“
“
In Dialogue
Greetings 4 Introductions 6 Roundtable 32 Dialogues 46
Roundtable 88 Inquiries104 Transitions 124
“
In Dialogue
Letter from Our Chair 4 Communications Design 6 M.F.A. Communications Design 10 M.S. Package Design 12 Faculty Profiles 16 Roundtable 32 Student Profiles 46 Collaborative and Extracurricular Projects 68 GradComD Gallery 82 Design Lecture Series 83 Around the Studio 84 Roundtable 88 The Thesis 104 International Opportunities 120 Graduate School Manifesto 124 Colophon 126 Acknowledgments 127 Contact Us 128
Design curricula at their very best must address head-on the strategic environment in which our future graduates will practice. set of cultural, economic, and technological interrelationships among users, objects, and settings, and ultimately, their meaningful interaction. Invariably, it is within these new environments (at their very center, actually) that one finds people—citizens, stakeholders, impacted communities, and various others with pressing needs—leading us to problems worth solving and, with them, the opportunity for betterment for all involved.
Letter from Our Chair To preface our faculty and students as they aptly describe both our programs and an ever-evolving disciplinary context, I think of the considerable challenges and opportunities that await a new generation of designers. Recognizing the critical importance of knowledge and expertise in a field that daily informs the ongoing project that is our communicative society, I am also reminded that design curricula must strive to address head-on the strategic environment in which our future graduates will practice. With this in mind, I believe that much needed good work lies ahead in the charting and shaping of the various contemporary communications environments that presently describe a novel
4 | Greetings
I also believe that there is great promise in the coming together of design and education to inform future practices across disciplinary boundaries. I am reassured, for instance, that a significant number of the much-heralded “twenty-first-century skills”— long-standing core competencies of designers such as criticality, creativity, communication, and technological literacy —are now considered indispensable in the preparation of a new “knowledge-able” workforce. I hope you enjoy the work shown, the conversations had, and the insights garnered in this publication. They are the products of our curiosity, creativity, humor, and collegiality. A wonderfully productive place to start, one should argue. Santiago Piedrafita
ENTERTAIN INFORM PERSUADE Communications Design Pratt Institute’s Graduate Communications Design department has been educating graphic and package designers for over forty years. We offer the Master of Fine Arts degree in Communications Design and the Master of Science degree in Package Design.
M.F.A., terminal degree M.S., initial masters
In a survey of ten thousand design professionals by Graphic Design USA magazine, the program is recognized as one of the five most influential graphic design schools of the past fifty years and one of the top five graphic design schools today; the program is ranked in the top twelve of over two hundred graduate design programs in the nation, as reported in U.S. News & World Report rankings. A body of students from diverse cultural, professional, and educational backgrounds come to Pratt to further their careers in the design industry, begin a journey toward becoming a design educator, or alter a career course. Our graduate programs provide students the opportunity to develop and refine their design process, design voice, and creative skills, leading to professional competence and leadership.
We believe the most intriguing and successful designers are cultural innovators who use media to inform, persuade, and entertain. Our graduates develop voice as authors and entrepreneurs engaged in identifying and solving problems within a variety of environments. We approach design as an agent of change—a strategy for transforming behaviors of individuals in desirable and sustainable ways. Our programs provide a framework for both professional practice and academic careers, while emphasizing full-time studio practice.
6 | Introductions
Our location in one of New York’s most creative
areas provides a wealth of opportunities available nowhere else. Welcome to Pratt Manhattan The department is located in Manhattan in the neighborhood of Chelsea between 6th and 7th Avenues, and our student studios are four blocks north on 18th Street. The department’s faculty includes highly regarded, award-winning designers, authors, marketing specialists, and media critics. The faculty are important professional contacts for the students—several have written pivotal design books and articles, and many have been honored with awards from prestigious arts and design organizations. Our location in one of Manhattan’s most creative areas provides a wealth of opportunities available nowhere else. With access to world-famous design firms, the students talk with and, through the department’s internship opportunities and professional faculty, have the opportunity to work with some of the very best designers. As a result, many students secure industry positions even before their graduation, leaving Pratt with a confident design voice and an outstanding body of work. Many of our graduates have gone on to become innovative leaders in communications design areas: print media, typographics, identity systems and branding, package design, motion design, interactive design, environmental design, data visualization and information design, and advertising design.
8 | Introductions
Manhattan Campus 144 West 14th Street New York, NY 11102 GradComD Studios 123 West 18th Street New York, NY 11102
M.F.A. Communications Design Design plays a central and formative role in shaping communities, technology, and business. Never before have designers been expected to cultivate such a diverse set of skills and knowledge. Our M.F.A. program prepares individuals to pursue design with passion and cultural significance. Our distinctive program emphasizes design as a means for communicating meaningful messages, organizing information, creating mindful experiences, and effecting social change.
Students are encouraged to synthesize theory with practice.
There are seven M.F.A. studios—courses that investigate current practice and the future directions of communications design. Courses emphasize research, critical thinking, and design strategy coupled with entrepreneurship and an iterative design process. Students are consistently encouraged to synthesize theory with practice. These are intense studios taught by resident and visiting faculty, sharing a common foundation with the other studios offered in a given semester. Studios consist of group discussions, class critiques, student presentations, individual faculty meetings, and visits with guest designers.
The components of the sixty-two credit M.F.A. program include an emphasis on studio practice, research and scholarship, design teaching methodologies, and academic studies of visual media covering history, theory, critical analysis, aesthetics, and related humanities and social sciences.
Applicants who hold an undergraduate degree in graphic design, visual communications, or the equivalent, and/or have professional graphic design experience, are typically able to complete the degree requirements within two years if attending full-time. Up to twelve credits of qualifying courses may be required for applicants who do not meet all entrance standards but whose applications indicate a strong aptitude for graduate study. This includes those who studied in fields such as industrial and interior design, architecture, fine arts, media arts, communications and journalism, liberal arts, business, and the sciences. Students required to take qualifying courses can expect to complete the degree requirements within three years if attending full-time. A portfolio review is required for admission. Classes are offered both day and evening, and part-time attendance is optional.
10 | Introductions
Students may also take electives in graduate programs
These core studios are supported by study in design process and methodology, technology, history, visual thinking, narrative strategy, social interaction, visual identity systems, and typographic and information design. Electives include design management, marketing, typeface/letterform design, color studio, advertising, and illustration.
across the Institute.
M.F.A. candidates will be required to present a thesis and final body of work demonstrating professional competence and are encouraged to search for connections and relationships between the studio projects and their thesis work. A significant proportion of the work is self-directed and independent, with an emphasis on discovering their own design voice. The thesis must be approved by a faculty committee and the department chairperson in order to be eligible for degree conferral.
M.S. Package Design The M.S. in Package Design, a degree first offered in 1966, educates students from diverse cultural, professional, and educational backgrounds in design thinking, technical skills, collaborative abilities, academic knowledge, and managerial competence. While focused on creative problem solving, the curriculum is pragmatic and industry oriented. Graduates enter the professional world with an outstanding body of work, prepared to become innovative leaders in the field of package design. The M.S. in Package Design is an initial master’s degree that offers students structured courses on the decision-making process for new product and package development, including courses in package design, typography, brand development, marketing, structural packaging, packaging technology, fragrance packaging, and the business aspects of the industry.
Graduates enter the professional world with an outstanding body of work, prepared to become innovative leaders in the field of package design. The final stage of the curriculum is the thesis, which provides knowledge of the problem-solving process through directed research and, over the succeeding two semesters, gives students the opportunity to develop an extensive, innovative project. The comprehensive thesis demonstrates professional competence and includes research, project formulation and production, and process documentation.
A minimum of forty-eight credits, which can be completed within two to three years of study, is required for the M.S. Package Design degree program. Students accepted into M.S. Package Design typically hold undergraduate degrees in graphic design or related design fields such as industrial or interior design, architecture, fine arts, or media arts. We welcome applicants from non-design fields as well, such as business, liberal arts, and the sciences. A qualifying program of up to an additional six credits of prerequisite classes may be required for applicants whose undergraduate backgrounds do not meet all entrance standards but whose applications indicate a strong aptitude for graduate study. For students with substantial graphic design experience, the program—with courses ranging from structural packaging to visual communications to marketing—challenges their creativity to its furthest potential. A portfolio review is required for admission. Classes are offered both day and evening, and part-time attendance is optional. 12 | Introductions
NG Georgia State University, URE Graphic Design TURALISM Design Education, Interaction Design, Systems Thinking ION DESIGN New York, NY
Undergraduate Program:
What’s your focus?
What’s your focus?
Branding, Packaging, Typography
CYNTHIA DOUAIHER Beirut, Lebanon Undergraduate Program:
Advertising, Advocacy, Branding What do you bring to the table?
My own design thinking.
Skidmore College, English
Perfectionism.
What’s your focus?
What’s your focus?
NIKKO-RYAN SANTILLAN Tehachapi, California Undergraduate Program:
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, City & Regional Planning What’s your focus?
What do you bring to the table?
I’m a person of two cultures, two degrees, and two communities (rural and urban).
HARUKA AOKI Tokyo, Japan
AMANDA SEPANSKI Toledo, Ohio
Undergraduate Program:
Undergraduate Program:
Brown University, History of Art and Architecture What’s your focus?
Advertising, Illustration, Print Design What do you bring to the table?
Art history knowledge and illustration skills.
KEMAR SWABY Kingston, Jamaica Undergraduate Program:
Undergraduate Program:
What do you bring to the table?
Information Design, Lebanese American University, Interaction Design, Graphic Design and Advertising Social Design What’s your focus?
Cleveland, Ohio Miami University, Graphic Design
What do you bring to the table?
A diverse history and a strong footing in science.
CAROLINE WURTZEL Great Neck, New York
University of Dayton, Visual Communication Design What’s your focus?
Design Education, Philosophy, Social Design
Undergraduate Program:
Illustration, Motion Design, Pop Culture
Advocacy, Social Design, Systems Thinking
What do you bring to the table?
What do you bring to the table?
Usually doughnuts. Design-wise: illustration, storytelling, humor. Personality-wise: see above. KIRAN PURI Santa Ana, California ALICIA BURNETT Niskayuna, New York Undergraduate Program:
Rhode Island School of Design, Illustration What’s your focus?
Critical Theory, Illustration, Pop Culture What do you bring to the table?
Drawing and traditional printmaking knowledge as well as an insatiable curiosity about culture.
UCLA, English and Political Science What’s your focus?
Interaction Design, Multiculturalism, Typography What do you bring to the table?
Diverse experiences, love of a good line, and loads of effort.
JACQUELINE MANOHARAN Yonkers, New York
What’s your focus?
Cultural Identity, Multiculturalism, Social Media
MARIE D’OVIDIO Paris, France
Binghamton University, Studio Art concentrating in Graphic Design
Undergraduate Program:
What’s your focus?
What’s your focus?
Information Design, Interaction Design, Motion Design
What do you bring to the table?
My educational background in fine arts and mathematics.
What do you bring to the table?
My knowledge about strategy (thanks to my advertising CORWIN GREEN background) and how to Amherst, Massachusetts
Undergraduate Program:
University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Biology What’s your focus?
Information Design, Interaction Design, Motion Design What do you bring to the table?
A healthy appetite for web design and information design skills.
What do you bring to the table?
Salsa y sazón
JOHN LUNN Baltimore, Maryland Undergraduate Program:
CAROLINE MATTHEWS Houston, Texas Undergraduate Program:
Elon University, Journalism and Public Relations What’s your focus?
Advocacy, Interaction Design, Participatory Design I look at each issue through a multidisciplinary lens. I. Work. Hard.
Undergraduate Program:
Dance moves.
Seton Hall University,
AI Miami International University of Art and Design, Graphic Design
What do you bring to the table?
What do you bring to the table?
Undergraduate Program:
Undergraduate Program:
Undergraduate Program:
École Supérieure de Publicité, Illustration, Motion Design, Advertising Multiculturalism
BRITTANY MULLEN Woodland Park, New Jersey
JUAN CARLOS RODRIGUEZ-RIVERA Cataño, Puerto Rico
DIEGO ZAKS Caracas, Venezuela Undergraduate Program:
PRODiseño, Communications Design What’s your focus?
Branding, Print Design, Technology What do you bring to the table?
Good humor and a fearless approach to technology.
Towson University, Illustration What’s your focus?
Critical Theory, Cultural Identity, Social Design What do you bring to the table?
Super rad dance moves!
INTERA BRAND RACHNA BATRA Hyderabad, India SOCIAL University of North Carolina PRINT D at Chapel Hill, Journalism and Mass Communication TYPOG Participatory Design, Print Design, Social Design ILLUST InterpersonalMOTION skills, initiative, meticulous attention to detail (when I have time). ADVOC ADVERT JOHN OLSON POP CU Poughkeepsie, NY Undergraduate Program:
What’s your focus?
What do you bring to the table?
later her family members were sent to Auschwitz, where they perished. Chava had been separated from them, consigned to physical labor in Hamburg, Germany. In the last days of the war, when the German Army began to flee from its major outposts, it left behind legions of sick and malnourished prisoners; Chava was one of them. She regained consciousness from a severe illness amid corpses and was discovered alive by British troops. After recovering for a month in a hospital, she was sent back to Czechoslovakia, where she was taken in by her former governess. She was fifteen years old.
Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design is Israel’s national school of art.
In 1946 an aunt and uncle were living in Palestine, and when notified that she was alive, they brought her to live with them. She won a government scholarship to attend the Bezalel Academy, but her studies were put on hold when Israel launched its war for independence and she was sent to the Israeli army for two years. During this time she contracted polio. In 1964, after completing her studies with a degree in graphic design, Chava moved to the United States and worked for several different prestigious New York design firms before founding her own studio.
Chava Ben-Amos Chava Ben-Amos has been teaching in the Pratt Graduate Communications Design department at Pratt since 1972. Getting to know Chava for this book has been an extraordinary experience. We knew that she has an impressive professional career, has won numerous awards, and has been a pioneer in branding and packaging since the 1960s. What we didn’t know was the incredible road that took Chava from her birthplace in Prague in 1930 to become one of the most influential members of the Pratt faculty for over forty years. When Chava was nine the Nazis sent her and her family to the Theresienstadt ghetto and concentration camp, and four years
16 | Introductions
Chava, you have taught at Pratt since 1972. It must be incredible to be part of this department for that long. Chava invited the book team to her home
Yes, I will be eighty-four this summer.
to share some of her stories, insights, and
That’s exciting.
experiences.
It’s exciting but I would rather be sixty-four. [ Laughter ] You have worked for many brands and clients. What were the most enjoyable jobs you’ve had? Enjoyable depends on what you think is enjoyable. I was very happy with my work for the Girl Scouts. I did the Girl Scouts
And I take it that didn’t agree with you? No—how could I work that way? I worked on it until it was good! Sometimes it was very fast; sometimes it wasn’t. But I couldn’t work like that. If it takes all night to get it finished, I will finish it. But I’m not going to be looking at the clock. So … I left. I got three offers in the same day. I came to work in Manhattan. So it was fine. I have been working many years. Where did you work when you came to New York? cookies three times over. It was a pleasure, and the models were the actual Girl Scouts. And we traveled. I was in California with them, and we rode on horses and we went to the beach and we went to the mountains. I had a very good photographer … Jay Maisel.
Donald Deskey was a renowned artist, industrial designer, and interior designer.
I got a lot of compliments on my solution. The fact that everything was in silhouette. Whatever I did was in silhouette. They were riding on a bike in silhouette … Nobody knows if they are white or black. But in those days, some people wanted nothing to do with the Girl Scouts organization if there was a black Girl Scout. And the other way around, too.
I worked for a company called Deskey Associates. It used to be called Donald Deskey. And we did a lot of work for Procter & Gamble. They loved everything we did; it was very commercial.
I don’t think commercial is a bad word. I mean, I can do fine art, too, but I love packaging and it sells. So what do you think is the difference between being a commercial artist and a fine artist?
What else have you worked on? I did a lot of theater posters. These were posters. [ Points to work on coffee table ] I did a lot of Broadway shows. The Butterflies Are Free. That won poster of the year. I did the first Tylenol campaign. And I’m a big user. [ Laughs ]
I had an exhibition at Pratt years ago and somebody said, “This looks just like the supermarket.” And I said, “It is the supermarket!” This is what I was doing. And when Procter & Gamble changed a product, I did it again and again. I did Crest about four times over. So for me, commercial is fine. It sold. Not only that, but my son is very proud of me because he saw some of my designs in the Czech Republic, translated into Czech. He was showing all of his friends … “My mother did this!”
Butterflies Are Free opened on October 21, 1969, at the Booth Theatre, where it ran for 1,128 performances.
What is it like working on so many different products? I enjoy it! But I once worked for a company that paid me well, but I hated it so much. They would go by the clock. They would say: “How long did you work on it? Three hours? You only have fifteen more minutes.”
18 | Introductions
The Snuggle bear has been the fabric softener’s mascot since 1983.
I have some pictures of my son, with his jeans, photographed from the back as he’s just turning around, and a little teddy bear in his pocket. That’s how Snuggle came about.
So how did you get into teaching packaging? I wasn’t a packaging designer when I came to America, but I worked for a lot of the best design firms and designed packaging for companies like Scott Paper, Colgate Palmolive, S.C. Johnson, General Mills. I worked for Raymond Loewy and then I worked for Deskey Associates. Those were the old guys. Oldies but goodies. And so I became a packaging guru. Does packaging have different design considerations than other design fields? Packaging is not just the package. It’s the brand in total. You have to know what the company needs, what the company wants, what will sell. Chava, you have had such an incredible life! How have you been able to accomplish so much? I was always working. I enjoy myself when there’s a big rush when we have to get stuff out and when there’s a whole big group of people getting stuff done. I enjoy myself when things are like that. I’ve been through hell and back many times in my life, but in the end I turned out fine.
20 | Introductions
I had an exhibition years ago and somebody said, said “This “Thislooks looksjust just like the supermarket.”And AndIIsaid, said “It is the supermarket!” This is
22 | Greetings
<<
NYC Makers: The MAD
Biennial catalog <
Website for
Retrospective Art Space
Ryan Waller is one of the partners of the design
I taught in the undergrad program for a year. I guess this was in 2007 and 2008; it was a weird situation in which someone had recommended that I teach there, and I was called in by the chair. So I met with her and she asked if I wanted to teach, and I had never thought about it, but I said okay and I tried it out.
studio Other Means,
Wellenstein. He also is one of the founders of space located in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.
I think that a lot of the way I’ve always worked was developing projects that were my projects, starting earlier as making zines
24 | Introductions
How do you think your work at Other Means has influenced the way that you teach?
with Gary Fogelson, Phil Lubliner, and Vance
Primetime, a gallery
Why do you keep teaching?
In the Typography II class and in the Visual Language class, there is always a project that’s related to the concept of collecting and curating and developing a thing from that. A lot of projects that we’ve actually done as a studio sort of relate to that, and there is always one in the works, so it’s something that I’m always kind of interested in. Just seeing how other people might do it.
The projects that I would want to work on with students are things that I would want to do myself.
Ryan Waller Tell us about how you came to teach at Pratt.
and little printed things: posters and T-shirts and things. I’ve always been interested in making work. Certainly by the time I was in graduate school, I was developing larger research-based work, and the reason I think I like teaching now is because I think that all of the projects that I would want to work on with students are things that I would want to do myself. All of the classes that I teach are usually based on something that I’m currently reading and want to figure out how to make something from it.
So it’s sort of the same thing—I mean, they are totally and completely different, but at least the initial up-front part of the development of an assignment versus the development of a project that we’re doing in here. When we’re working on a project here, we tend to bring into it things that we are reading or current ways of thinking.
I don’t think I’ve ever made work that I thought would help me get a job.
We found a recent profile of Other Means on Grafik, which I think is maybe one of the real ones that are out there.
Ryan joined Pratt GradComD after return-
What advice would you give to someone just starting out?
ing from a Research
It’s sort of real, yeah. [ Laughs ]
fellowship in Switzerland on a Fulbright Award,
You talk a bit about the lack of humor in the design profession. How do you think that idea translates into your teaching?
If people are starting out, when they’re younger, like, in high school? [ Laughs ]
Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne, & Federal
Maybe not that young, maybe young professionals.
Office of Culture, Bern.
I think for me, it’s definitely the way that I communicate; it’s certainly in the work that I make. I find that to be incredibly effective and therefore would probably push for something that would feel more playful. Not necessarily funny, but I tend to find things that are too self-serious to not really communicate with me, in that it feels like it’s sort of shut off and I’m not the audience for it. So I try to sort of push it in a different way. Do you think it’s harder to design with humor? It depends. If the goal is to make someone laugh, it’s not. The humor is the challenge that you give yourself—and making sure that you are having fun while you are doing it. Constructing systems along the way where you are making fun, not in the negative sense but in the way that you are sort of challenging … everything. I think that just the choice of a typeface, there is so much room there to make a joke. Whether or not that’s the thing that gets communicated, it’s funny to yourself. Do you think designers shouldn’t take themselves too seriously? It depends on what they’re doing. The work that we do certainly allows us to do that. If we were doing a different kind of work, well, we would do a different kind of work for that reason, and there are certainly types of work that do not have room to be funny, but I’m really not interested in that way of working.
26 | Introductions
I don’t know; I mean, I started out when I was really young. By the time I was in eighth grade, I was hired to do websites. I feel like knowing a lot of people when you’re younger is the best if you want to be working on your own, because it’s difficult to make those connections when you’re younger. I don’t think I’ve ever made work that I thought would help me get a job. Now, having worked with these guys for two and a half years, we have built a very specific body of work. We don’t get approached by people who don’t know us, for the most part. Just in the past six months has that started happening. For the most part, people approach us because they know someone we have worked for or they have seen a project that we have done. They have a pretty good understanding about how we might go at their work.
There’s a big market for motion. And if someone is good at graphic design and is not afraid to try new things, then he or she can learn it.
EunSun Lee founded CMYK+WHITE, INC., a multidisciplinary studio focusing on design
My background was graphic design, like, purely graphic design. I was in the magazine industry and there was this big event and they wanted to create an opening video. So I played with it as a test and they liked it! So I started doing more and more motion work. That’s why I got two titles. I was the senior art director plus multimedia director. And after that, I wanted to do more serious things, so that’s why I started my company. I wanted to do a little of this and this and this.
solutions for interiors, fashion, print, and motion graphics. Prior to starting her own company, EunSun Lee worked for more than eight years at Glamour magazine as a senior art director.
What was it like to go from being an art director to then deciding to start your own studio?
EunSun Lee So you’re an alumnus of the GradComD program, as well as being a faculty member.
When I started out on my own, everyone said, you are crazy.
Yes, I graduated in 2000.
It must have been scary.
How has the program changed since you were a student?
I wanted to do something more than publishing. At the time, I was scared, too. I was like, if I fail, if I don’t get any clients.… Because if you have a business, you need clients. You needed to have someone to pay you to do something. Motion sequence for
<<
It changed a little bit. The motion part of our department has gotten bigger and bigger. At the time I was in school, there was basically no motion. These days, our industry has changed completely, so it’s not really flat anymore. There are a lot of layers that you need to think about. And motion is part of that.
Estée Lauder. <
Stop motion for Letter C.
I think it’s really important for someone to have a graphic design sense but then know the technique to make things move around.
28 | Introductions
[ Group laughter ] I started my company, and through the publishing industry I had built connections. We had a good relationship so they came to me little by little. It was a really interesting moment and began a new chapter of my life. But that was the perfect decision and the perfect timing.
MOTION DESIGN THREE DIMENSIONS TWO DIMENSIONS What is your studio like now? Our studio is kind of an interesting format. Someone said to me, “Your studio doesn’t have any salesperson or marketing person or anyone. Who does it?” Basically, we’re all designers. Everyone here. Every single person does design. Everyone has different types of strengths. They’re kind of supporting each other, even if they have a totally different type of project. If someone is working creative, someone might say, “Oh, do you need help?” If someone has to stay late, someone else might ask if they need help. And they’ll unpack and get ready to go back to work and help their team. That’s the kind of working style we have here. That’s why I’m really careful when I add someone to the team. So as a teacher, how do you prepare your students to be part of a design team? They need a full experience. The starting point is a problem and they need to find a solution. They need to include production and research, a whole bunch of different steps. I usually share my experiences with every single step, and kind of try and guide them in that way. I try to push them as much as I can. I tell them to go crazy. Experiments are totally
30 | Introductions
fine. And it’s fun to watch that. I think that’s the beauty of class projects. In the real world, it’s a little different. [ Laughs ] A lot more conditions you have to follow. But I think that’s our job, no matter what the conditions—we need to find a solution. Why do you like to teach? What’s the relationship between your practice and being an educator? I like teaching because after my students have finished their projects, I feel really happy. I feel like [ Singing ] ahhhhhhhhhh. It’s not really my project, and it’s not really my baby, but it’s like, they did it! That feeling, that last moment, because of that moment I want to keep teaching. Sometimes to get there, it’s very tough, but because of that moment, it’s really good. Absolutely. Another benefit is that I can look at what they do, and I can pick some of the top talent to join my studio. [ Loud laughter ]
32 | Roundtable
Saana Hellsten Eric Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Toole
Alex Liebergesell Chantal Fischzang
Roundtable W18 Studios Saturday April 19th, 2014 1:00 P.M.
Rui Maekawa John Olson
34 | Roundtable
Eric O’Toole
recently got my M.F.A. in Interactive
College of Art and Design in illustration. I worked there as a designer for a few years, and I recently moved back to New York to attend this program. I’m a second-year student finishing up my thesis work in a few weeks.
very interested in graphic design since I was young, but I couldn’t get into college without an official exam. So I went to my school and then I found out there is no graphic design major. That’s why I decided to come here to pursue my passion. I
but at the same time, it can be kind of weird. I always think about functionality in design.
historic photography into play, to create some context, and using collage. I never did that before I was here. To get this
Rui: Having had an architecture background, I feel design has to have action,
I don’t know if my work can put into words
simple and close to nature, and nothing is too all over the place. I know that has
I start making work and things, or just looking at what’s available.
tries to be more expressive.
guess that’s why I keep doing work that
if there is a reason for its existence. I
a lot. I think more about the function and
influenced my style and my point of view
tect, and I’ve been surrounded by design for a very long time. Everything is just very
approach for everything, but that’s how
I approach that very personal work.… It’s not to say that it’s necessarily an
Saana: My background is Finnish, Scandinavian design. My mom is an archi-
the same time. I think that in the way that
connections between different things at
idea of unison in images and making
Springs. I went to Pratt in the late ’80s
where else is there to spend your time?
