“A person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.” – Timothy Ferriss

Inspired by the quote above,  a group of designers was challenged to create something which provokes an uncomfortable yet important conversation. Participating designers were given complete freedom with the type of object they created, the materials they used, and the topic of the conversation they set out to provoke.

As a result, Uncomfortable Conversations ended up with a wonderfully broad body of work – housewares and furniture, jewelry and fashion, graphics and video. Still, everything exhibited here has one thing in common: the desire to make you uncomfortable.

I’m Not An Artist is a work in progress project commissioned by Elisava School of Design with concept, creative direction and design by Soon in Tokyo, a communications agency made up of former Elisava students and teachers.

It started with 56 animated gifs directed by Johnny Kelly and Matthew Cooper and aims to grow and to be a platform with the participation of young designers and creatives from all over the world.

StokkeAustad’s Dayboard Calendar started as a research project looking at how different people visualise the year. The starting point was that time is a very subjective entity and we felt traditional calendars did not leave enough room for personal interpretation of how time passes. This calendar allows the user to arrange the year as one sees fit. Are the days ordered in a strict chronological fashion or does it appear more like a blur? Does winter feel longer that summer and so on. The individual dates are held in place by magnets, so each day can be moved around. The different days can also be used to hold in place theatre tickets or reminders.

Creative Allies gives passionate art students, designers, creative types, writers, photographers, videomakers and fans (Allies) the opporunity to work with their favorite bands. Allies can from anywhere in the world upload their creations inspired by music. The creations can be licensed by the musician it was made for.

Musicians on the other hand can post requests for whatever they need made,  and allies can browse jobs to find something that strikes their creative chord.

As part of the Afternoon Travel Type performance workshop led by Professor Karel Boonzaaijer and Prof. Ilka Helmig on three-dimensional typography, the students of FH Aachen created more than 100 characters and symbols. The designs were then used in a four-hour performance in and around the central train station of Aachen.

The video shows impressions of the production of the letters, and of the performance.