Category: Uncategorized

Saskia Schmidt – Work Work Balance

In her lecture, Saskia Schmidt talked about her “Werdegang”, from what place she started her career, where she is now and all the steps in between. Also, she showed various projects she did or worked on together with her colleagues in the past. A lot of emphasis was on internships, the winding path of starting your own venture as freelancer and what it’s like working in agencies. To me, it felt like she spent a lot of her work time being the intern and going through struggles while trying to create her own, independent business. It made me doubt whether I’ll ever be a person really flourishing in the “agency life”. I do like collaborative spaces, however I’m not too keen on design companies in a traditional sense, spending so much time and energy in shaking off the “intern” label.

Andrey Sudarikov – playdisplay

Andrey had a very energetic spirit and put a lot of information (maybe a bit too much for me to process) into a short timeframe. His company playdisplay is known for creating interactive media installations all around the world, even at airports. It was interesting to hear how much the amount of people working on a project can vary – from a few 7 people to around 100. They manage to get even adults into a state of playfulness and unconcerned presence, one that’s unfortunately often reserved to children. Also, Design in Russia seems to differ quite from what we’re used to.

Astrid Kury – why collaborate?

To me, Astrid Kury presented a very well thought out selection of projects she either worked on or was inspired by herself. Since her talk was all about collaboration, the projects featured lots of different people from different backgrounds. She asked the question “what kind of world do we want to live in?” Do we hoard information and only look after ourselves or shouldn’t we actually invest in a sharing culture and aim for the best outcome together?

Astrid brought up the benefits of collaborating, but also any challenges that might occur. I enjoyed her talk, especially the part regarding involving people with special (dis)abilities.

What impressed me most was the design agency La Casa De Carlota Astrid mentioned. In this bureau, there are several people with disabilities of all kinds (e.g. down’s and autism) employed as illustrators, artists and typographers. They get paid the industry standard and are included into the design process just like any other person. Astrid showed us a short video by theguardian.com featuring many of the employees. It was stated that those are very creative and free spirits; rather than copy, they all have their own unique style. To me, it seemed that the people working at La Casa De Carlota truly create from presence, not from hoarding pictures from Pinterest on a mood board and then synthesising it to one’s own project (nothing wrong with that in many cases, though).

Burcin Cem-Arabacioglu on Sustainability

It is truly scary to think about the small time frame it takes us to drive the earth’s resources near exhaustion with that kind of lifestyle we call “normal”. In my eyes, it is nowhere near normal. Hearing about Istanbul, the city Cem is living in together with around 50 Million other people was quite interesting. It made me think, “that can’t be sustainable”. Cem however stated that surprisingly, urban systems can be more sustainable than rural life due to more efficient transport, proximity, fostering of social interactions etc. This is where interior design plays an important role. The quotes from well-known authors he recited really struck home with me.

Florian Doppel-Prix – Art or Trash?

First of all, I enjoyed the short piece of Cat Content in the beginning 😊 I did like the setting where Florian Doppel-Prix held his talk. The passing planes or trains were a bit distracting, though. Florian talked about the numerous media installations and exhibitions he co-created throughout his career and the experiences along the way. The excursions into the technical aspects of installations were interesting, but I mostly enjoyed some of his statements like “It was chaos, but it was fun” or “The more professional people get, the less you have to be afraid of them (event their students)” and certainly my favourite, “It’s real mess”. And this one was equally important, but more serious to me: “Technology is not going to save you, what’s important is the content”.

Sylwia Ulicka – Questioning Material Culture

Sylwia Ulicka brought my attention to the ambiguity of design – on one hand, design is associated with growth (in a sense of our consumerist lifestyle), but design can and also should be used to improve current circumstances regarding sustainability, social justice etc. Sylwia also talked about various design approaches. “The consideration of ethical values is reflected in the form of the object; and the enabling, challenging and searching for meaning are crucial.”

What made me think as well is the enourmos amount of mobile phone usage in Mexico that Sylwia mentioned; and a project that revolves around the resulting missing human interaction. Hugging a specially designed pillow named “hugo” while using your phone, Sylwia called “fixing the problem without really questioning the cause of it.”

Wolfgang Schlag – Radio

Wolfgang Schlag introduced us to a brief history of radio technology, which was pretty interesting to listen to since I remember picking up these things somewhere, but tend to forget over time. I liked the focus on Austria and its broadcasting past. Also, him talking about his career was nice, it’s always interesting to hear a whole life of experiences etc. His point that radio will survive easier than TV might at first seem far-fetched, but after hearing his arguments and little anecdotes I can see where he is coming from. I tend to stay away from mainstream/pop music broadcasting stations (except for fm4) since they don’t really serve my tastes concerning music, but it’s very true that radio can also be a medium of political matter (except when used as means of manipulation or to spread fake news).