Digital Art, also from Pratt, because
exhibition designer, designing exhibits
to study industrial design. I work as an
As designers we are constantly engaged in multiple dialogues with ourselves, our community, and our work. On two different occasions students, faculty, and alumni met to discuss issues relating to our department and profession. These informal roundtable discussions were a venue in which many different perspectives were brought together.
what my style is. I really enjoy bringing
a distinct point of view as a designer?
Chantal: Has my background given me
am a second-year.
for museums across the country. I
Columbus, Ohio, from the Columbus
ming —which is not my interest. I’ve been
I’m from upstate New York, Saratoga
I’m originally from Poughkeepsie, New York. I got my undergraduate degree in
I’m an adjunct assistant professor.
Faculty Member / Years at Pratt: 22
ied architecture and computer program-
Second Year / Communications Design
I’m from Japan too. In undergrad I stud-
John Olson
here. I’ll be graduating in the fall.
Rui Maekawa
ate degree in graphic design, and I’ve been working for over twenty years in
fashion. And then I decided to come
laborative projects.
Second Year / Communications Design
a little bit of fine art and graphic design. I went to Yale University and got a gradu-
company and then did art direction for
city independently and working on col-
New York as a designer.
University, where I studied architecture,
originally from Tokyo, Japan, lived many years overseas. I went to Kent State
packaging design too, in Finland. After
Jersey. I’m originally from Bolivia. I went graduating I worked a couple of years
appointed about two years ago. I’m
design. I actually did my undergrad in
at Rutgers University in Newark, New
as a graphic designer for a fashion
I’m a full-time associate professor,
second year. My major is in packaging
I’m teaching graphic design right now
I’m also practicing as a designer in the
Faculty Member / Years at Pratt: 12+
I’m from Finland and I’m here in my
I graduated with an M.F.A. in 2012.
to school in Florida for graphic design.
Alex Liebergesell
Saana Hellsten Second Year / Package Design
Chantal Fischzang Alumnus / Communications Design
36 | Roundtable
I try not to have too much self-regard or self-awareness. You just have to put yourself out there and do the best you can.
word in some communities of designers, and I felt a little embarrassed about it. I think that now I’ve learned that—in a nu-
And I did that here as well. It was very hard for me to have an open-ended thesis. For me, it had to do something in the end, or
I think I’ve learned to take what’s useful and then add on to that and build a system of working.
I was sort of an arrogant jerk to my collaborators. I had to work with educators and graphic designers, and they were
on storytelling and narrative. I think trying to bring out some story or telling somebody’s story.… His teaching really gave me that idea.
story that they want to tell.
help the group that I work with tell the
and my capabilities in terms of how I can
Just continuing to expand my vocabulary
questioned all the time.
explain yourself and your work. You are
Saana: Also you have to learn how to
collaborate and interact with others in making awesome work.
add new tools to that, and that’s some-
primary requirement is seemingly to teach, but it’s actually to continue to learn.
thing that I’ve probably clung to most.
I don’t have a particular aesthetic; I only
to be in an environment where your job’s
I would always do my stuff by myself.
creased the value of the final product.
the time too. It’s actually quite a privilege
And I came here and learned how to
instead of against them actually in-
full-time teachers. We are learning all
sort of mastering. And I’ve continued to
to ask for help or someone’s opinion.
table. And actually working with them
full-time students for two years. We are
have the tools that I’ve spent my career
Rui: I feel like I’ve learned how to learn from Pratt. Before, I wasn’t able
evolved to appreciate my team members and what they had to bring to the
Alex: You can imagine, you guys are
all messing up my vision. I think that I
Eric: When I started as a designer, I think I read The Fountainhead too many times.
and he had a very strong emphasis
me. He was a great teacher and professor,
in my undergrad and how he influenced
Saana: I think now about an Irish teacher
You just have to put yourself out there and do the best you can.
after they have reacted to the work.
going to make people do something else
doesn’t have a specific call to action, it is
and into the way I work. In the end, if it
And I think I bring that into the way I teach
make people do a very specific something.
always having a call to action really translates into the way I approach the work.
that I still start with pictures. And that’s and understand concepts—with images.
years after undergrad, and this idea of
of articulate with words now, but beyond how I see the world and sketch things out
Chantal: I think from my background … I worked in advertising for a couple of
I think with pictures. I’ve learned to kind
anced way—it influences the way I think.
too concerned about how I might be performing as an instructor or a collaborator.
I was nervous. Illustration was a negative
around influences how you view your work. When I first started as a graphic designer,
Alex: I like what you said about words. For me, in terms of design, I try not to be
ture influenced you—in that what you’re
affected me the same way as architec-
John: My background as an illustrator has
[ Laughter ]
Eric: More Italian. Less Scandinavian.
38 | Roundtable
Chantal: I’m not sure what I brought to
outside wherever I’ve lived. So being in
express myself to others.
but people here appreciate Japanese design too, and I’ve learned that I should be proud of it.
normal. So coming here I found that I sort of established my style because I could reflect it to others.
fessor, just having students with a young
those. I think, now being at Pratt as a pro-
with different practices and feeding off of
since, I have been surrounding myself
Eric: Once I came to school, and ever
they say, “Aw, cute!” I wanted to learn that,
was very Scandinavian, and it was kind of
the Japanese people like everything in English. In Japan, people see a matchbox,
I was in Finland I felt like my own style
wherever I’ve lived.
American design, actually, because all
to New York. I knew that it was such a mix, and I feel like, for me at least, when
one of the reasons why I wanted to come Chantal: I’ve also been kind of an outsider
Rui: I like that there are a lot of international people here. I came here to study
my life, and I feel it’s really important. It’s
the world around me, within design.
tive, of course, from having people around
bravado I came in with. tional people has always been a part of
Saana: I know I’ve also experienced a lot of new points of view and more perspec-
ergy, and I left with stuff to back that up,
Saana: Being around different interna-
of our insights and our perspective—it makes sense to build upon that.
the substance to make up for whatever
with the enthusiasm. I think I brought en-
John: Yeah. It’s like everything. I agree
expression, attempting to make that part
where everything is about language and
York and in a scenario like design school
translate that value visually. And in New
exchange and how design could help
Chantal: I based my thesis on cultural
I grew up in.
me. It’s the nature of the household that
to New York as a whole—makes sense to
met somewhere else—and that applies
a place where half the people have
community and how that has influenced me? I could say, I’ve been kind of inside,
others, I think more, because I have to
Alex: In terms of the diversity of the Pratt Rui: I feel like when I collaborate with
it and their knowledge and insight….
And to integrate what others bring to
for my friends and whomever I’ve helped.
uncertainty and open-endedness and to explore more and research more.
Saana: We learn from each other so much. So I’m assuming that I gave out something
was taught here to be comfortable with
a very specific way of making. And I
Chantal: It was, I think so. I came with
Eric: Was it amplified?
Chantal: No, ha, no, it wasn’t.
I feel like I’ve learned how to learn from Pratt. I came here and learned how to collaborate and interact with others in making awesome work.
Eric: And it wasn’t crushed out of you?
I was really happy to be here.
Pratt … I brought a lot of enthusiasm.
40 | Roundtable
undergraduate graphic design degree.
something that’s a pretty complex world out there.
There’s a lot of room for possibility and
experimental, there’s someone in this program who can guide you and help you
background, but there’s also flexibility and new areas of design that are opening
very skilled in what they do.
faculty are very diverse, but they’re all
with that, which is great.
branding person or do something more history of technical traditional design
up and classes that explore that. The
John: Whether you want to be a hardcore professors that are here. There’s a strong
in the way the classes are structured and
direction within the design field—even
a really good way to prepare anyone for
I think. cially the way the program is structured.
and if you don’t, we’re not gonna really like you very much. I don’t think that’s
respond in kind. That’s how it should be, John: I think that resonates a lot, espe-
dogma. We don’t recruit you and say, this is kind of how we prefer you do things, that and allows for that, and the students
And I find it gratifying, because there’s no working one particular modality within design. And I think the program pushes
Alex: There’s no particular style, either. That’s a question that often comes up. interested solely in being a designer or
Everyone is kind of an outsider and is bringing something new to it, and I think it really expands the range of possibilities and the solutions you find in design.
to the work.
people who bring different perspectives
where they’re from. Generally no one is
ground, what colleges they went to, or
that we get, regardless of their back-
strength and the flexibility of the students
that that’s an indication of the academic
looking for what comes ahead. I do think
that came before them, and is therein
tionalists. Everyone is open to everything
you know, millennials or the nongenera-
that the media likes to characterize—
actually see the generational patterns
Alex: In terms of Pratt students, I don’t
ground. That’s one of the reasons I applied to Pratt. I knew I couldn’t apply to some master’s programs without an
and the solutions you find in design.
people not from a graphic design back-
interesting conversations in the class-
teristics that might lend themselves to
it really expands the range of possibilities
room and interesting collaborations. And
Chantal: I think the committee does look at different types of roles and charac-
is bringing something new to it, and I think
Rui: Pratt is one of the only master’s programs in New York that accepts
architecture backgrounds, science backum—everyone is kind of an outsider and
background.
seeing that there are people from
a real blessing to be a teacher.
reinvigorates my enthusiasm for it. It’s
grounds, art and design backgrounds,
Rui: Yeah, and I feel like the typical Pratt student comes from a really interesting
about this program. Coming here and
before—is really interesting and special
come from and what they were doing
program—both in terms of where people
John: I think the diversity within the
enthusiasm and new ideas, and even old ideas that seem new to them, it sort of
42 | Roundtable
Eric: Yeah, absolutely! And I think that
already being like this great designer who knows it all. And this space really
anything to people who worked for twenty years professionally. You have to serve both of those students equally, so it’s a
Eric: It was a great addition to the depart-
place to build a community. People come to the studio to work hard, and they are
city—then you are going to have that work ethic.
because you’re just alone, working alone. So the studio is a lot about just socializing
but when you do the work with other people, you learn a lot there too.
sort of hang out.
to make things. I didn’t know what I was going to do after graduating here, not having the knowledge of everyone around me.
you’re delivering. But in the studio, you get to see what doesn’t work and then help each other through that. And you know, at two in the morning when everything is f’ed up and you’re freaking out, you talk to someone else and work through it. That’s
different ideas. It’s those conversations that you have in the studio, that help you build that language, when it’s not happening in class.
really helpful.
that’s when you get to interact with others
fail together, too. In class it’s about what
Eric: Everything’s on the Internet.
[ Lots of laughter ]
Eric: Then you found out about the Internet.
help each other and teach each other how
in terms of how you make this. And you
necessarily heavy on the technology per se,
John: The studio is a perfect place to effectively and clearly and communicate
Chantal: And because the classes are not
“Hey!”
hours of class, you get to say, “Hey!”…
in class together. Whereas if it’s just three
spending all of your time when you’re not
Eric: Yeah, absolutely. Because you’re
execute the steps in the process.
approach and present the problems and
fair amount of actual freedom in how we
have commonalities, all of us are given a
different sections of the same class will
equally applies to the faculty. While
I said earlier about students and work
Alex: That makes me realize that what
you need to be able to talk about design
that in order to be a successful designer,
feedback from your classmates. I know
not just for working and that you can just
Eric: You’re asking people what they think. You’re getting a lot of incremental
too, and I think it’s a good thing that it’s
if you’re at home, you’re going crazy
John: Yeah, class is a great critique time,
and start talking to somebody. Whereas
too. You know you can have your break
There’s a lot of room for possibility and direction within the design field—even in the way classes are structured. Saana: It’s also a lot about socializing,
stimulation from them.
passionate about design, so I really get
Rui: Yeah, I think the studio is the best
and as we all know, can be a punishing
working in this city—which is a rewarding
the energy and you want the challenge of
John: I can’t imagine.
my God!
that New York City, of course, remains a draw on a global scale. I think if you’ve got
Saana: Yeah, without it, it would be—oh
ment to get this sort of communal space.
speaking to a lot of prospective students
being on the admissions committee and
Alex: I think, you know, it’s apparent
the program interesting.
faculty. But I think it’s part of what makes
brings us together.
many people who are coming here
from people who really have never done
challenge for both the students and the
Saana: And I think Pratt students are pretty down to earth. I haven’t met too
ful. We’ve also got a range of students
the students who are the most success-
those students who put a lot into it are
not going to be spoon-fed to you. And
do as much as they can for you, but it’s
and what you grab. The teachers will
you’re going to get what you put into this
the other thing about this program is,
44 | Roundtable
that they can do our work for less than us.
wouldn’t be able to do.
about—we were taught to figure out how to do things on a need-by-need basis. To
for that specific piece to work that way.
