Kobi Franco Appointed as Acting Head of M.Des. Program
Shenkar congratulates senior lecturer and designer, Kobi Franco, who has been appointed as the acting head of the M.Des program.
Franco is a designer, artist, researcher and curator. He is the owner of a leading independent studio specializing in design for culture and art. He is a senior lecturer at Shenkar and between 2012 and 2022, served as the head of the graphic design studies program in the Department of Visual Communication.
He graduated with a master’s degree at Shenkar with first-class honors. Before that, he completed a bachelor’s degree with high honors from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design Department of Visual Communication. It was there that he won the Mike Felheim Prize for Outstanding Typography.
Franco has won numerous awards and scholarships over the years, including the Israel Ministry of Culture and Sports Award for Design, the Typographic Excellence Award from the Type Directors Club, gold at the German Design Award contest and a silver medal at The International Design Award contest.
Franco’s works have been displayed in exhibitions in Israel and around the world, including: in the USA (Graphis’ Designers for Peace), France (The DNA Paris Design Awards), Japan (International Poster Triennial), Korea (The Asia Graphic Design Triennale), and Israel (The Design Museum Holon, Ashdod Art Museum and Design Week in Jerusalem). His works have also been published in various publications: the American magazines Graphis and Communication Arts Magazine, the German magazine Form, and the books Bi-Scriptural Design and How Design Makes Us Think, among others.
Franco was one of the founders of the Israeli designer community. Since 2021 he has served as one of the five artistic directors of the Chinese CEIDA. He is also a member of the British ISTD and the American AIGA.
The master’s degree in design (M.Des.) offers a continuing education program for students with a bachelor’s degree in design, engineering and related fields.
It is a two-year program that offers advanced theoretical and practical design studies that deepen the students’ understanding of various design uses. The degree creates an aesthetic, theoretical and technological framework that strongly emphasizes inter- and trans-disciplinary projects that combine science, technology and society.
Published January 30, 2023