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MIND YOUR HEAD How do we learn today?

How will we learn tomorrow?

It’s time to go back to where it all begins — education.

THE CULTURE OF DESIGN www.desktopmag.com.au

#296 AUGUST 2013 AU$9.25 NZ$10.95

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Contents

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REGULARS

IN THIS ISSUE

10 Bulletin August

20 Profile Suzanne Boccalatte

13 Life/style Liane Rossler

32 Open Day Fabrica

14 Response What is missing from design education?

39 Feature Masters & Apprentices

18 Longform Lorena Mercado 30 Exhibit Design Talks 34 Interchange Sex, Drugs & Helvetica Linda Jukic 72 Reviews Educators edition

CREATE AWARDS Shortlisted entries 54 Identity 60 Illustration 64 Packaging 68 Emerging Talent 30

74 Praxis Bonnie Abbott

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E DITO RIAL

Developed by German physician Franz Joseph Gall in the late 1700s, phrenology is a concept that claims the physical shape of the human skull is directly related to the intelligence and moral character of a person.

Gall assigned properties to areas of the brain, which were then interpreted through the structure and size of the head. In time, Gall’s theories were revealed to be pseudoscience. By the 1840s enough scientific evidence had stacked up to deny any plausibility in the concept. It’s an interesting historical curiosity though, from its impact on modern medicine and psychology to its unique visual language, and as a case study for how ideas can be adopted for wicked purposes (read up on the use of phrenology as an instrument for racist and sexist beliefs). What I find most illuminating though is that phrenology highlights how society is often shaped by myths, misunderstandings, and miscalculations. The cover of this issue features a vintage phrenological head (with a big red line running through it indicating a correction) but it could easily have featured a flat earth, the four humours, an alchemist’s toolkit, or any other visual metaphor for a debunked idea.

Ultimately the message here is that knowledge is always in flux. Even today as we wrestle with contemporary issues like climate change or inherited debates about the meaning of life - none of our assumptions or understandings about the world are fixed.

For some this might be a scary, destabilising concept but for me it’s an exciting one. It means there’s always something new to discover in life, and for designers it means that our profession never has to become inert or stale. There’s always a social or cultural change to respond to. There’s always a different, unexpected way to approach a project. There’s always an emerging technology and new technique to learn, just as there will always be old technology and traditional techniques to revive. If there’s one piece of wisdom that I can impart to students and professionals alike - it’s that formal education is just the start. To stop learning is to stop progressing, and that can only have a negative impact on the industry. Personally, I intend to think of myself as a professional student, and I invite you to do the same.

Thanks for reading, and so long for now.

Editor Heath Killen — heath.killen@niche.com.au Newsroom Assistant Editors Madeleine Swain Rebecca Hagan Designer Davin Lim Art Director Keely Atkins Production Manager Julia Garvey — julia.garvey@niche.com.au Production Co-ordinator Heather Bloom — heather.bloom@niche.com.au Group Sales Manager Lane Delany — lane.delany@niche.com.au 03 9948 4906 Business Development Manager Tynan McCarthy — tynan.mccarthy@niche.com.au 03 9948 4941

Chairman Nicholas Dower Managing Director Paul Lidgerwood Group Commercial Director Joanne Davies Content Director Dave Bullard Financial Controller Sonia Jurista Subscriptions 1800 804 160 / subscriptions@niche.com.au Submissions We encourage readers to submit suitable work for consideration by the Editor. All correspondence of this nature should be directed to the Editor at the address below.

To ensure return of material, a postage paid self-addressed envelope must be supplied. Niche Media Pty Ltd accepts no liability for loss or damage of unsolicited material. desktop is a publication of Niche Media Pty Ltd ABN 13 064 613 529 142 Dorcas Street, South Melbourne, VIC 3205 niche.com.au tel: 03 9948 4900 fax: 03 9948 4999 Printing Southern Colour (Vic) Pty Ltd tel: 03 8796 7000 Embellishments Red foil [ cover ] Silver foil [ IBC ] Avon Graphics — www.avongraphics.com.au Accounting software SapphireOne — sapphireone.com ISSN 1322-9230 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any other means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of the publishers. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this publication, the publishers assume no responsibility for errors or omissions or any consequences of reliance on this publication. The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views of the editor or the publisher. © 2013 Niche Group Pty Ltd

Cover Heath Killen — heathkillen.com

Heath Killen Editor facebook.com /desktopmagazine

Spine Bianca Chang [ design ] — biancachang.com Jacob Ring [ photography ] — ringstudio.net

twitter.com @desktopmagazine

Typefaces Founders Grotesk, Founders Grotesk Text, Lavigne Text

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F E ATU RE

OPEN DAY FAB R ICA

Fabrica is a communications research centre, studio and school.

