“Let go of everything you know and embrace amateurism”

It is busy in the central hall of NHL Stenden. Taking turns, they come to pick up their badges and the afternoon's program at the welcome desk. There are at least 320 of them and probably more, knows and suspects Gerald Kooistra, team leader and lecturer at Communication & Multimedia Design (CMD) and with his program organizer of the very first You Design The World event.

"Students, alumni, guests from other colleges and universities, professionals from the field: everyone from the region who has something to do with design or wants to know more about it is here," says Gerald. "Design is the foundation of NHL Stenden's educational concept: Design-Based Education. With this event, we as university of applied sciences want to showcase, propagate and put design on the map."

But what is design? "Look around you," says Gerald. "Everything is design. It's designing and shaping, but it's not just about the outside. It's also and most importantly what it does and why." Gerald points to the hallway, where dozens of students from different programs stand to present and demonstrate their projects. "They are doing very fat things. But also the expressions of the event itself: students conceived and designed those together with teachers."

Clad in a bright yellow hoodie with the letters YDTW - all students helping at the event wear one - Tamme Sikkema (20) sits down for a moment. The 3D animation of the logo, seen in the pit, comes from him. An assignment from his CMD studies, but the first-year student is doing more this afternoon, the camera in his hand tells us. "I'm poking around and taking pictures with a fellow student at the same time. Not because we have to, but because we just enjoy doing that. I send the photos to my education and use them for my portfolio."

The memory card of Tamme's device includes images of Erik Kessels: designer, artist and - of course - designer. The co-founder of the renowned (inter)national communications agency KesselsKramer is one of the guest speakers. A full auditorium couldn't get enough of his stories and anecdotes about 'I amsterdam', advertisements, empty chairs, Ria van Dijk and the elevation of fetishes and special pursuits to art.

Erik also gives tips to the audience. "New inspiration, in my view, should be taken from outside." And as a metaphor: "Don't just look at the front yard, at how people want to be seen, but especially in the back yard. That's where you see what's happening, that's where you find the deeper meaning." To conclude with the message of his latest publication Complete Amateur: "Let go of everything you know and embrace amateurism."