With the appointment of Malcolm Garrett as its second visiting professor in communication art and design, the Royal College of Art has manoeuvred its way out of a difficult situation. With superstars Ron Arad and Nigel Coates now established as heads of 3D design and architecture respectively, many in the design business felt that its graphics department was lagging behind, and treading an old craft-based path while communications design in the real world was leaping forward.
Professor Dan Fern, head of the RCA’s School of Communications, is an acclaimed illustrator, a talent evident in the college’s stunning work on, say, the annual Folio Society book jacket project. The development of craft skills is laudable, but with communications now a major force – not least for would-be employers of RCA graduates – more rounded thinking is required.
Garrett, along with fellow visiting professor, Dutch giant Gert Dumbar, is expert at all these things. While Dumbar is renowned for his print work, Garrett shifted over to digital media in the early 1990s. Add their expertise to Fern’s and the college has a dream team in the making, as long as the situation is managed well. All that is left for RCA rector Professor Christopher Frayling to sort out on the design side is the succession on the computer-aided design course when Gillian Crampton-Smith heads off for Italy at Christmas (DW 13 October).
One of the most important aspects of Garrett’s appointment is his insistence that, while he will take the lead in his role at the RCA programme, other members of his consultancy, AMX, will be involved with the college. He is determined to play out his commitment to “convergence” at the RCA as he has in his cross-consultancy dealings within Havas, the French owner of AMX and others. Good communication design involves the talents of many different people from a range of backgrounds rather than an individual, he maintains.
This factor is already recognised by big marketing services conglomerates such as WPP Group and, indeed, Havas. FutureBrand’s merger deal with broadcast design specialist English & Pockett is the latest in a line of acquisitions expected in the digital arena.
The importance of convergence is not lost on the RCA – Arad has already combined product and furniture design courses, for example, in the belief that separation is irrelevant when the process is the same. But how far is it prepared to go? It will be interesting to see how Frayling handles the leadership of the CAD course, given the opportunity for its graduates to take a central role in any communications project.
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