Critical Daily    Critical practice in graphic design

A garage is a place that’s strongly connected to DIY culture and possesses an informal, creative atmosphere. The exhibition at Typogaráž entitled THIS IS AN EXHIBITION ABOUT THE FIVE ASPECTS OF EDUCATIONAL PROCESS OF STUDYING GRAPHIC DESIGN IN EUROPE AND IT TAKES PLACE IN A GARAGE, OKAY? (sic) presented the outcomes of an international collaboration.

Typogaráž is an alternative space for contemporary type design, typography and book design; it combines a gallery space and laboratory, and has been offering various workshops and events since 2019.

The whole creative process involved herein, reflected the limits and frustrations of the graphic design student, including an insufficient budget. The focus lay on typography and graphic design studies at different European universities, from a student’s point of view. This resulted in the use of typography created by the students as well as fonts that are available for free and that subsequently had to be corrected — precisely and literally like repairing things in a garage.

Inspired by the format of the sketchbook, the catalogue of the same name — apart from the swapping of the word ‘exhibition’ with ‘publication’ —  looks more like a collection of quick ideas than a sophisticated exhibition catalogue. The choice of materials and colours was based on remnants from the printer, which also served as the principle for the poster and the design of the exhibition space.

The exhibition describes and compares the whole process, starting with an assignment and ending with a result. It analyses the factors that most influence the student during their studies. The whole school system (not only at university level) is a long process. At the beginning of their studies, every student starts more or less from the same position. The main goal was therefore to name and investigate the differences in the process at the different universities. The authors of this project have chosen five keywords that influenced the student while working on the assignment, and that gave structure to this exhibition: space, time, people, resources and methodology.

The presented works were actually a selection made according to the answers on a questionnaire sent to the students. The texts can be found in the catalogue.

List of contributors: Liza Borovskaya (Die Angewandte, Vienna), Cellophane magazine collective (Designskolen, Kolding), Laura Csocsán (Moholy-Nagy University, Budapest), Robert Finkei (Gerrit Rietvel Academie, Amsterdam), Andrej Barčák, Aurélia Garová, Michal Chrastina (VŠVU, Bratislava), Kristýna Krejčová (VUT, Brno), Matyáš Machat (UMPRUM, Prague), Hannah Sakai (Werkplaats Typografie, Arnhem), Robert Radziejewski (University of Arts, Berlin), Matej Vojtuš (UMPRUM, Prague).