Ursula Tischner on Sustainability

Although Ursula Tischner’s talk about crowd based systemic design was quite long and featured lots of information, it was very well structured and interesting to listen for me. There were parallels to some of the other lectures we had to watch. Especially how much of a wasteful society we as a collective are. Remarkably, Ursula mentioned Canada as an example of being not as much affected of climate change as other countries, yet it is one of the biggest driver in using up the resources we have way too fast. What was shocking to me was the fact that from all the things we as designers create, approximately only 1% would be still in usage after one year. One year. That seems to be virtually nothing to me. And what’s already known for years it that although people that live in wealth (or at least middle class) still aren’t as happy as they are told to be. What stuck with me was this quote by Annie Leonard “We are trashing the planet, trashing the people, and aren’t even having fun”. But how can these numerous issues actually be tackled?

A possible solution could be crowd based – to work together, internationally on projects that would improve social climate, lessen poverty or help with the inevitable climate change we are causing. Ursula pledges for the power of community. In the networking platform she is hosting, people can get together and research on issues, develop possible solutions together, share them with other people in this network. This system is open access-based, working with creative commons, but feature also the possibility of working in an closed-off space if a company participating chooses a money-earning path. I was reminded of several classes we had at FH – from game design to sustainable design to gamification apps. In these settings we had to form groups, do research on the status quo, problems, existing solutions and our general aim for that certain project. Also, what I want to take on with me is Ursula’s reminder that in the fight for sustainability fun should be included as well.

Klanglicht Symposium

I feel like the lecture by innocad and Studio 13&9 did not teach me a lot per se, but it showed me plenty of impressive and inspiring projects. The intertwining of sound and light installations was very well executed. Looking at some of the projects, matters of sustainability are in question in my opinion, but they do certainly serve a purpose, nevertheless. I would really like to experience those installations myself.

Wie sieh ihr Studium in Österreich an der FH Joanneum begonnen hat. „Kreativität kann man nicht lernen, aber man kann viele Einblicke bekommen.“ Besonders hinsichtlich den Schwierigkeiten beim Programmieren kann ich sie sehr gut nachvollziehen 😀 aber das zeigt auch, dass jedes Problem, dass das Leben mit sich bringt, auch eine gute Chance für einen anderen Bereich sein kann. So ist Saskia dann auf ihr Praktikum bei EnGarde in Graz gekommen, das eine ihrer besten Erfahrungen war. Diese und weitere Arbeiten teilt sie uns in ihrer Präsentation. Besonders beeindruckend fand ich ihr weder & ducré Projekt, das im Stil von Grand Budapest Hotel designed wurde. 

Andrey Sudarikov – “Design Lecture”

I enjoyed andreys lecture very much, one of the reasons is, thanks to the fact, that I could feel how much he is into what he is involved in, which grabs the listener into his lecture.

Besides that, the fact that he is trying to show the hall procedure of the project is really interesting and gives a lot of important information. For example, while explaining about the project I was mostly impressed by (the museum in volgograd), he said that that frozen moment of the soldiers while the camera is still moving, is actually a budget reason that had to become a “language used in the video”. I really appreciate it when a speaker is giving more aspects for one decision to really share his knowledge, and i think that Andrey did it all along his lecture which made it very informative,

The projects themselves show how much creativeness is required but at the same time how much preparations and planning. I think that with andrey showing his projects from the beginning until the final result, it is possible to imagine the real world of designer’s daily work,

Saskia Schmidt – “WORK WORK BALANCE”

Saskia is sharing with us her professional life journey as a designer. I always enjoyed autobiographical stories, this way one can really relate to the story.

Through her story she is also showing her projects and telling how she got to the ideas of what she finally made.

Also the way she divided her lecture was great and made it even easier to follow. During her lecture I couldn’t stop myself from getting reminded of my own journey that I went through until today, but at the same time maybe understanding where I went wrong and also learning from those mistakes.

Part 4 was the one where I found myself thinking of the time I started a job for the wrong reasons, I didn’t want to be a freelancer anymore, so i joined a hitech company as a project manager.the problem was that I had no interest in the outcome of what I did. That’s when I figured out that, when the main goal of the whole project isn’t something I truly care for, I will have a bad feeling about myself because of not giving enough effort. So eventually, all sides are losing. 

After being on both sides, self employed as well as a company employee i can say I would still prefer being an employee but not if I am not interested enough in the outcome of what i am working on.

