Congratulations to graduating MA Narrative Environments student Tara Corovic on winning the Steve Lumby Drawing Prize, sponsored by Event Communications ltd. Her winning project, Borderless Museums, reconceives exhibition design by encouraging local museums to take the stories held within their walls out into the surrounding area. Rather than the local community having to come to …
MA Narrative Environments students produced a series of six fascinating proposals for Numberfit, a social enterprise that helps teachers and parents deliver novel mathematics activities with movement and mindfulness, to benefit every child. Numberfit invited inspirational individuals working in STEM professions to act as ‘role models’ in order to challenge dominant white, male stereotypes of mathematicians. …
Following lecturer and researcher Arif R Wahid’s captivating presentation at the MA Narrative Environments alumni event last month, we caught up with him in more depth about his inspiring post-disaster school design project in Indonesia, the global issues designers are responding to and a few words of advice for our students and fellow graduates. What …
MA Narrative Environments recently held its’ first global ‘In Practice’ Alumni Sharing Event, bringing together our amazing graduate community on zoom. The event was an opportunity for alumni to connect with each-other across the world and share the work they have been doing since graduating with current students. Building on our popular ‘In Practice’ interview blog …
MA Narrative Environments students proposed a project to design a novel installation for the piazza of the British Library which normally functions as a thoroughfare, a place to congregate for users, staff and passers-by. The multi-disciplinary student team worked closely with the BAME Staff Network at the Library, and gathered the views of a range of staff …
“Dreambase” is the second of two proposals developed by MA Narrative Environments students for a parklet outside Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH). Due to its size, GOSH is a dominant presence in its local neighbourhood. This parklet aims to ease stakeholder tensions and integrate the institution with the diverse local community by creating an inviting …
For this edition of our ‘In Practice’ interview series with MA Narrative Environments graduates, we hear from Mariana Martínez Balvanera, an independent spatial-social designer working between Amsterdam and Mexico City. Name: Mariana Martínez Balvanera Current role: I am an independent spatial-social designer half based in Amsterdam and Mexico City, working in the realm of community lead urban and rural placemaking projects (within the critical spatial …
We catch up with Berlin based graphic designer and design researcher Jona Piehl, a former Narrative Environments tutor, about her new book ‘Graphic Design in Museum Exhibitions: Display, Identity and Narrative’, published by Routledge – essential reading for 2021! What is your new book about? It’s about the different roles of graphic design in museums: …
We are excited to share the outcome of a collaboration between MA Narrative Environments 1st Year students with exhibition designers Ralph Appelbaum Associates (RAA) and Disrupt Space Gallery (DSG) to create a multi-layered design strategy to support under-represented black artists in Brixton. Creating meaningful connections within the diverse community of Brixton in South London, the “Disrupt Space” …
MA Narrative Environments alumni and Hungarian designer Anna Horváth (AHA Objects) exhibited her latest collection of objects with Initio Fine Arts at Cromwell Place, in October. Anna’s strictly geometric, yet refreshingly playful works were showcased alongside the French architect and designer, Reda Amalou’s (RAD) elegant and organic creations. Through the exploration of contrasting materials and …
An Experience Design Lead at Holition, alumni Yasmeen Ayyashi shares the trajectory her career has taken since graduating from MA Narrative Environments, for this edition of ‘In Practice’. Current role: Experience Design Lead at Holition, a cross-disciplinary creative innovation studio. Within my role, I hover somewhere between the UX, Strategy and Creative teams, and focus on designing both digital …
The project takes the form of an interactive installation challenging dominant understandings of failure through an immersive and contemplative route prompting participants to interact with one another by entangling threads, enabling the audience to explore the emotions related to the conditions of failing in different aspects of life in order to share renewed perspectives. The overall …
Julie Howell’s proposed design PAST PRESENT FUTURE for the Ripon Workhouse Museum, has been selected for Arts & Heritage Blue Skies Museum Project. Julie’s proposal, a ‘walking meditiation’ through the Ripon streetscape along the route that links three historic sites that comprise the Ripon Museum, explores how the histories that are presented in the Workhouse Museum …
For this edition of our In Practice series, we are delighted to catch up with MA Narrative Environments graduate Kulay Labitigan, a Narrative Designer for an insight company. What is your current role? I currently work as a Narrative Designer for an insight company where I help bring company stories to life. Tell us about …
Sumedha Garg shares her latest work under lockdown as part of OtherworldArt, a long term art project in Kapashera. The urban village is home to over 300,000 labour migrants working mostly in garment manufacturing. Kapas (cotton) is entangled with the destiny of Kapashera. From being an agrarian village just 3 decades ago, Kapashera today is …
“The design of narrative environments is a collaborative, transdisciplinary practice that challenges deep seated assumptions about hierarchies and boundaries in art and design.” – Tricia Austin MA Narrative Environments course leader Tricia Austin’s much anticipated new book ” Narrative Environments and Experience Design: Space as a Medium of Communication”, published by Routledge, is out now! Tricia’s comprehensive …
In this edition of our In Practice series, highlighting the trajectories of MA Narrative Environments graduates, we catch up with Annemarie Mayo, an Interior Architect. – Tell us about a narrative environment you’ve worked on since graduating. I came across a local community initiative in Finsbury Park which immerses artists into a particular music album …
