Rate My Professor Dale Nason

Dale Nason serves as a teacher and researcher at RMIT University's School of Design, specializing in graphic and product design education. He has been instrumental in organizing international study tours for students, notably leading a group to Japan in 2023 alongside Ben Mastwyk to immerse them in design practices and industry experiences. Beyond teaching, Nason is a PhD candidate in the School of Design, under the supervision of Neal Haslem and Andrea Simionato. His doctoral research, titled "Heavy Typography," investigates the physical and conceptual weight of typographic design by integrating making, material choices, and community dynamics. The project utilizes resource development within Vocational Education to foster unconventional relationships that expand the field of typography and printing practices. Nason emphasizes sustainable, frugal, multidisciplinary, and speculative approaches to hybrid practice, including the fabrication of 3D letterpress blocks aimed at enhancing engagement with type in graphic design pedagogy. His work also confronts issues of legacy, stasis, and loss associated with dwindling letterpress resources and expertise, posing questions such as "How much does typography weigh?" and exploring contrasts like moveable vs. immoveable type, practice vs. malpractice, and imperial vs. metric measurements.

Nason's academic interests encompass design theory, creative and design thinking, visual communication, graphics, visual culture, typography, printmaking, and experimental typography. He has contributed to the field through publications such as "Crisis Drift" (2011, Design Principles and Practices: An International Journal—Annual Review) and the seminal "Cyber Dada Manifesto" (1991), co-authored with Troy Innocent, as well as a "Cyber Dada Retrospective." Affiliated with the School of Design TAFE at RMIT's Melbourne campus, particularly Brunswick, Nason engages students in practical projects involving woodtype making, letterpress printing, and typographic experimentation. His pedagogical approach promotes critical design thinking applied to the value systems and power dynamics inherent in typographic production, bridging traditional techniques with contemporary educational needs. Through these efforts, Nason influences graphic design education by encouraging generative communities of practice and forward trajectories for typographic language in design.