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China Europe International Design Culture Association (CEIDA) is the first international platform dedicated to design and related cultural forces in China, Europe and worldwide. It currently has over two hundred members from the whole world including China, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, and so on. 

CEIDA exists not only for design professionals, but also for you and all art and design lovers around the world. 

For more information, please drop us an email: ceidaeu@gmail.com.

The designer who draws and represents the uses of tomorrow has the responsibility to do so to gather around the table engineers, marketers, philosophers, sociologists, specialists of all disciplines. The designer is the manager of tomorrow.

Christian Guellerin is the Executive Director of L’École de design Nantes Atlantique, the President of the French association France Design Education and honorary president of Cumulus, the international association of universities and schools of design, art and media. Christian Guellerin has been the director of L’École de design Nantes Atlantique since 1997. The school’s goal is to produce professionals in creation and innovation dedicated to promoting socio-economic development. The school regards design as an opportunity to generate added value and facilitate progress. Christian Guellerin is the author of many articles on design and teaching in France and abroad and teaches in several schools and universities. He has provided his expertise for the creation of design schools or design centers in France and abroad on behalf of the European Union. Appointed Knight of the National Order of Merit in November 2016.

There is still no better way I believe of teaching typography than getting students to typeset and print their own work; through the process they get to know and see the magic of it. 

A student’s passion for the whole process, the hot metal typesetting and the human feel of the letterpress print, results in a direct and evident contrast to seeing and developing their typographic work on a sterile computer screen.

Teaching type and typesetting on computer alone gives students no direct link or understanding of the intricacies, qualities or context of a piece of typographic work. I dislike the way typesetting is decided by the computer and not the living, breathing, sentient human. It is only through proper training in the fundamentals of hot metal and letterpress printing do you learn to beat the computer at its own game and get it to do exactly what you want it to do. Once you have the understanding, knowledge and mastery of this, you can tame the beast; the computer is then, a most fantastic tool. 

Professor, Founder of et al design consultants and Impress-publishing. Phil Cleaver is an award-winning graphic designer, author, and artist whose personality was formed in the labyrinthine city of London, under the influence of (among other things) Punk, the Far East and some of the design industries most prominent and influential leaders. His time is split between running et al, Impress-publishing and being Professor in the creative Industries at Middlesex University, London

A key part of the process of Design is to externalise thinking and feelings, especially the invisible, intangible, apparently abstract ones. The process of making thinking and feeling visible proves to be a pivotal component of design synthesis, especially when much of design practices, teaching and learning happen virtually. Sudebi will share stories of how the act of reflection, using visual thinking tools, on one’s own experience, and facilitating others to do the same, can lead to an act of collaborative sense-making and way-finding. She will further show, drawing upon, one of her current ongoing projects, how generated insights in a facilitated complex layered research process can lead to further visual possibilities. The simultaneous act of constructing images and deconstructing visual metaphors become a path-finding creative action preceded and followed by critical reflection. 

Sudebi Thakurata is a narrative designer, creative facilitator, educator, writer and futurist. She designs experiences, engagement and environment that allow people to think, have dialogue, make their thinking and interaction visible and thus enable them to design their own solutions and narratives using different modes and media. A faculty member at Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, for over a decade, Sudebi is also a Creative Facilitator of SEAD, a trans-national cross-cultural leadership programme curated by Mekong Cultural Hub and British Council. A global UNLEASH talent, mentor of many global innovation programmes, Sudebi has co-founded the transdisciplinary design collective, D.epicentre and started a unique pedagogy, art and design led trans-local initiative “The Archival City- a Site of Learning’. During the times of the pandemic she started a global initiative deeply rooted in the power of stories, orality, inquiries, narratives and experiential perspectives called the Musical Manifesto Project. Sudebi emphasises on socially, environmentally and culturally relevant issues, inter-weaving design, imagination, complex systems thinking, pedagogy, visual and performing arts, oral history, ethnography and research to design possibilities which are inclusive and transformative. Many of these projects use orality and memory as sources of wisdom in framing complex problems and designing solutions. She has been invited as guest faculty/curator/collaborator/designer at Stamps School of Art and Design, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Virginia Commonwealth University, Qatar Ahmedabad University, IDC-IIT Bombay, Nirma University, NCBS and many other global universities and institutions. She is a member of the Inclusivity Advisory Board of Just A Girl.

