As part of the London Design Festival 2017 last month, students from BA Graphic Design Communication exhibited their work from a recent exchange project alongside communication and graphic design students studying at the Shanghai Institute of Visual Art (SIVA) in China.
The exhibition, entitled Shanghai-London: Design Directions, explores how each city might market themselves to one another, and builds on a shared international dialogue between the SIVA and Chelsea which has led over the years to staff and student visits, opportunities to share at the Summit Forum of Art & Design Education in Shanghai and joint exhibitions and teaching workshops both in China and the UK around graphic and communication design.
Jack Donlan: Another London
In 2016, staff from the two institutions worked together to devise a project which would invite contributions from students around issues of international design. The project allowed students from both faculties to delve into issues such as typography, layout, context and messaging to broaden their knowledge of how an international approach to design could function. You can read about two Chelsea students’ experiences in Shanghai during this stage of the project on the Chelsea blog.
The students from London worked around how to represent London to a growing number of Chinese visitors which was kindly aided by the feedback and research from London & Partners (The Mayor of London’s promotional agency), while students from SIVA also looked at how major Shanghai brands might market themselves in a UK context and for their practical research came to London to join our students in a series of workshops and opportunities to meet and study given by staff from both institutions. Design Directions displays some of the design outcomes, visual research and journeys from the project.
YiDan Wu: The Study and Design of Artistic Calligraphy in Old Shanghai
For the Chelsea students understanding how Chinese calligraphy functions, it’s history and how to practice it with brushes was a key moment of discovery and enjoyment. Siva also invited two students from London to visit and film interviews in Shanghai with the public and absorb the culture so they could feedback to their peers their research which was a foundation for discussions around international branding and communication design and how to find the similarities and differences.
Shanghai Instistute of Visual Art and Chelsea College of Arts: Cultural Exchanges
Find out more about London Design Festival 2017.
Visit the BA Graphic Design Communications course page.