Since graduating from
Goldsmiths in '95, I've always tried to keep in touch with my old college and design academia in general. Keeping that loop connected between design industry and design colleges is, I think, critical and mutually beneficial for both the students, institutions and the industry.
Last year, whilst still at
Imagination, I was asked by the
Dublin Institute of Design and Technology if I would take on the role of external examiner on their Visual Communications BA. I of course said yes and, aside from the dodgy hotel that they put me up in, found the whole experience really insightful. Once agreeing to be an external examiner you automatically sign up to the next 2 years, and so the time came round again this year for me to do my second year - but this year not as an employee of Imagination - but one half of Kin.
Like myself, Matt is also passionate about keeping strong links with education and has done lots of teaching for Goldsmiths and
Camberwell. We're only 3 months old now and thankfully have been doing ok with some good projects in the pipeline, he had no hesitation on me going over there and 'leaving him with the baby'. Plus we are now seriously thinking about employing a junior to help out.
It was good to catch up with the tutors from last year and also to be introduced to the new external examiner Yves, an illustrator, teacher and graphic novelist from France. Then it was down to business. There were more students this year than last - they were divided equally between us, with Yves taken those stronger in illustration and I those stronger in graphics and interaction design. Each student had four projects to complete in their final year, ranging from self-written briefs, projects written by the tutors, and some answering the projects from the
ISTD student competition. Each student was given 15 minutes to present their work, after which I would look at the internal tutors marks and comments, make comments of my own, and adjust any marking that I felt was too harsh or too generous.
The work overall was of a high standard, with the same strong attention to typographic detail and print making techniques that came through in last year's work. Some projects stood out -
Linda Curtis's collection of cake recipes featured pain staking hand cut lettering out of a cake doily, and Bodoni titles rendered with 100's and 1000's.
Maeve O'Mahony's environmental packaging project made great on-use for a cardboard ice-cream carton as a biodegradable plant pot, using the spoon as the name stick.
Emma Duffyused the lid as a sundial, the subject matter bringing to attention the plight of endangered animals around the world (love the idea of putting an ice-cream carton in the sun!).
She also created a beautiful booklet looking at fruit label designs.
Sarah Baldwin made a collection of flick books, with strong photographic direction, that talked about her Dad's passion for model helicopters.
In digital media I was disappointed to see alot of environmental interactive work that was visually competent but not thought through in terms of human interaction. The students strove to create beautiful visuals and renders without considering how people would REALLY engage with the space, with each other and with the technology. Having said that I was encouraged to see some very strong motion graphics work - in particular from
Ciaran Delaney.
Five of the students, strangely the only five guys that were on my list, decided not to attend. This made it very difficult to judge their work and was sad that they hadn't seen this as a good opportunity to gain criticism and comment from a potential employer.
The day finished on a good note however, with some strong graphic work from
Diedre Geoghegan, an impressive campaign piece to highlight the extremes women in certain cultures go through to attain perfection in appearance.
That evening, on my way to meet some graduates from last year for the obligatory pint (or 6!) of Guinness.
I checked out
Julian Opie's installations on O'Connell St, thinking what they would have been like if made interactive. Beautiful sunset over the Liffey and a rainbow to boot - wondered if this was just a projection they put on for the tourists or if I'd find a real pot of gold!
Next day was spent comparing marks with the internal tutors and adjusting scores accordingly. That evening we were entertained with a BBQ on the roof terrace.
A drizzly day turned into a sunny evening, with top bbq skills from Peter - a fine art tutor - locally caught bbq tiger prams in his legendary coconut sauce.
The final day was an early morning meeting to announce the marks to the examining board and for the external tutors to make remarks on the course. I had three points I wanted to bring to their attention. Firstly the absence issue, recommending the board consider making attendance compulsory. Secondly my comments on interaction (this made me think going over their to do a week's teaching - which may come to light next year). And lastly a consideration for the students to specialise in two disciplines rather than being forced to do illustration, graphics and digital. In some cases there were very strong digital projects that could have been really excellent if they had more time without having to be distracted by disciplines that they didn't have skills or passion for. After all in the outside world the best typographers aren't necessarily the best painters!
A good example of this, and a project I'd like to finish on as it was a particular highlight for me, was
Emma Greenhalgh's website for Alzheimer sufferers. A brilliant idea, one I hope to assist her with bringing to life. Well presented but could have been taken to another level of completion if given more time.
I'd like to thank the staff and students at DIT for making my second year very enjoyable and wish you all the best with the show.
Kevin Palmer
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or any other kin project, email us at:
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