As the third in our series “Two questions to …” with quick snapshots of the judges for the current :output competition we have talked to Dennis Paul from the University of Arts Bremen. We know Dennis for quite a while and are very happy that he agreed to be part of this years :output jury. On a side note it looks like everybody loves “Kickstarter …” …

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Tell us something you now know that as a student you would benefit from knowing as one ponders a life in design?

My most recent and most relevant epiphany is this: Design is not ( only ) a service industry. For a very long time i was taught and brought up to believed that the designers-work-for-clients model was the only realistic one. I know now that it is, while proven to be feasable, by far not the only way to practice as a designer. As a matter of fact i believe that we are obliged, young and old, to experiment with different models and hence (re)define what it means to be a designer.

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What is one of the, or the most exciting object(s), thing(s), design, idea(s), project you have seen or experienced recently?

In reference to the first answer and maybe a little tongue-in-cheek i would answer: KICKSTARTER. Of course there is a lot of hype involved, but i just know it is a revolution. Design/art wise it is very hard to say. I see a lot of very, very good works in my field every day. But two works that couldn t be more different still fascinated me: i am blown away by TEENAGE ENGINEERING’S “OP-1″  (not just its appearance but the very whole thing ), and also RYOTA KUWAKUBO’S “THE THENTH SENTIMENT left a lasting impression on me ( it is BTW nearly impossible to capture this work on photo or film ).

Bio Dennis Paul:
is an interaction designer, lives in Bremen and holds a professorship for »INTERAKTION UND RAUM« at HFK BREMEN. He is co-founder of the Berlin-based studio for spatial, media-related design THE PRODUCT. In his WORK he is concerned with the interaction between humans and technology and the relationship between the conceptual, the virtual, the immaterial, and the physical. His works frequently take the form of installations in public spaces, physical interfaces, and generative systems. With great passion he is researching the communicative, playful, narrative, and critical qualities of new and digital media. He strongly believes that technology must be something warm and emotional. His work has been exhibited internationally and has received various renown awards.

The :output award:
The :OUTPUT AWARD is the biggest award for students in design and architecture worldwide. All works selected by the international jury will be published in the :output yearbook and in the design magazine form. The best project of the year will be awarded the :output Grand Prix which comes with a scholarship of 3.000 Euro.

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Following up our series “Two questions to …” with quick snapshots of the judges for the current :output competition we met Catelijne van Middelkoop at the Design Academy Eindhoven. To us the Design Academy Eindhoven is currently one of the most interesting design schools standing for a very broad view on design which reaches far beyond traditional perceptions of what design is and can do (check out their website – you can find their link below) …

PARTICIPATE IN THE :OUTPUT AWARD HERE

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Tell us something you now know that as a student you would benefit from knowing as one ponders a life in design?

Don’t only focus on the final result; embrace the entire process. Let go of assumptions. Reach out of your comfort zone every once in a while and if nothing else, you will gain some new perspective. Be passionate, but don’t forget that no matter what you do, you are a part of a larger whole. Look around to see how you position yourself and be aware of the current context—what was there before you and what will come next. As a problem solver you have the ability to contribute to a world which is larger and more interesting than design alone. Act responsibly and enjoy every minute of it.

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What is one of the, or the most exciting object(s), thing(s), design, idea(s), project you have seen or experienced recently?

Kickstarter,
Mars Rover Curiosity,
The collaboration of the Edwards Brothers on their AUVI-Q

Bio Catelijne van Middelkoop:
Catelijne van Middelkoop (1975) is a partner of Strange Attractors Design, an international studio located in Rotterdam and NYC which she founded together with Ryan Pescatore Frisk in 2001. Strange Attractors uses new and traditional media to create design solutions for contemporary problems and desires. Besides running a design practice, Catelijne is coordinator and teacher in the Man and Communication department at Design Academy Eindhoven and lecturer in the Graphic Design Department of the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague, The Netherlands.

The :output award:
The :OUTPUT AWARD is the biggest award for students in design and architecture worldwide. All works selected by the international jury will be published in the :output yearbook and in the design magazine form. The best project of the year will be awarded the :output Grand Prix which comes with a scholarship of 3.000 Euro.

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Every year in spring some of the best designers, thinkers and educators from around the world meet in Amsterdam for two days in a dark room to judge, debate and select the works submitted to the :output award out of more than 1.000 individual projects.
PARTICIPATE IN THE :OUTPUT AWARD HERE

Our series “Two questions to …” presents quick snapshots of these people with real dedication towards design education and student work. We are very happy that we can kick-off this series with Jessica Helfand, co-founder of Winterhouse and the Design Observer platform. Jessica Helfand will be awarded the prestigious AIGA medal in spring this year …

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Tell us something you now know that as a student you would benefit from knowing as one ponders a life in design?

I would worry less about what’s cool and more about what’s honest. I would worry less about following and more about leading. And I would look at a future life in design as something much more than a life in design: reach farther, think deeper, say something/do something/be something more than “just” a designer.

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What is one of the, or the most exciting object(s), thing(s), design, idea(s), project you have seen or experienced recently?

India. Period!

We are curious to meet Jessica in April in Amsterdam and maybe she will tell us a thing or two about India …

Bio Jessica Helfand:
Jessica Helfand is an award-winning graphic designer and writer. She is partner with William Drenttel in Winterhouse and a founding editor of Design Observer, currently the largest international website for design, visual thinking and cultural criticism.  A former contributing editor and columnist for Print, Communications Arts and Eye magazines, she has written for numerous national publications including Aperture, Los Angeles Times Book Review and The New Republic.

She is the author of Screen: Essays on Graphic Design, New Media, and Visual Culture (Princeton Architectural Press, 2001), Reinventing the Wheel (Princeton Architectural Press, 2002), and Scrapbooks: An American History (Yale University Press, 2008) which was named one of the best books of that year by The New York Times.

Appointed by the Postmaster General to the U.S Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee in 2006, she is a  Life Fellow of the American Antiquarian Society, a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale and a recent laureate of the Art Director’s Hall of Fame. With William Drenttel, Ms. Helfand was the first-ever recipient of the Henry Wolf Residency at the American Academy in Rome. In the spring of 2013, she will be awarded the AIGA Medal.

Jessica Helfand received both her B.A. in graphic design and architectural theory and her M.F.A. in graphic design from Yale University. She was appointed to the Yale faculty in 1994 where she is Senior Critic in Graphic Design and a Lecturer in Yale College.

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