We are based in Italy, work globally and are an integral part of the Benetton Group. Our organisation is built for the 21st century, and designed to address 21st century problems and opportunities. Our advantage is our diversity – of people, perspectives, formats and technologies. We work with partners on real world projects – we not only research the way we communicate, but we actively produce it. We learn through doing. We actively seek out the new, the unknown, the emerging – as designers, as makers, as journalists and researchers.

PURPOSE Fabrica aims to create the next generation of creative leaders, capable of positively addressing complex but fundamental societal issues such as climate change, urbanisation, migration and cultural diversity, demographic explosions, among others, as well as extending design and communications practice. It is a kind of ‘un-finishing school’, looking to correct the biases and blinkers often developed by formal, traditional education. Consequently, Fabrica works as a transdisciplinary studio, organised more like a network than a hierarchy, enabling those skilled in communications to encounter and work with other vital sectors like the economy, industry and social and environmental sciences, via observing, experimenting and interacting with contemporary cultural trends. Its specialism is networked communication.

STRUCTURE Fabrica is a hybrid space, comprising applied research, learning and project/ product work. There are no annual courses, schedules or programs, no formal tuition or semesters; instead learning is through real projects for real clients – learning through doing, through making.

Researchers are invited here directly for a residency period of 12 months. Fabrica offers no degrees and no certificates, and so is not bound by legacy structures or disciplinary ‘silos’. The residents work under the guidance and mentorship of internationally renowned professionals.

Projects and products can be self-directed, but are often for others, or in public.

STUDENTS To qualify for a residency, applicants must be 25 or under, and must already possess strong craft skills. To apply, applicants must send a copy of their portfolio, a resumé, a letter of motivation and a letter of reference from a person who is deeply involved in their work. If the portfolio meets selection criteria, they are invited to Fabrica for a trial period of two weeks. If the trial proves to be successful, they will be offered a residency of one year, which includes a round-trip ticket, accommodation, a monthly allowance and health insurance.

fabrica.it

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PROJECTS Fabrica’s projects range across various fields and various partners, globally. This can mean working on independent and selfdirected projects and/or participating in work commissioned to Fabrica by outside organisations such as cultural institutions, schools, businesses and non-profit organisations. Recent examples include the revitalisation of Colors magazine, which is produced at Fabrica, and which continues to innovate in the medium of print, but now also includes a new line of interactive installations, such as the Colors News Machine. Also, Fabrica announced a research partnership called Sandbox, with London-based firm Berg, which places it at the forefront of meaningful ‘Internet of Things’ research and production, transforming its extraordinary physical spaces with an open and malleable digital layer. Equally, Fabrica’s lecture series has been revamped and will shortly launch online. It recently included a talk by internationally-renowned anti-mafia writer Roberto Saviano, one of Italy’s leading cultural figures, which saw 800 people pack into Fabrica’s agora for an al fresco public speech. These three recent examples indicate Fabrica’s range.

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LOCATION Treviso is a city in Veneto, northern Italy. It is situated on the plain between the Gulf of Venice and the Alps. The heart of the city is Piazza dei Signori while the two rivers Sile and Cagnan give a unique charm to the old town enclosed by ancient walls. The arcaded houses with beautiful frescoed façades reflected on Buranelli Canal and the Pescheria, created in the river to accommodate the fish market, tell the close link of Treviso with its waters, and to Venice. Treviso is also known for being the original production area of Prosecco wine, for its radicchio and for being the town where the popular Italian dessert Tiramisu was created.

HISTORY Fabrica is a communication research centre. Established by the Benetton Group in 1994, it offers young people from around the world a one-year scholarship, accommodation and a round-trip ticket to Italy, enabling a highly diverse group of researchers. The range of disciplines is equally diverse, including design, communication, photography, code, video, music, journalism and media, and so on.

Fabrica is based near Treviso, Italy, in a tailor-made campus which grew out of a 17th century villa restored and significantly augmented by renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Fabrica remains an integral part of the Benetton Group, though produces its research work in collaboration with a wide variety of clients.

FUTURE Fabrica intends to consolidate its role as an international leader in social communications, combining applied arts and industry via interaction and experimentation, a transdisciplinary approach and a closer connection with the world of advanced research. In particular, Fabrica becomes a centre of expertise in networked culture, assessing how ‘the network’ is changing the way we live, work, play, organise and decide. Humans are social animals, so communication defines what we are, and what we can do; and the network is a radical shift, with positive and negative effects. So Fabrica’s projects and practice in this area will help us rethink what politics is, what media is, what business is, how diverse communities organise and interrelate, how we make and produce the material world and how we construct our identities.

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Shortlisted entries in the remaining categories will be revealed in the September and October issues.

Create Design Awards — Shortlisted

Over the following pages are the shortlisted entries for the 2013 Create Design Awards in the categories, Identity, Illustration, Packaging and Emerging Talent.

Winners in all categories will be announced at a special event at The Ivy in Sydney in November, and will also be published in the November issue.

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For more details, and to see the shortlisted entries online, visit createawards.com.au

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