The first thing that came to mind when I saw the first screen of Elaine's lecture was
"was design ever colonized?" As I understood more about the use of this term in the design
industry and her opinions on this topic, my question was answered naturally, Design was never
colonized, it was instead a tool to colonize. Therefore, it is unsuitable to use the term
"decolonization" to explain the diversity in design styles, moved on from the universal eurocentric
design.
After listening to her lecture, I realized that I wasn't aware of the eurocentric design
being the standard for all commercial designs- the fonts, compositions, and colors. That was
all of what I know about designs and the way that I thought all design styles were. Now that I
am aware of this situation, I think it is a task for young designers including myself to figure
out or discover a style that is new and innovative. Understanding that I am in the best education
environment full of diversity, surrounded by open-minded people who give sharp critiques and are
supportive, I think this is the time we should really think about the fundamentals of design and
a new way of approach. At this point, I think the importance of having confidence in my own work
and being brave to try something new can't be stressed enough. One might be paving the way for a
new era of design without even knowing.
The way Kiang started her lecture by asking the audience to share the meaning of their names was inspiring. This drew my attention not only because it was interesting to hear what the lecturer’s name meant, but also because I know my name has a meaning but didn’t really think about that in everyday life. Then something clicked in my head that there would be meanings to all the choices people make in designs as well. Listening to her lecture helped me imagine what the life of a designer would be like post-graduation, which I didn’t really spend much time thinking about since I thought I had a long way to go. She gave practical and heartful advice to students as a person who has been in the industry, to “steal everything.” By this, she meant to try to use up and take all from the opportunities you get through in terms of learning tips, facilities, and connections because it is hard to come back to the place you once were, and absorbing new things will only be helpful to you in the future. I was also surprised when she said that making and maintaining human connections is crucial in participating in projects because a lot of the time they start from a conversation between designers of different individual studios. I hope to make great connections in the environment that couldn’t be any better and I hope to become one of the essential connections to the people around me would be happy to have.
Pascal Glissmann is a designer who creates projects that are based on his observation. Not only
has he been in Cologne, Hong Kong, Beirut, and New York with his creative practice himself, he has
contributed to unique projects that use inspiration on a global scale. One of his projects involved
collecting data from all over the world to create a project with the collaboration of people in 6 different
countries. I was very inspired when Pascal said that he was naturally shaped by having an interest in
observation through the experience of living in various countries. ,
As an international student myself, I was able to connect with his idea of being with different
people from other cultural backgrounds, observation
leads you to expand the thoughts you already had as well as to discover and learn new ways to express and
look at the same things from a different perspective. I also want to underscore what he said about a
designer’s job isn’t just to make people understand what they already know, but also a part of creating
knowledge.
908A studio consists of E Roon Kand and Andrew LeClair, who are both faculties in the
communication design program at Parsons. In this lecture, the shared their process in making of the book for
the end-of-year exhibition, specifically the difficulties and problem-solving process of the special edition
for the 100th anniversary of The New School and the 10th anniversary of the changed curriculum in
communication design at Parsons. The challenge they faced was the timeline. Within the 2 weeks, make the
file ready and send it to the print shop. Then, they discovered Kirby CMS as a tool to create a more
structured system that leads to maximum efficiency and came to the conclusion of using Prince XML after
various tests and exploration of tools.
I was always caught up in having to decide and settle on one thing
between typography and interaction for a career that I would pursue for the rest of my life, but after
listening to the lecture I realized that they are all so interdisciplinary and I am actually very lucky to
have learned both in my major program. I came to understand that it just means that I have more options of
tools on my hands that I can choose depending on what kind of project I would be working on, not two
completely different things. I am excited to explore what things I would be able to create fully utilizing
the things I learned at school, along with the exploration of discovering and studying new tools.
Kelly Walters is a designer who experiments with printmaking, critical writing, and publishing. She explored variations through printmaking around the topic that she feels passionate about, which was black history and the history of women. I was very interested in what experimented with how language is interplaying with archival graphics. She put a very strong focus on “representation.” It was interesting to hear about one of her ways of exploration, which was to reassemble. It was about putting together fragments from different works, and I could both connect to this idea since I also have a collection of designs that I think look good and would want to use as a reference and look back at it when I am trying to come up with an idea, but I have never thought of actually putting together the fragments and get inspiration from seeing how it looks. As I understand that exploration through actual viewing is important, I am willing to try Kelly’s way the next time I work on anything new.