With the development of technology, the boundary of design is constantly expanding. In this context, how to understand the challenges faced by design and design education in the Chinese context? How to achieve design innovation? In response to these issues, the presentation discusses the subject based on interviews and surveys of design practitioners, design educators, and design students, as well as publications of design educators in different regions in China. It analyses specific design teaching courses and discusses how Chinese design educators respond to the challenges of the artificial intelligence era through teaching methods, technology, and interdisciplinary methods.

Yun Wang received her PhD from the Victoria and Albert Museum and Royal College of Art joint programme in History of Design in 2020. She received her BA and her MA from The Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University.

She has working experience in the international design field for many years, which includes being a member of the Chinese Organisation Committee, AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale) Beijing Conference; the project coordinator of AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Art) China and The First Beijing International Design Triennial; editor of Zhuangshi, the school journal of The Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, the leading Chinese academic design journal; coordinator of the Chinese chapter of the Meggs History of Graphic Design.

She has been working for the China Design Museum, China Academy of Art since 2013. Her translation works include The Vignelli Canon, An Original Copy, “Moholy-Nagy’s Odyssey: Bàcsborsod to Chicago” and “Jan Tschichold at Penguin Books A Resurgence of Classical Book Design” etc.

This project investigates bilingual experiences between English and Korean as experiential typographic forms. It is multidisciplinary typography research in collaboration with diverse mediums from typeface design, woodworking, generative art to 3D printing. Each medium delivers the bilingual experiences as visual, interactive, tangible, and playable letterforms by using the typeface, Hangul alphabet. Hangul alphabet is an English typeface designed by using Korean consonants and vowels for translanguaging experience. Type Portrait: Hangul explores generative self-portrait photographs to express and portray the artist’s linguistic and typographic identity using the typeface as a Korean-American. 

Type Furniture uses the typeface to investigate woodworking and paper to seek a place where Korean and Western craft traditions merge to communicate the concepts of self-identification, cultural disconnect, and the loss of lineage. Physical Type expands the typeface to a series of 3D printed functional and playable objects to make it available to the public. This project is multidisciplinary typographic research through traditional and contemporary mediums to bring bilingual experiences.

Yeohyun Ahn is a designer, educator, and researcher, integrating creative coding, digital fabrication, and physical interaction into spatial typography and graphic design. Her interdisciplinary typography project, TYPE + CODE Series, has been featured through Washington Post, PRINT, New York Times Magazine, Letter Arts Review, Creator’s Project, designboom.com, etc. It has been published in the books, Graphic Design: the Basics, Type on Screen, and Data-Driven Graphic Design, and was invited to research papers by Leonardo, EVA London, and IEEE VIS Arts. It has been presented at ISEA, AIGA, SEGD, Atypi, TypeCon, etc. She taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago State University, and Valparaiso University. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Taekyeom is an educator, researcher, and multidisciplinary designer using the artist’s material and artistic sensibility. He is an Assistant professor of Graphic Design at Iowa State University in Ames, IA. His research explores unconventional methods of creating tangible type, graphics, and even designed objects with materials and techniques unique to typography and graphic design. He infused 3D printing into his research and has been experimenting with various methods and materials. He presented through national and international conferences including ATypI, TypeCon, AIGA DEC, ISEA, IEEE VIS, and NCECA. His work has been featured by various media including Communication Arts, Make Magazine, New York magazine, Now This News, Art Insider, and Core 77. His research draws attention nationally and internationally. He exhibited his work and provided workshops and lectures across the country and abroad. 

Esther Cho is a Korean-American artist, designer, woodworker, and educator in Madison, Wisconsin. She holds a dual BFA in Interior Design and Craft and Material Studies from the Virginia Commonwealth University. She employs a discipline in woodworking and papercrafts to seek a place where Korean and Western craft traditions merge to communicate the concepts of self-identification, cultural disconnect, and the loss of lineage. Her identity as a Korean-American and as a child of immigrants is the driving conceptual and emotional force behind her artistic ambitions. Cho was awarded the 2017 Windgate Fellowship Award and is a student Board member of The Furniture Society. She is currently an MFA candidate in Furniture and Woodworking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Christopher Scott is an internationally recognised award-winning designer. Born in Northern Ireland, he received both a bachelors and a Masters degree in Design from the University of Ulster, Magee. The concepts of his work are paramount to his visuals, and his work communicates strong and meaningful messages with humanity at the core of his designs.

