Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen by Hyperakt

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CLIENT

A Peabody Award-winning podcast from Public Radio International and WNYC Radio that is public radio’s smart and surprising guide to what’s happening in pop culture and the arts. Each week, Kurt Andersen introduces listeners to the people who are creating and shaping our culture.

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BRIEF

Teachers are currently represented by uninspiring, childish visual imagery. Images like apples, chalkboards, and the ABCs neither revere the profession of teaching nor do justice to the intellectual and creative development teachers help guide in students of all ages. Studio 360 asked us to create a new visual vocabulary that reflects the multidimensional role of the teacher. 

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APPROACH

Education is the key to human progress; therefore, teaching is among the most important professions for humanity. A new visual vocabulary should capture the excitement and magic of activating the potential that is innate in every student. It should celebrate the process of developing ideas, reflect the collaborative nature of teaching, and pay homage to existing visual tools used in teaching. Visual maps, like teachers, help learners brainstorm ideas, reveal relationships, explain processes, tell stories, and much more. Our solution is all about connecting the dots, allowing us to create a boundless visual language that celebrates teaching and learning. We were inspired by Mark Van Doren’s quote, “The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.”

With Studio 360 Redesigns, we take ubiquitous but arguably imperfect or outmoded designs and put new options on the table. Here we wanted to improve on the “kiddie” imagery exclusively used to represent teachers—apples, rulers, ABCs. We love how Hyperakt’s “connecting-the-dots” motif suggests teachers are guides to thinking and learning, providing students with the foundations for lifelong education as a perpetual work-in-progress. From temporary tattoos to street signs, Hyperakt created innovative ways to express this message. The intended end users here were educators, and across the radio and web platforms of the project the response was great. One 50-year veteran wrote us, “Your Teach designs graphically depict what I feel when I’m teaching.” — Kurt Andersen, host of Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen