester-long course at the École de Supérieure d’Art et Design of Valence. Before that, we had taught quite a bit already, but always through the form of one-week workshops. These often follow a simple structure: On Monday morning the teacher presents an assignment that has to be completed by Friday. It’s like a race. You have to push yourself and go beyond your comfort zone. It’s demanding. It’s exhilarating. It’s invigorating.... > more

Bahman Eslami began his path in 2004 with his education in Visual Communication at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Tehran University. Prior to joining the university, he occupied himself by creating animated videos for advertising agencies. 
He considers his education in Type Media at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (2015) a turning point in career, and believes through this experience he can distinguish Persian/Arabic type design frontiers from Latin. In the text that follows, I will refer to Bahman’s ideas about authorizing Persian/Arabic type... > more

I find it interesting to understand the roots used by other countries regarding the teaching of typography. What are the pedagogical resources or visions used by schools in order to figure out the potential future global typographic landscape? This declaration aims to question the way of exploring design (mostly typography) through the existing landmarks and the interrogations of following them or not. Freeness and escape should be taken in consideration to not make the error of building ourselves into something closed and dogmatic.... > more

For the past five years my colleague Niels Schrader and I have co-run the bachelor program in Graphic Design at the Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague (KABK). This is a full time curriculum built around four main courses: design, interaction, image and typography. We have added a triptych of electives to this base, including PlayLab (which revolves around artistic research), Letterstudio (about typeface design), drawing, and Design Office (with assignments from the outside world in collaboration with real clients and real budgets). ... > more

You’ve been the Dean of the School of Communication at the RCA for the past seven years, and our talk is taking place at a time you are stepping down. How did you come to the conclusion to make this decision? How did you find the overall experience? When I came to the college there were no schools, there were only clusters of Programmes. The School system was formed about six months after I joined. At the time of joining, I was just Head of Programme for the Visual Communication MA. They created six schools, and then advertised the dean posit... > more

On being contacted to write about my ‘approach to education most specifically in relation to non-Latin typeface design’, it was a surprise for me to realise that I have been teaching in this field for at least twenty years, mostly at the University of Reading in the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication. Furthermore, coming from a background in the study of languages, followed by working for over a decade in industry at Linotype Ltd (UK), I realise that my experience usually differs greatly from that of the students I teach on the M... > more

Before the establishment of official centers, teaching the arts in Iran was based on the mentoring/master-student principle and traditional approaches. This article aims to introduce and review five important and effective educational centers that have greatly contributed to establishing art and graphic design teaching in Iran over the past two centuries.... > more

Educating design students worldwide has been a core feature of Alliance Graphique Internationale’s annual members’ gatherings since 1979, when the prestigious professional association of the world’s leading graphic artists and designers first introduced student seminars to their Congress programme. Congress that year took place in New York – ten students and one tutor from each college where members taught across thirteen different countries were invited – and three hundred students were in attendance. Colin Forbes (USA), who organised the e... > more

A few years ago, I started teaching graphic design at the University at Buffalo SUNY (UB), a public university in the Rust Belt. I started to think about how the historiography of what we were reading was shaping my students’ ideas of what it means to practice graphic design. Who and what counts as part of graphic design history and how does that history affect what these students believe they will become?... > more