Eye Magazine

Today (18 May, 2009) marks the 42nd birthday of the Rietveld building for the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. Yet this anniversary is overshadowed by changes planned for the institution that have only just been revealed to staff and students there. Here designer Will Holder, who has taught there for seven years, explains the situation.

In a very polite, and very Dutch way, writes Simon Esterson, Jan van Toorn used the latest D&AD lecture to remind the audience at London’s Mermaid Theatre about graphic design’s social possibilities. He told us we should break out of our design stereotypes because, ‘it’s boring to produce neat things’.

In ‘I have nothing to declare but my networking skills’ (Eye no.70 vol. 18), Deborah Littlejohn argues that ‘creative genius’ is so last millennium. What design students want – and need – is skill in collaborative online technology.

Insular, egocentric, tongue-tied – and over. Yet if there is more visual communication than ever before, why do educationists insist on lamenting graphic design’s imminent demise? Rick Poynor responds to some perplexing findings at the ‘New Views 2’ conference held at the London College of Communication. Read Rick’s Monitor article ‘It’s the end of graphic design as we know it’ in the latest issue of Eye, no. 69 vol. 18.

Jennifer Campbell-Colquhoun and Selina Swayne want to know what you think about graphic design and designers. Their project Stock aims ‘to take a snapshot