Scott has won more than 300 international awards and has been recognised by many organisations such as the WWF, International Poster Biennale Warsaw, Poster For Tomorrow, Amnesty International, Designboom, Moscow Global Biennale of Graphic Design Golden Bee, Adobe and he received a silver medal in the International Design Awards and also 3 Gold awards at the prestigious Graphis in United States. His work has been exhibited all around the world including countries such as Iran, Mexico, Russia, China, Korea, Ecuador, Germany, Poland, Italy, Peru, Korea, the United States and many more, including the Louvre in Paris, France. He has been a member of multiple international juries and he is also the Co-Founder of Poster Poster and the Founder of Designers Speak.

Scott has also given conferences and workshops in countries such as China, United States, Argentina, Ecuador, Indonesia, Venezuela, Mexico, Northern Ireland and Russia. Currently he is a Professor of Graphic Design at the Universidad UTE and President and Founder of the Ecuador Poster Bienal®.

PANEL DISCUSSION: Yeohyun Ahn, Taekyeom Lee, Esther Cho and Christopher Scott.

BREAK | COFFEE | NETWORKING | 40 MINUTES

Creativity is an element strongly related to the idea of originality and novelty; culture and context shape our perception of it. Accepting our roots and context are critical elements to our lifestyle and design professionalism. Through body movement and time, emotions are translated into intangible/visible elements, which helps enhance students’ self-reflection and engage in collective awareness. Furthermore, these actions foster the physicality of knowledge as a set of automatisms incorporated in the body. Naked, the Designer Body as a tool of Knowledge

Creativity is an element strongly related to the idea of originality and novelty; culture and context shape our perception of it. Accepting our roots and context are critical elements to our lifestyle and design professionalism. Through body movement and time, emotions are translated into intangible/visible elements, which helps enhance students’ self-reflection and engage in collective awareness. Furthermore, these actions foster the physicality of knowledge as a set of automatisms incorporated in the body.

Tommaso Maggio is a researcher and practitioner of art and design for education. With an academic experience that goes from early years to adults education. A PhD researcher on alternative Art and Design Education with Plymouth University, and Lecturer in Visual Communications for the dual degree program at Birmingham City University, BIFCA-Wuhan Textile University. Since landed in Thailand, he taught at Chulalongkorn University, BA in Communication Design - print and new media), Assumption University of Thailand, BA, in Product Design. Course coordinator for a Master in Business Innovation and Design Thinking Workshops at Bangkok University. In 2020, the University of New South Wales, Sydney (UNSW) invited him as Guest Critic for the IA Graduation Project, Interior Architecture (Hons) Program. He taught first in Italy at Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) and Nuova Accademia Belle Arti (NABA) then visiting lecturer in Mexico, Monterrey, at Centro de Estudios Superiores de Diseño de Monterrey, CEDIM, and Guest-Critic for thesis projects at IES Moda Casa de Francia, Mexico City. As guest lecturer for Professor Roy Ascott studio at DeTao Master-SIVA, Shanghai, China. Resident Artist at the Thai-Italian Chamber of Commerce. He is currently developing an art and design approach for PK-12 and adult education, and with his two-year-old daughter, he is co-author of illustrated books for children’s. Graduated from Politecnico di Milano with a Master of Science, Industrial Design. He has published articles and presented papers and workshops at interdisciplinary conferences as ASCIM, with NASA and Cirque du Soleil, CUMULUS, ACM SIGGRAPH, Balance-Unbalance, ISEA. Hong Kong, Thailand, China, UK, the US, Greece, and Italy are some of the countries visited for the above scope. Articles have been published on Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research. His work has been exhibited from Triennale di Milano, Italy, to Istanbul Design Week to Duke Contemporary Art Gallery in Bangkok, Thailand.

An introduction by its proprietor to the John Ruskin Manufactory in New Delhi, India, whilst showcasing a recent digitisation of the famous Golden type by William Morris

The purpose of the keynote is to present questions, that usually aren't made. The model we have been using has decayed and is no longer valid, specially for future generations of designers. Transparency in the system must be declared and we should start calling things for what they really are. The old perceptions that have been casted into Design's soul, must assume the responsibility for what we understand as Design today. The unlinked perception with reality has provoked the misunderstanding of what is really urgent today, specially in most of Design education institutions. Design should become a complex system in order to tackle the present and forthcoming challenges. Old myths, should be dethroned.

Gonzalo Raineri, Designer, Architect, Magister in Environmental Studies and Bioclimatic Architect, PhD in Design. University professor for over 20 years. Former final project advisor, product and spatial design studios coordinator and member of the curriculum committee at the Design School at Finis Terrae University. Design researcher, project evaluator, jury in design competitions, as well as senior lecturer and consultant on topics related to sustainable design and disciplinary development associated with autopoiesis. Worked in Amsterdam, Dublin, Madrid, Santiago and moving to Valencia, Spain. Creator of the YouTube channel BigBangThinking.

