July 1, 2003 - Have you ever woken up and suddenly thought that perhaps you need to learn something new? That you need to update your skills? Or perhaps your boss wants to invest in his/her staff and you find yourself 'back to school'? It’s a strange and curious experience!

When I walked onto the IED - Institute of European Design - campus to register for night courses in FLASH MX I was transported back to that creepy sensation you get on "the first day of school!" I needn't have worried because IED Milan, and Europe-wide, has as broad a range of courses as campuses to satisfy every aspiring student's need.

Established almost 30 years ago IED has premises in Milan, Rome, Turin, Madrid, and Barcelona. From three year programs, summer courses, evening courses (what I needed!), one-year programs, training for enterprises, advanced masters, research masters, to tailor made courses IED truly caters to a large group of candidates. In addition each person is treated individually to ensure their program fits them accordingly. The choices are so diversified as to warrant separate specialized departments within the IED institution itself.

For example, there is IED Moda Lab focusing on fashion education and guaranteeing complete integration between students and professionals, creativity and design, images and communication, and marketing and production. There is of course IED Design that aims to train their students to cope and challenge the design world in all its mutations, from style to attitude. IED Arti Visive covers the visual arts and prepares its students to professionally communicate with images as graphics artists, illustrators, photographers, image experts, and digital media. Finally, IED Comunicazione covers all design aspects related to advertising, marketing, and public relations, with particular attention to media production.

I headed over to IED Arti Visive to sign up for my classes!

Although my class was in Italian, IED does offer classes in English, both in Italy and in Spain. Their aim is not only to teach know-how but to develop cultural, creative, and critical capabilities in each of their students. They not only accomplished this through their vast network or their multiple campuses and yearly 1000 strong foreign student body but also through fertile partnerships and sponsorships with prestigious companies. Throughout one's educational program IED aims to integrate the graduating student as soon as possible into the professional world.

Last week's presentation was "Yes, I IED" 2003, a show of the graduating third year students' final projects in search of the style of the future. With sponsors like Heineken, Guzzini, Boffi, Universal Studios, Yoox, and amonitorspento it is no wonder that the event has been highly publicized with posters all over Milan from the subway to the local bar. That people brain image also helped a lot!

From famous soccer players to mythic cartoon artists the IED Milan campus has been host this week to a number of personalities who have come to honor the graduating students. Every night there are 'aperitivos', Milan's famous before dinner drinks, with food prepared by different staff members. Accompanying these soirées are installations and presentations held by students and sponsors. For example, on Wednesday there was a live DJ at the 'SYNAPSI' event where amonitorspento (a multimedia 'happening' creator based in Milan) created an interactive station where two users could react to the other's comments. This dialogue was simultaneously projected as opposing images, created beforehand by over 70 visual artisits, on walls and screens around the showroom. Next door were wall to wall presentations of thesis projects with a whimsical exhibition of animations presented on Apple's beautiful flatscreen monitors.

Although there seems to have been a lot of work and content behind the 2D poster presentations of the graduating student body the lack of actual models, original materials, or inspiration made the final presentation seem too plain, even snobbish. Back in the day I remember thesis projects full of experimental procedures, innocent mistakes that lead to unexpected results, and packed full of fun. Today students are so pressured into quickly becoming part of the 'design industry' that there is little if no room for design improvisation. Trained to be 'instant professionals' today's students, not only IED's, may be suffering from a lack of creativity and an overload of practicality and standards. Perhaps we should go back to acting school instead of design school in order to refresh our creativity and flex our imaginations; you know, those classes where you pretend to be a cat in outer-space!

Tune back next week for 'IED Part II' where we'll take a look into what the Transportation and Industrial Design students over at IED Turin have been up to in their graduating year. Spaceships? Let's hope so!


Related stories: IED - Honda Project 2002

IED website: www.ied.it

Hannah MacMurray is Creative Director at the design idea development company hidesign based in Milan, Italy.