You teach yourself the tool and figure it out
could be, and how do you achieve that.
figure out what this can be or what else it
working. That should motivate you to try different things that you know you
try something, only to find that it is not
do that and you can fail and you can
beauty of being in grad school. You can
Saana: I definitely think that is the
period of time is a critical capability.
become comfortable with it in a short
up a tool you’ve never used before and
be a little bit fearless. Being able to pick
taught me to teach myself. And just to
foundational education at Pratt actually
always been self-taught, but even the
Eric: My education with computers has
continue to work in.
precious and very special area that we
good problem solvers. I think it’s a very
possibilities are … that’s what makes us
To understand what the constraints and
people who are experts in those areas.
Chantal: Exactly what you’re talking
graduated two years ago?
Eric: You sound a little jaded already? You
[ Group laughter ]
taught to me was how to work. As long as you understand the essential principles
just look it up on Google. And they think so that you can work effectively with
odologies, process—none of which was taught to me in a classroom. What was
the people who don’t go to grad school and
been relying on tools, technology, meth-
rather than the other way around. Like all
Alex: For me, a bulk of my career has
our intentions, with what we want to say,
to find their solution.
boundaries of what is defined as design
start exploring the fringes and the outer
thesis, to go beyond what they see and
I encourage my students, especially in
lot of different approaches. I know that
places where you can actually try out a
Eric: Grad school is one of the few
You’re asking people what they think. You’re getting a lot of incremental feedback from your classmates.
tools and find out how they work within
all actually here. We’re here to use those
Chantal: It speaks so well to why we are
that out and come together with people.
cesses. It’s in the studios when you figure
are not teaching specific software pro-
real strength of the program—that we
problem-solving skills…. I think that’s a
technical skills over the conceptual
John: That’s a good point about the
Alejandro & Buzz A: Back then Buzz didn’t have a desk in the studio yet, but he started just coming in and we started hanging out. Then we both got desks next to each other … and now I can’t work! [ Laughs ] I guess we started hanging out when we were both working here, which is cool because I feel that the studio is what gives the program a feeling of community. B: Yeah, absolutely. A: I believe it gives value to the program. Here you can bounce your ideas back and forth and get to meet people.
W18 Studios April 14th, 2014 3:30 P.M.
Chuan-You (Buzz) Chang
Alejandro Torres Viera
Taipei City, Taiwan
Bayamón, Puerto Rico
“I’m Buzz. I’m from
“I’m Alejandro, from Puerto
Taiwan. Before coming
Rico. I moved to New York
to Pratt I served in the
two years ago to start my
Taiwanese army for a
graduate studies at Pratt.
year, and before that
I have a bachelor’s degree
I studied Politics and
in Printmaking. I also
Economics in college.”
played semipro soccer!”
Have you had any other classes together? A: No, but it feels like we have all our classes together. B: Since we are here all the time, I’m part of his projects and he’s part of my projects. We go to each other for advice and opinions. A: When I get tired of looking at my stuff, I ask Buzz to come over, because he has a great eye for details and always sees stuff I didn’t notice. B: We kind of have similar approaches to design.
Have you guys worked on projects together?
A: Yes, like clean compositions, not randomly putting stuff on the page, having everything relate to something else.
A: We had Type I together but we didn’t know each other then. I guess we got to know each other here at the studio.
Do you remember any particular project in which the other person helped you a lot?
B: At the end of the first semester, when I started to come to the studio more often.
46 | Dialogues
A: The posters for the Dawn Hancock CC lecture! Poster for the Dawn
>
B: Yeah!
Hancock lecture designed
A: That was your concept; I just executed it! And I executed it nicely!
by Alejandro. As a member of the CC,
How is being at Pratt for you, not coming from a design background?
Alejandro was in charge
B: I chose design because I suck so bad at math and I had zero interest in becoming a politician. My mom didn’t like me just staying at home, hanging around, and she told me, “Think about your next step,” so I was like, “Oh my God! What can I do?!?” I saw a friend who was doing design, and I thought, “I can try design; I’m way more creative than him!” I started learning Photoshop and Illustrator, I came up with a portfolio, and here I am.
rials for CC events.
我知道怎麼使用電腦軟體，但 是我對於設計的內容其實還不是 很了解。我在這裡持續學習，向 Alejandro以及其他同學們討論設 計流程和思考模式。
of designing posters and other promotional mate-
I don’t really know much about the details of design yet. I know how to execute using the software. I’m still learning a lot from people like Alejandro here. I’m learning a lot about the process, the thinking. What have you learned about Latin America, Buzz? A: I did have a basic introduction to design in my undergrad, so I wasn’t self-taught, but my portfolio was self-generated in its entirety. I was very proud of it. It was just self-started work, personal stuff.
Tania Lili is a second-year Communications Design student from Mexico City.
B: I’ve never been to Latin America, but now I feel Latin. Most of what I know about Latin America is based on Alejandro and Tania Lili. And football and baseball! [ Laughs ]
B: I feel a little bit “not there yet.”
A: We always say that if I start a firm in Puerto Rico, I’m bringing Buzz with me. He is up for that, because he loves Puerto Rican food. We sometimes go to a Puerto Rican place close by.
A: But that’s why we are here? [ High five ]
B: Pescado frito! [ Laughs ]
I feel more confident about my design skills now.
A: And now he knows how to order in Spanish, even though I don’t know a single word in Chinese. But I’ve come to know a lot of things about Taiwan through Buzz.
48 | Dialogues
Saana & Juan Carlos Mi forma de entender el diseño ha cambiado completamente. Ahora tengo un punto de vista más crítico.
Saana & Juan Carlos’ Apartment May 4th, 2014 11:30 A.M.
How did you meet? S: We met here! J: I got an e-mail from Amanda and Lillian when they were looking for a roommate and then I met them, but I’d never met Saana. So we met here, in the apartment.
J: And if you see someone there, you can just go, “Hey, can you help me with this?” You kind of get to know who is an expert at doing something, so you can go and ask them for help.
How do you feel about the studio environment? S: It’s like our home. [ Laughs ] J: Second home! [ Laughs ] S: I’d say first home; this is our second home! [ Laughs ] J: I mean we spend more time at the studio than we spend at home! S: What I love about it is that you have the chance to actually hang out with other people, see their work and learn from it.
Juan Carlos
Saana Hellsten
Rodríguez-Rivera
Lahti, Finland
Cataño, Puerto Rico
“I’m twenty-eight, and
“I’m a Communications
from Finland. I’m studying
Design student from
Package Design and this
Puerto Rico. I’m finishing
is my second year.”
my first year at Pratt, so
S: It makes the design process a lot faster. You don’t have to be all by yourself at home, figuring things out. Have you helped each other with projects or assignments? J: The chicken project! [ Laughs ] S: Yes, he was my model for a project. My hand model!
I have one more to go!”
J: I had to cut vegetables and chicken. S: Because I needed man hands! But of course we talk about stuff all the time.
50 | Dialogues
S: I guess it’s also good because we all understand the schedule and how busy we are. So it’s understandable if someone doesn’t have the time to clean and do stuff like that. J: Especially during the subway ride.
How has Pratt affected your design practice?
S: And for us it is different, because we are in different programs, so it’s interesting to talk.
J: Oh, Jesus. [ Laughs ]
Have you gotten to know aspects of each other’s culture? J: It is really hard to spell “Happy Birthday” in Finnish! [ Laughs ] S: Yeah, my boyfriend is here and he is from Finland too, so all my roommates get to know a little bit of Finnish culture. And then Juan is cooking his food … and playing his music. J: And salsa!
S: Of course, you learn all the time. There are many different ways of thinking. And I guess it goes along with how many perspectives you get just by sharing the same environment with so many people. J: Totally different cultures! Right now I feel that my way of understanding design has completely changed. The way of doing things, the processes, all that we talk about in our classes. I’m getting a more critical point of view. I hadn’t explored that before, so I guess that’s kind of the main aspect of how my design practice has changed.
S: And a lot of loud talking in the mornings! [ Laughs ] S: Yeah, that’s true. You need to explain more of what you’re doing. J: Thank you! J: The reason behind it. S: I didn’t know anything about Puerto Rico before I came here, and now I know a lot more about Latin America. How is it sharing your apartment with two other Pratt Communications Design students? J: It’s cool because we have a rule: if the four of us are all home, we have a drink! [ Laughs ] I think the best part is when we are all at the studio together really late, because you don’t have to take the subway or a cab by yourself. It’s weird because sometimes we don’t see each other in the apartment. We meet a lot more at the studio.
52 | Dialogues
S: I guess here you have to define yourself.
Pidän studiossa eniten siitä, että siellä voi seurustella opiskelijakavereiden kanssa, nähdä heidän töitään ja ottaa oppia niistä.
Amanda & John W18 Studios April 7th, 2014 3:30 P.M.
with Pratt ended up seeing that post the morning of the event and, after the first class, she ran up to a group of us who were wearing Pratt Free School shirts and yelled, and I quote, “I just want to let you guys know that this is the greatest f-ing thing in the world!”
How do you two know each other? Do you work together at Pratt?
J: [ Laughing ] So. That was nice.
J: I think we’re both at the studio a lot, which is a big thing, so we work together there, but we’re also both on the Communications Committee. A: We’re on the Communications Committee together, which is essentially a team of five students who serve as the voice of the student body to the larger administration. Mainly our job is to plan events and social gatherings for students to attend. J: Yeah, so we bring in different speakers and workshops, and we plan special events like Pratt Free School, which we did last month.
Have you worked on any projects other than Free School together? Amanda Sepanski
John Olson
Toledo, Ohio
Poughkeepsie, New York
“I’m from Toledo, Ohio, and
“I grew up in Poughkeepsie
I’m a second-year student,
and I lived in Columbus,
about to graduate. I also
Ohio, before coming to
studied graphic design
Pratt. I studied illustration
as an undergrad at the
as an undergrad before
University of Dayton.”
working as a designer
Can you tell us a Pratt Free School story? A: I can tell you about the lady who really loves Free School! [ Laughs ] So, Pratt Free School is a day of free classes open to the public, and we sent it out to be promoted over a few different forms of social media. A website called Brokelyn covered it, which is a blog largely about about free events in Brooklyn. This woman unaffiliated
54 | Dialogues
J: Yeah, we’ve talked about our theses a couple times and shared books … I think that’s it. I like that we’re friends, though, and that we do stuff together. [ Laughs ]
there for three years, and now I’m here!”
A: Which was a lot of work.
A: We actually haven’t worked together on many projects, which is interesting because we have such overlapping interests.
I like the fact that we’re from very different parts of the program, but we still have a lot in common and get to talk about things sometimes. Although we don’t usually work together on projects. A: Yeah. It’s refreshing to be able to have a conversation with somebody who you have little academic interaction with for the most part but who has the same kinds of interests as you.
The best part of working here at Pratt is that we are all motivated, self-initiated people. Why did you choose to come to New York? J: I wanted to be in a bigger city with more stuff. I also wanted to go back to school because I’d been an illustration major in college and was working as a designer, but not on projects that I thought were cool. I felt like I needed, maybe, a little refocusing to get there. And now I’m doing cool work. [ Laughs ] A: I have a bachelor’s degree in graphic design and was working as a graphic designer in Chicago, but I was doing in-house design for a small online marketing company. The company and their business wasn’t really relevant to any of my interests, and I was just doing the same kinds of projects over and over again, so I was getting really bored. I also knew I wanted to get an M.F.A. someday because I want to teach design eventually. And I also moved to New York because I felt that I had more access to more resources here than I did in Chicago. To some extent, it just seems more diverse and international. What would you like to do after you leave Pratt? J: I think there have been a couple projects here in which I’ve worked with certain people who are really smart and driven and different from me on conceptually challeng-
56 | Greetings
ing projects, and that’s what I want. I know that’s a really vague answer, but I’d like to be at a design firm where I would work on a team of, like, four to six designers who are really diverse and smart and who work on projects that have conceptual substance. I don’t want it to just be like, [ Speaks in a monotone, robotic voice ] “Let’s make a website; let’s do a logo.” That’s been the best part of Pratt, and that would be what I want out of a job. A: Yeah, I think the best part of working at Pratt is that everyone here is, and I think this is the nature of grad school, a super motivated, self-initiated person. Everyone is smart with, like … goals in life, or else we wouldn’t be here. I’m personally really open to a lot of different routes as a designer. I do want to teach eventually, but I’m not really in a rush to do that. I think I need a little break from academia first, because the last two years were really intense. I see design’s power as a tool. I want to spread design knowledge around to people who don’t know anything about design at all. I mean, I want to work with other designers, but I also want people who have no prior understanding of design to collaborate with me and, I guess, extract the value of design for themselves. It’s not really my goal to win design awards and be, like, a recognized lecturer. It’s my goal to design things, to work with communities and see results and transformation. J: I think ideally I want to do no work and just get awards and lecture. [ Both laugh ]
Student work by In-Young Bae, Rogier Bak, Sarah Bradford, Buzz Chang, John Hallman, Jeannette Hodgkins, Jo Lee, Tien-Min Liao, Tania Lili, John Lunn, Xiaoping Ma, Rui Maekawa, Caroline Matthews, Elizabeth Hart Montgomery, Kristen Myers, John Olson, Eduardo Palma, Juan Carlos RodrĂguez-Rivera, Amanda Sepanski, Ann Marie Sexton, Trang Tran, Alejandro Torres Viera, Brielle Wilson, Rob Wilson, Yuan Wei, Yuki Wu, Shang-Lun Yang, Diego Zaks, and Zhitong Zeng.
