culturalboundaries

DESIGN JOURNEY: AIGA national will showcase the works of 25 designers from diverse backgrounds is set to open on May 19, 2010 in the national headquarters in New York City.

“Design Journeys” is a collection of stories about the professional lives, contributions and portfolios of historically underrepresented designers that serves as a publicly accessible comprehensive body of research honoring their accomplishments. Individuals selected for “Design Journeys” will be published in an online archive that includes visual samples of their work with an insightful, biographical essay. A traveling exhibition is planned for 2010.

Join us in celebrating these extraordinary designers:
Gail Anderson, creative director, design, SpotCo
Archie Boston, founder and principal, Archie Boston Graphic Design
Andy Cruz, owner and art director, House Industries
Charles Dawson, artist and designer
Aaron Douglas, artist and illustrator
Emory Douglas, graphic artist
Rafael Esquer, founder and principal, alfalfa studio
Karin Fong, director and partner, Imaginary Forces
Sylvia Harris, information design strategist
Lorenzo Homar, graphic artist
John C Jay, global executive creative director and partner, Wieden+Kennedy
Steve Jones, principal and creative director, Plantain Studio
Garland Kirkpatrick, founder and principal, Helvetica Jones
Saki Mafundikwa, founder and director, Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts (ZIVA)
Chaz Maviyane-Davies, professor of design, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston
Pablo Medina, founder and principal, Cubanica
Rebeca Méndez, founder and principal, Rebeca Méndez Communication Design
Bennett Peji, founder and principal, Bennett Peji Design
Samina Quraeshi, co-founder and principal, SQ Design Publishers
Edel Rodriguez, artist and illustrator
Art Sims, founder and CEO, 11:24 Design Advertising
Lucille Tenazas, founder and principal, Tenazas Design
Michele Washington, founder and principal, Washington Design
LeRoy Winbush, founder and principal, Winbush Design
Maurice Woods, founder and chair, Inneract Project

excerpt: From Bruce Mau Design

Bruce Mau, of the design firm BMD, has been busy teaching kids how to be better design citizens at the Academy for Global Citizenship. This is a pilot school located in Chicago that helps students think of diverse methods to spread design to impact their local communities.

Mau has co-authored a book with OWP/P and VS that explores the link between how we learn and where we learn – the physical environment. Italian educator Loris Malaguzzi is called the Third Teacher (by adults and peers). The book examines the relationship between the physical environments in which kids learn, and the knowledge, insight, abilities and joys they gain.

As part of an ongoing series sponsored by NY chapter of the AIGA, Pablo Medina recently presented student work from his Experimental Type Design class at Parson School of Design where he has taught for more than ten years. The project titled, “How Can Type Help Haiti,” was presented at Museum of Art and Design in NYC. Medina’s students showed six projects to an audience of design and industry professionals, at the end of the presentation the audience voted for the best of the six groups. “A Small book for Heros, was voted the most effective project. Now, Medina’s  next step is to get this project in front of  UNICEF in hopes to get it produced. One big suggestion from the audience was for Pablo to identify other non-profit foundations to get the other five projects produced.

As reported on Black Design News:

Call to Action: Students respond Graphically to the Haiti Earthquake

by Steve Jones

We were all shocked and saddened to bear witness to the devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti January 12, 2010. After seeing the aftermath, I knew, as a designer and instructor, I had to respond.

I always regretted not doing a project with my students in response to the U.S. invasion in Iraq. I knew after the Haiti quake, I couldn’t stand by on the sidelines—the event demanded a graphic response. Upon returning from my Winter Break, I assigned the students in my Typography class (San Francisco State University), the task of designing a response to illustrate the aftermath of the earthquake.

Check out for more on Black Design News: A news bureau, an online publication, digital library and ‘workspace’ hub for designers.

Saki Mafundika

Students developed educational kits for Museums that implore writing systems of non-westerns cultures.
Over the year’s I began to notice a distinct shift in the diverse ethnic composition of my classes, first when I taught at School of the Art Institute in Chicago, then at Pratt Institute. I began to explore several ways to include cross-cultural design projects in my classes. One semester while teaching at Pratt, I noticed that out 15 students, only one was American born. All the other students were from Asian, South East Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean or Africa. Since I had started to collect and research writing systems of non-western cultures, I challenged this ethnically diverse group to design a booklet, or an educational packet with specific writing systems. The varied list of countries included  Japan, Korea, India, Mexico, Egypt, Russia, Israel, Thailand, the Philippines, the Fuji Island, and a few other Arab countries.
Before they began, I invited my good design buddy Saki Makfundikwa, to talk about his upcoming book on Afrikan Alphabets, and  ZIVA the digital design school he set-up in his home country of Zimbabwe.
Students became immersed in researching their writing systems. Some grappled with their limited understanding of their own cultural heritage, or most were surprise to learn of the the significance of culture in design. Pushing the dialog further, I challenged my students to explore the issues of appropriation, reappropriation and sampling or borrowing.
Once the students let down their guard, their creatives minds produced an impressive range of designs.

Gabrielle/Arabic writing system

Poster

Featured student work from A Fading Tradition
Figure 1: Two solutions for tikam tikam (a game of chance). Packaging for a t-shirt concept store by Han Zi Rui (left). A mix-and-match system for Singapore character figurines by Bryan Lim (center & right)

Iridescent: Icograda Journal of Design Research is a peer-reviewed online journal, inviting researchers and scholars world-wide to submit papers and essays for publication on site. The aim of the journal is not only to select high quality research and make it available for a broad international audience, but to establish a benchmark for design research in the process.

Iridescent was established in keeping with Icograda’s strategic aim to support the development of communication design education (theory, practice, and research). It is an online international research journal advancing Icograda’s goals and objectives, fulfilling the vision of the Icograda Design Education Manifesto.