PART V: EPISODE FOUR

In episode #4 of my interview sequence, I continue the discussion on the value of education with two very accomplished and extremely talented designers:

Adrian (Adi) Constantin, Product Designer and Art Director, Romania native, based in Germany.

Camilo Hidalgo, Graphic Designer & Art Director, Colombia native, based in Finland.

I have a special admiration for both Adi and Camilo not only because they are amazing designers but also because they are well-versed in areas I find remarkably fascinating: Adi has lead the design process on couple of projects for what I see as one of the best automotive companies ⏤…

Part IV: EPISODE THREE

Going deeper into the conversation on the value of (design) education, I am joined by three extraordinary female designers, coming from different design disciplines and backgrounds:

Jenny Kan, Creative Strategist & Art Director, design lead and a great mentor, based in the Netherlands, well-versed in creative leadership, design thinking, user experience design, digital strategy & innovation. Although I’ve known Jenny only for a short while, she has been instrumental to my professional development as a designer.

Laura Duarte, service designer, Master candidate at University of the Arts in London, Colombia native, based in the UK.

Rachel Salmon, digital product designer…

PART III: EPISODE TWO

In this episode of my article series on the value of design education, it is my pleasure to present my conversations with three outstanding designers:

Rick Veronese, product UX/UI designer, Italy native, until recently based in the UK. Rick works with startup companies within the fintech domain, he is an entrepreneur with a focus on business strategy, user research and experience design.

Jonas Devacht is an illustrator with a distinct style and a background in web design/programming. He is based in Belgium, currently freelancing.

Stephanie Müller is a graphic designer and a visual researcher, based in Germany. She is currently…

PART II: EPISODE ONE

Following on from my original article on the importance of formal (design) education, I am now jumping off to the more practical side of my exploration, namely the absolutely fascinating conversations that I had with 13 design practitioners. …

PART I

Along with the debate about the future of work, a lot of attention has recently been paid to the way traditional education should/will evolve in the near future. The question of whether one needs a degree in order to become a good professional or land a good job (both of which are rather subjective matters), has been bothering many people looking to either change career paths or having found their, what we tend to call passion, relatively late in life (like me). The short and obvious answer is: No, you don’t need a degree. …

Ethics is a tricky word. As soon as we mention it, the conversation suddenly becomes awkward. Probably because nowadays, ethics amounts to reading incomprehensible texts on moral and political philosophy. Who needs ethics anyway? Every time I say that we should be careful with disruptive technologies like autonomous transportation, people look at me as if I’ve told them we should consider massive sterilisation. Ethics is a controversial topic because we seem to attribute to it qualities it traditionally does not possess (I’ll expand on this later). It’s always frustrating to hear people say that X is the future, as if…

Your work is not precious

Design is like learning a new language — if you understand the basics, you’ll have what it takes to become an expert at it. Rules are a great teacher and if you manage to make sense out of them, you’ll not only be able to apply them correctly, but also get them to work in your favour and break them every once in a while.

The title of this article is, in fact, a quote which I ”borrowed” from David Underwood, a design consultant at the University of Colorado Boulder. He teaches a very insightful online course in graphic design…