58 | Greetings
TECHNOLOGY
STU PRO TRANSFORMATION
2
UDENT OJECTS 7
60
1. You Name It, John Lunn | 2. Twitter Murder Machine, Diego Zaks | 3. The Psychology of Your Future Self, Yuan Wei | 4. Designer-Free Poster Machine, Xiaoping Ma | 5. Self Promotion, Buzz Chang | 6. Wander Red Hook,Tania Lili, Elizabeth Hart Montgomery, Ann Marie Sexton, and Alejandro Torres Viera | 7. Bigelow Tea Rebrand, Brielle Wilson
4 6
5
VISUAL LANGUAGE
1
3
UDENT OJECTS Bárbara Abbês Rio de Janeiro, Brazil “I’m from Rio. I had been
B: I was expecting something different. I have to deal with people questioning me a lot here, and I was used to “I’m doing my job and I’m going to present it to a client.” Here, even if someone doesn’t think my work is doing what it is supposed to, I have to have a good reason for doing things the way I did. I think I’ve learned a lot about defending my own work and questioning myself a lot more than I used to do, which to me is a good thing.
working as a designer for eight years before I came
Have you worked together on a project?
to Pratt. I’m about to graduate—almost done
B: The book!
with everything!”
J: Yeah, the book project. B: We started a book over the summer and it’s soon going to be done. It’s Amanda, Jonathan, Rogier, and I. We are writing the book.
Bárbara & Jonathan W18 Studios April 26th, 2014 10:30 A.M.
Jonathan Frey Dayton, Ohio “I studied graphic design
How has Pratt affected you as someone who has been involved in fields other than communications design?
for undergrad and then went on to study fine arts, specifically painting and
J: I think from the very beginning, even in undergrad, I was trying to find ways to integrate the two, fine art and graphic design. There’s a lot of talk about how they’re different. To me, at the core of both is the communication of an idea to an audience. I think being at Pratt has helped me a lot. I think I’ve gained a lot of confidence and the ability to integrate the two fields into one practice for myself.
62 | Dialogues
drawing. Now I’ve decided to come back to design, looking for a little bit of a career change.”
J: Yeah, writing is the emphasis of the book. There was a lot of collaboration over the summer as far as what our approach was going to be. Other than that, we help each other a lot. You know, it’s someone else’s project but everyone is always asking everyone else for their perspective, their opinions. They feel somewhat collaborative, all these individual projects. They aren’t just isolated.
Eu aprendi muito sobre como defender meu trabalho e a questionar meus própios projetos e minha maneira de trabalhar.
Is there any project in particular that you have helped each other out with? B: I just provide the tools! [ Laughs ] Like “Yeah, open the laser cutter.” That kind of stuff.
guy over here. We like having the minifridge and the TV, our own stuff. We like making our space our own.
J: She helped me on my gun timeline, giving me some feedback about things.
B: And I think we try to balance each other out. I know that I Skype a lot so I try to do that when Jonathan’s not here, or I ask him before. I think we are respectful. We’re good at that.
Did you guys get along right away once you met?
Have you gotten to know each other’s cultural background?
B: Jonathan’s really quiet. I can kind of really read him. We shared a big studio last year; it was the two of us and three second-year students. I didn’t know if he liked me or not! After a while I think you get to know people. [ Laughs ] I had fun with him! J: Yeah, we sat next to each other. Bárbara, she is easygoing and she is fun, most of the time. [ Laughs ] I like to laugh, so Bárbara, Rogier, and I have been goofing around back here in the studio a lot this year. It’s been pretty enjoyable. Helps with the stress of actually having to produce work all the time!
Rogier Bak is a second-year Communications Design student from Almere-Stad,
Yeah, you’ve personalized your studio a lot. You have a really nice space here. B: I think we just have things that we like. We like video games and we have fun with it. J: I think we seem to align pretty well in terms of space. She doesn’t get annoyed that I’m kind of a messy
64 | Dialogues
J: Yeah, I’ve learned a little bit. I would say, just as a whole, that I wasn’t really exposed to international students and the cultures abroad before. So having Bárbara from Brazil and Rogier from the Netherlands has been a real benefit of being in this program. I think I’ve learned a lot about the Netherlands, because Rogier really likes to talk about it.
Netherlands.
B: I think we all learn about each other just from sharing the space. For example, I know who Betsy Ross is, and I didn’t before. Now I know more about America!
100
2
UNITED STATES
1
1
RUSSIA
FINLAND
UNITED KINGDOM
1
NETHERLANDS
32
2
FRANCE SPAIN
1
1
PORTUGAL
CHINA
1
TURKEY
2
1
LEBANON
12 KOREA
IRAN
1
3
JAPAN
PAKISTAN
2
MEXICO
1
SAUDI ARABIA
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
1
1
JAMAICA
7
INDIA
2
PUERTO RICO
1
VIETNAM
2
THAILAND
1
16 TAIWAN
VENEZUELA
1
1
MALAYSIA
COLOMBIA
1
ECUADOR
2
BRAZIL
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2013â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2014 GradComD STUDENT
DEMOGRAPHICS Barnes & Noble Launched in 2008, the Barnes & Noble partnership studio gives Pratt students the opportunity to create designs for school supplies for the company’s Back-to-Campus collection. In doing so, students are challenged to use their design skills and perspective to develop concepts that resonate with Barnes & Noble’s identity and with consumers from a demographic very different from their own.
It’s true, you always remember your first time. The Graduate Design Guild partners students from our programs in Communications Design with industry, offering professional experience and the opportunity for developing client
The summer studio, culminating in a presentation to the Barnes & Noble buyers, prepares the students for real-world interactions with clients, giving them an understanding of the business side of the creative arts. In addition, having Barnes & Noble products in their portfolio makes Pratt students more competitive in the job market, proving to a prospective employer that a student has taken the idea through the design process, creating iterations based on the company’s feedback and creating a product that is marketable as well as visually appealing.
I am, of course, referring to seeing a product that you’ve designed come to life and sold in a major retailer nationwide. I was one of ten students selected to participate in the Barnes & Noble Backto-Campus program, in which I designed a coordinating journal and pencil pouch. Here are ten lessons I learned (or was reminded of) from the experience:
relationships. Our clients include Barnes & Noble, Moët Hennessy,
1. Presentation and production skills are as critical skills to a solid design foundation as precise execution and thoughtful ideas are.
and Lipton Tea.
2. It takes many noes to get one yes. 3. Looking for inspiration doesn’t necessarily produce inspiration. 4. Understand your audience. 5. Editing yourself is key. Simplicity works. 6. Whereas school is conceptually and creatively limitless and unbounded, the commercial world has its limitations and routines. 7. Don’t fall in love with one idea; explore many options. 8. Design can be hard work. 9. But design can be fun work! 10. In the end, nothing beats seeing your designs produced and used by other people (even if it is your mother). Katherine Robinson
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PrattxHennessy Pratt Institute partnered with Hennessy V.S. to launch an annual competition that challenges nine art and design students to explore the universal theme (and Hennessy’s mantra) Never Stop. Never Settle. The competition, judged by representatives from Pratt and Hennessy, culminates with an exhibition featuring the top works. Student artwork is also showcased on the Hennessy website and social channels, providing students with exposure through the company’s global platform.
The perfect scenario for creativity. > Karla Saldaña participated in the Hennessy Challenge, focusing her work on tracking social media usage.
“The Hennessy challenge provided our students with the opportunity to redefine their creative process,” said Jeff Bellantoni, former faculty advisor and former GradComD Chair. “When academic institutions and corporations collaborate, students can benefit from having a springboard to experiment. Students from different backgrounds and disciplines took advantage of this unique opportunity and fully immersed themselves in a collaborative exchange— one that sparked an innovative range of new work.”
< Project Movements,
I participated in the partnership between Pratt and Hennessy in 2013. A group of students were asked to develop a project related to Hennessy’s theme: Chase Your Wild Rabbit. A metaphor about a personal search, it means a never-concluding, ever-evolving search of life and work. In my case, understanding what I am chasing was one of the reasons I came to Pratt in the first place. It was not an easy task, but the initiative’s deadlines, guidance, financial support, and creative freedom fostered the perfect scenario for advancing in this search. The project I developed was an ongoing visual panorama of political manifestations in Greece, the USA (Occupy), Turkey, and Brazil through a series of personal, political silkscreen portraits. I engaged people though social media and asked them questions that served as a base to develop compositions. When presented as a group, the prints establish a visual dialogue. Meaning is perceived through repetitions, contrast, color, and form. My intention with the portraits was not to elevate heroes, but to emphasize the agency of all by allowing two points of view: the individual and the collective. After this competition ended I kept developing this project, evolving it in different directions.
André De Castro’s winning project, is a vibrant series of silkscreened portraits giving voice to an international group of young people who are trying to make a difference in the world. Photos by: John Gilbert Young
70 | Dialogues
Because this initiative is a personal chase, the possibilities are endless and each experience unique. For me, it aligned theory and practice and allowed me to better understand my own agency as a designer. André De Castro
Public Project Public Project is an initiative dedicated to creating opportunities to tackle real-world challenges through engagements with notfor-profit organizations, institutions, and artists on topics as diverse as health, immigration, education, creative placemaking, resiliency, and sustainability. These exchanges explore researchdriven, participatory, and collaborative methodologies, allowing for a dialogue of mutual impact between the community at large and the faculty and students at Pratt.
Public Project operates as a collective of GradComD faculty and students engaged in the topic of design for social impact and what it means to have a social practice.
Public Project changed the way that I think about design. >
Invisible in NYC
Caroline Matthews, Alejandro Torres Viera, and John Olson >
Mapping Red Hook
Design Advocacy:
Lead by extremely motivated faculty and students, the initiative drives not only curriculum but lectures and events. I’ve had the pleasure of taking two courses under this social umbrella: Design for Mindful Interaction and Design Advocacy Creative Placemaking. My work in those classes broadened my perception of interactive design. Get off the computer, out of the studio and talk to people.
Creative Placemaking Spring 2014
< Dance Moves Bárbara Abbês
Additionally, Public Project houses a publishing initiative to broadcast student research, critical writings, and formal design experiments to audiences beyond the Institute. It also organizes lectures, film screenings, and actions that mobilize, educate, and engage the larger student body.
74 | Dialogues
Public Project created the foundation for one of my most collaborative and innovative projects: Invisible In NYC. Great solutions don’t just spur from one conversation. Through experimentation, we developed a systemized installation effort to visually map homelessness on-site. These memes activated participation via a guerrilla campaign directed at local officials but powered by residents. The project demanded collaboration and failure. Every experiment was exciting. I’ll always reflect on that simple, spatial interruption as the catalyst of my social impact design career. Caroline Matthews
< Students at Rutgers Newark worked on an
Teaching Practicum was an introduction to and inside look at what it really means to be a design educator.
in-class assignment developed and implemented for Teaching Practicum by Pratt GradComD student Eduardo Palma. >
Pratt Institute
undergraduate student work, completed for an assignment developed and assigned by Kristen Myers.
Before taking this class, I had a strong interest in teaching but never had the opportunity to really test out the waters. Through weekly class discussions, teaching assistantships, and collaborations with current professors, I got to explore my personal interest in design education. Through these assistantships, I experienced many different, sometimes experimental, approaches to teaching. Learning from the professors I worked with and being inspired by the vast number of students I collaborated with in Teaching Practicum solidified my interest in design education. In the midst of all the presentations, discussions, and critiques, I was able to further understand why teaching is important to me and develop my own approach to creating an engaging and constructive classroom environment. John Lunn
Teaching Practicum Teaching Practicum is a course for those who are interested in teaching at the college level. Preparation for communication design educators requires exposure to multiple teaching pedagogies/strategies, an understanding of curriculum and course development, and student evaluation, in addition to professional skills development. Students will generate a knowledge base for curricular and project development as well as techniques for course preparation and instruction. They will gain experience in conducting critiques, introducing projects, and presenting lectures. In addition to the time in the classroom, students will serve as teaching assistants in both the undergraduate and graduate programs and closely observe Pratt faculty as they teach in various courses.
76 | Dialogues
Free School helped me see how different disciplines can influence and enrich the design process. Along with four other students, I was part of the GradComD Communications Committee. Our job was to act as a liaison between the GradComD administration and students as well as to organize lectures and workshops for students throughout the year. Our shining moment was Pratt Free School, a full day of classes open to the public and taught completely by former and current students from our department. Our year’s curriculum focused on collaboration between disciplines, with graphic design as the common anchor.
Pratt Free School Planned and implemented by the GradComD Communications Committee, Pratt Free School is an annual day of free classes open to the public and taught by current students and alumni. The highly attended event opens GradComD’s doors to the larger New York City communities that Pratt is in the midst of.
