Still criticized by some for acquiring a doctorate degree, Memecan said postgraduate education is not only for people who want to become architects, underlining that people should be well equipped to be able to draw caricatures.
Memecan, the president of the newly founded Media Association, was a guest speaker on the third day of the +1T Design Days, which feature a series of talks, seminars, workshops, documentary screenings and exhibitions.
The caricaturist made mention of Daniel Pink’s book “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future” during his speech. “In general, left-brainers are rationalists. They prefer becoming engineers, software developers or mathematicians. However, right-brainers are romantic and sensitive people. Therefore, they are artists. An engineer cannot reduce a shirt’s price; however, if a designer does a good job with a shirt generally sold for $5, the shirt may sell for $30. Furthermore, a student who graduates from Harvard University, one of the top schools in the US, could easily find an excellent and well-paid job in years past. However, it is a fact that a person in India can easily do the job of the student graduating from Harvard University because these kinds of professions are technical. However, design is different, so a designer cannot easily substitute another designer,” Memecan said.
Memecan also spoke about how he was discovered. “I attended a high school in the US on an AFS scholarship. I stammered back then and my English was not very good. My teacher and schoolmates often mentioned a ‘term paper’ but I did not know what that meant. One day I asked one of my friends what ‘term paper’ meant. When I found out what it meant, it was already too late to prepare my term paper, which was supposed to be on ‘perception.’ What I did in the end was this: I drew 10 cartoons as part of my term paper and titled them ‘A Turkish student’s perception of the US.’ The teacher gave me an A, the highest grade, and showed my cartoons everywhere. Then students from the school’s newspaper interviewed me about the cartoons. I believe that was the day I was discovered,” Memecan said. When asked by a young designer participating in the +1T Design Days why he prefers to draw political cartoons, Memecan said he does not like politics but that many cartoonists drew political caricatures in their early days. Zaman’s +1T Design Days, which aim to provide newspaper design with an original perspective and fresh energy, will conclude on July 5.
The famed cartoonist said becoming a cartoonist is not related to talent and advised enthusiastic young designers to draw whatever they see. Memecan added that design is an important profession and that it will become more valuable in Turkey in the years to come.
