four international design day talks

16.05.2022 ICoD news

With the world in a state of flux, for International Design Day, we asked designers to step out of their comfort zone and reflect on the future state of design under the theme Suspended in Transition. We took the opportunity to connect with our Members and community to have a series of rolling live talks on the subject, from Australia to Mexico.

These last few years have put a pause on whatever we used to call ‘normal’. While difficult to accept and digest on a global level, it has also given way to a moment where we can all reflect on the things that we’ve taken for granted, to acknowledge the greater cracks in industries, systems, and the status quo. These moments can prove to be spaces where we can reflect, rethink and hopefully, redesign. On 27 April 2022, the International Council of Design marked International Design Day 2022: Suspended in Transition by hosting four Instagram Lives, to reflect on and discuss the shifting state of contemporary design in different regions. The Council's regional Instagram Lives brought together representatives from Asia and Australia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. Here are links to the videos, that now exist both on our YouTube channel and on Instagram.

ASIA AND AUSTRALIA

The first IG Live to take place was the Asia and Australia Live, with representatives from three Member associations, including an educational institution and two professional associations, the panel included Elita Lam, representing the Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI), Bradley Schott, representing the Design Institute of Australia and So Hashizume, representing the Japan Graphic Design Association (JAGDA). The session was moderated by ICoD Director General, Ana Masut. See the video on our Instagram by clicking on the image below.

Asia and Australia IG Live, click photo to watch the discussion on Instagram

AFRICA

Moving from East to West as the day progressed. Our next Live was Africa, with representatives from a Corresponding Entity, an Iridescent Network entity and a professional Member, the panel included Sam Nii Adjaidoo, representing both DesignGhana and Pan Afrikan Design Institute (PADI), Adrian Jankowiak, representing Nairobi Design Week (Kenya) and Charrisse Johnston, representing The African Institute of Interior Design Professions (South Africa). The session was moderated by our Social Media Coordinator, Marnie Guglielmi-Vitullo. See the video on our Instagram by clicking on the image below.

Africa IG Live, click photo to watch the discussion on Instagram

EUROPE

The third IG Live moving West was the Europe Live, with representatives from two design weeks and a former ICoD Board Member, the panel included Tyra von Zweigbergk, Former ICoD Secretary General, (Sweden), Magda Seifert, representing the Porto Design Biennale (Portugal) and Gabriel Roland, representing Vienna Design Week (Austria). The session was moderated by ICoD Communications Officer, Alisha Piercy. See the video on our Instagram by clicking on the image below.

Europe IG Live, click photo to watch the discussion on Instagram

AMERICAS

The last Live was in the Americas, with representatives from three Member associations, including an educational institution and two professional associations, the panel was in Spanish and included Mariam Bujalil Palafox of Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México, Susana Machicao, representing the Bienal del Cartel Bolivia (BICebé) and Gabriela Mirensky, representing The One Club (United States). The session was moderated by our Director General, Ana Masut. See the video on our Instagram by clicking on the image below.

Americas IG Live, click photo to watch the discussion on Instagram

SUSPENDED IN TRANSITION: QUESTIONS

We at the Council hope that these discussions inspire you to take some time to consider where design is going and what futures we are poised to create. To better help your reflections, we included some additional questions that you can reflect on alone or among your peers online or IRL. Our theme for this year’s International Design Day is “Suspended in transition.” It refers to this indescribable feeling many of us are experiencing, a time when old ways of being and doing no longer fit what we need to be and do going forward. Many people describe feeling in limbo or “between things”. It is a time full of unknowns, contradictions and tensions, but also a time when new possibilities are presenting themselves:

1.  In terms of your work as a designer, in what ways are you feeling suspended in transition? How would you describe this feeling and when did it hit you that design might actually be in a place or moment of transition?
2. What about the design industry no longer fits with how the world needs to adapt to new troubles (climate change, future pandemics, health care system crisis)?
3. What positive or negative shifts are you feeling in the design industry right now, and what opportunities do you see for design to take up a greater place in the solving of large-scale issues (climate change, future pandemics, health care system crisis) and also smaller but critical issues that affect the quality of life for lots of people?
4. How are you working to step out of your comfort zone to contribute to this larger shift in the design industry? In what ways do you feel you are stuck or prevented from doing so?
5. Thinking long-term: Which designs will matter in the near or far futures?
6. Do you feel optimistic about the future of design? Why or why not.
7. Which designers’ voices and which designs need to appear, and why? How might you be working to collaborate in different ways, or make space for different approaches to design?
8. A lot of designers have been personally or distantly affected by issues related to climate change, health, equity and feel urgent to act…somehow. But how? What are some goals you have for the upcoming years in terms of your designing and your involvement in larger social issues affected by design?
9. Which design projects do you think have used this moment of transition to make an impact or change? In your opinion, who/what has worked through transition and is now on ‘the other side’?
10. What closes down that sense of embracing change for the design world? How can design professionals get involved with their governments to push for new practices that support design that foregrounds things like access, equity and fairness to resources and quality of life?
11. What, in particular, no longer fits, or is frustrating about your practice right now? What internal factors or external factors affect this?

See the International Council of Design or the International Design Day Instagram accounts to watch the recordings. Thank you to all our guests who took the time to speak with us on this occasion. And a special thanks to Tyra Von Zweigbergk for her contributions to International Design Day, and her design of this year’s posters!

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ABOUT INTERNATIONAL DESIGN DAY

International Design Day, the 27th of April — the anniversary of the founding of the Council — is an opportunity to recognise the value of design and its capacity to effect change. On this day, we challenge designers to reflect deeply on the well-being of people within their local environments, and to find innovative solutions to local needs by using design as a vehicle to honor diversity and transcend borders.