Editorial Column

Migratory birds carry pollen with them to new lands. New plants grow in foreign lands and mix with the native ones. Immigrant people also take their culture, traditions, habits, and beliefs to other countries. Overlapping migrant and indigenous cultures affect each other and create a new culture with their similarities.
Wars, dramatic social and political transformations, cultural exchanges, and many other factors lead a person to change his or her geographical location and move to another place - sometimes willingly, sometimes forced and displaced. Graphic designers are no exception. Simply by recalling the names of many graphic designers, their country of origin, and their nationality, one can realize the extent of this displacement.
At times, people who travel to foreign countries to teach influence local students and teachers. This influence is of course, not one-sided. They in turn learn from and are affected by the local culture. Once they return, their cultural achievements will impact their homeland’s culture - and this cycle goes on.
Sometimes a teacher or school in some part of the world attracts students from many different cultures. These students immigrate voluntarily to learn and partake in others’ experiences. Henryk Tomaszewski and the Polish Poster School are typical examples. Many students who had seen the brilliant works of Polish graphic designers and had heard of a certain master or training method went to Poland, which was then dominated by Communism, to learn. The Grapus in Paris was formed as a consequence of the immigrant French designers’ trainings after their return from Poland. For years, they designed intercultural works under the influence of Tomaszewski and the Polish school.
Generations of Iranian graphic designers have also been influenced by other cultures and their educational methods through short-term or long-term immigration. In recent years, young Iranian designers have added various tastes and flavors into Iran’s graphic design upon their return.
It seems that today we should seek a new definition for immigration in our profession, since easy public access to a large amount of pictures and information has led to a phenomenon that can be called virtual immigration. Although many students are physically in one country, their mind is somewhere else. Their attitude towards the world is shaped more so by media-based and digital culture(s) through the square digital screen than by living in their own environment and culture. The nostalgia that could once be seen in the works of many immigrant graphic designers, particularly those who had been exiled from their home countries, has given way to daily impact from every corner of the world.
The current issue of Neshan deals with intercultural graphic design. The interactions of designers and cultures and the products of this cultural exchange are evident all through this volume.