MA Narrative Environments recently hosted a ‘Designing Narrative Environments for Critical Heritage’ event in collaboration with UCL Institute of Archaeology, devised and produced by MANE Course Leader Tricia Austin and Colin Sterling, AHRC Leadership Fellow at UCL. Cross disciplinary speakers and guests cast a critical eye on the important role of museums, heritage sites and …
MA Narrative Environments graduate Simon Banos, working for Simon Leach Design, has created a family friendly exhibition at the British Library called “Marvellous and Mischievous: Literature’s Young Rebels”. The exhibition explores how characters from favourite children’s books, from Matilda to Pippi Longstockings, break conventions and bend rules to change the world around them for the …
” The shape, size, texture and design of a plate can affect how – and to what extent – we enjoy our food and the entire dining experience.” – Jelly Deng Graduate Jelly (Jialin) Deng’s final project ‘Whispery Savoury’ has been featured in Riposte and more recently, That’s Magazine online. The ‘Whispery Savoury’ project was …
A big thank you to all who came to visit the MA Narrative Environments Degree Show this year. We hope you found some inspiring stories, interesting projects and that you enjoyed the show as much as we liked sharing our work with you. Here is a roundup of some nice images from the displays and …
For this edition of our In Practice series we talk with Julie Howell, freelance artist / visual director / social arts practitioner and experience designer. Julie Howell www.juliehowell.space Current role: Freelance artist/visual director/social arts practitioner and experience designer. Tell us about a narrative environment you’ve worked on since graduating. In 2017, fifty years after the …
Congratulations to Silvia Grimaldi, who’s director of studies is MA NE course leader Patricia Austin, on gaining her PHD for her work on Design for Narrative Experience in Product Interactions. Her research investigates the potential of narrative in product design to enhance sustainability. Engaging people emotionally with an object, for example through having that object …
ARUP and MA Narrative Environment 1st year students put their heads together to imagine a Healthcare Ecosystem in 2040 through a dispersed and reactive lens, that would function within an environment where automation has changed the world and once complex problems could easily be solved by AI and robots. In order to avoid an economic …
First Year MA NE students returned from their field trip to Sarajevo last week with compelling research and concepts targeting seven areas of unique physical, economic, cultural and social assets of the city. They were tasked with developing new narratives or identities for the Sarajevo, enabling it to carve a more significant place on the world …
For this edition of our In Practice series, we catch up with Digital Media Director and Motion Graphic Artist, Lea Nagano. Name: Lea Nagano – Current role: I am a freelance Digital Media Director and Motion Graphic Artist who merges audio- visual moving image with spatial environments to create engaging museum, exhibition, event and retail …
MA Narrative Environments students collaborated with ARUP to imagine a healthcare ecosystem, after the NHS has been privatised, that is preventative and dispersed. In this scenario, the privatisation of the NHS has caused people to become increasingly aware of preventative healthcare as a way to reduce their healthcare costs. In large cities like London, investment …
How could London’s healthcare system function in a preventative and centralised way in 2040? In collaboration with ARUP, MA Narrative Environments first year students extrapolated out current health concerns including loneliness and depression, anxiety, stress, antibiotic resistance and an ageing population to imagine a Future Healthcare Ecosystem for London in 2040 inspired by the health …
The Design Museum and MA Narrative Environments came together on Wednesday 20th February 2019 to host an all day Industry Insights event exploring the relationship between space and stories. A diverse panel of designers and architects shared examples of their work and captivating insights into how to harness storytelling as a tool to narrate and …
Tackling social issues partly caused by the isolated location of the Maiden Lane Estate, Year 1 Narrative Environments students worked with local residents to create a proposal that activates empty public spaces around the estate to encourage interaction, promote cultural exchange and create platform for creative expression. The students staged an interview on the rooftop …
The University College Hospital London Childrens and Young Adults A+E department is seeking to make their services truly patient-focused and to create an age-appropriate environment that provides a welcoming, uplifting atmosphere that alleviates the anxieties of patients and their carers when visiting the A+E. In response, the MA Narrative Environments students developed a proposal to …
A focus of MA NE Student Mateusz Gidaszewski’s work at Medics.Academy as a Head of Design and User Experience is the progression of the role of design in healthcare. He recently delivered a successful lecture and workshop about Design Thinking, Experience Design, and Human Centered Design in the context of medicine, for the Healthcare Leadership Academy. 26 …
A big thank you to all those who joined us on Thursday, January 10th for a preview of the MA Narrative Environments Class of 2019’s work to date. Congratulations to our narrative design superstars for putting on such an engaging show featuring so many original and intriguing ideas! The event was a great opportunity for …
New Year, new diary! Save the date before you diary fills up for this Design Museum Industry Insights talk exploring the role of storytelling in design, developed in collaboration with MA Narrative Environments students. Head over to the Design Museum for this day event especially for students on Wednesday, February 20, 2019, from 14:30 to 17:00, …
Three of our recent graduates are showing work in the Creative Unions exhibition at the Lethaby Gallery in King’s Cross from 25 September – 27 October 2018. Showcasing the work of Central Saint Martins graduating students whose practice addresses our current socio-political climate, Creative Unions explores how design can further public debate and become an active …