20 students and 7 lecturers travelled to Goa at the weekend, to join 1300 fellow designers, educators and students from all over India — and beyond — for the annual Kyoorius Designyatra conference at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Bambolim.
Now in its sixth year, this international conference aims to “celebrate design excellence [and] provide insights into the future of brand and visual communications while simultaneously bringing together the design and corporate community in India”.
Although renowned graphic designer David Carson failed to show up for his headline slot (apparently not surprising to those who know him), the audience were treated to a constant stream of inspiring and thought-provoking talks and discussions over 2 days. Some highlights included Adrian Shaughnessy, author of the best-selling “How to be a Graphic Designer without losing your Soul”, and Amsterdam-based designer Irma Boom, renowned for her book designs which she somehow managed to discuss with the packed auditorium in a very intimate and honest way.
The conference’s moderator, Michael Banks of UK design firm Johnson Banks, has written up a brief summary on their Thought for the Week Blog, and some videos are gradually appearing on the KyooriusTV youtube channel.
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Apart from the talks there were workshops to attend, some great food to eat, lots of networking opportunities and a huge party on the last night.
This was the first ever conference experience for most of our students, and all have returned with lots of ideas, better knowledge of practices and practitioners, and a new perspective on the design industry.
1 comment
Nick Lovegrove says:
Sep 15, 2011
Here’s part of the feedback email i sent to the organisers:
“It’s a truly amazing event. The youthful enthusiasm and energy that surrounds the place is infectious. The venue is perfect and the organisation and professionalism shown by everyone involved is second to none. The speakers that i chatted to were similarly impressed.
My students say they learnt a lot and they certainly seemed to enjoy themselves. They loved the social side of it, being able to talk to other designers and students. I keep telling them how lucky they are, that there are hardly any events like this around the world, let alone within a bus ride of Bangalore.
Some constructive criticism:
- There weren’t enough speakers who could really ‘speak’. Last year you had people like John Jay, Bruno Maag and Michael Ian Kaye who really projected themselves and their ideas well. Beirut and Heatherwick are excellent choices for next year.
- Although the great thing about the event is that is so relaxed and fun, there’s so many important issues that need to be discussed related to Indian design currently. For example sustainability, how to use design to alleviate social problems, creating a modern Indian design language (that Tania and Massimo touched on) etc. There should be one or two speakers who really get the audience thinking, rather than just inspire them.
- There weren’t enough Indian designers. There are plenty of young Indian creatives doing great work that is pushing boundaries but they weren’t represented on stage. Representatives from companies like Grandmother, CoDesign, PlayClan & W&K Delhi would help to get across that you don’t have to produce safe, predictable work in this country.”