I just got back from one week at HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd. At the university for design, I hosted a one-week writing workshop with the task: write about an object. I asked the students to analyze a chosen item, its form, function, design, as well as their personal and emotion connection to it.

As you are reading this, try it for yourself! Take an object close to you and note down three sentences. What do you know, notice and like about it? What’s maybe wrong with it? How does it make you feel?

Here is my example: this orange fountain pen. It’s made of cheap plastic and it’s very light-weight. I bought it because I wanted to be a person who writes with a fountain pen. Turns out: I hate it and never use it. It always dries out, it scratches and smears (probably because it was cheap), I don’t have the patience for it. It’s an object that tells me that sometimes I’m trying to be someone I am not.

It was very interesting to see what students brought to class, and to read their personal object stories. Working with students is also interesting because I am not used to their way of thinking. After more than 10 years in the design industry, I cannot avoid looking at everything from a design perspective. Students are more light-hearted, so it was fun to look at the world and its details from a different angle with them.

For the workshop, I asked the class to avoid working with ChatGPT. They use it for everything everywhere all the time, and honestly, I was a bit shocked how small of a role media literacy played in the design curriculum. In the end, we all read each others essays, and the students told me they found it refreshing to read something raw, human and personal from their classmates. This made me very happy.

Next year, Sonja and I will be hosting our annual Writing = Design workshop at University of the Arts in Berlin again. I’ll keep you posted about times and dates via this newsletter and Instagram. Would love to see you (and the world from your perspective) there!

This newsletter makes a very irregular appearance as I am busy! So here’s just one little work update: I’ve teamed up with FragDenStaat to launch their project Überbrückungsfonds—a fund to bridge pending financial support from the state for non-profit organizations. My role: branding, website design, social media templates, and some cute animations. Have a look (and donate if you can and want)!

Now playing: DJ_Dave – Airglow. I saw a reel of her on Instagram, live-coding music with strudel.cc. It reminded me of dabbling with Processing back at University (I was so bad at it), so it was a joy to watch.

Until we read each other again: Have a great December, don’t let all the project deadlines grind you down. Yours truly—Christoph.