On 24 April 2013, all the designers in Penang come together to celebrate the Icograda World Communication Design Day, for its 50th anniversary. The celebration took place at the exhibition ground at the New World Park, Burma Road Penang. It is in conjuction with the weekly series by wREGA (Association of Graphic Design Malaysia) that bring designers together called Jack In the Box. The idea of the celebration is to portray and highlight Penang Island, as one of the cultural heritage in the world and where the design and arts collates. Supported by Graphic Design Department (Dr. Zainurul Rahman), School of the Arts, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Urban Cr3tures (Chun Woei), New World Park (Alex), Georgetown Festival (Wanida) and Vividesign (Vivian), the events that took place from 6 to 10 pm, managed to get around 50 designers and students (from KDU, USM, and Han Chiang Colleges) to stick their post notes with wishes and notes about Penang legendary icon, P.Ramlee. The end of the session, a portrait of P. Ramlee, a truly Penang icon who was also an actor, comedian, singer, film director, song writers, musician and most of all the cultural ambassador of Malaysia was created. This is the benchmark of the future design, arts and culture growth in Penang, Malaysia.

Ephemeral Memorabilis by Nurul Rahman 2013 – Submission for Korean Design Trend Exhibition

“All men are designers. All that we do, almost all the time, is design, for design is basic to all human activity.

Any attempt to separate design, to make it a thing-by-itself, works counter to the fact that design is the primary underlying matrix of life. Design is composing an epic poem, executing a mural, painting a masterpiece, writing a concerto.

But design is also cleaning and reorganizing a desk drawer, pulling an impacted tooth, baking an apple pie, choosing sides for a backlot baseball game, and educating a child.” Victor Papanek – Design for the real world.

This semester I started teaching and supervising final year student and postgraduate students. All of the sudden I have limited time for research and even time to spend writing and posting in this blog. Times just fly and now I am at my third weeks of my teaching. And currently I am supervising eight final year students, two Masters and one PhD. My post today will be more on discussion about my final year graphic design students. As I go through with them in groups once a week and individually once every two weeks, I realised that the level of design thinking is very low. Yes the students are very talented, as they should be because that is how they get to be excepted in the School of the Arts, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, but in terms of their knowledge in constructing ideas, they seems lost. I think the biggest challenge in teaching design in Malaysia is the about the design thinking. To empower the creativity and use it in various ways. To also understand that design is not only about creating layout for print or for online, the space, the color, the principles but also the purpose, the rational and most importantly how the whole design process and outcome can contribute to the society. I think designer need to rethink about the designer’s tagline, “design is about problem solving”. I think design is not about solving the problem but to facilitate the situation by proposing several ways to manage it. Nothing can be solved, what designer was doing before was just trying to solve problem. Most of the time by doing so, another problem arise. In creating the awareness of design thinking to the students I think it will be a long new journey by reshuffling the course syllabus, the way of thinking and the way of doing. Designer need to be able to questions and critics not only about design but also about what’s happening around them. Remember design is not just for fun or for the glam, but it is about people, and what it can do to the people, individual, society and the county.

Since May we been living in a beautiful Penang Island at the northern part of peninsular Malaysia. Moving from Melbourne to Penang is a big step but after living again in Penang, the whole rediscovering Penang is rewarding. I started my lecturing job at School of the Arts, University Science Malaysia or also known as USM, a prestige Malaysian science based university. The most interesting part of being here again after a long 9+ years living in abroad provide enough space for me to rediscovering the whole idea about Penang. As a designer, it is part of the practice to observe. I was very keen to explore these idea of design in Penang, for example, how design activities have evolved so far?, what is the most popular design topic in Penang, whose the  local designers and so on. I also reconnect with wRega (Malaysian Graphic Design Association Kuala Lumpur), became a professional member and try to contributes some of my five cent senses in design with Malaysian designers.

Penang Island. Copyright by Nurul Rahman 2012

During my exploration within the idea of design in Malaysia, I realised there are two types of designers in Malaysia. One is always the follower, the one that just agree with the main audience, the one that go with the main streams and the one that scared to stand on his own. This type of designers need someone else to hold on too. And most of the time this type of designers just focus on how to make more money by asking the question, “So what is it for me?”. Yes, I understand at the end of the day, that question need to be asked, but focusing only to it, also provides another meaning – selfish. This type of designers will try to accommodate and conform  the general societies expectation.