Wolfgang Schlager – “RADIO WORK”

As I was having my first ever course in radio production (2008) in my bachelor, one of the major topics in the first few meetings was: what changes are about to happen in radio, if it is gonna be consumed as much as it was back then.

Today it is quite clear that radio is not going anywhere. As Wolfgang mentions, the radio has a few advantages in other media and I would like to add a few of my own thoughts to that.

As mentioned, the radio is more of a simple medium, as one speaks not necessarily planned too much, clearly not as films or most of other visual contents. Besides it is a medium that provides content that one can consume using only one sense, which gives the option to do something else meanwhile. I think we also like to listen to people speaking, telling us their own opinions, their understanding  of situations or just clever interpretations.  

This is also the reason that radio is still playing a big role in politics, because it has a good option of influencing the listeners.

To conclude- radio is not going anywhere

Other Lectures

Lecture 3

Astrid Kury: Why collaborate

I believe that Astrid Kury is very much right about the idea that creative people should work together. For me the main reason is because creativeness is feeding others while being fed by others creativity. This way a group could get to better results.

Lecture 4

Florian Doppel Prix – “IS IT ART OR CAN WE TOSS IT?”

Lecture 6

Sylwia Ulicka – Questioning Our Material Culture

I find the topic of this lecture very interesting and important as well. Using design to make a real difference is a blessed way to use creativity.   

In the following statements I want to give some sentences to the videos that were interesting but not as much as the other three I mentioned longer. Just some general thoughts.

#3 Astrid Kury – Why collaborate

Astrid Kurys lecture was special because of art presenting inequality in the combination with design. As a tool to present hard topics to change the mind of people it made me think about it. Even if I could not imagine doing something like presenting poverty like she does was somehow interesting.

#4 Florian Doppel Prix – “Is it Art or Can we Toss it…?”

In this lecture Florian showed us several installations that he worked on. The curious thing about his projects often was that he made some combination of digital and analog elements put together in something interactive. He even described the process of planning and how he gets to the final result. The most interesting thing for me was how he described the beginning. There he mentioned that he is always trying and testing. I even liked that idea and it shows me that the best way is often to try.

#6 Sylwia Ulicka – Material Culture

In this lecture it was somehow a bit disappointing that she read all of her paper. Even though she had really cool ideas of sustainability in eco-efficiency to deliver a higher value.

#7 Ursula Tischner – Designmonat-Graz Lecture

Like the other two lectures before this lecture was about sustainability. The difference was that her idea of sustainable systems is a more radical way in my opinion by looking at the point of consumption. The idea of using the crowd as a resource of knowledge to solve problems of sustainability is very interesting.

#8 Klanglicht – Space/Light/Sound

Im impressed by their project in Dubai. Combinating light with color is something for persuation. Even the other projects are somehow impressive. I mean clothing a building in someway of a golden cut the idea is special.

#9 Wolfgang Schlager – Radio Work

It was like I expected it. Radio is a medium that is important and I think always will be. Think about sitting in the car without radio. The information issue today is the same like years before even for the political information’s like he describes it.

Saskia Schmidt erzählt in ihrem Vortrag ihre Geschichte von der Ausbildung zur Mediengestalterin über neuen Stationen in die Selbstständigkeit.

Andrey Sudarikov

Mir hat der Vortrag von Andrey Sudarikov sehr gut gefallen. Vor allem die Hintergrundinformationen und Entstehungsgeschichte zu den Projekten fand ich spannend. Der Einblick, wie Projekte entstehen und welche Probleme/Möglichkeiten in der Umsetzung möglich sind war sehr spannend.     

Saskia Schmidt

Unter den Titel Work Work Balance spricht Saskia Schmidt über ihren Ausbildungsweg, warum sie sich entschieden hat zu studieren, die Erkenntnis, dass man Kreativität nicht erlernen kann, sondern jedes Projekt zu seinem eigenen machen muss und wie ihr der Weg in die Selbständigkeit, mit kleinen Umwegen, geglückt ist.

Astrid Kury

Mir hat Astrid Kurys Vortrag sehr imponiert. Vor allem das Projekt von „La Casa de Carlota“ gefällt mir sehr. Ich finde es sehr gut, dass Menschen mit Beeinträchtigung als vollwertige Mitarbeiter gelten, das gleiche Gehalt bekommen und ihr Wert (schließlich ist ihr Stil es, der das Studio so einzigartig macht) anerkannt wird. Ich glaube, dass dies ein Beispiel für gut gelungene Inklusion ist und denke, dass dieses Konzept eine Inspiration für andere Unternehmen sein könnte.

