Toward the end of the 2012 academic year, a Junior Graphic Design student at Otis sent us a heads up that you could preview a lot of their work online. Now, a few months later, Otis’ MFA Graphic Design Class of 2013 are having an open studios, presentation, and party and, as Otis is becoming great at, you can preview a chunk of their online–and get to e-meet the designers! What a great, modern way of sharing the work coming from local schools.

By way of their Tell It Yourself website, you get little biographies and brief portfolio views of the class of twelve or so. The show (or theme for their work) is on the shifting role of the designer as–like in all modern media–the knowledge to become a creative or anything else has become widely accessible thanks to the Internet. “If the tasks and definitions that once applied to design have grown beyond us, then it is our desire and self-appointed challenge to find definitions and tasks worthy of our time and attention,” they say on their About page.

Their answer? TIY: Tell It Yourself (or “Designers as _____________?”). Instead of DIY and self-education, they’re celebrating each maker’s point of view, taking a fine art and multi-disciplined approach to design. It is a very, very realistic and modern concept for making in educational environments. As we shared earlier this week in an editorial, technology is shifting how artists and makers access information, create, and share work. Some people are rolling with the times and others while many others appear be stuck in the mud of pedagogy and intellectual vomit from artistic forefathers: times are changing.

Coming across TIY is extremely refreshing–and the work is quite great as well. We’ve shared a few of our favorites that we spotted on the website, which include Amy Hetherington‘s bubbling pastiches (at top), Joy Scopa‘s sexual identity and gender performance work (Getting The Girl, above), Monica Maccaux and Tom Ahn‘s typography meditations (directly above), and Brandon Wayrbight‘s blue and yellow color examination (below). There is more work from these designers and other designers on the site, which you should poke around as it hints at the shifting role of all artists, illustrators, and designers because of the Internet.

We’re so glad to see academic institutions understanding that they can change with the times and that they understand knowledge is easier to come by these days. When you can educate yourself, where does that leave educators? Otis show educators are continuing to educate and strengthen points of view and interests, getting at the core of every creator. And if they have to use the Internet? Great: they get it! TIY will be held this Sunday, August 12, with final projects being presented at noon, a ceremony at 3PM, as well as open studios. Get more information here.