UMN Visual Communication Design Conducts a Guest Lecture With RMIT University Professor

UMN Visual Communication Design guest lecture with Brad Haylock from RMIT University Australia. (Doc. Marketing Communications UMN)

TANGERANG – Multimedia Nusantara University (Universitas Multimedia Nusantara/UMN) Visual Communication Design (VCD) study program conducted a guest lecture with Brad Haylock, an Associate Professor of Design in the School of Design, also the Associate Dean of Communication Design, at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University, Australia. The guest lecture was held on-site at the UMN campus on the 5th of September, 2023.

“We’re (RMIT University’s Department of Communication Design) one of three departments in the School of Design. We also have Industrial Design and Digital Design, which for us includes animation and interactive media,” Brad said, sharing a brief overview of the School of Design at RMIT University.

“I’m a really nerdy typographer. So if you want to talk to me about fonts, I’m really happy to talk about fonts all day and about page composition and contemporary techniques of book design,” he added.

Brad Haylock, the Associate Professor of Design in the School of Design and the Associate Dean of Communication Design at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University, Australia. (Doc. Marketing Communications UMN)

Brad proceeds to share how he designs books and his various curatorial projects with other designers. In addition to his design work, he also runs a small publishing company. Besides designing, he does a lot of writing and editing and is highly interested in rigorous academic research design and storage design theory. 

Listening to his presentation on his work projects, he seems to emphasize empowering designers– whether seasoned or emerging designers from big or small studios. 

“It is really important for me as the curator of this exhibition that I showcase the work of really well-known graphic design studios in Melbourne and also emerging practitioners to showcase the breadth of important graphic design practice that’s happening in Melbourne right now,” Brad said, sharing one of his exhibition work.

He also wants to ensure that the general public who would come through Melbourne realizes and acknowledges that visual language is there in their every day, all around us all the time, is designed by communication or graphic designers.

“One key objective is to show the general public that things that they see every day have been created by graphic designers who care very much about what they do and who do excellent work to make our everyday visual culture what it is,” he said.

UMN Visual Communication Design guest lecture with Brad Haylock from RMIT University Australia. (Doc. Marketing Communications UMN)

Brad shared plenty of his work through a PowerPoint presentation. He passionately shared what the project meant, what the projects looked like, the people he had worked with, and even his struggles. The variety of his projects could inspire UMN VCD students who want to become professional designers in the future and get a broader perspective on designing by gaining insight into the design industry and practice in Australia.

“These times will be a great potential for all of you because you can widen your perspective and understanding to create a great concept and a great design. I believe and want all of you here to be able to create something impactful and inspiring, like what you see from the slides. You can see a lot of great designs and see that there is a lot behind those great works,” Brad said.

Brad advises VCD students to look ahead and think about where they want to end up in five to ten years. (Doc. Marketing Communications UMN)

The session ended with a Q&A from UMN VCD students that brought up a fruitful discussion between the students and Brad. During the Q&A session, he gave inspiring advice for students unsure about what path they should take in the future. 

He advises students who will soon move from design studies to design practice to make career decisions based on their individual values, and it is really important to look ahead. Students can think about their five to ten year future trajectory: where do they want to end up, and what great decisions can they make to get them there?

“It may mean going out on your own or with a friend or two and making a small studio. But if you don’t see examples in practice at the moment of the work that you think should be happening, then you might just have to go out there and carve that path for yourself,” Brad said.

By Levina Chrestella Theodora

English translation by Levina Chrestella Theodora

Kuliah di Jakarta untuk jurusan program studi Informatika| Sistem Informasi | Teknik Komputer | Teknik Elektro | Teknik Fisika | Akuntansi | Manajemen| Komunikasi Strategis | Jurnalistik | Desain Komunikasi Visual | Film dan Animasi | Arsitektur | D3 Perhotelan , di Universitas Multimedia Nusantara. www.umn.ac.id