Alt/Shift 2.1

'Alt/Shift 2.1: Creative education for a digital context' takes place on the 17th April at the studios of digital agency, UsTwo. From 2pm a group of educators and invited industry practitioners with be discussing how to best prepare graduates to work in a world where a majority of practice takes place in a digital context. Discussion topics will be: 'How do we deliver digital now? The view from education' – A chance for academics and teachers to share good practice and solutions to common problems and 'What we need? The view from industry' - which will give the industry practitioners a chance to have their say. At the end of the day there will be an opportunity for more informal discussion in the UsTwo bar. We will be filming the event and edited highlights will be screened on theAlt/Shift blog. 

Pixel perfect precision

Today ‘Gyppsy’ from interface and App designers UsTwo visited the FdA studio to offer technical advice on designing for screen. He went through a system he created for UsTwo that enables ‘pixel perfect precision’ and talked about the life of a ‘visual designer’. Lots of really invaluable insight into future career options for both illustrators and graphic designers. Thanks Gyppsy!

Typography Bootcamp

FdA Graphic Design students recently completed a 4 week project designed to help them develop their typography. Industry demands that graduates have highly developed skills in this area and it has been proven that graduates who are able to use type effectively quickly find employment. With this in mind we invited Zoe Bather (ex partner at Design Week Top 50 agency Studio 8) to run an intensive ‘typography bootcamp’. Over 4 weeks students were introduced to the basic skills, before examining macro/ micro aesthetics, incremental hierarchies, baseline grids and how to achieve ‘consistency without uniformity’. At the end of the project they designed a 16 page 2 color booklet, which was exported as a print ready PDF, printed and bound as a studio mock-up. 

Chrissie Macdonald

Peepshow illustrator and creator of the recent Orange ‘I am everyone’ campaign Chrissie Macdonald ran a series of workshops with the FdA Illustrators earlier this term. Students were asked to explore the mantra ‘draw to understand, make to understand – make to manifest your ideas’. Final outcomes from the project included 3D constructions, costume and performance.

Sounds Visual 02

Students from the FdA in Illustration and Graphic Design worked in teams to create record packaging for independent record labels such as Warp, Brainfeeder, Greensleeves and Trojan during January. The project was designed to build collaborative working skills and get students thinking about how to market music at a time when most young people download it for free.

Alt/Shift-ing

Apologies for the break in blogposts, but in the aftermath of Alt/Shift we have been very busy. Feedback from the event has been excellent and we are already planning a follow up. For Alt/Shift 2.1 we will be working with the digital agency, UsTwo http://www.ustwo.co.uk. The event will take place in the afternoon of Wednesday 17th April from around 2pm and consist of a round table discussion between representatives from design education and a panel of industry experts chosen by Joe Macleod from ‘#Includedesign’. The discussion will explore how creative education could better prepare students to work in the digital context and will be recorded by the Camberwell Press for future publication. After the event UsTwo will be hosting an informal social event with drinks. Further Alt/Shift initiatives are planned to include a collaboration event with Institute of Education, University of London and a book. More on this as it happens – in the meantime here is a round up of some recent projects on the FdA. 

13.12.12 Alt/Shift

On the 13^th December 2012 FdA Course Leader, Derek Yates realized his dream of creating a conference designed to explore the potential of ‘Learning with industry’. The conference took place at the headquarters of the world’s largest Digital Agency – LBi and was the first of what will be a series of Alt/Shift events. It brought together friends and associates from some of the projects that he has worked on over the last 5 years. These included Shane Walter (onedotzero); Matt Wade (Kin); Russell Holmes (Ico); Joe Macleod (ustwo); Nat Hunter (RSA) and Will Hudson (It’s Nice That!). Together they set out to explore the principles that are driving development and innovation in the creative economy and celebrate educational models that inform and respond to them. It was hoped that the event would open the doors to a frank and honest exchange of views between education and the creative industries, and help us work towards an educational environment that encourages engagement with the ideas and principles are shaping the contemporary world in order to influence its future development.

Here are some of the ideas that were put forward on the day

> Unstructured, informal, non-auditable education can build robust, practical creativity.

> We need to design for a circular economy

> ‘Bottom up’ rather than ‘top down’ educational models build better employability skills.

> H.E should talk to/ learn from/ inform tertiary & secondary levels.

> We should take care not contaminate the beautiful bubble of art & design education.

> We need to defend our secondary & tertiary creative education NOW or lose it.

> Primary level education is by its nature collaborative and cross disciplinary. HE could learn from this primary example.

> Industry does not want students who try to fit in with industry.

> Education needs to prepare students for industry not as it was or as it is – but as it might be.

> It is possible to be aware of commercial constraints and challenge those constraints.

> More cross college/ cross-curricular/ cross disciplinary practice needs to be encouraged.

> Beware of the economic rationale! Education is about more than employability.

> Education must be more dynamic – it’s time to embrace change.

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