“I’m talking to you, paladin!” insisted Charlemagne. “Why don’t you show your face to your king?” A voice came clearly through the gorge piece. “Sire, because I do not exist!” “This is too much!” exclaimed the emperor. “We’ve even got a knight who doesn’t exist! Let’s just have a look now.” Agilulf seemed to hesitate a moment, then raised his visor with a slow but firm hand. The helmet was empty. No one was inside the white armor with the iridescent crest. “Well, well, who’d have thought it!” exclaimed Charlemagne. “And how do you do your job, then, if you don’t exist?” “By will power,” said Agilulf, “and faith in our holy cause!”
Italo Calvino, “The Nonexistent Knight”.

Dear graduates,
You are taking part in a fascinating period in which technology is rapidly changing our lives.  We have not yet grasped the full meaning of the societal changes that are taking place today, between the real, the pertinent and the important – versus the imagined, the fictitious, and the manipulative.  In your studies you have acquired tools that allow you to surf the technological tsunami and control it instead of being swept away by it.  The social and societal essence of visual design has only intensified; in the emerging cultural revolution the connection between an individual and the masses opens and receives new channels of expression.  With the tools you have acquired, you know how to study  reality and respond to a dynamic environment that is constantly evolving and changing, in which the human component is the constant.
Four exciting and exhausting years of study are a wonderful, powerful beginning of breakthrough creativity that brings you to the starting line of the real world of design.  Proceed and ascend from this point.  The world today has learned to see creativity as a huge human resource, sometimes more important than natural resources, that can change world order and lead to qualitative changes in our lives.  This power lies in each and every one of you.

Regards
And good luck on your journey
From me and the entire department faculty

Eitan Bartel | Head, Visual Communication Department