Caldas da Rainha, Portugal

I had the pleasure today of delivering one of the keynote lectures at day one of Comunicar Design, an annual three-day event organized by graphic design students at ESAD in Caldas da Rainha (the other keynote presenter was Rui Afonso Santos, an art historian and design critic from Lisbon). Students, teachers, and visiting designers (including quite a few alumni from across the country) were warm, welcoming, and enthusiastic.

The next few days will be filled with master classes and a variety of design-related workshops (including a collective examination of “Portuguese identity and persona,” further to the recently-published article I wrote for Communication Arts magazine.

Photos (from top): yours truly, giving the talk; my friendly host Miguel Macedo on the rocky coast at São Martino do Porto, just north of Caldas; the bay at Foz do Arelho at sundown; the daily fruit and vegetable market on the square in downtown Caldas da Rainha.