> Pratt Free School swag, distributed to attendees of the event.
Each class referenced “design + ________,” the collaborative element ranging from poetry to psychology to drones. We had an overwhelming and amazing response from the community! Because of the press we received from local blogs and websites most of the classes became standing room only. It is easy in a big city, especially one as big as New York, to feel alone. It was inspiring to see so many people from the local community come together to participate. Hannah Schreiner
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Design Lecture Series
GradComD Gallery
Each year the Graduate Communications Design department sponsors a lecture series in which notable designers and design educators are invited to share their work and ideas. Additional lecturers are brought to the department by the Communications Committee and by faculty members as guest lecturers.
Collecting History,
>
The gallery on the seventh floor of Pratt Manhattan is a venue for many different kinds of exhibitions easily accessible to the GradComD community. Communications design-focused exhibitions feature student work and the work of invited professionals, as well as Pratt faculty. The space has also been used in conjunction with studio classes to enable projects that require an exhibit context for their presentation.
Collecting Design, an exhibition of design history presented as part of Display.
Visiting design lecturers include: Marian Bantjes Jennifer Bernstein Michael Bierut Rob Carter Don Ryun Chang Min Choi Sulki Choi Brian Collins Andy Cruz Paul Elliman Experimental Jetset Karin Fong John Gall James Goggin
Timothy Goodman April Greiman Geoff Han Dawn Hancock Luke Hayman Chester Jenkins Kind Company Diego Kolsky Urs Lehni Adam Harrison Levy Ellen Lupton Lev Manovich Bruce Mau Rory McGrath
Pablo Medina Peter Nencini Kitai Park The Post Family Michael Rock Paul Sahre Sonnenzimmer John Thackara Lex TrĂźb Tracy Valicenti Rick Valicenti Massimo Vignelli Khoi Vinh Armin Vit
Additional course lecturers include: <<<
Lecture Series poster,
designed by Professor Brenda McManus <<
Marian Bantjes poster,
designed by Professor Brenda McManus <
Paul Elliman poster,
designed by Professor 82 | Dialogues
Ryan Waller
Elizabeth Amorose Jerome Amos Michelle Ehrlich Chappell Ellison Steve Ettlinger Ed Fella Rob Giampietro
Barbara Glauber Berton Hasebe Will Holder Allen Hori Jonathan Lee Adam Harrison Levy Lyle Owerko
Alexander Reyna Sierra Seip Stuart Smith Adam Snetman Shawn Trail Alison Uljee Allen Wyke
Around the Studio with Matt Martin
W18 Studios June 25th, 2014 1:00 P.M. What do you like about working at Pratt? I like helping the students. I like being a resource for students who are maybe having an issue with a computer or they need some advice on their project. My favorite thing about the job is the connections that I make with students and the friendships that I’ve made over time. Just the general good vibes that I get from people.
Matt Martin is the GradComD studio and lab manager. He is also lab manager for the Art and Design Departments at Pratt Manhattan. He
So what happens when you aren’t here?
has been working at Pratt
But, you know, part of my job is keeping everyone sorted out and making sure that no one is blatantly breaking the rules. [ Laughs ] We still have to have rules here. I try to keep the space as free and open to everybody as possible and make sure that nobody is causing a nuisance. How do you manage to keep students following the rules? Sometimes it’s kind of impossible, because I’m not here twentyfour hours a day. A lot of times my attitude is that you should not break the rules … if you can manage not to. [ Laughs ] Generally people are nice about it and I’ve never had a huge issue. When you have equipment that needs to be working for the masses, you just have to make sure it stays working, and one way to do that is to set some rules and limits on what people can do with it.
since 2001. He has a B.F. A. in Interdisciplinary Art and is also a musician.
I have fourteen lab monitors. Twelve hours a day there’s a lab monitor who’s working, so when I’m not here, they all have my phone number and can text me or send me an e-mail. I have a great e-mail address, matt@pratt.edu. At orientation I tell people this and they generally remember it. [ Laughs ] So you don’t always have to go through a lab monitor, you can also just e-mail me. I don’t mind dealing with an issue when I’m not physically here. I like being able to be present when I’m not present. I would hate it if someone was here at a reasonable time of day and there was no one to help them. I obviously can’t be available twenty-four hours a day, but I help people at 3 a.m. sometimes, especially at the end of semester when everyone is trying to print final projects. Time is of the essence. Can you tell us about a project you’ve helped a student with? Yeah. A couple years ago a student, Greg Reistenberg, came up to me when he was working on a project about drones. I helped him come up with a way to use the drone’s built-in controller and Processing, which a lot of people have heard of, to control the
84 | Dialogues
drone by Tweeting at it. I was able to build a way for Processing to communicate to the drone, and Processing was also communicating with Twitter. That’s a really simplified version of what I did, but that was probably one of the most fun things I’ve gotten to work on with a student. What do you do besides working here? I have a B.F. A. in Interdisciplinary Art from the San Francisco Art Institute, but I don’t really do much art, because my degree was kind of all over the place. Mostly I was just a musician who didn’t have another place to go except for art school. I kind of played around making music, but not so much anymore. I’m mostly into electronics these days, gadgets and stuff, a little bit of programming. How has the studio changed the program? I was working at Pratt before we even had this studio space, and I think we moved here in 2011 or 2010 … before that there was nothing. Students had the seventh floor of the W14th Street building and there were lockers, but they had to be out by eleven o’clock at night, and there was no place for them to set up and work, no place for people to collaborate. You were kind of on your own, so there wasn’t a strong community of students. Just having the studio has been a massive change. As far as the way I’ve seen the studio grow since we’ve been here … it’s gotten a lot messier [ Laughs ] but it has grown with the needs of the students. Everyone is able to be in their own space and make it their own. That’s important.
86 | Dialogues
People are generally mindful of each other. I like the community that is here, the GradComD students.
88 | Roundtable
Tom Dolle John Hallman
Roundtable W14 Street Sunday May 11th, 2014 3:00 P.M.
Tony Di Spigna Lillian Ling
Pirco Wolframm Sierra Siemer
90 | Roundtable
and different approaches to design.
self-purposing, self-publishing level of activities besides teaching.
concept ideas. This is the time for extraordinary—and don’t be afraid to program somewhat outstanding.
You’re not paying this kind of
Sierra: And to develop an aesthetic.
Tony: Exactly, uh huh.
[ Interrupting in agreement ]
progressing and learning something!
I don’t care if you fail as long as you’re
make mistakes and it’s not about failing.
teaches you how to think and how to and communication world. I think that’s one of the things that makes our
Sierra: It’s interesting that the program, instead of teaching you specific skills,
curriculum, and we get them ready to
As designers we are constantly engaged in multiple dialogues with ourselves, our community, and our work. On two different occasions students, faculty, and alumni met to discuss issues relating to our department and profession. These informal roundtable discussions were a venue in which many different perspectives were brought together.
meet the challenges of the real design
information and the lessons from our
the students end up really grasping the
communications, but it’s amazing how
teaching a fireman about design and
ing to me how sometimes it feels like
that’s a unique quality, and it’s surpris-
come from different backgrounds. I think
guests here have mentioned, students
what unique in that, as a couple of our
Tony: I think that our program is some-
rently mostly teaching and doing more and I’m going to start a portfolio class for their new media program.
I’ll be an astronaut, who knows.
places. I’m pretty versatile, and I’m cur-
corporations and also small nonprofit
gram here. I teach Intro to Graphic Design
etor and employee of all levels of large
I’ve worked in many capacities, propri-
couple steps and ask what’s next. Maybe
moving into getting into my thesis, so I’ll
a wide experience of different schools
shows that are digital-focused. I also
Pratt graduate and we’ve been doing art
crazy shifts and changes. Right now I’m
teach in the Continuing Education pro-
recently started an art collective with a
I was a poetry major, so it’s been a lot of
I studied in Germany and then received my M.F.A. from CalArts, so I have had
be right where John is ... so, I’m just here
was in fine art so I’m kind of a hybrid. I
in graphic design, but in writing, where
Pirco Wolframm Faculty Member / Years at Pratt: 15
trying to figure out how to do the next
I graduated a year ago, and I’m currently working at Code+Theory. My undergrad
I’m a first-year. I actually did my B.A. not
Sierra Siemer Alumnus / Communications Design
Lillian Ling First Year / Communications Design
cus of thesis and getting into job hunting.
about previously.
depending on how many classes I’ve had.
trying to make a name for myself.
up with ways to monetize what they do
Now I’m finally weaning myself off the fo-
I’ve worked full-time and part-time,
to love designing in my early years,
think about entrepreneurship and coming in ways they might not have thought
at Georgia State University. Then I moved back to New York for my graduate degree.
primarily because I love the way I used
is to allow our students to innovate and
older I get, the client somehow is not
worked for a number of small studios
my undergraduate work in graphic design
think, what is really important? The
I went to RISD, came to the city and as important to me as they used to be.
I lived here for nine years, then Chicago for five, and Atlanta for eight, where I did
Associates. Over the years you get to
very depressed part of the United States.
I enjoy teaching at Pratt. I do it
week left. I’m originally from New York.
My background is with Herb Lublin
I’m originally from Youngstown, Ohio, a
before starting my own business in 1983.
Second Year / Communications Design I’m a second-year M.F.A.—I have about a
Faculty Member / Years at Pratt: 40
Faculty Member / Years at Pratt: 20+
A big focus of what we’re teaching here
John Hallman
Tony Di Spigna
Tom Dolle
92 | Roundtable
[ Turning pages motion ]
done, don’t come with a thing I’ve seen
and a problem suggester.
problem seeker and a solution suggester
about creating a mindset for creating a
but I would say an M.F.A. program is also
people is what you call problem solvers,
I think first of all, one portion of educating
who comes out of these design programs.
there are many realities for someone
I think that’s just one reality; I think
Pirco: May I interject?
[ Laughter ]
hiring, and with a CD …
program, I actually used my time to build up myself as an artist. And I continue to explore that side of things.
and are like—let’s go out and make some money; then you have those people who go out and seek their own path and learn
In GradComD I have shored up my skills
that I’ve learned how to do.
how to ask questions, which is something
data from files and stuff, so even though the M.S. is seen as the more pragmatic
have those people who are very corporate
sically experimental video art using raw of people who leave this department, you
Lillian: I think that within the spectrum
me to experiment, and my thesis was ba-
types of teachers that I felt would allow
pushed me back toward art. I saw the
design realm, and in the M.S. it actually
because I wanted to get more into the
from an art background and I did the M.S.
Sierra: It’s interesting because I came
I think that’s just one reality, I think there are several realities for someone who comes out of these design programs.
that’s the reality.
your portfolio for less than a minute, but
graduate design and someone looks at
to four years of school and two years of
And it’s kind of unfair, you know; you go
they wouldn’t bother to see the rest of it.
them stop and pay attention to your work,
their attention to begin with and make
If they don’t see anything that will grab
[ Pushing button motion ]
That’s what I used to do when I was
going to really shoot you down and stab you with my pencil.
a thousand times before, because I’m
They do this with a traditional portfolio …
something that a secretary could have
like, you know, don’t come to class with
students that potential employers look at your portfolio in seconds.
steps to avoid and not to do. So things
decorative. And in the process you guide portfolio course. I keep telling the
are looking for out there; that’s what prospective employers look at in your
and things that are sort of gaudy and students to solve it in a more creative
what the goal is; that’s what people
ideas rather than just technical stuff
way. I give my students a list of twelve
To think outside the box—that’s
really guiding students to come up with
all about: “What’s the problem?” And
lem solvers, and I think that’s what it’s
Tony: I think what we do is create prob-
money to come to graduate school to do ordinary work.
94 | Roundtable
experimental
describing the program at Pratt, or even the responsibility of ushering people through this program and making their time worth the while is: I think students really need to understand that the practice of design is a practice of constant
the audience. So it’s not that they just design for designers, but they do look at design in relation to other audiences, and how they can give out new methods of accessing that.
about what’s going on around oneself, asking, “What’s going on and how does that reflect my practice as a designer?” Whether that’s technology, society, culture, economics, and so on and so forth, it is really important to understand that all of this affects how you design and how it changes your perspective on design. And how it changes the practice of de-
has to benefit the design community. It has to add some knowledge that wasn’t known before. One of my favorite questions that Professor Alisa Zamir asks students is, “Why is this a thesis and not just a design project in a class?” That’s a very important question. If those students cannot answer or know the difference, then it doesn’t qualify as a thesis.
to constantly regraduate.
have this degree, I am finished.” You have
dramatically. You cannot just say, “Well, I
years the practice of design has changed
sign. In my experience, in the last twenty
learner, one has to be constantly curious
Tony: The thesis has to benefit society; it
need to be adaptable. To be a constant
learning and constant change. Designers
Pirco: One thing that I wanted to add in and find different ways of understanding
The ability to contribute to culture as a designer is really only possible if you are able to follow up with what’s going on and have a flexible mindset.
can enhance that conversation.
ways to speak to whatever audience we’re trying to talk to in the way that a designer
the size of his audience ]
projects in which they involve other people
of participation. The students create
questions right now that deal with issues
ences. There’s so many process-driven
mean they aren’t applied to actual audi-
that I see with my thesis students doesn’t
Pirco: The more “introspective” approach
quality of what we do, which is important to learn, but we also have to figure out [ Outstretches his arms to demonstrate
audience is this big.
