Dutch Design Week

I came staggering home late this evening with a massive pile of portfolio pieces, pamphlets and business cards. 9 days. 300 events. Sponsorship from one of the most respected industrial design companies in the business.

My entire day was spent in the city of Eindhoven at Dutch Design Week. I saw senior projects and exhibits from famous designers in Holland. I networked and took photos. I saw work that I loved, and work that I did not care for at all. Perhaps even more important, I began to really think about what type of company I might like to work for.

In regards to capstone, I paid special attention to how the work was displayed. One neat idea at a student exhibition was how the artists' statements were displayed. Rather than hanging them on the wall, they had a thick pad of paper at each exhibit so viewers could tear off a page and either read it off to the side and then return it to the stack before viewing the work (probably a preventative measure for traffic), or keep it to take home and remember about later on. Each page contained the artist's statement, their contact information, the category of design they studied, and also any awards they had received for design. I thought it was a great idea, only the downside of it could result in a messy gallery and lots of littering.


A few other thoughts:

interactive exhibits

artist and title of work at the base of the exhibit

I am starting to see how much of a focus Holland has on its design community, and that is extremely encouraging.

Culture Differences

Right now, I am working to build connections that may help me in this research process - and I am already experiencing culture shock!

My design professor is a very talented man, but I am having trouble explaining the capstone process to him. After our first meeting, he still has not grasped the concept. In Holland, design students often write a thesis rather than show their work. Exhibitions are a separate component of a student's final year, and not necessarily the main project. Therefore, the idea that I will have two whole semesters to complete one project is confusing to him, and he cannot figure out how I will compile such a vast amount of research and design into one final project. Nevertheless, he is working with me to develop a plan to connect with other designers in the area.

In the meantime, I am conducting research by taking notice of advertisements as I explore the city of Leiden. For example, in Holland, packaging often involves less color and titles that are lower case with punctuation. On the other hand, packaging in the United States typically utilizes more color and the product titles and slogans begin with a capital letter and often lack punctuation. Another major difference is that it is much more culturally acceptable in Holland (and Europe in general) to have partial nudity or very suggestive advertisements. In an advertisement for Chanel that you may have seen in America, Keira Knightley holds a hat to cover her chest, whereas in Europe, a pair of suspenders only partially cover her up.

I have a folder that I have begun to fill with brochures, wrappers, and other advertisements from each of the places I visit. Each week I bring the folder to class and discuss some of the items with my classmates. Getting feedback is somewhat difficult because the class is much smaller than I anticipated (There are only two other design students in my class and two drawing students in the classroom next to mine!). Although one of the other design students is a senior, she does not have a required project like mine for capstone, so she can only help so much with feedback.

Sometimes I feel very isolated in my work. I try to ask advice of other friends in Holland, which can be helpful, but it is also nice to receive feedback from other designers. I am doing my best to stay positive and find as many learning opportunities as I can. The good news is that I will be starting an advertising class soon, and that might give me some more inspiration!