Design Education for Latin America in the Digital Era Jorge Meza Aguilar

Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico city, Mexico

Jorge Meza is a Graphic Designer & Visual Artist, born in Mexico city in 1971. From 1993 Jorge Meza has been working in several projects as a graphic artist and visual communicator in different areas such as advertising, etching, web & multi-media, strategic planning, research, education (professor) and design management. In 1999 he did Graduate Studies in Graphic Art, Academy of Fine Arts, Cracow, Poland, and in 1997, Master in Visual Arts at the Academy of San Carlos U. N. A.M., Mexico. He works as freelance designer and illustrator, Art Director. Advertising Agengy Schulz. Carrow, Poland (Clients: Pizza Hut, K.F.C., Carrefour, Nestle) and as Director and Partner, Studio Bok Asociados, Mexico. (Main Clients: New Art Xocolatl, New York Deli & Bagel, La Tablita, Festival Cruceros, Bioresearch de Mexico, Biolight, Vibosa del Mayab, Hindernis). From 2002 – 2004 he was Dean of Graphic Design School, University Ilberoamericana. Mexico City. He is the Dean of Interactive Design Bachelor at University Iberoamericana. Mexico City. Email: [email protected]

Today, the social responsibility of designers oscillates between generating ethical proposals of design that respond to human needs or follow marketing strategies that benefit big enterprises. This century is transforming all countries and all cultures. Nowadays In Latin America, the digital technologies are not accessible for everyone and in some contexts these are seen as a symbol of class or status and not as a powerful tool that can help society. The new technologies, especially information technologies, do not guarantee to improve the way we live. Reality is more complicated and, therefore, although Cyber-Networks represent a digital revolution and a cultural transformation, nevertheless we know that their “benefits” will be perceived long-term in Latin America. “The production and use of new technologies” constitute a susceptible tool for a positive innovative utilization. The Network Society can be a bridge toward a better future or a barrier in third world countries. Universities should be conscious and “encourage” their students to face this digital revolution through an integral humanistic education, of advanced theoretical and technological knowledge, linked with social causes and problems. In the classrooms exists the possibility, through new education strategies, to re-orient this “new emerging digital design”, rethinking new technologies, in order to solve the specific needs of each community and of each user, respecting social values as history, language or culture. Keywords: digital era, new technologies and design education 1

Introduction.

The digital world. In this amazing epoch of fast changes and uncontrollable proliferation of digital information systems we face, as design professors, a big challenge: how to undertake, focus and conceptualize the new digital technologies in order to serve and respond to the contemporary demands and social needs. The new digital media are developing complex networks that are creating “new social and cultural situations”1. “The digital culture is fast becoming one of the most powerful and exclusive elites in history”2. There is a digital barrier, between the people that have Internet access and the ones that do not. Among them we could mention:

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The illiterate people in the world (1500 millions). The people that do not have electricity at home (2000 millions). The people that do not have access to a telephone line (3500 millions).

