And it’s even tougher when you have to collaborate with your fellow graphic design students on a demanding brief in real time!
Here is one of the five teams presenting their work on the magazine design module I have been teaching at London College of Contemporary Arts (LCCA). From left to right, Mykola Tofan, Obed Owusu Sunkwah, Roxana Elena Amarande, Tanya Mireva, (on the laptop), and Giovanna Cifarelli
The brief was to make a new magazine celebrating the LCCA festival this September. Each team worked on a different section telling the story of each of the five LCCA BA courses. Mykola’s team below was working with the Fashion Media and Marketing BA course story
Design leadership is a hard thing to teach. Students can be shown the theory, and coached in its execution, but NOTHING beats real-world experience. Everyone on the course had to navigate internal team dynamics, with many students also juggling work and childcare. But the Fashion Media and Marketing group did a particularly good job of explaining how they did it
1. They elected a leader
Magazine teams are paradoxical. Everyone needs to feel equal, of course. Yet there also needs to be crystal-clear lines of responsibility. When the s*** hits the fan (and it always does), everyone needs to know what their role is, and whom to look to for direction. In this case, the team chose Tanya
2. They managed their client
The editor of each team’s section was effectively the LCCA leader of the course in question. So, for example, Tanya’s cover design had to be dropped in favour of Gioavanna’s, as that was closer to the ethos of their particular course leader. They might not have agreed with this decision, but they accepted it, because in magazine land, the editor really does get final cut
3. They agreed to follow a template
In their presentation, Obed explained that whilst he might have preferred to design pages in his own style, he accepted the need for everyone to follow a consistent look and feel. Mykola and Roxana did the same, making sure all their pages aligned
4. They pulled together as a team
On Tanya’s Instagram feed, she said: ‘From brainstorming ideas to late nights, revisions, and countless cups of coffee, this project taught me that great design is never a solo journey. I’m proud of my contribution, but even prouder of what we created together as a team. Thank you to every member of this amazing group for your creativity, support, and hard work’
I can’t say better than that
Thanks so much to course leaders Dr. Irem Ela Yildizeli and Mischa Welsh for giving me the chance to work with such committed and accomplished students.
And if anyone would like to read more about leadership in general terms, they could do worse than check out Mike Soutar’s excellent new book on the matter!