We tend to focus on the high design
I think you’re limiting yourself.
it took years for me to realize that my
nity to talk to another audience, then
while I had some incredible conceptual
and talking to other designers in designer language, but if you don’t use an opportu-
And I felt when I came out of there that, theory that was really good for my career,
So yes, there’s room for introspection
other designers. That could be a mistake.
audience. I went to RISD and everything we did was meant to have the audience of
Tom: Well, I think a lot of it is about
or considering how to contribute to the field of design.
vestigating design itself, redefining design,
well as an approach that encourages in-
more advertising focused, or being more
design: a problem-solving model, similar
each other find their own path, whether it be a little more corporate, a little
different approaches to communications to commercial or client-based practice, as
works toward the same goal: helping
Pirco: In my opinion, we might be able to say that our program encompasses two
into different places, and everyone here
of different types of designers that fit
great in that you have a whole spectrum
I think that as a whole, the program is
my writing background.
in addition to what I was bringing from
different facet to what I’ve already had,
different solutions. It’s kind of added a
the problem that I’ve come up with. Seek
questions myself and actually answer
I’m being asked to come up with the
to become a bit of a contender and now
96 | Roundtable
Tony: To build this, and you have a new car.
space as opposed to on a screen? It’s a very different set of circumstances.
what it’s all about. So again, instead of thinking in just one-dimensional or
tions and communications now with products that are going to come out very quickly. Everything from when I take a sip
and architectural graphics. Nobody comes to me and asks me solve a problem and I say, “Oh, we don’t handle that.”
about those issues?
a communication designer to start to think
blood pressure is. What does that mean to
of this coffee, I’m going to know what my
of life cycle, usage, sustainability, and materials. There are all kinds of interac-
complete service studio. We could design anything from stamps to corporate graph-
it's a little more complicated than that now because it deals with a lot of issues
be able to design. Our studio was a
ics to industrial products to environmental
Tom: Well, when we talk about packaging, that’s outside my area of focus, I should
If someone comes to me with a problem
communication graphics.
I don’t think of design as just teaching
stand what you’re trying to teach.
sional thinking helps a student under-
two-dimensional thinking, three-dimen-
opportunity to think a little more about. How do you communicate through a of what you can do with typography and
about here, that we give our students the you think of typography as a three-dimensional structure, you have a clearer idea
of view that I’ve just done on my own, but that needs to be something that we talk
in Typography, I tell my students that if
So I have a very three-dimensional point dimensional space. As a matter of fact,
Tony: It’s interesting you mention three-
I’ve done packaging and interior design.
spaces, time and space. I’ve done signage;
So it does get into furniture, interiors,
design, it’s a whole other world.
When you talk about three-dimensional
primarily flat design or interactive design?
concerning audiences and theory and
er-based products. And so how does the
design it, okay?
so, yes,you might have ideas about what
consumer differ from what we deal with
about packaging it’s more about consum-
I may not be able to build it, but I can
disciplinary, and also collaborative. And
could help you….
area of packaging is really not so much
car.” I feel I can design a new car. I mean,
would be great to have somebody who
kind of things that can happen, the whole
me and says “I want you to design a new
design is going—is that as the practice becomes more interdepartmental, cross-
whole point of view of dealing with the
design. With 3-D printing and other sorts of on-demand consumer products, the
problem. With designing jewelry or industrial design. I mean if someone comes to
Pirco: Which is one of the things that is also really interesting about where
a new good car would look like, but it
design—will deal with having designers
started here.
think a bit more about three-dimensional
across your way, you should be able to,
is something that I didn’t expect when I terrific design, solving that particular
especially with regards to packaging
believe that. So whatever problem comes
people. And it’s not just making stuff. This as a good designer, come up with a good,
Tom: In the future, the curriculum—
designer should be able to design anything from a stamp to a battleship. And I
mean, Herbert Bayer used to say a good
that designers are people who are basipeople. And we study how to interact with
Even though that’s not your discipline. I
the most important thing I’ve learned is cally cultural anthropologists. We study
a good designer is a good designer, should be able to design a piece of furniture.
background, is I thought designers were
coming from someone without a design just people who made pretty things. And
somebody should come to you and say, “I want you to design a piece of furniture,”
Lillian: One thing I’ve definitely learned,
munications design department, but if
might be designing something in a com-
To me, a good idea is a good idea. So you
my class is to develop problem solvers.
Tony: One of the things that I believe in
Barnes & Noble is for the twenty-first
stores. They need bigger investment. They need to kind of reinvent themselves.
[ Complete silence ]
can happen.
you get a company on board, great things
them to do that is very difficult. But once
they’ve been comfortable with. So moving
because they’re so wedded to what
It’s scary for a large company like that,
bringing in teams of designers together.
need to do and are doing, and they’re
of thinking that a lot of organizations
be all kinds of things. But that’s that kind
ing? What is it? Is it performance? It could
they have classes on narrative filmmak-
move into the twenty-first century? Do
equivalent? How can a company like that
tury. But what’s the twenty-first century
that storytelling took in the twentieth cen-
It’s about books, but that’s just the form
narrative; it’s about storytelling. Yes.
from a creative point of view, it’s about
century. And when you think about it
of students, a cross-disciplinary group of students, to rethink what a company like
the twenty-first century. They’re closing
organize this, again, I don’t know if it’s going to happen, but to work with a group
ing a very comfortable entrance into
people at Pratt and I’ve been trying to
century, right, and they are not mak-
Tom: So I’ve been talking with some
workshop, but here you have a company,
there’s a lot more optimism right now.
changes but also about social changes. So
So I see a lot more about technological
educate themselves.
Barnes & Noble, that is so twentieth
basic products. It’s a fun project and a fun
doing these products. But it’s all just
Barnes & Noble over the past few years,
We had an opportunity to work with
much more willing now to think bigger.
Tom: I find that most organizations are
more positive thinking about the future.
now with their future scenarios, I see a lot
we are; we’re doing what he did. So think-
A lot more enthusiasm about the future.
places to live. And when students come
seemed unbelievable at the time, but here
very important part of getting students to
you were rich, you had enough privileged
the thing and starts talking to his thing. It
ing about the future, in future tense, is a
everything was global ecological disaster, and we were, like, all living in caves, and if
Star Trek, where Captain Kirk takes out
years ago, it was all doomsday. It was like,
up with ideas even though they may sound unbelievable and so forth. Check out your
and designing something for it, in the last fifteen years I’ve been teaching. Ten
solutions.” Think of future life. I'm not asking them to predict the future, but come
Pirco: It’s funny because I’ve always used this idea of creating a future scenario
class that I emphasize is to come up with solutions that are what I call “Star Trek
Tony: One of the things in my thesis
100 | Roundtable
it will continue to evolve, no biggie. We'll
feel like it’s going from the old Volkswagen
form of media.
the milk from that cow. Okay?
Tony: The milk today does not taste like
to what they were.
people have no way of comparing things
thing and you lose an awful lot. And
Tony: So with technology, you get some-
The thing about print is that it’s not advancing. These other
really delightful. Children love books.
Tom: Kids still love books. That’s what’s
[ Laughter ]
into reading.
[ Laughter ]
real interesting. With print, who knows. I
day, is that it’s actually a very interactive
Tony: Well, it’s great that it can shock kids
that conducts electricity. So that could be
find interesting about print, still to this
Sierra: That’s terrifying.
Sierra: That’s why I’m vegan.
one told me the other day about this ink
act with a printed piece like this. What I
to a Ferrari. You know?
technology, even if it’s an old one. Some-
wasn’t going to change the way we inter-
the milk from the cow and there you go! was this whole embedded electronic thing. Lillian: I like to think of it as an evolving
they would take the bottles and squeeze touched it, it would change color and it So it was very cool as a gimmick, but it
guy walking around town with his cow, and the mothers would lower their bottles, and
ing. There’s an ad that I brought in for my I think it was for a phone where if you
ber the day when I was a kid, there was a
happening now that are kind of intereststudents—I forget, I think it’s in Wired—
and we just love the tools that we grow up with, unfortunately. It’s like milk! I remem-
there are some interactive things that are
writing. Then came the ballpoint generation. Then came the computer generation
away, but it’s reached the limit of what's possible on a piece of paper. I mean,
own technology. I mean I still remember putting a pen point into an inkwell and
of what it can do. It’s not going to go
tion, each generation grows up with its
Tony: Unfortunately, the younger genera-
be a place for print, probably forever.
wasn’t true. I think there's still going to
know … doing this. [ Flips through book ]
to paint things anymore because we can just take pictures. And of course that
of reading things and getting information. I still love that physical thing of, you
like, well, that’s it; no one’s going to paint
I always get something out of books.
pictures anymore. I mean no one’s going
it was printed. And he was saying that when photography came out, people were
a book and hasn’t gotten anything out of it. I love books even though we’re into new
the book The End of Print! But of course
because I don’t know of anyone who’s read
technology and there are different ways
Continuing Education program a snippet from one of his TED talks. And he wrote
every one of my students to get into them. At least be familiar with the content. And
Sierra: Speaking of David Carson, I was actually showing my students in my
books. As a matter of fact, I would want
I don't know if God is still dead, but....
dicted the death of print, the death of God.
Tony: I agree, but a lot of people have pre-
something.…
have LED paper that reflects light or
the table here and they’re all excellent
Tony: I flipped through all the books on
Sierra: I don't think print will ever, like, die out or anything like that. I think that
Tom: Print has kind of reached the limit
You broke the roundtable roundtable.
[ More laughter ]
Lillian: We’re just speechless, that’s all.
[ Laughter ]
the room.
Tom: Oops. I didn’t mean to silence
Oops.
102 | Roundtable
just to go back to the portfolio and pre-
you necessarily have to sit and do and
own way, in that dialogue.
when everything just sort of happens in its
that’s going to seem so archaic in ten years
another. Right now, we’re actively doing it by picking the apps on our cell phone, but
everyday and how they interact with one
sort of dialogue between the things you do
everything is going to connect. There is that
We’re moving to a society where in which
it’s a lot about listening and sharing.…
People mistake dialogue for talking, and
Tom: I think it’s a lot about listening.
the ideas.
[ Laughter ]
Pirco: Well, but you are the expert.
how I interpret it.
John: But maybe that’s just me and
my design world.
Tom: Well, I think a dialogue is more about
shows up, you end up with a monologue.
than one person. I mean if only one person
To have a dialogue you have to have more
person. That’s a quick way to explain it.
than one person. Monologue concerns one
Dialogue … Dialogue is, in a sense, more
Tony: I know the title of this book is In
Pirco: Okay.
or sell a product that they may have. And that’s the reality I’ve had to deal with in
and ideas.
briefly between two people, whereas
dealing with businesspeople whose inter-
solved. And primarily you’re going to be
ephemeral, something you have very
est is primarily to promote their service
give me design.” They want their problem
than a conversation. Conversations seem
tinuation of, like, a series of conversations
ing to a designer and saying, “Give me art;
something a little bit more long-lived
a dialogue is the start and eventual con-
are graduating and what's in store for them. And I’ve never heard of a client go-
John: I guess I would see dialogue as
based. Because I think of students who
important; I’m just a little bit more reality
Tony: Again, I think what Pirco is saying is
a robust amount of history about itself.
understand itself at this point. It has such
comes more invisible … it’s not something
it does need all these things to sort of
creates its own jobs within itself. Because it does need history; it does need theory;
around. And I think as technology be-
interact with on a screen, that a lot of old
Design is such an entity by itself that it
some level, but I think it all kind of comes
technologies will come back in new ways.
on design itself. I mean, this whole idea of the designer working for an industry.…
know, we’re fascinated by technology on
contemporary pieces. What's interesting is, there’s a huge amount of books written
them are classics; some of them are very
keep revolving and changing, and, you
of it, you know.
that’s exciting. I think all of these things
can actually make type by hand. So I think
part of a discussion on design. Some of
connection between them. They are all a
says, “Wow, what technology!” They look at, “Wow these are great ideas.” Or lack
there really is this level of discovery that you can actually make things by hand. You
show now, they get really excited and
Pirco: If we get back to the books on the table, I really have a hard time seeing a
of presentation is, that—I really don’t hear a person who looks at your work and
When students go to a letterpress print
senting your work, whatever the means
Tony: I just want to emphasize, again
analog. They’re starting to get really, really excited.
have been digital, who are rediscovering
like yourselves who—their whole lives
interesting now is to see young people
technology and all of that. What’s really
the computer generation start and digital
out; I adopted it very quickly. I’ve seen
analog. Then computer technology came
city, started a business; everything was
I was taught totally analog, came to the
things have changed and keep changing.
Tom: What’s interesting is to see how
technologies are finding new venues and moving forward.
IS ECTS
104 | Inquiries
Student work by Sarah Alfarhan, Haruka Aoki, Rogier Bak, Marina Brant, Kathryn Harris, Simone Li, Aaron Mickelson, Leigh Mignogna, Nick Misani, John Olson, Nikko-Ryan Santillan, Liz Siebert, Michael Silber, Garrett Traya, Gabriel Trindade Alves, Radhika Unnikrishnan, and Zahra Zolfaghari.