The other one, the second type of designers, is the one that want to feel special through his work and most importantly, to be the first. Meaning, what ever he or she does have to be special and “no one else has done this before, I am the first one” have to be in somewhere. This type of designers tries so hard to be the first and to create something that no one else have done, that he or she forgot the whole ideas of creating design, the trill to explore, the excitement of creating and crafting, not to be part of the game of “I am the first that created this type of design”. And the most interesting with this type of designer is the comments he or she throws to the other designers, by showing how the work of other is not original and that lots of people have done similar.

I am blessed with the new member in our family and since then I have not been in touch with my online blog. There are many things that I have learned and would like to share with you in this blog, but that have to wait as time is precious, or should I put it, very limited to be use on other things apart from nurturing my baby.

This is another wonderful news, I finally completed my PhD, and gained the recognition to hold the title Dr.

That said, still I like to post a topic here, not only for you to think about but for me to continue writing it when I am able to organised my life again. I like to discuss about the term ‘design management’ and ‘design eduation’, on what does it mean to me and to the whole society.

Here is a survey done by Malaysian Graphic Design Association to understand the purpose and the current and future status of Graphic Design in Malaysia.
I would appreciate if you can filled it in and express your feeling being a Graphic Designer in Malaysia. This feeling will be shared by many other graphic designers who are in the same position and situation as you. So I urge you, express your thoughts and share your words with us.

The survey can be done in Bahasa Malaysia, or in English. Your choice!

Survey English version:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFJYVFhoRkpOSndDbmdKa25pVEwwRVE6MQ

Survey Bahasa Malaysia version:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFJYVFhoRkpOSndDbmdKa25pVEwwRVE6MQ

Among many there are few interesting Design resources that we can find online. This is the new one that I recently discovered. I am glad that history has never been ignored in design, after all what is design without history. The next important things in design is archiving. Yes, when I discuss about this with some of the local designers here, the archiving topic seems to put them off. “Why?” I asked? “It’s kind of off the trend.” “Really?” Since when archiving become part of the trend? I wonder.. This is the one of many problems that I learned and need serious attention in Malaysia and many other Southeast Asian countries. And I am not only taking about designers but it seems like it is a common attitude of many people here, with the ideas archiving is just an old fashion thing. Sad, as for me, and I emphasised it as much as I can in my PhD’s theses, the important of archiving here in Malaysia. Without archiving, there is no history, and without history, we as designers, as part of the nation are nobody. This discussion is part of the conference paper that I am presenting in Cumulus Design Conference 2013 in Oslo, Norway.

It has been a long while since I logged in and put my thoughts here. I took a long break from putting some entries on this blog to focus on finishing my PhD’s corrections and then took a break from study and related. I used my time to read books (not directly related to my PhD) that I bought and been eager to read since I started my PhD. I have read several so far and lots more waiting to be read on the shelves. I also allocated that time to visits some places around Australia, around Victoria, Sydney, Adelaide and Cairns, a short break holiday, and the first one that I am able to fully enjoy with an empty head without my PhD since I submitted the correction. Apart from that, I enjoy my time cooking different types of cuisine and of course, enjoy eating it with my sweetheart. That was such a relief! I was not able to imaging the sense of liberty that I am feeling now before I submitted the work. Now, I am truly free from it.

Since then, I realised that I have not logged into my blog for couple of months. And for the first time since I have started this blog in 2006, I missed the very first one month entry, last month in February. But let’s take it as my holiday month and a gift for my final correction submission of my PhD.

I feel like I am opening a new book, and have closed the last one that I started in 2006. Thus, I am thinking that this time in my blog writing or ranting, I will write something a bit different, still about design teaching and practices, cultural history, etc., but I hope to be able to be more reflective and critical on what I post here. Oh, yes, there might be new ideas, thoughts and perhaps comments on people’s work, but I hope that this idea will be a shared knowledge and if anyone interested to apply or adopt the ideas that I published in this blog, you will at least ask for my permission and then put the credit to it. Let’s be an ethical human being, and designer shall we.

