2016

'Critical Exploits' is an examination of the key tropes, tools and methods of speculative and critical design and a journey through some of the key contemporary projects of the field. Taking in the thematic areas of futurism, design fiction, networked devices, science communication, critical infrastructure, warfare, material culture, synthetic biology and network politics, the talk gives an overview of the state of critical approaches to complex issues.

Presented by the Bachelor of Communication Design and Master of Communication Design programs and the Design Futures Lab at RMIT University.

The School of Art: Reflections on Writing Practices (Professor Teal Triggs)
This paper takes as its starting point the reflections upon the author’s own research and writing practices for the development of an illustrated children’s activity book titled The School of Art (Wide Eyed Editions). The book delivers through fiction and non-fiction narratives lessons on basic design elements and principles through the antics of five professors who work in their studios housed in a school of art. The unique collaboration between the author, illustrator and editor will be discussed in order to show how this informed the development of the characters’ visualisations and their storylines. The paper will also introduce the methods undertaken for a sequel and how young readers are helping to inform and shape the production of new texts and images.

The Origins of Comics Criticism (Professor Roger Sabin)
This paper seeks to explore the way in which the new medium of comics was perceived by critics in the late 19th century, focusing on the UK (at the time the world-leading producer). The late Victorian period saw an increasingly intense discussion about ‘culture’ – what it was, and where it was heading – spurred by the growth of working class leisure pursuits, and middle class concerns about them. Mostly this meant fears about negative effects on ‘moral and political’ behaviour, which entailed commentary on comics that involved the kind of language we might associate with backlashes against them in the 20th century (‘a plague’, ‘a fungus’, etc.). But it could also encompass a celebration of comics as the ‘authentic vernacular’ – the beating heart of the country. The paper will survey the boundaries of the debate, and suggest that this was the origin of modern formulations of ‘pop culture’.

Teal Triggs is a Professor of Graphic Design and Associate Dean, School of Communication, Royal College of Art, London. She is also co-leading the RCA’s new Book Futures Lab. As a graphic design historian, critic and educator her research has focused primarily on design pedagogy, self-publishing, and feminism. Teal is author of the children’s activity book The School of Art (Wide-Eyed Editions), and is co-editor of a forthcoming new book The Graphic Design Reader (Bloomsbury). Her previous publications include Fanzines and The Typographic Experiment: Radical Innovations in Contemporary Type Design, both published by Thames & Hudson. Teal is Editor-in-Chief of Communication Design (Bloomsbury/ico-D); co-editor of Visual Communication (Sage); and Associate Editor of Design Issues (MIT Press). Teal is an Adjunct Professor at RMIT, Australia as well as a Fellow of the International Society of Typographic Designers and the Royal Society of Arts, London.

Roger Sabin is Professor of Popular Culture at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. His books include Adult Comics: An Introduction (Routledge), and Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels (Phaidon). He reviews graphic novels for the press and radio.

Presented by the Bachelor of Communication Design and Master of Communication Design programs and the Design Futures Lab at RMIT University.

Tonight's lecture will feature a series of perspectives on packaging design, from different industry perspectives, followed by a panel conversation. Speakers include: Daniel Bushaway (Aesop), Rosanna Di Risio (ERD), Zoran Konjarski (Aesop) and Marina Sellstad (BrandSociety).

Presented by the Bachelor of Communication Design and Master of Communication Design programs and the Design Futures Lab at RMIT University.

Practise Studio Practise work in the fields of creative direction, design and production. Their practise is a continued exploration of common rituals, materials and objects that are recontextualised to communicate new ideas.

PSP presents ABC by PSP: an A-Z toolbox of penchants and projects that keep their studio active. An alphabet of entirely applicable and rather superfluous tools that advocate free range creative thought and non-linear career paths.

This lecture series is presented by the Bachelor of Communication Design and Master of Communication Design programs and the Design Futures Lab at RMIT University. Poster design by Jackson Holloway (BCommDes).