A wiseman once said “To be the best, visit your past” LOL! We coined that. But interestingly, reminiscing the history of design has been neglected for long and diluted the design scope of people in Ghana. In this episode we back our claim with the right resource person who has experienced the past and is in our “now”. He is none other than Prof. Ato K.G deGraft-Johnson.
Biography
Ato K.G. deGraft-Johnson is a retired lecturer, and former Head, Department of Communication Design, KNUST. He leads by demonstrating and nurturing creativity, and promoting critical-thinking.
He has faith in strategic collaboration and improving cross-disciplinary communication. His major career contribution has been in Development Communication and in Illustration for Development. For nearly three decades, through applied research, training programmes and consultancies, he has pushed for a greater national recognition of Design as Development Strategy. Subsequently, he has designed and supervised the production of products and packaging for export, and established guidelines for national textbook development. Next, for both rural and peri-urban settlements, he has designed communication support materials for soil science, crops science, agro-forestry, health and hygiene, child development, maternal care, and water and sanitation planning, deployment and maintenance. To achieve this, he redirected his career, from a background in corporate design and advertising, toward information design and illustration.
His current research work is on an appropriate pedagogy for Design Education in Africa that telescopes endogenous, participatory development across all disciplines. He advocates for cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary education with Design as an integral component.