Professor Joshua Duttweiler of Simmons University and Kristen Mallia of Massachusetts College of Art and Design brought together their classes to create a visual representation around the theme “neighbors.”
Duttweiler is a designer, photographer, and educator. He holds an MFA in Graphic Design from Boston University, and a BFA in Visual Communication and Applied Design from Houghton College. His art ranges from visual identity design to art curation to portrait photography. He currently lectures at Simmons University, teaching graphic design and digital imaging. Mallia is a multimedia artist with a BA from the George Washington University, a BFA from Corcoran College of Art + Design, and an MFA from Boston University. She works with a variety of clients providing design services and initiating creative direction. She has created award-winning food truck design, packaging, and print collateral. Additionally, she is a current Artist in Residence at Skaftfell Center for Visual Art in Seyðisfjörður, Iceland. Within the COF, she teaches graphic design at MassArt (Graphic Design I and Information Design).
Both Mallia and Duttweiler are adjunct professors at a variety of schools in the Boston area and had met through the local faculty network. They had discussed collaboration across classrooms over coffee and decided Simmons University and MassArt were perfect candidates for a pilot. They identified the proximity of the schools to be “incredibly appealing,” and were surprisingly pleased by their consortial relationship through Colleges of the Fenway, noting “there were so many discoveries along the way that really supported the initiative.” Additionally, Duttweiler and Mallia had classes at similar levels and pairing would work well, so this was clearly an opportunity to initiate a collaboration.
As it turned out, there was a lot of buzz in the community about the upcoming Boston Art Book Fair, and although the timeline was tight, the book fair became the key deadline for the project. Students would be asked to design something ambitious, work with a team of people they had never met and produce a product on a tight timeline that would be unleashed into the world – in other words, “super real-world design stuff.”
Once the collaboration objective and timeline were established, they arranged a time for both classes share the same space so they could further flush out the project. The two classes first met in October of 2019 for a two-hour brainstorming session that took them through various exercises to better understand what the central theme, “neighbor,” could mean. Working in large and small groups, the students came up with the title of their zine, “Can I Have a Cup of Sugar?” Pamela Maiato from MassArt shares, “I felt the collaboration experience of creating the zine was fun and highly productive. Coming up with sketches and concepts on the spot forced me to think fast and smart.” After they had landed on the theme, each student was matched with a partner from the other school to collaborate further on the designs that would fill the zine pages.
Though part of the same neighborhood and consortium, the students at Simmons and MassArt rarely interact within the classroom setting. This zine pop-up will provide the opportunity for these two worlds to connect, network, and collaborate on a single project. In this case, they only had a couple days to generate an original composition that spoke to the project theme. From there, they exchanged artwork. “There is great power in two groups coming together to reach a common goal,” said Kelly McColough, student of MassArt. Using the other’s work as a catalyst for a second composition, students could interpret, react to, deconstruct, or build upon their partner’s design. The publication includes two pieces from each student.
All pieces were compiled into a black and white 48-page zine with the financial help of Simmons University and the printing technology at MassArt. The team produced 150 copies. “I learned that when the skills of many are combined, each work of design complements the others and really creates something beautiful,” said Isabelle Langley, student of Simmons University.
Each student received their own copy, while the rest were distributed (for free) at the Boston Art Book Fair. In the spirit of collaboration, design students from Boston University further supported the neighborly theme by opening their BABF table to COF students. All but two zines remained at the end of the fair. Afterwards, the students shared their excitement of seeing their projects on display and knowing how many people picked up a copy. “Working collaboratively can also be extremely inspiring and rewarding. It can lead to new relationships, discoveries, and connections,” said Kalli Roebelen, student of MassArt.
When asked about the potential for future cross-campus collaborations, Mallia and Duttweiler remarked, “Absolutely! This zine pop-up was incredibly successful. It gave students the opportunity to engage in a design challenge with real implications; they were able to expand their design network, connect with others, collaborate, communicate, and experience the very exciting and (somewhat terrifying) emotional experience of putting work out into the world for a very real audience.” Duttweiler and Mallia, as well as their students all saw the success in the collaboration. Everyone agreed they would absolutely work together again if given the opportunity. To see their work, visit: https://www.joshuaduttweiler.com/neighbors-zine.