THESIS PROJE
Thesis Groups The thesis group is a small cohort of students and one faculty member who work collaboratively to identify potential areas of inquiry and, ultimately, a focus for each studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s thesis. Initially the process is one of open, playful investigation toward discovering a topic. As the semester progresses, students focus their research and write a viable abstract, problem statement, hypothesis, plan of action, and bibliography for both the written and visual components of the thesis. At the end of the first year, each student presents the results of his or her research through a visual and written articulation of the thesis in a formal presentation.
Thesis work is also supported by seminars that serve as a forum for critical analysis and discussions of theoretical, historical, and contemporary issues in communications design. Design Writing focuses on core writing skills and effective methods for researching, analyzing, evaluating, and chronicling design issues.
106 | Inquiries
The New Immaterials Graduate Thesis
A collaboration with Leigh
<
<< This alternative Flickr search engine provides a different mode
Mignogna, the Geneva Kneue
of perception for search results,
typeface uses Metafont, an early
shifting the emphasis from their
programming language for
semantic (“tagged”) content to
digital type design. The design
purely visual content.
was inspired by early bitmap fonts, in which the constraints of
< This website lets users
the supporting system (i.e., moni-
explore the effects of simple
tor resolution) are visibly denoted
moiré patterns.
in the letterforms.
< Users are accustomed to experiencing space in a multitude of ways, like “axonometric” and “two-point perspective.” By showing these “modes” as artificially divorced from any
When it comes to digital devices, there are multiple layers of artificiality between the system and the user. One is the screen, perceived as a “window” into the world of the computer. Another is the design of that surface. To expose the “material” of the screen means revealing its sublime qualities—the stuff beyond the reach of normal perception. By revealing familiar technology from a fresh perspective—for example, through the uncanny lens of self-reflexive, default, or critical design—transparent design can provide a vantage point from which to reconsider our relationship with technology. It may even offer new modes of perception.
Liz Seibert received her
physical context, it emphasizes
B.A. in liberal arts from
the constructed nature of
Stanford University.
seeing in digital space.
Her graduate work has been featured by AIGA New York, GDUSA magazine, and the International Biennial of Graphic Design Brno.
< This card game is intended as a playful forum for the debate surrounding the pros and cons of social media.
Liz Seibert
RECONSIDER OUR RELATION-
108 | Inquiries
SHIP WITH TECHNOLOGY Shifting Geographies
Graduate Thesis
As a decidedly political practice, graphic design can be employed to investigate the shifting geographies of spatial politics. Our understanding and inhabitance of space continuously change due to technological advances, as does the control over our environment(s). Starting by questioning the characteristics of spatial politics, I look for my work to agitate in order to provoke critical thought.
Rogier Bak was born and raised in the Netherlands and came to the United States at age eighteen. He received his B.A. in graphic design from California State University in 2010. He now works as a graphic designer in New
<
York City.
Responding to The Debate
Het Debat (The Debate):
through the lens of a “kitsch aesthetic” is an <
One aspect of my thesis, The New Landscape, poses a speculative scenario, which imagines how future urbanites may interact with natural landscapes. The immersive and secluded experience this project illustrates exemplifies how future city-dwellers may be getting their “fix” of nature whenever their taxing urban existence becomes a bit too overwhelming. I see the city environment as a slightly dystopian image, becoming only more demanding, fast-paced, and rigorous than it already is, and with less time (or interest) to travel away from the metropolis, destinations must be brought into the home.
attempt to critically
Landscape.
Images from The New
evaluate neutrality.
> In contrast to the massproduced IKEA rug, the
Rogier Bak
typography of You Just Sit There is screen-printed.
> The development of parking lots, completely utilitarian spaces of prime real estate, raises questions about the exchange we make in catering to a car-first culture.
110 | Inquiries
The Disappearing Package Graduate Thesis
Every year we throw away a ton of packaging waste (actually, over seventy million tons). It makes up the single largest percentage of trash in our landfills (beating out industrial waste, electronics, food â&#x20AC;Ś everything). Figures released by the EPA indicate this problem is getting worse every year.
Aaron Mickelson is a senior designer at Jansy Packaging in Chicago. He has a B.F. A. in Communication Arts from East Caroline University.
Package designers must be willing to take an active role in research and development on the production end of design.
As a package designer (and grad studentâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;meaning I know everything and can solve every problem, naturally), I was concerned about where this trend is going. Of course, many talented designers working in the field have made great efforts over the past few years to reduce the amount of packaging that goes onto a product. However, for my masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s thesis, I asked the question: Can we eliminate that waste entirely? The solutions presented by this thesis are my answer to that question. I realize each presents its own manufacturing or distribution challenge; however, each also presents opportunities available to package designers right now. Aaron Mickelson
< Individual tea packets
<
are perforated together
pods stitched together, printed using
The package is a sheet of laundry
and folded up accordion
soap soluble ink. The POD plastic is
style. This provides a new
water soluble.
opportunity to eliminate Product details are screen-printed
<<
unnecessary waste.
directly onto the surface of the container with soap soluble inks.
Projets, Projeckty, Projects
Graduate Thesis
Sarah Alfarhan studied illustration as an undergrad at the University of the Arts. Born and raised in
<
My thesis explores the topic of ideating multilingually. I have found—by accident—that my ideas vary in each language (Arabic versus English) when brainstorming bilingually. It evoked my curiosity, and I started by reading on creativity, perception, cognitive science, linguistics, and language learning. I conducted experiments and workshops for designers with prompts that require the usage of more than one language; I was aiming to create an atmosphere of discovery and multiplicity of viewpoints. This aspect of experimentation allowed me to test my theories and to learn from multilinguals working in the creative field.
Kuwait, she finds that
creative assignments.
Prompt categories for
being bilingual has informed her creative process.
> The booklet of assignments titled Projets, Projekty, Projects contains assignments that push for
The thesis consisted of: written research in the form of a book, booklet of assignments, curriculum development for a class matching the policies and objectives of Pratt Institute, experiment on memories, teaching a workshop on Gocco printing (with guidelines that ask for multilingual brainstorming), a workbook for high school students on immigration, and three posters on the theme “tea” using Arabic and English.
multilingual brainstorming and experimentation. It contains six exercises.
The Memory Cards experiment consisted of a card asking to share a childhood memory and to indicate in which language the memory was recalled. In this experiment I wanted to see the connection between native language and memories. I have found that in multilingual brainstorming creative individuals will produce rich hybrid concepts based on the commingling of languages and distinct cultural worldviews. Sarah Alfarhan
116
LANGUAGE AS A TOOL TO FIND
INSPIRATION
> #StickerMeme artwork uploaded to Instagram
Understanding Internet Memes
and appearing on
Graduate Thesis
For my graduate design thesis, I investigated the Internet meme phenomenon and what it could mean for graphic designers. I was looking at the way Internet memes function with an aim toward identifying effective frameworks for engagement. By examining the characteristics of a successful Internet meme, and the way these are utilized in design solutions, I aim to build a typology of tools that apply these insights to the design process. I am seeking to build open frameworks for visual participation, to create designs that allow room for users to make and react to meme images.
stickermeme.com. Born in Poughkeepsie, New York, John Olson has an undergraduate degree in Illustration from the Columbus College of Art and Design. After graduating in 2009, John worked for three years as an interactive designer before coming to Pratt.
John Olson > Mapping an original meme as it compares to related, exsisting memes.
<< Originally thirty sticker booklets were printed and handed out to both friends and strangers.
118 | Inquiries
International Opportunities Projects in Transnational Design Each spring semester GradComD students have the opportunity to apply for enrollment in a Special Studies studio, Projects in Transnational Design. The studio aims to develop a new ethos for working collaboratively using network and screen-based tools and an intense dedication to completely uncovering manners and rituals that promote linkages and honor differences, while producing a significant body of visual and transmedia work.
Projects in Transnational Design is jointly taught by Pratt GradComD Adjunct Professor Tom Klinkowstein and Docent Kiko Luiten at AKV | St. Joost Academie in Breda, Netherlands.
The wish, in the course of this collaboration, is to discover the understanding, appreciation, and beliefs of this proposed new type of designer within the discipline of graphic design and in the context of an exchange project between our two institutes and our two international groups of students.
The Danish Institute for Study Abroad The Danish Institute for Study Abroad and Pratt GradComD offer a nine-credit summer program in either information or textile design. The program immerses students in an academic and cultural experience that exposes them to many facets of design—architecture, furniture, and graphic design—not just their chosen focus. With most experiences, it’s the journey that defines the time, not the destination itself, and this creative journey is no exception.
120 | Inquiries
Diego Zaks
student work, Spring 2014. Students Diego Zaks
>
The course is an opportunity to uncover students’ existing and aspirational values—values being what students believe to be right, both ethically and professionally, for them as a designer and a world citizen.
> Transnational Design
Today more than ever, designers need to collaborate with people from all around the world. Technology makes it easier, but there are a lot of challenges that still remain. This is a great opportunity to submit ourselves to these challenges and learn how to overcome them, but most importantly, Projects in Transnational Design is a great setup to be exposed to a completely different view of design. The collaboration with the St. Joost Academy produced some really interesting conversations about design and its future.
and John Olson review work with designer Jan Van Toorn at St. Joost.
I have always loved to travel, but I had never actually lived abroad. To really know a place, a people, a culture, I find that I need to spend time immersed in the day-to-day activities of the people. The study abroad program that Pratt offered in Copenhagen was one of the many reasons I was attracted to Pratt. Design is embedded into the Danish culture—from the city’s planned bikeways to its carefully curated coffee, there is no element that has been created without design thinking at the forefront. The experience I gained last summer will be one that I carry with me throughout my lifetime and design career. I will forever be influenced by the art, architecture, culture, relationships, and education that I experienced through the program. Ann Marie Sexton
Graduate School Manifesto Being on the forefront of design rather than following trends. Independent and critical thinking. Practicing design as an agent of change.
For me graduate school is a time to explore who I am as a designer, push myself to experiment, and see who I can become.
Becoming more confident in oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s abilities.
Embracing failure.
Graduate school is the time for
Finding a voice. Establishing a dialogue between theory and practice.
Challenging assumptions. Collaborating across disciplines.
Increasing depth of knowledge and breadth of understanding.
My goals were strictly personal, to immerse myself in a design environment and create and design for myself rather than a client. Gaining the knowledge and skills to be successful as a designer.
124 | Transitions
Colophon
Acknowledgments
This limited-edition book was designed and developed by Pratt Graduate Communications Design students under the mentorship of Level Design Group. The book team worked collaboratively on concept, design, interviews, content development, editing, and original photography.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to many people who have helped on this project: Bárbara Abbês, Sarah Alfarhan, Rogier Bak, Jeff Bellantoni, Chava Ben-Amos, Warren Bernard, Jean Brennan, André De Castro, Buzz Chang, CMYK+WHITE, Lisa Delgado, Tony Di Spigna, Tom Dolle, Chantal Fischzang, David Frisco, Jonathan Frey, John Hallman, Saana Hellsten, Nicholas Hubbard, Marteinn Jónasson, Thomas Klinkowstein, Anna Krstevski, EunSun Lee, Jieun Lee, Alex Liebergesell, Lillian Ling, John Lunn, Caroline Matthews, Rui Maekawa, Matt Martin, Brenda McManus, Aaron Mickelson, John Olson, Eric O’Toole, Other Means, Santiago Piedrafita, Alan Rapp, Juan Carlos Rodríguez-Rivera, Karla Saldaña, Hannah Schreiner, Liz Seibert, Amanda Sepanski, Ann Marie Sexton, Sierra Siemer, Eva Surany, Alejandro Torres Viera, Ryan Waller, and Pirco Wolframm.
Foreword: Santiago Piedrafita, Chair Graduate Communications & Package Design Book Team: Creative Director: Jennifer Bernstein, Visiting Associate Professor, Pratt GradComD / Principal, Level Design Group Designers: Sarah Bradford, Kristen Myers, Eduardo Palma, Robert Wilson Editorial Advisor: Alan Rapp Proofreader: Lisa Delgado Additional photography provided by: Saana Hellsten, Thomas Klinkowstein, Jieun Lee, John Olson, Ann Marie Sexton, John Gilbert Young Typefaces: Neue Haas Grotesk (95 Black, 75 Bold) restored in digital form by type designer Christian Schwartz for Font Bureau; Akkurat (Light, Light Italic, and Bold) designed by Laurenz Brunner Paper: Arctic Volume 300 gr. (cover), 150 gr. (interior) Printing: Oddi Printing / Iceland
126 | Transitions
An additional thanks to the entire Pratt GradComD faculty and staff, who are integral to our department.
Contact Us: Pratt Institute Graduate Communications & Package Design 144 West 14th Street (offices & classrooms) M–F, 10a.m.–6p.m. 23 West 18th Street (studios) New York, NY 10011 212.647.7573 des@pratt.edu For more information visit us at: www.pratt.edu
© 2014 Pratt Graduate Communications & Package Design
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