Esad: Personal Views

As designers, we would be remiss to not investigate the views and beliefs of other designers; in fact, the inherent nature of communication design itself, its present-day subjectivity, necessitates that we at the very least familiarize ourselves with the many different ideas and practices that permeate our profession.

Just as a young quarterback studies film of the NFL greats that came before him, a designer’s education would not be complete without understanding how other designers have met challenges in the past, and what they thought of the results. Personal Views, an unparalleled series of lectures from ESAD, is a fantastic resource for doing just this.

In only 4 years, this impressive program from the Escola Superior de Artes e Design in Portugal has gathered 36 of the world’s best designers, writers, and educators, and will host 9 more in 2008 — an impressive feat. These professionals are asked to talk about “values and objectives that have meaning for them.”

Program coordinator Andrew Howard explains:

“A lot has changed in the world of graphic design over the past 15 to 20 years. The tools with which we make things, which are also the tools we use to think with, have been revolutionised. What was held to be true and fundamental in design has become open to question and challenge. Differing sets of values and theoretical models now compete for acceptance and perhaps the strongest effect has been felt within design education.

Considering these changes it seemed important within the context of a design college, to ask whether traditional concepts of design are still legitimate, whether the very idea of orthodoxy – that there is a standard approach to design – has been replaced by a range of personal preferences. It’s within this context that the Personal Views seminar series was conceived, and from which it draws its title.”

The companion website is superbly designed and very functional. Full-length Quicktime videos are available from lecture 28 and on — highlights include Neville Brody, Erik Spiekermann, and Ellen Lupton.

Personal Views is a truly invaluable resource for any designer, especially young designers, and is a great way to kill an hour of free time. Kudos to Andrew Howard and ESAD — hopefully they have set a standard for other design schools to follow.

December 19th, 2007 » Posted by Jim Hargreaves » Permalink

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