International Design Week at HIT: Four Perspectives on AI, Teaching, and the Future of Design

The Faculty of Design at HIT Holon Institute of Technology recently concluded its annual International Workshop Week, a multi-year tradition that has hosted dozens of lecturers and over a hundred students from abroad. This year's theme, "Holy Shi(ee)t," invited students to explore the delicate boundaries between the sacred and secular, splendor and humility, overt aesthetics and restrained functionality.

 

During this intensive five-day event, twelve workshops brought together fourth-year students with active designers and lecturers from design faculties across Italy, Germany, Montenegro, the United States, Hungary, the Netherlands, Britain, and Russia. We sat down with four of these visiting professors to discuss their experiences at HIT, their perspectives on artificial intelligence, and their views on the future of design education.

The Professors
Prof. Wolfgang Laubersheimer from Köln International School of Design, Germany
Prof. Stephen Melamed from the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Prof. Dmitry Kharshak from HSE - St Petersburg School of Art and Design, Russia
Prof. Balázs Vargha from the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Hungary

 

The visiting professors were unanimous in their praise for HIT's organizational approach to International Week.

Prof. Balázs Vargha was particularly enthusiastic: "I think the idea of International Week is excellent. I've visited various universities abroad several times and led workshops there as a guest lecturer, but I can tell you that what's happening here is much more effective. Everything is organized amazingly well."

 

Prof. Balázs Vargha from the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Hungary

He highlighted two key innovations: "One thing that's particularly important is the co-teaching system - I think it's a brilliant idea. It's much more effective to teach together, It's simply a completely different thing to teach alone versus teaching together with someone else."
The short lectures by guest professors also impressed him: "Exchanging ideas and hearing 12 different people talking about design, each presenting a unique aspect of something - it's really interesting and fascinating for all of us."

Prof. Wolfgang Laubersheimer, participating in his third International Week at HIT, emphasized the mutual benefits: "For the students here at HIT it's like winning the lottery, because it always opens your mind when you have people from foreign countries. 

Prof. Stephen Melamed, who retired four and a half years ago, found renewed purpose in the experience: "For me, the best part is meeting people like this guy," he said, gesturing to Wolfgang. "And the students. Just seeing what they're interested in, what they're worried about - that's what was meaningful to me."

 

The visiting professors brought diverse pedagogical approaches to their workshops.

Prof.  Dmitry Kharshak from St. Petersburg focused on analog work in his intensive workshop. His students created visual identities and complete communication systems for cultural institutions - street art museums, Israeli nostalgic sweets museum, graffiti art festivals.

"The main goal is to work a lot with analog materials, with hands," he explained. "This is challenging for young designers who are used to working only with digital tools. I believe that something imperfect, that has spontaneity, that can have a 'glitch' during the analog work process - can be much more authentic and interesting than a perfect digital process."

 

Prof. Dmitry Kharshak from HSE - St Petersburg School of Art and Design, Russia

The approach yielded impressive results: "At first they were a bit confused, but today is already the third day of the workshop, and yesterday evening when we reviewed the work, I was very happy. They started doing very interesting things, it's a completely new approach for them."

Kharshak's emphasis on working with "unclear criteria, improvising, experimenting" stood in interesting contrast to the digital precision many students had grown accustomed to. "When I see the students' outputs so far, I think wow, what wonderful work in just five days! I really see the great potential of this group."

 

Perhaps the most compelling discussions centered on artificial intelligence and its impact on design. The four professors offered remarkably different perspectives - ranging from pragmatic acceptance to existential concern.

Prof. Kharshak took a measured historical view: "We're not afraid of artificial intelligence. I think it's a very powerful tool that's changing the industry quickly, but we've seen new technologies before. When digital printing, offset printing, and digital composition appeared, people were scared. There were major concerns at universities and colleges, and they started changing curricula in the '80s and '90s. I was young then and saw how this technology changed the industry, but didn't destroy it."

His studio is already integrating AI into client work: "A few days ago I had a meeting with an important client from Russia, we presented a concept for an annual report for an oil company, and we used artificial intelligence to create illustrations, and it's a very powerful tool."
However, he emphasized a crucial limitation: "It's important to understand - AI now cannot create something that hasn't existed until now. The models learn from existing material, from other designers' work. Who knows, maybe one day it will create its own content completely, and then it will be a new chapter in history. But for now, it's a tool in our hands, not a replacement for us."

