DWC In Conversation
In Conversation with Jeremy Leslie
By Kristina Ketola Bore
"The blog is a very hungry beast", the Magculture founder professed. The former Executive Creative Director at John Brown and Art Director at Time Out, current curator at Colophone and co-curator of the upcoming exhibition "Graphic Design: Now in Production", and last, but not least, magazine devotee, Jeremy Leslie, joined LCC's new MA DWC students for a conversation.
Always to be relied on to offer commentary on both well-established and new magazines on his blog, Leslie shared a view into what first made him interested in the media. In the company of the Lawrence Zeegen, the new Dean of Design at LCC, Leslie mused over the time when NME was the ultimate source of coolness and magazines such as Blitz and The Face would offer a view into the then undiscovered world of street fashion and club culture.Coming from a first hand preview of the new Guardian app, Leslie touched on the cross road publishing is faced with. The iPad promises to lay new ground for magazines and newspapers. The Port iPad designer himself said he believed there to be much ground to be trampled. However innovative solutions such as that of the Guardian app promises an interesting road ahead. Leslie is responsible for the magazine section at the new show "Graphic Design: Now in Production" hosted by the Walker Art Centre. The Magculture blogger could also reveal that he is in the process of working on a new book about his beloved medium, the magazine. The contemporary version of Blitz would probably call that "so meta".
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In Conversation with William Shaw
By Ann Dingli and Harry Leeson
William Shaw is a journalist and web editor for the London Design Festival. He is also a contributing editor at Details magazine, and has worked for such high profile magazines as The Face and Blitz.For the second year running William has asked the students from the M.A. Design Writing Criticism at the LCC to contribute critical writings to the London Design Festival blog. They were asked to pick and review events, installations and exhibits from the festival's wide variety of showcases. Students were faced with the challenging task of having to turn over critical reviews within a strict deadline. Eight student reviews were published on the blog, mingled in with reviews from established writers such as Ben Morgan and Shaw himself.Two weeks later, William came to visit the students in the DWC classroom for some feedback and chat about the experience. His comments on the students' writing style, approach, work ethic and level of criticism proved to be extremely helpful and constructive in allowing them to understand the positives and negatives of their work.
William's visit not only provided a response for the students with regard to the LDF blog task, but also shed light on his personal tips and insight into the design writing industry. His experience in the writing field, and his willingness to share thoughts and opinions on current trends was invaluable to the students. The event was a perfect starting point for this year's MA DWC course.
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In Conversation with Justin McGuirk
By Sarah Snaith and David Cabianca
Justin McGuirk is an award-winning design and culture critic for London's Guardian newspaper. He was an editor of Icon magazine, the international architecture and design magazine. In addition to his Guardian column, McGuirk is currently collaborating with Rem Koolhaas' think tank AMO, as the publishing director for the Strelka Institute, a new post-graduate institution for architecture, media and design in Moscow. Justin McGuirk kicked off the first of this year's In conversation with... a guest critic series where industry professionals engage in conversation with present and past students about the craft of design criticism. Students had the pleasure of meeting with Justin in the V&A Museum's Sackler Centre during London Design Festival. The discussion topics ranged from the inclusion of design writing in news media, online writing's affect on criticism as a practice, and writing for a general audience.
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In Conversation with Jake Tilson and Love Da Pop
To celebrate the end of term (and the impending Summer of Thesis), DWC hosted a conversation with a few of our favourites. Designer, writer, illustrator, traveler and chef Jake Tilson joined us, as well as the dudes from the very brilliantbrand Love Da Pop (best popcorn ever, seriously). We had a fantastic turn-out, with great questions from the audience. Although we talked about design and food, we also discussed the significance of experience - thinking through a project from beginning to end, top to bottom.
And talk about an experience - we had the chance to peruse a copy of Jake's new book and hear about the great ideas the Love Da Pop guys have up their sleeves.
It all felt a bit like, well, sitting round a great big dinner table with old and new friends.
Many thanks to all who stopped by!