PANEL DISCUSSION: Tommaso Maggio, Arjun Jain and Gonzalo Raineri.

The role and significance of international exchange student programs in design education. Status Quo of International Exchange Student Programs in Design Education in General Universities in China: 1. Asia Pacific (Japan, South Korea, etc.) 2. North America (United States, Canada) 3. Europe (UK, France, Germany, etc.)

Issues and solutions for the exchange program between China and European non-English-speaking countries: Language, Mutual recognition of credits, curriculum, cost, cultural difference and prospects of China-EU Design Education Cooperation

Yunping WANG holds a Master of China Academy of Art he is Doctor of Tongji University, Visiting Scholar, Buffalo College, State University of New York. Director of Department of Visual Communication Design, Jiaxing University Member of Graphic Design Art Committee of Zhejiang Artists Association. Member of CEIDA, China-Europe International Design Culture Association. He has been engaged in art design teaching and practical work for many years.

The global cultural and creative industry is in a trend of vigorous development. Cultural creativity not only emphasises the boosting role of culture and art on the economy, but also highlights the status of innovative talents as the most core production factor. The cultural and creative industry has gradually become an important pillar of the current national and regional economic development, and innovative talents have become the most important human resources that stimulate the development of a country’s creative industries. For the cultural and creative industry, colleges and universities are the most important and efficient talent training positions. Therefore, attaching importance to the establishment of cooperative relations with universities is a necessary path to promote the development of cultural and creative industries.

This sharing will explore how art design education should develop in the future under the background of cultural creativity from three aspects: talent training concept, art design professional curriculum system and cultural creativity platform. In the context of the development of cultural and creative industries, colleges and universities need to pay attention to the cultivation of students’ cultural and creative abilities. Only in this way can the comprehensive abilities of college students better meet the needs of talents.

Zhe Liang is the supervisor of Master at Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, China, visiting professor of University for the creative Arts and the Secretary general of China Europe International Design Culture Association (CEIDA)

China is a developing country. With the rapid economic development in recent years, the contradiction between the increasing demand for design and the training of design talents has become increasingly prominent. In the context of global economic integration, “Made in China” is transforming to “Created in China”, and China’s modern design education system should pay attention to design innovation and the training of design talents.

Innovation is the soul of design: Insist on injecting enlightening thinking training into design education, improve students’ innovative consciousness and development thinking, and oppose dogmatic teaching. Cultivate students’ high-level ability to discover, analyse and solve problems. Design and market integration: Establish a good relationship between schools and companies, introduce corporate design topics into teaching, and provide students with opportunities to experience work and practice in a business environment. Solve the problems between graduate students and the selection and employment of enterprises. Cultivate responsible designers: The design should consider protecting the limited resources and environment of the earth, and correctly guide the designer to establish a scientific understanding and protection awareness of environmental resources. Avoid unnecessary waste of resources and pay attention to the social impact and long-term significance of the design.

Linsen Yang is an instructor of postgraduate students at Xinjiang University of Arts. Chairman of X-PLUS Xinjiang Design Power Salon. Head of China Europe International Design Culture Association (Central Asia Office). Executive Director of CDS China Designer Salon. Editorial Board Member of “China Design Yearbook”. A well-known Chinese designer.

The school of design and art of Beijing Institute of Technology is committed to the cross-border, integration and innovation of design and art, science and technology and humanities, create a real design and art education structure with contemporary form and cutting-edge consciousness, and cultivate and form discipline direction and brand specialty with industry influence.

In recent years, in the course teaching I have paid special attention to design project cooperation with Chinese Internet and enterprises, such as undergraduate course information visualisation design and graduate course image vision and generation design. The graduate course project cooperates with Alibaba design centre of Alibaba group. In the course teaching, students benefit a lot from the teaching of professional knowledge and the sharing of computing design cases by experts from Alibaba design centre.

Yawei Hao is a design educator and associate professor in the school of design and art, Beijing Institute of Technology. She holds a master’s degree in visual communication design from Dongsu University of Korea and a Ph.D from Beijing Institute of Technology. Once served as the head of the Department of visual communication design for 8 years. The research direction is graphic design, poster design and information visualisation design.