International Conference on D esign E ducation: T radition and M odernity 2005

From the 6000 million people that live on the planet only 580 million have Net access 3. The digital barrier is more significant for the people, who know that it exists, that for the ones who ignore it. This digital racism is only a mirror of the big social inequality that exists in the world. Mexico, a country with a population of 102,797,200 people, has only 11,033,000 Internet users that mean a 9.8% penetration4. The Network society is barely emerging and it is in a very primitive phase, but it had already redefined the concepts of time and space; “it had changed the way we lived”5 . With the development of the Internet, the computer changed from an object used for arithmetic operations, calculation and text edition, to an essential communication tool, through which we can learn, work, talk, buy, study, travel and entertain ourselves in a free international virtual space “open” 24 hours of the day. The e-media have transformed and redefined familiar public structures as the post service (with the e-mail) or the telephone system (with the ICQ or the chats), renewing the way to relate and interact with people. Today, disconnected from the Net, any computer is a useless object. This century is revolutionizing all cultures. Still in Latin America, in countries like Mexico, the technology itself will transform the society, and one day it will be accessible to all citizens, and not only a symbol of class or status of a certain social group as it is nowadays (Central America reported 12,191,600 Internet users last May, that means a 8.6 % penetration rate 6). We should be conscious and “encourage” our students to face this digital revolution through an integral humanistic education, of advanced theoretical and technological knowledge, which can reorient this “new emerging design” to solve the specific needs of each community and of each user. Teaching e-Design at the University Iberoamericana. “The University Iberoamericana is a private institution open to all faiths and nationalities. Its primary purpose is to form integrated, rather than solely informed, human beings through intellectual growth and self-realization. This implies creativity, the capacity to think critically, and the freedom to assert and establish one’s own goals”7. The firsts studies of Design in Mexico started at the University Iberoamericana 50 years ago. At the beginning, the school adopted the functionalism tendencies about design with a strong emphasis on workshops and an interesting exploration of other fields such as craft design, tool design and electrical appliance design. In 1989 the Design Department experienced the incorporation of the computer as a “necessary tool” for the materialization of objects and communications. The visual design extended its horizons to new medias of creation and production. In 1994 the school restructured its curricula in order to bring new programs two years later. The digital revolution that was taking place in the first world countries barely showed some results or benefits in Mexico. The computer became an indispensable tool for the student’s presentation of projects in different courses at the school. Our computer labs were renewed and the school increased the number of “Macs” from 15 to 45. Nevertheless inside the curricula there was not contemplated a teaching strategy inside new fields of digital interaction such as Web Design or Multimedia Design. Today the Design Department is related to several productive sectors: visual applied communications, creative interactive media, multimedia, strategic thinking, society and culture, product innovation strategies, fashion and textiles and product design. Our Bachelor in Interactive Design integrates information technology strategies, visual communication, programming, data analysis, networks and multimedia concepts. It prepares students to work with design for the digital media, the World Wide Web, computer interactive media, animation, and project management. An interactive designer from the University Iberoamericana is a strategist who can analyse, diagnose and solve complex problems of visual communication, audio, video, computer systems, networks,

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human-computer interaction and database concepts. He works in an interdisciplinary manner, understands the importance of new communication media within information society, is related to the audiences of his/her messages and above all, has a clear commitment to Mexico and Latin America.

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Experimental

Developing teaching strategies for Digital Design courses through a compromise with Mexican society. At our University we believe design is an important factor of social development and should become an integral part of the multicultural Mexico of today. Students must comprehend the importance of the design profession in the sustainable development of the country; it is necessary to broaden perspectives in order to visualize alternative forms of work that will allow designers to participate in the construction of a fairer Mexico. Four years ago a web design course began at our school. The goal of this course is to link the Internet with social needs. Its emphasis is in generating appropriate solutions, through the visual codification of messages, to specific interactive communication problems from different society groups. Students know that new technologies do not warrantee to improve the standard of living of people. The reality is more complicated and, although Internet represents a “technological revolution”8 , nevertheless its “penetrating effects” will be perceived long-term in Latin America. The hypothesis that we raised at the Design Department was that if we wanted to educate professional designers who would be capable of prospecting solutions for Mexico’s problems, we should give our students the opportunity to locate and understand themselves in the reality of a country of enormous complexity and contrasts, as part of a globalized world. During the last several years we have developed a “teaching” strategy that joins professional education (in classrooms) with the society through a series of educative experiences called “linked projects.” These projects give the students the opportunity to interact with people through the resolution of real specific problems, giving them a clearer conscience of the national context and the appropriate use of new technologies as well as the possibility of acquiring a more significant learning. The work with real problems allows them to achieve newer levels of analysis and gives them a more consistent conception of the culture and the relations in the social world as well as a practical use of digital media. Project: Campaign of Information. Trash and Recycling in Mexico City. January – May 2002. “Before the imminent closing of Mexico’s city sanitary trash backfill announced for 2004 by the office of the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, it is urgent to generate solutions,” said Martha Thin, president of the Environmentalists Groups Union. “In Mexico City every month each family (comprising 5 members) produces a cubic meter of trash; that means, in terms of the entire city, three million cubic meters of trash. In Mexico each citizen generates 865 grams of trash daily9 and every day the country generates nearly 84,200 tons of trash. From the total of residues generated in the city, only the 53% of the trash is arranged in “sanitary trash disposals.” In 2002 the General Direction of Urban Services of the Government of Mexico City asked for our support and the participation of design students for conception and development of a series of campaigns oriented to create social consciousness on the serious problem that trash and residues represent to the city. The campaigns were expected to motivate a culture of recycling.

