Meet Dr Michaela French: Course Leader for MA Graphic Design (Online)

"Sometimes the best learning comes from doing things that don’t go as you imagined."

Dr Michaela French creates award-winning immersive experiences for live performances, museums, planetariums and galleries. As an accomplished artist, designer, and researcher, she is the Course Leader for UAL’s part-time MA Graphic Design (Online) course.

Beginning her career as a printmaker with a degree in Fine Art, Michaela has expanded her practice to include animation, filmmaking, motion graphics, and projection-based installations.

We spoke to Michaela about the course, her journey from printmaking to immersive design, and her vision for the future of visual communication.

What’s one thing students might be surprised to learn about you?

Once, I ran away with the circus for a short while, and that was really cool. But I also really love permaculture, growing vegetables and getting away from my screen as much as possible. I like that all my work is made on screen - I spend a lot of time animating or creating content on screen. But I also like getting my hands in the dirt. It’s really important for me and my general wellbeing - that's how I stay grounded.

What is the most valuable thing you have learned in your career so far?  

If I had to pick the most important thing [and this remains a work in progress], it's to trust your intuition. Know that you can't always see the importance of things at the time. You often don't get to have a career unless you're resilient and persistent, because the creative industries are harsh and competitive, so it requires a lot of trust and resilience. Through all the ebb and flow of freelancing and the changing industries and the evolving tools, it's the persistence that gets you there in the end.

Is there anyone in the industry who inspires you, and why?

The 4 colleagues I'm working with to develop this course are an absolute dream [Ricardo Gonçalves, Antonia Huber, Benjamin Cain and June Mineyama-Smithson]. Each of them has their own design practice and their own specialisms and knowledge. The commitment they're bringing to each of the units, which have the potential to change the lives and directions of our students’ careers, is just an absolute pleasure and it’s inspiring to watch.

When we think about who's inspiring us, we think about a celebrity or the big heroes, but actually, these guys are my heroes. They're showing persistence and resilience.

Studying postgraduate Graphic Design at UAL

Why should someone be excited to study at London College of Communication?

London College of Communication (LCC) is an amazing institution with a long history of visual communication in design that challenges the standards and norms of design practice. For example, Henry Charles Beck, the original designer of the London Underground Tube map as we know it, taught at London College of Printing and Graphic Arts, which later became LCC.

The alumni and academia connected to LCC are the kind of glitterati of the design industry. It’s the rigorous kind of approach to education that we'd see being passed on into the industry through the graduates and into the world.

What excites you about leading the course?

I’m excited about what we're going to do together. It's one thing to design the course, but I'm really excited about the September start and the students who have enrolled. I can’t wait to support and challenge our students - you never know what these experiences lead to and what will change for people. The more we can bring that approach into practice, the more exciting the work becomes.

Do you have a preferred unit, and why?   

It has to be Systems Thinking and Society because it's the most complex and diverse. It's looking at ideas from a wide range of places and a high level of complexity. I encounter this all the time in my work, so it feels nice to bring those ideas into the course.

Why do you think it’s beneficial to study at postgraduate level? 

Having done postgraduate study myself and taught it in various places and subjects, it's the luxury of having space to explore that gives postgraduate-level value. A Master’s takes you to a level where you're critically engaging in what’s important. For the Graphic Design (Online) cohort, we have people coming from a range of different contexts, so not everyone has a background in graphic design who's taking the course, and we're happy to have that diversity within the cohort. That sets us up for exciting conversations and helps us understand what graphic design means to someone in Europe, versus someone in Southeast Asia, versus someone in North America.

Why should someone consider a career in visual design?

Why would someone not consider a career in visual design. It's an exciting field to be in, and for me, my practice is eclectic and sits across lots of different areas and fields. This reflects what's happening in the industry at the moment. If you are someone who wants to work in visual communication, graphic design is a fantastic medium for that.

Are there any industry trends to look out for? 

One of the clear trends is towards AI and the possibilities that technology provides to the industry. But at the same time, there's a counter trend to that, asking what is the impact? There’s also a very clear dissolving of boundaries between one discipline and another. For example, what was once considered a moving image or typography sat within a very narrow niche. However, the boundaries between these different practices are more blurred now. As graphic designers, there's the potential to navigate across those territories as well as specialise within them.

Another trend I've noticed in the contemporary design field is how designers are beginning to explore ideas related to participation, engagement, environment and community building, which were not previously considered aspects of graphic design.

What are the top 3 skills someone in design needs to stand out?

I mentioned it before, but resilience and persistence are key. Also, having an individual voice – one that’s not just trying to replicate what’s already out there. That's so important that you're not going to be employed for doing the same thing as everyone else - you’re going to be employed because you do what you do and it’s unique. That comes back to trusting your instincts and trusting your creative responses.

What does the future of graphic design look like? 

It’s interesting because there is a whole field in design called speculative design or conceptual design, which examines future-facing scenarios. It uses data-informed speculation to predict what future scenarios will be, and there’s an increasing trend in the industry to use these strategies to future-proof companies. Even if we looked back 5 years ago, the world to everyone seemed overwhelming and almost at breaking point in some ways. But I wonder if it starts to pull back in, because everyone is so exhausted by the noise and being pushed to their limits all the time. It would be really nice if the future were about making things meaningful and creating space for ourselves again.