Mainly expounds some personal and teaching experiences that the speaker is in the inland city of Zhengzhou, working in a university education post with a development perspective. The speaker explored teaching methods with a unique perspective and used more practical teaching methods to narrow the gap with the teaching environment of design majors in developed areas. Advance with the times to improve students’ learning effectiveness and carry out design education work in a way of thinking and exploration. With actual cases, combined with local characteristics, it demonstrates the thinking in teaching.

Liu Guanchen has a Master of Art Design from Qingdao University, Senior Arts and Crafts Artist. Zhengzhou City Arts and Crafts Master, CEIDA member, Deputy Director, Cultural and Creative Centre, Central Cultural Work Committee, Jiu San Society Director of Ceramic Art Committee of China Ceramic Industry Association, Deputy Secretary-General of Henan Arts and Crafts Society. Born into a family of art in 1972, he has accumulated profound knowledge of Eastern and Western painting in his artistic growth since he was a child. Later, he carried out art practice and teaching in the fields of easel painting, modern art, ceramic art design, etc. in colleges and universities.

Currently living and working in Zhengzhou, the works combine different cultural senses in the reflections and responses to the current world affairs, try a specious expression context, and then form his own artistic characteristics.

The Yellow River culture has nurtured colorful and full of Chinese wisdom design classics. My school is located on the bank of the Yellow River. I live and work here. Ancient design classics full of Chinese wisdom are indispensable for my own design education. The content is indispensable, but what today’s designers can do is their focus, and they lead students to do a series of design experiments focusing on daily life. For example, visual cultural communication design, urban service design, campus culture design, community service design, etc., it focuses on the experimental projects on community civilisation sacrificial offerings, and uses this to issue cooperation invitations to colleagues, aiming to call everyone to pay attention to daily life design. Because different lives are the reality that design educators must face, because everyone is inseparable from daily life.

Xuezhong Zhang PhD. Graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of Tsinghua University. Professor, School of Fine Arts, Northwest Normal University. Instructor of the Masters programme. Mono-graphs include “From Painting to Design” and “Design Thinking and Methods” by China Social Sciences Publishing House, concurrently serving as an expert committee member and reviewer of “Packaging Engineering” magazine and reviewing experts for art design disciplines such as the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture.

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The space of learning offers, or withdraws, the possibility of learning. Space can not contain energy, it is energy that creates space. What, and where exactly, does the Covid-19 experience leave the studio as a space of creative learning and practise?

There is a lot being written and said about the transformative power of Design in the context of complex problem solving. Initiatives such as the New European Bauhaus commit to design as a discipline that holds the power of identifying, framing and solving clusters of problems such as e.g. the ones summarised in Agenda 2030 by applying strategies of collective project-making with a specific regard to human- and planet-centredness.

Yet, Design Education keeps being stuck in an identity crisis that oscillates between the teaching of traditional making skills, a scholarised discourse trying to engage in Critical Theory and the expanding field of teaching design as a mindset or “way of thinking” to address organisational change and challenges in innovation. A holistic approach, which often is promoted as being one of the strengths of the design domain, is clearly lacking in the context of this educational crisis of one of the youngest academic disciplines in Europe.

Meanwhile, shorter half-life of knowledge and skills urges today’s learners to leave linear learning paths and engage in networks of lifelong learning. Job profiles are becoming less clear and predictable, which again urges learners to continue their learning biographies on the job where an extended educational landscape is being catered by a rising number of private actors. It becomes more and more clear that education itself has turned into a wicked problem that needs to be addressed. And from a design perspective the question rises whether and how design education is ready to face this dawn of new pedagogies.

• Presentation of the results of the Protect your creativity survey, which was sent to all the Art, Design and Media Education institutions in Europe in spring 2021.

• How intellectual property is present in the programmes

• What kind of IP-related needs have been identified

• Sharing good practices

• Conclusions

• Sharing information about EUIPO Design registration new FastTrack platforms

• Comparing RCD & UCD

• Sharing trends of the received registration by year

• Sharing information about the impact of the Design-intensive industries to employment and GPD

• Which countries lead Community Design statistics (past 3 years)

• Promoting IdeasPowered social media platforms

PhD Kari Kivinen started as the Education Outreach Expert of the EUIPO OBSERVATORY in the beginning of October 2020. He is involved e.g. with the Intellectual Property in Education Network-project, which promotes creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship and responsible digital engagement among young Europeans. He has worked in international schools in Finland, Luxembourg and Belgium. He is the former Secretary-General of the European School system and ex-Head of the Finnish French school of Helsinki.

