MA Narrative Environments

People / Staff / Bethany Shepherd

The role of Course Tutor is filled by Bethany Shepherd.

She is a designer, design consultant and design educator. She is interested in understanding what motivates and resonates with visitors and readers, and how this can inform both the design of experiences and strategic and creative processes. She holds a first class BA in Typography & Graphic Communication, and started her career specialising in information design, helping people navigate complex information in all kinds of scenarios – from finding their way in airports, museums and hospitals to understanding the UK welfare system.

She has an ongoing interest in socially engaged design practice, and have over a decade’s experience practicing in graphic design, wayfinding, strategy and experience design for cultural, commercial and community spaces. She took an MA in Narrative Environments at CSM, and has taught design here and at The University of Reading since 2010. She has lectured on the creation of narrative environments, cities as community spaces and the potential of live projects across Europe and Asia; as well as running conferences, workshops, and design training for government.

She recently co-created a workshop on made-for-instagram museums at Universität der Künste Berlin, and a pop-up school to bring together emerging designers and artisanal makers for The British Council. She has led and taught on a number of live student projects here at CSM, fostering knowledge exchange with businesses, universities and governmental organisations worldwide. These include several projects exploring the future of sustainable design and retail with LVMH, speculative design and forecasting with Arup, the future of autonomous vehicles and the city with Volkswagen, festival concepts for Kew Gardens, an interactive experience with laRinascente at Salone del Mobile Milan, a city narratives project exploring placemaking in cities build from scratch with CAA, and several participatory design projects with Camden Council.

Discipline: Design educator