pchadwickpgcert

Ob2 Peer Observation Report Session To Be Observed: BA (Hons) Graphic & Media Design LCC — Size Of Student Group: 12 — Type Of Activity: Field Trip — Observer: Dan Freeman — Observee: Peter Chadwick 

COMMENTS: I met Peter at 2pm outside the Pavilion Cafe at Victoria Park in Hackney. He was expecting 12 students for an offsite visit he’d put together that they’d signed up for. He hadn’t met the students before however it was for LCC’s Graphic Media Design BA where Peter is an AL.  

After some light wrangling the students had arrived at the right place within good time. He introduced himself to the group and explained I was there as we are on the PGCert course together. Overall, he felt relaxed and approachable and appeared to make students feel comfortable despite the cold weather. That said, there was a strong wind that was definitely a talking point. However, Peter had already mentioned a weather dependant plan b in the email he’d sent with the day’s itinerary.  

We then moved away from the Cafe to gather around and view the first stop on the tour. Peter handed out a well-designed summary of the day on an a4 page. Students were going on a 4-hour architectural sight-seeing trip around East London. He began to explain the point of the trip and why he found it interesting. The majority of the buildings on the tour could be directly or loosely categorised as ‘Brutalist’ so I was excited to see what was in store.  

The first building was a residential high rise block I’d not noticed even though I’d lived nearby for some time. Peter accurately but succinctly gave a quick roundup of the background of the building and the types of buildings we would be looking at for the rest of the walk. This was a subject he was clearly passionate about and could talk about as good as any professional tour guide. He provided an interesting and informative context to why and how the buildings were created and was even able to include a James Bond anecdote! He also referred to the handout to point out how he’d used the buildings to inspire typography within his own practice which subtly gave context to the trip. 

As we got closer to the building Peter pointed out its structure of grids and columns and subsequent squares and rectangles. He cleverly compared this to the way a designer would traditionally lay out information, again giving subject specific contexts for the students to think about. By this point students were already taking lots of photos from various angles and you could see they already found the trip and Peter’s points of view very interesting. I continued with Peter and his students to view 2 more satisfyingly Clockwork Orange-esque residential buildings before I left them at a brutalist style fire station.  

I thoroughly enjoyed Peter’s unpretentious approach to sharing his extensive knowledge and educated opinions on what was a uniquely valuable learning experience. Encouraging students to call on their passions in other areas of culture to inspire their visual communication is something I think is really important. Similarly in identifying his specialism Peter was able to show how they too can use design to analyse the world in their own unique ways.  

MY FEEDBACK: Being observed whilst I work, is a new experience for me. Not one I was comfortable with prior to the observation sessions taking place. It did however make me step back, consider, and reflect upon how I deliver sessions and instruct students. Am I offering the students space to make and explore, is what I am delivering clear to understand, how much talking am I doing and the general overall tone and atmosphere in a session. This last point, is something that I have always been interested in. I have several years of experience of leading design teams, founding and running a design agency and knowing how important it is for teams / cohorts to have inclusive safe working spaces to inhabit, own and work in. These spaces should not be exclusive to the campus, they can be remote spaces, online spaces or spaces that exists once you bring together a group of students to learn in wherever this might be. Within the context of this observation, the space was within an architectural walking trip in East London. 

I am pleased to read the positive feedback supplied by Dan Freeman who observed me on this session. Dan observed ‘Encouraging students to call on their passions in other areas of culture to inspire their visual communication.’ I regularly encourage students to explore beyond their laptops, explore and develop their own interests and areas of practice, to use London or their surroundings as a valuable resource, to research and explore beyond the usual digital lines of enquiry. These points can take place within the learning journey of activities such as this beyond the formal classroom setting. 

In one of the micro-teaching online sessions, entitled Thinking Learning – Vygotsky ZPD (8 Feb 23) spaces to learn in, scaffolding information and allowing the students space to problem solve whilst working together are all points that I noted. I regularly scaffold sessions with supplied information about a specific taught topic, what the students are required to do or what they are engaging in. Which Dan noted within my supplied hand out. 

On reflection, I could have been more assertive and informative at the beginning of the session whilst the students waited to begin the activity. I can sometimes be a little quiet and self-conscious at the beginning of a teaching session when meeting a new cohort (which this was). This normally quickly goes once a teaching session begins. 

Thank you for the clear, insightful, and useful feedback Dan. 

I attended this first online session with participants from all of the groups studying on this years PG Cert. I wasn’t as prepared as I had wanted to be. Without access to moodle I wasn’t fully aware of what was expected of me at this first session. However, it was great to be there, to listen and engage with others embarking on this course. 

Hearing about and seeing evidence on the Collaborate white board, it was reassuring to see that my concerns about not having enough time to properly and effectively engage with this course was a common topic amongst the cohort. In many ways, a relief. I wasn’t alone. Working in breakout groups we had the opportunity to introduce ourselves and our practices. My presentation deck which I hastily put together during the first part of this session is enclosed. It was generally positively received, which was welcome.

