Giancarlo Gianocca
G. Gianocca - A curious look at the world
SUPSI Image Focus
Giancarlo Gianocca is co-coordinator of the Graphics Department at SUPSI's Institutional Communication Service and lecturer in the Bachelor of Arts in Visual Communication.
How many years have you been teaching and why did you decide to do it?
I started about ten years ago. As I was already working at SUPSI, in the Visual Culture Laboratory, it was strongly recommended that I get involved in teaching because it would enrich the Laboratory's offering and help its members grow. For my part, I had a desire and a willingness to try teaching. That's how it all started.
Ten years on, how would you assess this experience?
Teaching is very interesting and I enjoy it. It's definitely an extra commitment, because I always try to be as prepared as possible, but I find it a very enriching activity. You interact with generations different from your own, trying to bring topics, issues, and tools to the classroom that can be useful to students.
What do you think you have passed on to them over the years?
What I always try to convey is an approach to discipline and design. I try to encourage them to observe discipline, to do, and to develop a keen and sensitive eye. I believe it is important to have future designers who can interpret the new challenges that await us, whether they are technological, purely lifestyle, design, etc. My hope is that they will create something beautiful.
And vice versa, what do you think they have conveyed to you?
As young men and women, they certainly leave me with a contemporary, perhaps youthful, approach to life. They are young boys and girls with their strengths and weaknesses, their certainties and doubts. At this particular stage in their lives, they remind us that we are all still growing. I find it always important to observe generations different from your own and learn from them.
Teaching is not your main activity. How does your approach change when you enter the classroom?
At a certain point in your career, work becomes almost instinctive. There is a routine, a rhythm, that you have to maintain in order to feel professionally fulfilled. In teaching, there is an added dimension: in my lessons, it is important that students learn what it means to design, what the design methodologies are, and which ones to choose. Knowing this, they can study the method they prefer, explore it in depth, and become specialists in a particular field.
A new academic year is beginning. How do you feel about it?
It is certainly an intense time, but as the weeks go by, you get into a rhythm and the situation settles down. Personally, I always approach the class with a positive and empathetic attitude. I try to have an open relationship with them, a space for discussion without barriers, where we can talk. In our work, it is normal to have doubts, so it is important to be able to share them and overcome them together.
Do you have any particular hopes for this year or anything you have promised yourself
Since I will be with the students until December, as every year I will try to keep their interest, concentration, and even a little adrenaline alive, so that they can remain interested and benefit from my lessons.