This infographic visualizes the distribution of the three segments for all of my services for scientists and institutions as well as for designers and creatives.
The three different colors represent the contingent of each section service, teaching and research. The three different rings indicate the level of complexity of the executional level: elemental, applied or transfer.
The future of Design appears to be unclear as it is a comparably young profession that will be intensively influenced by the ongoing paradigm shift. In order to approach, substilize and specify the future of Design, my declared designation is to deal with research, teaching and services equally, which is the usual practice in other academic domains. The three sections are supposed to nurture each other and eventually reveil a more detailed vision on Design’s future.
The balance of the three segments describes the perfect foundation for both the Design’s future as well as my own professional development because it needs three different sets of approach and evaluation.
Research describes a pool of knowledge that everybody has access to. You are invited to use other people’s ideas and thoughts to reform them to a new construct that you eventually provide for others again. The true meaning of science is that nobody is absolutely right, and the increase of human knowledge is growing constantly while being a collective development.
Teaching trains you to understand, accompany and promote processes. A good teacher is able to pick up every single participant exactly from their individual position and guide them towards the best result they can produce. It is an authority role that needs to be performed with high integrity even though exposed to fresh thoughts and ideas should be given space to refresh and to question. A good teacher is always ready and never afraid to rethink.
Offering your service to the open market gives you the thrilling opportunity to compete against your own goals and test your limits as a Designer. It forces you to economize your skills and to speak business language. It trains you to connect with other professions and to defend its right to exist.
The future needs Designers who feel comfortable in all these areas to build a strong foundation of the profession, so that it can serve human societies for the upcoming centuries.
TILLA THEISS
COMMUNICATION DESIGN
Communication is the word for an equal exchange of information. It is a cooperative, solution-oriented dialogue where both sides listen and speak equally according to their hierarchies of knowledge. Communication Design is mostly visual and verbal, but it notices as well the hidden, subliminal messages, emphasizes with both sender and receiver, and takes care of communication directed towards outside as well as the communication directing inside.
TRANSFORMATIVE SCIENCES
Given the time of fundamental changes in our society, there are groundbreaking ideas evolving everywhere that aim to transform society in terms of the environment, energy, politics, economy, work, education, health, etc. to the better. I aim to support these ideas to reach their intended target group of mass audience or decision-makers in politics and economy, both over visualizing data as well as consulting about alternative information distribution strategies. Furthermore I understand the term Transformative Sciences to be linked directly to the enormous potential of young creatives which unfortunately is mostly underdevelopped. Since I am a designer myself and I have seen and experienced what young designers are struggling with, I seek to inspire them to become Transformative Scientists themselves or support this movement in the way that represents their individual interests and talents.
Throughout the whole process, I will be clear about what is achievable within my offering and where other professional parties need to be involved. An honest, authentic communication is the foundation to create an productive working atmosphere and avoid process-delaying misunderstandings.
AUTHENTICITY
A well-disposed professional relationship between the client and the contrator is the foundation for a satisfying cooperation and a pleasing outcome for everyone involved. In order to achieve this goal, I organize my working processes along the following conscientious guidelines:
TRANSPARENCY
Creativity needs space to think without intervention. Nevertheless it is important to show intermediate results, giving the client the opportunity to question and to redirect the status of the accomplished work. These intermediate presentations and discussions will be placed in the designing process beforehand according to the extent of the task.
CONSULTATION
Cooperation involves working and talking as equals whereas there are hierarchies in knowledge that need to be respected. Serving the client’s best interest involves a translation of his needs into the contractor’s knowledge and expertise which can shift the client’s perspective to a different level. The phase of rebriefing and envisioning the project’s outcome together with the client is the most important and the most delicate phase in the designing process. Yet it is always directed to the most desirable outcome for the client in terms of money and time and therefore minimizes potential frustration lateron in the process based on conflicting visions about the outcome.
INTEGRITY
Working for a client means sharing his goals. Once the vision is clear and the destination is agreed upon, the process needs to be shaped as profitable as possible for both sides. Being reliable on predetermined agreements concerning the time frame as well as authentic and transparent pricing is self-evident.