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The campaigns was expected to target the following social sectors:

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Children Teenagers Undergraduate and Graduate Students Families Businessmen

In this project three groups of fifteen students each participated. The first approach to the problem initiated with a visit to a residues transfer station and to the sanitary trash deposit. This visit raised great interest among the students about the problem. To achieve a positive effect for the campaigns in electronic and printed media, it was necessary to think and build new ethical approaches that could transfer the problem of solid trash residues to the population, and could present this serious social problem without any distortion of reality. The design process was conducted in three main phases: a

Investigation and Analysis.

This phase involved several visits to the residues transfer station and to the sanitary trash to understand the magnitude of the problem. A deep study was conducted involving the use and recollection of a variety of materials, personal experiences, histories, texts, images and objects. Several experts came to the university and talked about why trash is creating serious problems for all and what happens when we have to get rid of it. b

Synthesis and Design.

In this phase students considered certain criteria to communicate their messages to the different audiences. These criteria were dictated by the functionality, the expression and the technologies of the campaign itself, focusing on the cultural and economic context and geographic location. Students exposed their first ideas, concepts and sketches for the campaigns. Communication strategies were planned, thought and selected for the campaign (according to the different targets). Students analysed the opportunities through web sites, for campaign’s interaction. (During the whole design process they considered the difference of the web site from the traditional print media.) They developed a solid campaign strategy and a preliminary web site map. Students designed, developed and refined the visual concept for their campaigns and sites. In the classroom all projects were reviewed and professors advised to refine design options. All campaigns were evaluated in terms of innovation, communication, accessibility and usability. During the development of the project, the General Direction of Urban Services was committed to give feedback to the students at least three times — at the beginning of the project, through corrections at the middle, and at the final presentation, where complete feedback was given to the students on the strengths and weaknesses of the presented designs. The Government of the city, with students and professors, decided and chose the most appropriate visual alternatives and the phrases in order to avoid any ambiguity or inadequate interpretations. The final designs and all the materials for the campaign including the web site were presented to the several authorities from Mexico’s city Government and University Iberoamericana.

c

Presentation and Implementation.

In this phase the obtained results were presented. Most of the works were implemented (produced) with satisfactory results.

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Once the Government accepted the proposals for the different campaigns, the students and the General Direction of Urban Services proceeded to carry out a strategic presentation to some businessmen in order to seek sponsorship for implementation and production of the campaigns. In general, businessmen considered that the proposals were clever and professional. Some of them commented that the presentation of “fresh ideas” was interesting for them since they could extend their perspectives on the trash problem.

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Results

Academic results The linked projects are very important for our academic interests since they enrich our students with a series of experiences that broadens their vision of the critical situation of Mexico and the rest of the world, as well as the responsibilities of digital design and the Network Society. Through them the students have shown self-development through a new process of learning, different from the one generated in the classroom, which is clearly related to a more global and less fragmentary vision of contemporary problems. These projects facilitate the synthesis of theoretical and practical concepts and connect them with new media and technologies. During the project for Mexico City, the students generated web design solutions based on general concepts (of theory methodology, marketing, communication, technology, etc.) and, thanks to the connection with specific problems they understood in a clearer way if their concepts were pertinent and viable. Professors considered that the final results (projects) were superior to the ones obtained with traditional methods; some commented that the “digital linked projects” were valuable experiences and should become a permanent academic strategy. These web projects linked with the society allowed the students to visualize other type of knowledge and information that is usually not possible to access in the classroom. All participants comprehended the web design as a new and innovative means of engaging the audiences and creating interactive experiences that could not be duplicated in printed media. The web design linked projects are permanent now. There is a greater consciousness between professors and students of their importance in the process of education of interactive designers at the University Iberoamericana. Social Results Manuel Castells affirms that, “Technology is a fundamental dimension of social change.” 10 Our students know now that new communication media constitute a susceptible tool for a positive or negative utilization. Howard Rheingold says that, “Beneficial uses of technologies will not automatically emerge just because people hope they will. Those who wish to have some influence on the outcome must first know what the dangers and opportunities are and how to act on them.”11 Our students are assuming the responsibility of the social, economical and political changes that come with the digital media; they must be capable of analysing and evaluating properly the context where a specific need is located so their proposals should be pertinent to the places and people, incorporating in them, a pertinent formal language and an effective use of technologies. Neo-liberalism understood as: “A set of ideologies and practices, particularly at the level of national government policy, designated to facilitate or enforce the intensification and expansion of capitalist markets and trades”12 has brought several doubts about its effectiveness to support regional sustainable development.