I am very keen and interested in agriculture nowadays, perhaps because both me and my partner enjoy eating tasty food made with love and fresh, healthy ingredients. Slowly I am growing some herbs in my balcony, when more often to the farmers market than a supermarket and from time to time, enjoy eating at a delicious fresh food restaurant. Yes, there’s plenty of them in Melbourne. I can name a few restaurant that is worth to visit in Melbourne if you’re in town. Try Mezzo Bar and Grill  (served Italian fine dining cuisine) , Yuu (Japanese fine dining -definitely you need to make a booking for this one), Cili Padi (a Malaysian style cuisine that worth to try, mixed of Chinese, Indian (Cili Padi India Express) and Malay dishes), and The European (served delicacy of European style dishes small and big plates to share). We were a bit disappointed when we were in Port Douglas in the beginning of our trip there, but we managed to find some of the lovely delicious place to eat. And for the price, I can tell you that it’s worth to try.  Here are some links for the restaurant that served excellent food around Port Douglas. The best we have eaten so far is Ospreys Restaurant at Thala Beach Lodge, which is situated in a fantastic, cozy dining place. The chef, Katherine (not sure if I spell her name right) and Dave who have been serving the restaurant for more that seven years have very delicate taste and touch. If you think the price is a bit costly, then just try the main and the dessert. My choice after trying most of the dessert goes to the Brownies. The other restaurant and places to eat are situated in the Port Douglas city itself, to name a few and a must to try while you there is Salsa Bar and Grill (served fantastic contemporary cuisine and have a warm ambiance) for lunch or dinner, and third one is 3nineteen for fresh produced ingredient for your breakfast or lunch. 3nineteen have a fantastic location just facing the sea.

Anyway, yes, agriculture, and sustainability in agriculture that interest me. My last trip in Malaysia, a couple of months ago, again had opened up my eyes. Living here for almost 8 years in Melbourne, I think like many Melbournian, we take things for granted. Yes, we are grateful that we are able to get good farmers markets and organic products here but, it is not until we travels around to other places that we soon will realised that we are such a lucky community.But this is for people who love to cook and prepare their own cuisine. The local ingredient are fresh and cheap compare to it you eating out everyday. With this experience in my mind, I went back to my birth place with open mind and hope that I will be able to find similar experience in Penang.

On my last trip in Malaysia, I spent my time in Penang, an island also known as the Pearl of Orient by the Franacis Light, a British officer who governed the island before the independent of Malaysia. Apart from enjoying the delicious cuisine that I could get for very cheap price in Penang, such as all day snack of nasi lemak (coconut rice wrapped in banana leave, served with fried anchovies and peanuts, cooked chili paste, half boiled eggs and slices of cucumbers) and  nasi kandar, an indian Muslim influence from Northern India style of cuisine (plain or briyani rice served with your own selection of dishes that you can choose from the shelves, such as different types of curry, vegetable and fried fish and chicken). Now the list does not stop there, Penangite are blessed with other dishes such as Laksa Penang, Satay, Mee Kari, Pasembor, Mee Goreng Mamak, Cucur Udang and so on. Penang is a wonderful place if you like to eat, and love eating out. Cheap and tasty food. It is know as the Malaysian Food Heaven because it is full with hawker style, shops and restaurant that served good food. To the extend, I actually made my long list of different style of cuisines that I wanted to eat while I was there.

But after a while, I got sick of eating out and wanted to cook again. My search moved from food stalls to markets to look for local ingredients that I can use in my cooking. There are plenty and enough to start with but the freshness and the taste of the fresh products sold in the market or event in supermarket is far compare to Melbourne. Far in this sense is that yes, there are some ingredients that you can get there but the are now as good or tasty as the one I have eaten here in Melbourne. For example, the tomato tasted plain, the sweetness and the delicious sour taste of tomato is not there, and I believe it is an industrial way of producing this tomato. That is sad because if you want to cook, from fresh ingredients the ingredients needs to be at their very best state, otherwise it will change the taste of the dish that you cook. And the same goes with other vegetables, fruits, meat, seafood etc. But after a while of searching I found several places that tried to sell the good fresh, organic ingredients, thank God! But seriously, I think we can do better Malaysia, we need good food, healthy food. I remember a friend of my Nora was telling me how she hated tomato and other vegetables when she was in Malaysia. Nora is currently living in Melbourne and she have discovered the delicious taste of tomato, fruits and vegetables. She didn’t realised that the fresh ingredients can be so tasty and delicious.

