Five Days until the Degree Show

Central Saint Martins graphic design has 180 students this year. With such a large number of students, there are so many different relationships within the course. That variety of relationships is what makes us and the characteristic of our year.

So, we have developed this identity system that looks into the relationships between students. 

セントマ、グラフィックデザイン科は一学年１８０人。それだけの人数がいれば、少人数制の学部ではあり得ない様々な人間関係がある。そういった関係性こそが、うちのグラフィック科の特徴で強み！

と、いうことで、生徒同士の関係性に目をつけた、アイデンティティーでグラフィックデザイン科の卒展のブランディングを展開しています。

Website is in a good state. Lines look supa sexy.

Twitter background looking cool. (It is the official CSM Graphic Design twitter background, as well as some students' twitter accounts including mine)
Which by the way has impressive 6,000+ followers. I bet CSM BAGD is the most followed graphic design course twitter account in the world.

Facebook event page has a nice graphics too.

Cards sent the industry looked amazing. So was the press releases that were sent. Maps have been sent to the printer. Signage taking shape. It's progressing alright! I really am happy the way things are turning out that they have the same visual language, but are adopted in different situations and medium.



In the part of the website where the public cannot see, this is what happening among students. We calculate 'closeness' between students by gathering data on their pathways, choices of briefs, as well as students make their own groups and a little bit of social networking is going on. Using this data, leads the graphic. Genius programming and data visualization by Duarte. He is a genius.

卒展のサイトは、生徒しかアクセス出来ないページがあって、そこで今までにやったプロジェクトや、クラスに関する情報を集めました。生徒同士もみんな勝手にグループを作ったり出来て、ソーシャルネットワーク的なことが背後では行われています。内輪ネタや変なグループを色々作ったり出来て、楽しい。ちょっとした「卒業アルバム（yearbook）」的な役割を果たしていると生徒からの評判も上々。
「線と点」がただの「人と人の繋がりの象徴」ではなくて、ちゃんとどの生徒とどの生徒が近いというデータに基づいた自分たちを描き出しているのは、すごくエキサイティング。こんなことが可能なのは、いつも通りDuarteのおかげで、彼の頭の良さに、未だに日々驚く。

As mentioned before, this BAGD identity project is a collaboration project with Duarte and Esa.
This is a very rare degree show that is completely student led and all this couldn't been possible to be realised by amazing organisation by Kate.

Two Weeks until the Degree Show

Being busy with the work for the degree show. Not at all for my space, but for website and branding of BA Graphic Design.
Working with Esa for the first time, and as always Duarte. Also working closely with Kate and Agostino.

Visit our degree show website, which is currently looking like this:

You can check Facebook event page.

If you are in London, you'd notice massive digital billboards promoting our show. Designed by Kate, Agostino and Krista.



It's nice to be in a year that we feel that people, both our year group and the college, actually do care about the show.

Other parts of the college is looking exciting too. It will be fun!

Central Saint Martins and the Future of Education

CSM is going through a major change. Relocation isn't just about physical spaces but is driven by a strong idea of how art and design education should be in this coming age.
Their idea of the future may be right and CSM could remain very influential in 21st century. They, however, may be totally wrong about their idea of the future. We don't know. CSM could be strong enough to make the future in whatever way they want too, who knows. All I (and they) know is that what they have now is not gonna work tomorrow.

CSM just announced that they are going to have MA Art and Science, and that kind of new multi-disciplinary ideas really excite me.
When I do my MA, I'd like to choose a course that brings people of different disciplines together. Right now the schools that I have in my mind are: AAIS (AA School of Architecture), MA Creative Practice for Narrative Environments (Central Saint Martins), and Graduate School of Media Design (Keio University).
I feel that, if I want to deepen the understanding towards graphic design, a Master is not the best way. There's Internet, I've already got like-minded friends, I have the idea about the area already, I think if I take a gap year off work it's possible to do it by myself. Universities are great but I don't think that's worth £10,000 (or more) per annual.
But those courses I mentioned above interest me in a sense that I would be able to meet people that are difficult otherwise. There, I am not surrounded by graphic designers but am the only one, representing the area of graphics. Hence, I have no intension of starting a Master right after undergraduate. I need to be confident in graphic design to be able to represent it in front of others.

Previously, what one person could do was very limited. We needed a group to do poster, magazine, whatever. But with the aid of technology, now a single person can do an incredible amount. If I predict the future, or rather my hopeful vision of the future is, increase of 'studios' consisting of a designer, an artist, an architect, a scientist, a programmer, any kind of creators and makers. Those were privileges of larger corporations, but in the future even small studios should be able to have such diversity within it.


Oh and by the way, I put new photos on my website. Do check those out too.


セントマ（うちの大学）が来年から「アート＆サイエンス」という名の大学院の学部を始めるらしい。アーティストとサイエンティストは根本的に似ていると思うから、すごく良いアイディアだと思うし、逆に今までなかったことの方が不思議なくらい。多分、最初は「サイエンスに興味のあるアーティスト」だらけの学部になりそうだけれど、是非「アートに興味のあるサイエンティスト」にも来て欲しい。

シリコンバレーとの提携にしろ、TEDコンファレンスの開催にしろ、来年からの学部ごちゃまぜな校内スペースの使い方にしろ、セントマがある特定の方向に向かって進んでいるのは明確で、それは自分が思い描く「理想の美大」に割と近づいている気がして個人的には嬉しい変化の方向性。「クリエイティブ」なことで有名な大学が、それだけではなく「イノバティブ（イノベーションを起こす）」存在となろうとしていて、つまり「アートやデザインは、ただ綺麗なものを作るだけじゃなくて、社会的変化も起こせるんですよ」ということを証明しようとしている過程にいるのだと思う。
でも同時にそれはアカデミックやビジネス面の強化ということであって、そういったことに反発が生まれているのも事実。「ゆるくて、適当で、はちゃめちゃで、クレイジー」という校風が（特に６０年代では）あった大学だからこそ、厳しくなるマネジメントに反発は生まれるし、その中で優秀な人材がちゃんと残るかどうかはわからない。アカデミックであること、ビジネス的であることと、アーティスティックな感性は本当に共存出来るのか？という見方からも、この先数年のセントマがどう変っていくのかを見ていくのは楽しみ。

もちろん、私はアートやデザインはイノベーションを起こせると信じているし、アカデミックとビジネスはアーティスティックな感性と共存することが可能だと信じているから、この先どうなっていくかが本当に楽しみ。