Recently, on 22nd of January to exact hehe, we organized and presented our collective exhibition Overlays, a showcase of different Master projects from our program. Even though this exhibition was “our own” and not an external cultural event like a museum or talk, I still want to frame it as an impulse for my Design & Research process, because being part of the organizational team influenced me in a very different and practical way than simply visiting an exhibition would have.
I was part of the speaker group, which meant that we were responsible for coordinating the overall structure of the show and mediating between the different majors: communication, media, sound, and interaction. Our role was less about designing one specific piece and more about holding everything together. We had to make sure everyone contributed, everyone felt represented, and that the exhibition worked as one coherent experience rather than four separate fragments. At the same time, we had to communicate with the professors, manage expectations, deal with budgets, and make sure the whole thing would actually happen in a realistic timeframe. In other words: it slowly turned into project management.
What surprised me was how automatically I slipped into that role. Together with Fiona, I often found myself organizing meetings, following up on tasks, reminding people of deadlines, and making decisions just so things would move forward. It wasn’t something I had consciously chosen. In fact, I don’t necessarily see myself as a “manager type.” But because we wanted to avoid chaos and because we cared about the quality of the exhibition, it became necessary to step in.
At times, this was honestly frustrating. Especially within the communication design group, it was sometimes difficult to motivate people or create a shared sense of responsibility. I noticed how much invisible labor goes into coordination work and emotional labor, too. Encouraging people, negotiating, mediating conflicts, and constantly checking if everyone feels heard. I realized that managing creative people can be more exhausting than the creative work itself, particularly if you feel like you are chasing others instead of building momentum together.
At the same time, there were also very positive moments. Our speaker group was extremely motivated, and despite the stress, there was a strong sense of teamwork. And once the exhibition finally opened, everything came together surprisingly well. The projects were presented in a thoughtful and diverse way, the atmosphere felt supportive, and there was a real sense of community. I also held a speech during the opening, which I initially felt nervous about, but ended up really enjoying. Speaking in front of an audience about our collective work made me realize how much ownership I had developed over the whole process.
What does this have to do with communication design?
This experience made me understand communication design less as “making visuals” and more as facilitating relationships and structures. Organizing the exhibition was essentially a large-scale communication task: aligning different voices, translating between expectations, and designing a shared narrative for the public. In that sense, curating and coordinating became a form of design itself.
It also highlighted how exhibitions are not neutral containers. They are designed experiences that shape how projects are perceived. Decisions about placement, hierarchy, space, and storytelling directly influence meaning. Designing these frameworks felt just as important as designing individual artifacts.
Learning?
My biggest learning is that I seem to naturally take on roles that combine design with organization and mediation. Even if I didn’t plan to, I ended up acting as a connector between people, ideas, and structures. For my future practice, this could mean that I’m not only interested in creating visual outcomes but also in designing processes, systems, and collaborative formats.
Organizing the exhibition showed me that design can mean enabling others to speak. And maybe that is a direction I want to explore further: communication design not only as expression, but as facilitation and infrastructure.
Link
https://www.fh-joanneum.at/veranstaltung/ausstellung-overlays/