My answer to that is, not many places sells fresh and organic produced vegetable in Malaysia, therefore we (Malaysian) are only expose to the not so good products, but because we didn’t have the option, we just take it as it is. I think this is another design challenge for fellow Malaysian. How can we designers facilitates the process of sustaining the good, freshly product and organic product in Malaysia? It’s a start but this can lead somewhere.

Interesting link to look at:

http://www.localharvest.org/

Or a video about local harvest where you can follow the journey of a tomato through the industrial food system to the supermarket shelves. Find out why local food alternatives are a good thing, and how easy it can be to find good food close to you. A fantastic video from Chris Grose http://vimeo.com/39169810

Similar scenarios happen in Malaysia with seafood and other fresh farmers produced. And don’t forget to look at example how the designer’s skill can be apply or facilitate this process.

Image credit from video product by Local Harvest

It has been almost a month since I have written my notes in this blog. And the year has gone! I hope its not too late to wish you lovely people a Happy New Year!! Wishing you love, happiness and good health all the years..
I think this year I will take another approach, try different angle and dig deeper the areas that I am already involved in research. Make lots of friends and spread lots of love and knowledge. So.. we’ll see how this New Year resolution goes..
This year, is a good year!!

This is an interesting online article and project supported by Common Ground Publishing by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education under the Small Business and Innovation Research (SBIR) Program.

What I found interesting is the effort made by some organisation and the government to continue encourage teachers and educators to find ways of learning and teaching. Finding and discovering knowledge has never been a linear process, even though regularly in schools we were asked to learn in specific ways. But it is important to know that there are other ways of learning, the only different is that the teachers might not know the ways and has been taught one on specific ways.

I always like role play in learning, for me I found that method is very helpful. Now, for others they might find one of my method is childish and not interesting. I can understand that each of our personality is varied thus, some people find it difficult to engage in acting or role play. I think its fun and I learn better when it is fun. Although I also noted (having spending 5 years working on a PhD dissertation) that not every learning process end up as fun. Most of the time it is hard, difficult, painful and stressful. Therefore I always add some fun in that process (or at least I believe I did).

What I like about Learning by Design is that its really begins with a conceptualisation – “a place where learners are actively engaged as knowledge producers and in which teachers have assumed a transformed professional role as designers of hybrid online and face-to-face learning environments. The projects leads to articulate the guiding Principles in the Learning by Design project, situating ‘pedagogy’ in the contexts of ‘curriculum’ and ‘education”. (Learning by Design Website 2011).

Now, how many of us understand what design mean? Or the word sounds grand for some? For now, just ignore the terminology. What is important for you to understand at the moment is how can you learn and learn better?

If you go to the link of knowledge process link in Learning by Design website, you will be shock that there are almost hundreds of links that will lead you to understand ways of learning. Most of them are slightly different from the way we been taught at school. For example, Learning by Conceptualisation. I have trouble to see and then understand text and numbers. It doesn’t mean that I cannot count, or cannot read, but my ability to read is a bit slower that others who doesn’t seems to have problem with texts and numbers. What I have discovered in my high school is that when I read or count, I have to start my visulisation process going, otherwise the whole information will be just like a dust or part of the air. It will get better if I have something, an object or two in front of me to act as the numbers of the text (overall content or subject). And I also realised that when I speak my hands and fingers move, to show the content of my conversation. May be you don’t realiased it, but some people don’t do that.

Back to the Knowledge Processes in Learning by Conceptualisation for example, this is how you can learn and there’s plenty more to know. Enjoy!!

(Image copyright and credit is by Learning by Design Website 2011 by Mary Kalantzis and Bill Cope)