Since 2017 he has led the pedagogical development work at Faktabaari EDU digital information literacy service building on fact-checking methodology and co-authored and piloted the learning materials with fellow teachers around Finland and abroad. He has contributed to the Council of Europe digital learning materials on COVID infodemics. During his professional career he has combined his everyday work with research and further studies. He builds bridges between educational research and school system reform.

He is often asked to give lectures or keynote speeches in international seminars and conferences. During the last two years he has lectured on Media and information literacy, Digital information literacy, Intellectual Property education, Democratic education, European School System, Finnish School System, Multiliteracy, Intercultural Education, Motivation & Self Regulation, Leadership, Curriculum development, and School Reform.

Design education has only gone through incremental changes in a period of almost 200 years and it could be argued that it is set to go full circle. 1827 move from art to applied art – commercial competitiveness – pinnacle 1851 exhibition. Touch on Arts/Crafts – luddites – not about anti-tech – anti exploitation

PANEL DISCUSSION: Andrew Brewerton, Jan Eckert, Kari Kivenen and Frank Peters.

I put myself (physically, as a silhouette, and mentally) in my own inner world that i had created and imagined as a new and different dimension, a space with options, possibilities, research and new experiences. A playful and dynamic space that offers mental interaction and variables. I will try to raise questions and paradigms that each recipient solves in their own way, without being privy to any predetermined solution. Some take us back to our childhood and remind us of the warmth and care-freeness 

In the proposed solutions, I would touch on another separate dimension, the dimension of digitally processed ideas that offer different sensations and thoughts. I would dive deeper into the “new reality” and new possibilities, trying to transform his two-dimensional graphic concepts into a virtual reality in which the viewers will not merely reason and imagine they enter, but will in fact enter virtually with the help of optical aids and experience the computer-simulated artistic poster creation in a 3D experience. Another parable would be, a decision to incorporate interaction, i.e., the visitor will not only enter “my world” in 3D, but will also explore and change mine world, download shapes, open drawers, put on wings, climb stairs with the help of a multimodal device... This transmedia approach, this transition from one media representation to another, involves all the senses and increases the level of adrenaline, constantly stimulating the recipient with the experiences offered to them. 

I am going to analyse the response of the audience and art consumers, propose a technological solutions and test the interest, generate audience, built links through the innovative approach.

Laze Tripkov gained his MA at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (graphic design department) at 2002. The same year he began his post master studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz, Poland at the department of Multimedia and Design. In 2003 as a Fulbright PhD scholar initiates research related to the role of the symbols and iconography of the Balkan region.

His works have been shown in more than 50 group exhibitions of graphic design, posters worldwide. Member of ICO-D; program committee of Warsaw Poster Biennale; co-founder of Skopje Design Week and partner till 2013. Program director of Skopje Creative Festival, and national coordinator for creative industries at the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia. He has curated, organized and carried out many social design and visual communication projects and exhibitions, participated in many conferences around Europe, held lectures and workshops, participated as jury member at renewed festivals, competitions and conferences. He won few international awards for design, like Honourable Award from Czech Association of Designers and Golden Bee Award from Moscow Biennale. He run his design studio between 2014 - 2016, after which he held the position of Director of the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Skopje starting, till end of 2017. Former vice dean at the Faculty of Design and Multimedia, University Donja Gorica at Podgorica, Montenegro since 2013 till 2016. Director of the China Europe International Design Culture Association with headquarters in Belgium. Works as an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Art and Design at International Balkan University in Skopje, Macedonia.

Balvir’s presentation will postulate that the current Art and Design Education model is not fit for purpose. It will briefly acknowledge its origin and rapid expansion into what has become more than 50% indiscriminate ego posturing, market gymnastics galore and blatant misinformation that is leaving students floundering in an unpalatable soup of expensive false promises and unfocussed futures. It will urge participants to critically examine the current state before unleashing new tyrannies on unsuspecting ‘customers’. Kumbaya doesn’t cut anymore!

Balvir Nandra is currently working with undergraduate students of Architecture at Nottingham Trent University delivering a series of Integrated Design Studies components. His educational experience spans over more than two decades, during which he has been Course Director, Senior Lecturer and Senior Teaching Fellow for Graphic Design and Communication Design disciplines at graduate and post-graduate levels at Birmingham City University, UK. He has more than forty years of experience in both design practice and education in areas as diverse as concept visualisation, marketing, public relations, typography, semantics, information design and design ethics. He has also worked as a consultant on several large-scale design projects, including Telecom Malaysia (Cyberjaya Project), ARUPS and Transport for London amongst others.

