IRL – In Real Life, the journal of the Visual Communication Department at HEAD–Genève, explores, through interviews, concrete and practical issues related to the professional realities of graphic design, illustration, and digital design. In each issue, designers, artists, and publishers reflect on their careers and share their experiences to shed light on a facet of the creative process that is often overlooked.

For each new issue, the graphic design of IRL is entrusted to a specific graphic designer. For this second issue, Olivier Lebrun was invited to take the helm, and he in turn invited other contributors. His extensive experience with editorial projects—often collaborative and multifaceted—is evident both in the table of contents and in the layout of this issue, which clearly alternates between different voices and visual contributions within a pocket-sized format.
 

#2 IRL - Travailler ensemble (Working together)
Following an inaugural issue focused on money, IRL – In Real Life continues its exploration of the professional realities of graphic design, illustration, and digital design.

In this second issue, we examine the various ways of working together. Our professions are, in fact, fundamentally collaborative in nature. Whether working on a commission or assignment, or with co-authors, studio or collective partners, service providers, or audiences: in publishing, visual communication, or digital design, no project can be successfully completed without the experience of working with others.
Our students in the Visual Communication department at HEAD – Geneva prepare for this throughout their studies, in classes, workshops, and studios, as well as through the initiatives they lead outside of school.

Teamwork is a professional reality that is often idealized: stories of collaboration tend to emphasize mutual enrichment and the joy of working together rather than the difficulties, conflicts, or frustrations. This is also the effect of certain metaphors, such as that of “the team,” so dear to managerial language (and contained in the name of the Microsoft Teams software we used throughout the preparation of this issue to meet online or share documents). Olivier Lebrun, who co-edits and designs this second issue, chose to ironically reference this persistent narrative by interspersing the issue with quotes drawn from positive management to encourage readers to pick up the journal. The cover, along with four inserts created on the fly using Firefly, transform a selection of royalty-free images into a new scenario of “working together.”

But beyond these representations, what does collaboration look like “in real life”? What does creating together mean, in practice? To shed light on these questions, we have republished articles and interviewed people who embody different types of collaborative approaches within and around our school. The journal thus reflects the diversity of profiles and ideas that animate the vast community of HEAD – Genève: faculty, students, guest speakers, and occasional or regular contributors. Already featured in our first issue, the interview format takes on particular relevance in connection with this theme and is enriched by other forms of contributions, including guest contributions, reprints, and visual pieces.