Petr van Blokland

After VWO/Atheneum-school (pre-university education, grammarschool) Petr van Blokland (1956) studied at the Graphic and Typographic Design Department of the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. In 1979 he graduated cum laude (with distiction) and worked as an intern at Total Design in Amsterdam and Studio Dumbar in The Hague. From 1980 until today he was designer and partner in Buro Petr van Blokland + Claudia Mens in Delft. To specialize himself he studied for serveral years at the TU-Delft department Industrial Design. From 1984 untill 1989 he taught at the Academy for Visual Arts in Arnhem. Recently he continued his study at the Technical University in Delft on Industrial Design and Artificial Intelligence to apply for a Master Degree. Since 1988 he is a teacher at the Graphic and Typographic Design Department and the post-graduate course Type & Media of the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. Since the start of 2003 he is co-founder of The Health Agency, publisher of on-line medical information..

Type Design at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague

Extending on the educational vision of Gerrit Noordzij, the department for graphic design offers a 4 year course which includes type design. In September 2002 the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague started its post-graduate course in Type and Media, formerly the course in Type Design and Typography. It is a full-time course that gives participants the possibility of delving deeper in type design for different media: not only type for print, but also for film, television, video and the interactive media.

Although we live in an increasingly pictorial culture, type design and typography have lost none of their value. At Type and Media students work intensively for one year in small groups of no more then twelve, under the guidance of expert and enthusiastic teachers from the permanent and visiting faculty. Although the student's personal motivation is given primary place, working well with other students is of fundamental importance in the plan.

The Design Game workshop

In a simulation of the design practice participants are requested to design a solution for a customer. The journey to the final design leads them through a "maze" the every designer has to go through: how to get the required information from the customer? Designers are forced to think about their way of working: to design their own design process.

The design game originally was made for the curriculum of the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. Students for graphic design learn that not asking the right question or not thinking about the design process itself, never leads towards appropriate design. The design game create a small virtual world that hold all aspect of the real designers practice. Interested how you customer feels: play the game. Interested how your designer thinks: play the game.

Additional to the game Petr van Blokland will reflect on the game results in relation to the daily practice of a designer and extentions will be made to disciplines as programming and artificial intelligence, whereas the connection to game theory easily can be made.