He is engaged in active research and dialogue with several high profile international institutions, this includes pedagogic development in partnership with Coventry University Online UK, and course delivery strategies for several educational establishments across Russia, China, India and South-East Asia. He is a keen observer of the impact of globalisation on educational constructs and delivery, his major interest being the commodification of education and its impact on the students’ experience.

We’ve forgotten (almost on purpose) that all kindergarten was originally play-based, nature-based, project method, STEM-oriented, design education. Very few within academia and the design community know much about Friedrich Froebel, the inventor of Kindergarten whose work led to an explosion of modern art over a century ago. We now struggle to introduce design education into our schools. So why is this history not more widely known?

The son of an early childhood teacher and a toymaker, Scott Bultman studied film/music composition at the Univ. of Michigan before taking over the family toy business in 1992. Introduced to Froebel’s connection with design education in 1996, he spent the next 25+ years building a large research archive and a network of experts for his documentary series Garden of Children (https://gardenofchildren.org).

John Spencer’s presentation will be based on his soon to be published second book, There’s No Bullsh*t Like Design Bullsh*t. Graphic designers have elevated bullsh*t to an art form that gets in the way of people understanding and valuing good design. John’s book is a collection of soundbites from his published writings on design that strip away the nonsense to reveal common sense. John will bust a few myths and challenge some stereotypes. He’ll talk about the enduring principles that have moulded his approach to design and reflect on what a graphic designer’s job is really about.

John Spencer is the founder and creative director of design agency Offthetopofmyhead. He invents names, designs logos, creates graphic and language identities, and conjures up campaigns. 

Offthetopofmyhead is a collaboration between some of the most talented and experienced people around. John brings together the best team of specialists for each job. The agency is creatively led but all their work is underpinned by a sound understanding of business strategy so they’re confident everything they create is on the mark. They work for all kinds of people: ingenious manufacturers, lionhearted managers, mind-boggling technologists, mould-breaking mavericks, philanthropic financiers and visionary policymakers. Offthetopofmyhead waves the flag for instinct, imagination and the sheer joy of doing things that haven’t been done before. 

John’s work has been widely published, most recently in Logo and Logotype, the best-selling books by Michael Evamy, and Symbol by Angus Hyland. He is the author of Time Flies When You’re Having Fun, an A to Z of idiosyncratic letters, and a regular contributor to design magazines and blogs. John’s books are available from impress-publishing.com. John Spencer is a fellow of the RSA and a member of the International Society of Typographic Designers.

PANEL DISCUSSION: Laze Tripkov, Balvir Nandra, Scott Bultman and John Spencer.

Rama Gheerawo and Dr Melanie Flory from the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design at London’s Royal College of art, talk about the three values of creative leadership, namely empathy, clarity and creativity. They bring together design and neuroscience perspectives to look at how these human values can enable online and off-line learning and contribute to the education landscape whether digitally enabled, or physically delivered. 

Rama Gheerawo is an international and inspirational figure within design. He won a ‘Hall of Fame’ award for his work at the Design Week Awards in 2019 and was named a 2018 Creative Leaders by Creative Review alongside Paul Smith and Björk, As Director of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, he uses design to address issues around age, ability, gender and race. He is a serial innovator in the fields of Inclusive Design, Design Thinking and Creative Leadership having personally led over 100 projects working internationally with governments, business, academia and the third sector with clients such as Samsung, Toyota, AgeUK and Panasonic. He champions inclusive and empathic approaches for individuals and organisations through his pathfinding work in Creative Leadership, with training delivered globally to thousands of people including over 700 civil servants. He is in high demand as a keynote speaker, and writes, curates exhibitions and runs workshops for audiences that range from students to business executives. Rama sits on a number of advisory boards and committees for awards, universities and organisations such as the UK Design Council, The International Association for Universal Design, the Design Management Institute and the RSA Decolonising Design Initiative. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and the Katowice Academy of Fine Art. Photohtaph by Lars Bronseth.

