領 域 ： グラフィックデザイン
派遣元 ： 
ロッテルダム芸術アカデミー
期 間 ： 2006.09.11 ～ 2007.01.31
I was an exchange student for the Graphic Design department at Zokei University for a period of 3 months, starting September 2006. One of the reasons why I was interested in studying at Tokyo Zokei University is that I love to travel around the world and learn about different cultures. I thought Japan had a very unique culture and I was right. Everything in Japan seems to be in contrast, traditional versus hypermodern. Once you think you understand the culture, it will surprise you again!
Studying at two different universities in two different countries was very interesting for me. It gave me best of both worlds, as the graphic design in Rotterdam seems to be more cultural and the design at Zokei more commercial. This gave me an opportunity to step back and realise what I’m actually doing and where I want to go with my designing.
Unfortunately because of the language-gap (me not speaking Japanese versus the teachers not speaking English) I couldn’t join all the classes I wanted to, but eventually I joined 4 classes and enjoyed them:
the assignment was to start an imaginary company, with 9 products. For this company you had come up with a concept, design the logo, the packaging of the 9 products and make 10 applications. It was very important that all the designs would fit within your concept. I came up with a travelbookshop, named ‘paperbackpack’. It sells maps, novels and guidebooks and these can be new, secondhand or you can swop them with other ‘swop’books. Although the class was given in Japanese, I could understand well what was expected and I enjoyed making the designs.
in this class, we had 2 week-assignments with time a different colour as a theme. According to this colour you had to make a 3d object, with what the colour meant for you. The colours were blue, yellow, red, white and pink. It was very interesting to see the difference of meaning for me, as a dutchie, or for the Japanese. Sometimes the cultural differences were very obvious.
This is a class that I choose myself, because I like to create something with my hands as well, instead of only using the computer. The assignment here was to design and make a chair or stool from a curtain type of wood, without using nails. We only used wooden joints. Also we were only allowed to use verticals and horizontals. I was so happy with the result that I shipped my stool back home.
This class was mostly theoretical, but none the less interesting. Themes were sustainability, eco-design, ‘iki’ etc. All very interesting to me, as I like to design for ngo’s and environmental organisations.
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