Florian Doppel-Prix

Florian Doppel-Prix’ Lecture war für mich sehr spannend. Obwohl ich mich nicht beruflich wirklich im Ausstellungsdesign zuhause fühle, war es doch interessant zu sehen, wie verschiedene Medien kombiniert werden können, um ein einzigartiges Besuchserlebnis zu schaffen. Florian Doppel-Prix hat dabei auch einen flüchtigen Einblick in die Techniken, die für die Ausstellungskonzepte angewendet werden können, und ihre Implementierung gegeben. 

Burcin Cem Arabacioglu 

Burcin Cem Arabacioglu gibt einen fundierten Einblick in sustainable Design und stellt gleichzeitig einen Bezug zum Interior Design her. Er spricht dabei über gesellschaftliche Systeme wie Städte, Vororte oder ländliche Bevölkerungsweisen und vergleicht diese anhand ihrer Nachhaltigkeit. Zusätzlich erklärt er, welche politischen, ökologischen, wirtschaftlichen und kulturellen Aspekte in nachhaltiges Design einfließen. 

Sylwia Ulicka 

Unter dem Titel Questioning Material Culture spricht Sylwia Ulicka, Designerin sowie Forscherin und Professorin über das Thema der Nachhaltigkeit und wie komplex dieses Thema in Kombination mit Design ist. Sie spricht von der Entwicklung neuer Technologien, um den Ressourcenverbrauch zu reduzieren und welche Auswirk

Ursula Tischner

„To summarize: We’re trashing the planet, we’re trashing the people and we’re not even having fun”.

Dieses Zitat aus dem Vortrag von Ursula Tischner fasst die Gründe sehr gut zusammen, warum sie sich bereits in ihrer Studienzeit dem „social and sustainable design“ verschrieben hat. Vor allem am Beginn ihres Vortrages schildert sie sehr gut, was die Probleme der westlichen Gesellschaft sind und wie wir als Designer auch ein Teil dieses Problems sind – oder uns eben aktiv dazu entscheiden, unsere Arbeit nicht als Wegwerfprodukt zu entwickeln. Zum einen schildert sie, dass mit dem wirtschaftlichen Wachstum der Industrieländer zum einen der Ressourcenverbrauch unermesslich gestiegen ist – würde jeder Mensch der Welt, so viel materielle Güter und Ressourcen verbrauchen, wie es ein durchschnittlicher deutscher Staatsbürger tut, würden wir vier (!) Planeten brauchen – aber sich die Zufriedenheit der Menschen dennoch nicht im selben Maß erhöht hat. Wir als Designer entwickeln Produkte, die der Wegwerfgesellschaft meist nur sehr kurz dienen. Weniger als 1 % der Arbeit von Designern wird länger als sechs Monate verwendet – oft sind es sogar nur wenige Stunden. 

Ursula Tischners Ansatz ist deshalb, unseren materiellen Besitz drastisch zurückzufahren ohne dabei „in die Steinzeit“ zurückzufallen. Diese Philosophie hat sie auch im Projekt umgesetzt, dass sie in ihrer Keynote vorgestellt hat: Innonatives. Eine offene Plattform für nachhaltiges Design. Diese Plattform soll „Seekers“, also Personen die eine Problemstellung definieren, und „Solvers“, Personen die eine Lösung für genau jenes Problem designen können und wollen, zusammenbringen und so eine nachhaltigere Gesellschaft zu forcieren. Das Besondere dabei ist, dass jeglicher Input von der „Crowd“, also von der Gesellschaft selbst generiert wird und daher die Lösungen von jenen mitgestaltet werden können, die auch das Problem haben. 

INNOCAD—13&9 Design

Ich habe den Vortrag des Studios sehr spannend gefunden. Man merkt bei allen Projekten, dass ein starkes Team mit unterschiedlichsten Hintergründen zusammenarbeitet. Besonders spannend habe ich das Projekt „Rolling Stones“ gefunden, da ich das Armory Museum Visitor Center zwar kenne, die Hintergründe der Gestaltung aber neu für mich waren.

Wolfgang Schlag

Unter dem Titel Radio Work spricht Wolfgang Schlag, ehemaliger Journalist bei Ö3 und aktuell bei Ö1 tätig, über seine Erfahrungen und Erkenntnisse bezüglich des Radios. Zu Beginn gibt Schlag einen Überblick über die Geschichte aber auch wie sich das Medium verändert hat aber auch warum Radio in Zukunft nicht von der Bildfläche verschwinden wird.