Melanie is a psychologist and neuroscientist whose research enquiry is at the intersection of design, systems thinking and cognitive neuroscience. Melanie is the first appointed Associate Director of Research of The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design. Her role involves leading the growth and development of the Centre’s inclusive design and creative leadership research and knowledge exchange portfolios, as well as co-developing and launching the Centre’s first doctoral and Master’s by research programmes (2022–3). She is the neuroscience lead on the Centre’s creative leadership project. She has a strong focus on fostering and incorporating the Centre’s inclusive design methods in cross-disciplinary research, innovation and knowledge exchange programmes and projects, with the RCA’s four Schools and other Research Centres. Before joining HHCD in 2021, Melanie founded (2009), and is the Director of MindRheo, an organisational development consultancy intersecting neuroscience, design and systems thinking to enhance human, organisational and business performance and experience. Prior to MindRheo, Melanie held clinical, senior academic and research leadership positions (2000–11) at Westminster University, Ministry of Defence (UK) and the UK government’s Trauma Response Unit. She has led global cross-disciplinary research in war-related PTSD and the role of brain plasticity in emotion regulation and processing. Her research exploration seeks new insights into the interplay between emotion and cognition.

A Computer can’t create. It is not in the DNA of a computer to create. The computer is a tool, a calculator, a library full of data, but it is not of human nature. It cannot transmit things that a human can transmit. It is pure math and logic based on information that was programmed by a thing called a human. Ironic to think that these Robots that we are beginning to see coming to fruition are trying so hard to simulate a human. Many many years of research and still we have a robot that is a computer in the shape of a human figure. Why? Why try so hard to replicate a human? It will never ever be a human that has a mind that thinks in so many different ways, logically and illogically,  or a heart that beats in many different ways. On a commercial point of view, how much could a robot of that calibre cost? Who could even afford it? Many unanswered questions. The computer is a tool, a device, that can assist us in the definition of a product or service but not substitute a human. We are all human and with the strong influence of the digital sciences we are replacing human job chores. Some are (not to diminish the importance of a computer that is plugged into a wall socket) amazing famous inventions that we now live with that were conceived without a computer… gravity, motors, electricity etc… To conclude the computer is the best tool in the box, but can never substitute the human mind. That’s why teaching creative thinking needs to be taught by something that understands the human touch…. that being, a human.

William Mazza is professor of Creativity, Creative Director, Art Director, Designer with extensive experience in unconventional creative marketing, promotional advertising, art-direction, design, and corporate event planning for international companies in various sectors. Many years spent living and working in Italy, has cultivated a European eye and perspective regarding design, creative thinking while interfacing and conducting business and communications internationally. Inventor and Facilitator of a revolutionary creative thinking theory and method, called iMAZZiNATiON ©. Professor of creative thinking at Lasell University School of Graduate and Professional studies, European Institute of Design Rome Italy. Conducted workshops and lectures at Harvard University (Dr. Ellen Langer’s Psychology research lab), Richmond University, Harding University, SACI college of Art, CEIDA Director of Creative/Design Thinking and Educational Methodology at CEIDA (China Europe International Design Culture Association)  Zhengzhou Information Technology School in Zhengzhou China. Founder and creator of the THINK ACADEMY© an International Academy about Design thinking and visual awareness In Mexico, Norway, USA, Italy.

PANEL DISCUSSION: Rama Gheerawo, Dr Melanie Flory and William Mazza

ONLINE NETWORKING

This is a part of the larger work on Future Literacy, Fluency, Competency and Consciousness that Sudebi and Probal have been working on for the last few years at their Design Collective, D.epicentre, in a diverse range of contexts and this year they have worked in the contexts of primarily South-East Asia in the context of creative economy in a programme called Meeting Point: Revealing Contexts, they did a workshop for the AIGA SHIFT-ED conference with Design Educators and Sudebi is also one of the five global Innovators for International Teaching Artists Collective working on the same. The idea is that the key narratives, learnings and findings from all of these will be co-created and disseminated through creative forms, with relevant people across many regions.

Using approaches, tools, frameworks and methodologies designed at D.epicentre, they would like to explore:

What do future competency and fluency mean in design, arts and creative sectors? In a VUCA Pandemic affected world, how do creative practitioners hone the relevant skills? Can the creative economy be separated from social and ecological action? In this highly engaging, reflective, provocative, facilitated, immersive and dialogic set of workshops they would open up possibilities for people to reflect on their own experiences, identify where the gaps are and share perspectives around how collective action can be taken to be future-ready.

This session will engage participants around what skills and competencies we think we should be equipping people with now, to ensure they are ready for the future. With constantly evolving skill sets, changing contexts, and new kinds of knowledge and wisdom required, what is the role of especially educators in supporting them effectively? How can we make sure we are preparing future practitioners with capabilities of the future and not those of the past? This session will examine the role of especially design educators, and the challenges/barriers which are present, in relation to future-consciousness building in creative ways. The conversation will be supported by the trans-disciplinary design collective D.epicentre and the work they have been doing on Futures for the last few years.