There was an extensive range of presentations, work and teaching practices shared. Listening to them, it occurred to me that if I turn up and listen I will for sure learn and be exposed to new ways of teaching and learning. 

I shared insights about my practice, interests and core transferable Graphic Design skills such as: 01, Communication skills that are essential for discussing projects with the clients and colleagues. — Teamwork and collaborating on projects with other graphic design students and other creatives. 02, Time management and delivering a range of creative projects to deadline. 03, Recording research and project development skills. 04, Ability to work independently in order to produce your own work or respond to a brief. 05, Software, digital and analogue skills. 06, Verbally and visually presenting your work.

I also spoke about the importance of London as a resource. A topic that I regularly discuss and encourage the students to consider and engage with — An open-minded approach to the creative possibilities within the subject area is required and emphasis is placed on generating original ideas through a self-critical design process. You will be encouraged to develop design and communication skills through reflective practice. Value is placed on establishing research strategies to enhance learning through an engagement with a wider cultural and historical context, actively encouraging you to utilise London as a valuable context and resource for study.

I proceed positively on this new active learning journey despite underlying concerns about managing my time across my teaching commitments on two UAL courses and another course at London Met (MA Visual Communication). Alongside my teaching practice I am also a practicing Graphic Designer and am currently working on several self generated projects which are important to the development and underpinning of all areas of my creative and teaching practices. This self generated and commissioned work informs and supports my teaching practice. I regularly use this work as points of reference for students to engage with and respond to. Topics such as communication, awareness of appropriate audience, answering a client brief, research related to a brief, iteration, play within a project, project development and time management are areas that connect the various areas of my practices together. I am particularly interested in students learning rudimentary Graphic Design skills. These should be considered as transferable core skills that can be deployed in a variety of areas of practice beyond the more traditional graphic design vocations.

I am interested in exploring how to connect more clearly theory and practice or my professional and academic practices if you like. In the book ‘Graphic Elements: A Realist Account of Graphic Design’ published in 2023 by Onomatopee 223. After attending a Graphic Design seminar at Maryland Institute of Art in 1985, Pentagram NYC partner and designer Paula Scher said ‘the speaker is supposed to be talking about graphic design, not quantum physics’. Scher goes on to say ‘meaningful discussion, clear explanations, and tangible results rather than baffling theories of graphic design.’ She asked, ‘where is the graphic design?’. (page 184}. This is something I have encountered and at times having being frustrated by academic theories and language that can be baffling to me despite having worked for several years at Chelsea. I am interested in developing a space within my practices that connects my academic and professional worlds more clearly. They for sure can sustain and support each other, to see them as the same practice rather than different parts of a practice. This singular practice with roots in the professional and academic worlds will be beneficial to student cohorts and how they communicate and navigate through these worlds.

I must stress that this is not one way traffic. The pace and demands of working and responding to the requirements of a client brief can be limiting to the ambition and development of a concept or campaign. Research processes can be limited and the time required to make any meaningful developments and decisions may not be available. 

My PG cert tutor Lindsay Jordan encouraged me to ’embrace the pain’. a great anecdote to use and keep close to me throughout the duration of this year long course as I grapple with the demands of my time across multi projects and spaces. The ability to recognise and prioritise specific requirements, submissions and projects will demand a finely tuned timetable / schedule and where needed, my ability to say ‘NO’ to something or someone when appropriate in order to meet the demands and requirements of this course. 

At my micro teaching session, I shared with Lindsay about previous less than encouraging comments made by a teaching colleague about the validity of my presence on a course I was teaching on. Lindsay commented, perhaps that this attributed to my slow response to arranging and organising my moodle, blog and email for this course. I think she was right. Moving forward, I aim to be a teachable and enquiring student. I hope to engage with and learn new methods and modes of teaching that I can apply to my practice in order to enrich and develop a greater depth of meaning and understanding of how and why I teach. Underpinning my teaching practice is a deep seated passion and interest in the wider contexts of Graphic Design Communication. I am looking forward to gaining new insights that will help me develop my teaching practice. Onwards we go!

Graphic Design Lecturer / Art Director / Graphic Designer / Author — Senior Lecturer: BA Hons Graphic Design Communication at UAL Chelsea College of Arts — Associate Lecturer: BA Hons Graphic Media Design at UAL London College of Communication — Books: This Brutal World published by Phaidon & The Town of Tomorrow: 50 Years of Thamesmead published by Here Press.

My teaching practice encompasses all areas of my design practices and utilises my industry experience. I am particularly interested in themes such as exploring and developing personal practices, importance of rudimentary graphic design skills, art direction, connecting with industry, mentoring, supporting graduates, internships, collaborative and live projects and the culture of the design studio. 

‘This Brutal World’ was published by Phaidon in 2016 and was voted one of the best architecture books in 2016 by Rowan Moore, architecture critic of The Guardian. www.phaidon.com/store/architecture/this-brutal-world-9780714871080/

‘The Town of Tomorrow’ documenting 50 years of Thamesmead, which I conceived, edited and organised funding for was published by Here Press in January 20­­­19. www.herepress.org/books-prints/50-years-of-thamesmead/

Professional Practice Portfolio Samples