Otis College of Art and Design Organizes Summer Programme

Every year Otis College of Art and Design organizes a summer program for their students in the Communication Arts and Graphic Design department. The program entails a kick-off public presentation (July 9), followed by the Design Week (July 10-15), a designer-in-residence program (July 10-20), a Designer Educator’s Workshop (July 21-23), a visiting faculty program (July 24 – August 4), two 5-day workshops with visiting designers (July 24 – August, 4), and a lecture program. This year Otis has included eight Dutch designers in these programs.

Visiting Designers Lectures

• Luna Maurer of Moniker, Amsterdam
• Tereza Ruller and Vit Ruller of The Rodina, Amsterdam
• Stephanie Specht, Antwerp
• Davis James Ngarupe + JT Heiny of Actual Source, Provo Utah
• James McKinnon, Berlin with Santiago Piedrafita, New York
• Mike Jakab of Google, Mountain View
• Antlant, Copenhagen

Design Week is a series of workshops that pair incoming and current Otis College MFA students with internationally recognized visiting designers who exemplify alternative practices. In teams, the students and designers partner with Los Angeles-based community organizations, offering solutions to their real-world design needs. 

The 2017 workshops will be lead by internationally recognized designers Luna Maurer of Moniker, James McKinnon along with Santiago Piedrafita, and design studio Antlant from Copenhagen. The public is invited to the final critique on July 14, from 4-6pm.

The new Designer-in-Residence program will launch at the Design Fair and overlap with Design Week, as nine studios will relocate and work at Otis College with a focus on self-generated projects, taking advantage of the campus facilities and culture, and engaging the MFA students. The public is invited to a studio walk-through and reception for the Designer-in-Residence program on July 21, 6-7:30pm.

Designer-in-Residence Participating Studios

Senior Residents

• All the Way to Paris, Copenhagen; Petra Gendt, Tanja Vibe
• Agency Collective, Oakland; Elisabeth Prescott, Mike Jakab
• Jan en Randoald, Ghent; Jan Wouter Hespeel

Junior Residents

• Tereza Ruller and Vit Ruller of The Rodina
• Actual Source, Provo; Davis James Ngarupe, JP Haynie
• Bold, Galway; Leon Butler 
• Dad Jokes, New York; Nic Sanchez, Allison Ball
• Specht Studio, Antwerp; Stephanie Specht

Also new this year, Yasmin Khan and Jessica Wexler of Workshop Project in collaboration with Anja Groten of Hackers and Designers will host FREE: A Design Educators Workshop at Otis College. An international group of 20 educators representing a wide range of institutions will convene on campus to explore the radical potential of the artifacts and platforms of design education as spaces for new forms of critical writing making and discourse. A public presentation of the workshop outcomes will be held on July 23 at 12pm.

About the Dutch participation

About the Studio Moniker

Studio Moniker is an Amsterdam based interactive design studio by Luna Maurer & Roel Wouters. They founded Moniker in 2012 together with Jonathan Puckey.

With Moniker, which means nickname or pseudonym, we work on commissioned design projects while also investing in projects of an autonomous and experimental nature.

The studio works across various media for a diverse range of clients ranging from those in the cultural field to commercial companies. With our projects, we explore the social effects of technology – how we use technology and how it influences our daily lives. Often, we ask the public to take part in the development of our projects. The resulting projects expand and grow like plants, displaying their inner organisational process.

Moniker specialises in interactive, print, video, physical installation and performance work.

About The Rodina

The Rodina was founded in 2011 by Tereza and Vit Ruller. Czech-born, Amsterdam-based independent graphic designers.

The Rodina works on commissioned design projects, while also experimenting autonomously. Studio The Rodina invents ways how experience, knowledge and relations are preserved and produced. Interested in connections between culture, technology, and aesthetic, The Rodina designs events, objects, and tools.

The studio specialises in video, user experience, installations, and visual identities. This cross-media approach allows examining communication as thousands of small interactions which leads to actions. In 2015, The Rodina researched performativity within graphic design and coined term “performative design” (in the field of visual communication) which is further described in Action to Surface publication.

About Anja Groten

Anja Groten is an independent designer and researcher based in Amsterdam. She completed her postgraduate studies at the design department of the Sandberg Instituut Amsterdam where she graduated in 2011. Anja Groten investigates the possibilities of an agonistic design practice and is interested in using external forces during her working process. By designing collective moments she aims to go into discussion with the public and simultaneously provokes confrontation and the unexpected.

About Roosje Klap and Niels Schroder

Roosje Klap is a studio for visual communication, mainly graphic design. The studio researches the experimental boundaries of custom fit design, collaborative yet peculiar. We mainly work for a clientéle in the cultural field: museums, galleries, art publishers and artists. Roosje Klap and Niels Schroder will visit the faculty during one of the 5-day workshops.

About Rob van den Nieuwenhuizen

Drawswords is an Amsterdam-based studio for graphic design, art direction, and endless amounts of enthusiasm. This is a very temporary website. Founder of Drawswords Rob van den Nieuwenhuizen will be visiting the faculty for the one course entitled Final Project (two weeks of teaching).

About Otis College of Art and Design

Established in 1918, Otis College of Art and Design offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in a wide variety of visual and applied arts, media, and design. Core programs in liberal arts, business practices, and community-driven projects support the College’s mission to prepare diverse students to enrich the world through their creativity, skill, and vision.