“Jesus was born from a human-alien genetic union, and was sent to Earth to put an end to violence”. This quotation by Michael Wolf marks the starting point of the briefing proposed by the author and physicist Agustín Fernández Mallo to the students of the Master of Communication Design Labs.

The demanding proposal of the workshop aims to get students to reflect on the design of the world, humanity and everything around it: the universe. From the perspective of science to the transformation of society a range of mathematical and emotional models were analysed, as well as the weight of advertising on both of these facets.

Humans perceive the aesthetic, poetic and scientific world through their five senses, configuring and blurring reality in order to create a range of perceptions of desired or accepted complexity (inspiration). Working with these concepts and metaphors within the didactic programme of the Master of Communication Design Labs has been a real challenge for students, as the aim was to create an isolated system to be exposed to extra-terrestrial beings without any frame of reference for our planet.

On the basis of the premise that the existence of other beings is both real and perceived, one idea per participant was generated to create an intrasensory connection (a∩b). In this way, we gave rise to a search for variable formulas with which to solidify the universal values of justice and rights between two societies which have little or no understanding of one another. As a result of the workshop, a range of solutions were presented, which alluded to the probes sent by NASA in the 1970s, containing information about humankind, under the direction of Carl Sagan, or those which, in 2008, were shown in a commercial for the Doritos brand.

The workshop offered a chance for intense reflection by this generation of creatives, who fulfilled their mission and contributed new ways of communicating the present world in this ideas lab.

This post is also available in: Spanish