It’s officially core course week at DIS!! And even though it has just begun, it has already been some of my favorite days of the semester so far. I’m busy packing for our short study tour to Western Denmark but here’s a quick recap of what’s going on this week and what’s coming up:
What is core course week?
At DIS, you have two study tours with your “core course,” which is the main course that you are focusing on. For me, that course is graphic design studio, which matches up with my major at Syracuse. There are many DIS students who choose a core course that has nothing to do with what they’re studying at their home schools which makes for an interesting way to delve into a new topic. For the duration of core course week, you have a completely new schedule, where your elective classes are all cancelled, and you only attend your core course and relevant workshops and field studies. Additionally, you have a short study tour to cities outside of Copenhagen.
What we’ve done so far:
Leading up to core course week, my design studio class has learned a lot about the elements that make up Danish design and we have designed two posters about Arne Jacobsen’s egg chair, which is a staple of Danish design. Arne Jacobsen is an icon in Danish design, having worked as both an architect and a furniture designer, and creating several timeless pieces that are still popular internationally today. He designed the Egg for the SAS hotel in Copenhagen in 1958. Here’s a gif that I made showing a couple of his iconic pieces:
Despite having the same content for the first two posters, the result was completely different. The first poster assignment required that we made our poster completely by hand only using type. The second poster was digital and was only allowed to be made out of simple shapes. I’m really happy with how my two posters work together!! I think they symbolize how the Egg chair is timeless and has been through both the print and digital eras.
The assignment was so different than anything I’ve ever done before. In Syracuse, I have never had an assignment in a design class to make anything by hand, but it was a great exercise in planning. When creating things by hand, you can’t hit undo if you’ve changed your mind, and this assignment actually forced me to sketch before getting started. I ended up sketching several ideas before getting on my computer for poster #2, and it was amazing to get on InDesign and know exactly what I wanted to create.
Core Course week, day one:
On Monday, the whole architecture and design department was brought together for a meeting about the study tour and for a series of workshops about different kinds of sketching and visual note-taking. After a quick lunch, they sent us out to the street to try using our journals in new way. They suggested sketching buildings, logos, typography, fashion — really anything we saw outside and felt inspired by. DIS professors came around and gave us advice and tips for whatever we were working on. Visual note-taking has been highly encouraged in our department, and I’m looking forward to putting these new skills to work on our study tour.
Day two:
The second day of core course week was quite possibly the coolest day of class I’ve ever had. Our studio professor, Jeanette, took us to Helle Jensen’s design studio for a workshop on creating journals. Helle Jensen does graphic design in a way I had never even thought of before. She creates journals during her travels where she collects everything from tickets and receipts to beer bottle labels and toilet paper packaging. She collages all of her mementos and illustrates things that inspire her, and ends up with amazing books that document her travels around the world.
Plot twist: Helle’s studio was actually at a beach!! We had beautiful weather, and we ended up spending all morning outside and in her summer studio, binding our own journals and making covers for them. Every person’s journal turned out completely different. I’m hoping to use mine to create my own travel journal kind of like one of Helle’s with collections of what I find during my semester abroad.
Day three:
Today, we had a free day to relax and pack before leaving for Western Denmark. I really love all the people in my studio class so far, and even though we are spending the whole week together, a few of us got together this morning to get brunch and do a bit of exploring.
Danish brunch is AWESOME. For one thing, places that offer brunch offer it every day of the week. Why is this not a thing in America??? It is glorious to get brunch on a Wednesday. Very hyggeligt, one might say.
At this cafe, you go and literally just order “brunch” and they bring you out a ton of tiny bowls of different foods. This is a common style for having brunch, although some places also let you select 5 or 7 pieces from a longer list. Because I’m a foodie, I’ll list out what came on this delightful tray I ordered: scrambled eggs, grapes, an avocado with pesto, bread, cheese, a bowl of yogurt with fruit and muesli, a spinach and cheese tortilla and a baby pancake.
It was amazing. The first of many Danish brunches.
After the cafe, we headed to The Royal Danish Library (also known as The Black Diamond), where we hung out and tried to book some of our travels for later in the semester (tickets for a train ride to Stockholm have officially been acquired!) The library here is about a half mile from my dorm, and it was beautiful. I just want to live there.
Coming up in Core Course Week:
At 7:30 a.m. tomorrow, we’ll be departing by bus for three days of travels in Western Denmark. We’ll hit multiple museums and sights in Odense, Kolding and Aarhus before returning to Copenhagen on Saturday evening. The design department has a very busy itinerary for us, so I’m sure it will be exhausting but fun to pack so many cool places into a short amount of time. My sketching supplies have been packed and I can’t wait to see more of Denmark and spend time with my friends from the studio. Stay tuned for updates later in the week about the short study tour!
chlo-penhagen 