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Our faculty has been questioning the capacity and potential of Neo-liberalism, in which we have been living in Mexico for the last 15 years and assumes that it is necessary to look for a different kind of prospecting knowledge that will provide a reorganization of educational structures and teaching strategies in order to alleviate the great problems of Latin America.

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Discussion

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Are these experimental processes a more pertinent way to contextualize new media design?

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Conclusion

How can design and new technologies be more pertinent to places, people and circumstances? Is the conjunction of theory and practice helping students to rethink design from action? Should education be based on professional skills or on social needs?

Today the “linked projects” support the formal education of our students of Interactive Design and constitute a fundamental bridge to implementing functional schemes or programs in developing communities. The “linked projects” have demonstrated the necessity to incorporate reflection in the action and the conjunction of theoretical, technological and practical concepts in the interactive design communication processes. Students confront the enormous problems of urban and rural Mexico, assuming the social impact and economic implications of technologies and their professional activity as designers, when the growth of digital networks is a reality. They have realized that they have a great challenge: to humanize technology and to collaborate with Mexican social development. The lack of analysis, criterion and conscience on design for new media can cause serious social disorders. In the “linked projects” students work with social needs, solving problems through an adequate use of new digital technologies and appropriate visual communications linked with audiences.

Notes 1 Escobar, Ar turo. “Welcome to Cyberia”. Notes on the Anthropolog y of In The Cybercultures Reader Daniel Bell and Barbary Kennedy Eds. London: Routldge, 2000. p.56

Cyberculture.

2 Katz, Jon. “Media Rants: Postpolitics in the Digital Nation”, San Francisco: Hardwired, 1997. Postpolitics section: p. 64 3 Global Net population increases http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358729&rel=true Feb 25, 2003 4 http://www.internetworldstats.com/central.htm 5 Mitchell, William J. “ME++: The Cyborg Self and the Networked City”. Cambridge: MA; MIT Press. 2003 p. 3 6 http://www.internetworldstats.com/central.htm 7 http://www.uia.mx/ibero/inter/default.html 8 Himanen, Peca. “The Hacker Ethic”. Epilogue by Manuel Castells. New York: Random House, 2001. p.156 9 http://www.gaia.org.mx/informacion/boletin5.html 10 ib idem. 11 Rheingold, Howard. “Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution”. Basic Books, 2002. p xxii 12 Hayden, Corey. “ When Nature goes public. The Making and Unmaking of Bioprospecting in Mexico”. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2003. p. 48

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References Castells, M. La era de la información. Economía, Sociedad y Cultura. Fin de Milenio. Vol. III. México, Siglo XXI editores, S.A. de C.V., 2001. Escobar, A. “Welcome to Cyberia. Notes on the Anthropology of Cyberculture.” The Cybercultures, Reader Daniel Bell and Barbary Kennedy Eds, London: Routledge, 2000. Hayden, C. “When Nature Goes Public.” The Making and Unmaking of Bioprospecting in Mexico. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003. Himanen, P. The Hacker Ethic. Epilogue by Manuel Castells, New York: Random House, 2001. Lave, J. La cognición en la práctica. Barcelona: Ed. Paidós, 1991. Mijksenaar, P. Una introducción al diseño de la información. México: Ed. Gustavo Gili, 2001. Katz, J. Media Rants: Postpolitics in the Digital Nation. San Francisco: Hardwired, 1997. Rheingold, H. Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. U.S.A.: Basic Books, 2002. Shön A, D. El Profesional Reflexivo. Cómo piensan los profesionales cuando actúan. Barcelona: Paidós, 1998.

Web sites http://www.nua.com http://www.internetworldstats.com/central.htm http://www.internetworldstats.com/central.htm http://www.uia.mx/ibero/inter/default.html

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