Prof. Laubersheimer provided perhaps the most startling endorsement: "The speech which I had to deliver at the beginning of the international Design Week at HIT was written completely with AI, and it was the best speech I've ever had. I couldn't have done it alone. I couldn't have done it better, but with the images it was difficult. I changed the images a lot."

Prof. Laubersheimer noted Germany's different relationship with AI: "I was surprised and excited to see how integrated AI is here at HIT in Israel while in my country, technology is nice, but it's classical technology. AI is such an American thing."
But his most profound observation came from a personal experience. His daughter-in-law asked about reproducing ceramic cups and plates he had designed 25 years ago. "I said: 'No, it's all nonsense, forget about it.' Twenty minutes later she took a picture of my cup and my plate. Twenty minutes later I received 50 different designs, more beautiful than anything I ever made!"

The results were comprehensive: "There was also a packaging system, more beautiful than what Apple could do. And there was a marketing campaign, and then I thought: Why would I even design a plate or cup? Stupid."
This realization led him to a fundamental question: "We need to ask another question: Why are we still educating designers?"

Prof. Melamed brought a unique perspective, having studied theoretical physics before becoming a designer. His view was the most cautious of the four.
"How can it not be scary? It really is," he said. "I'll start with the fact that in my undergraduate degree, before I became a designer, I studied theoretical physics. I was very interested in what's called an 'Event Horizon' - when there's a point of no return for humanity, things change so dramatically that it's like a different life. I think we're reaching that point."

His concerns extended beyond design: "Think about it, right now you can get mechanical joints, corrected eyes, corrected hearing, printed organs. The combination of mechanisms and organic materials into the human body. That part is good, but at a certain point, when you start implanting chips in people, which they're already doing for Parkinson's and other diseases, and your ability to do things is controlled by more than just your brain's impulses."

 

Prof. Stephen Melamed from the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA

What troubled him most was AI's autonomy: "I just think this is the first tool in human history where the tool without human interaction does nothing. But this tool, at a certain point without any human interaction, will cause itself to exist. It's the only thing I've seen in human history where no one needs to touch the tool for the tool to continue working. An autonomous car, for example. So how do you put in safety rails?"

Yet Prof. Melamed offered a counterpoint to Laubersheimer's existential design question. When Wolfgang described the AI-generated variations of his ceramics, Steven responded: "But you provided the original inspiration. I think that's the one thing about AI. It needs that to feed from, otherwise it's nothing."

Prof. Balázs Vargha admitted limited engagement with AI: "Regarding artificial intelligence - people ask if I feel threatened by it, if I use it. They are afraid of it. Honestly, I don't have too much experience in the field. I'm just trying to think about it."

 

Prof. Kharshak offered insights on the international nature of contemporary design, particularly relevant given his Russian background and presence in Israel.

"Today, for almost 10-15 years already, visual communication is international. We share the same visual languages worldwide," he observed. "I've lectured at many academics institutions in Israel in recent years, and I see that we're influenced by Israeli designers, and they're influenced by us, despite the political issues that sometimes separate the countries. The influence is mutual."

He emphasized the universality of visual language: "Our designers are professional and skilled and can work internationally. Verbal language isn't the most important question - visual language is universal. Take Prof. Oded Ezer whom we met here, for example - he's a major and completely global designer. Of course he works with Hebrew, and there's something Israeli about it, but his visual language and the visual language of many Israeli designers I know is completely global."

Prof. Balázs Vargha concurred, though from a different angle: "Regarding the question of whether there's such a thing as 'local design' : Israeli, Hungarian, or American design - I have to say yes. It's a question that every country thinks about all the time, trying to find its uniqueness, what's special about it. But after about ten years of thinking about this, honestly, I don't believe in it anymore. I think design and these activities are universal. “

 

As International Week concluded, these four perspectives painted a complex picture of design education at a pivotal moment. The questions they raised remain open: How do we educate designers when AI can generate hundreds of variations in minutes? What is the role of human creativity when machines can produce technically superior work? Is the designer's true value in the original spark that feeds the machine, or in something else entirely?

Prof. Laubersheimer summed up the enduring value of programs like International Week: "I would like every university to do international weeks. We do it in Cologne, but not as often as you do at HIT. And this is my third time participating, and it's always nice."

 

Prof. Wolfgang Laubersheimer from Köln International School of Design, Germany

As the students presented their final projects, one thing was clear: the provocative theme "Holy Shi(ee)t" had succeeded in sparking exactly the kind of boundary-pushing, assumption-challenging dialogue that design education needs in this transformative moment.