Dario Accanti

Interview

• "Multimedia entrepreneurship" (Milan,  1/10/99)

Biography

Dario Accanti (hnt@iol.it) was born in Milan on 8 January 1955. After completing scientific school in 1974 he attended the Faculty of Medicine at the Universitā Statale in Milan, while working in his father's graphics studio.

In 1979 he began working independently as a graphic artist and in 1982 he graduated with a mark of 100/100 from the graphics course at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan. From 1984 to 1992, with his brother Paolo, he was art director and graphic designer of the motor sports magazine "Ruote in Pista" and from 1986 graphic designer of the series "I Quaderni Equipe Enervit". Since the beginning of his career he has worked with many different companies, publishers, advertising agencies, PR companies and public bodies and, in particular, with the Istituto Europeo di Design itself. In 1983 he became an assistant lecturer and later lecturer in design and three years later technician at the graphics department with Aldo Colonetti, the scientific co-ordinator. He has collaborated with Olivetti, Nestlč, La Fondiaria Assicurazioni, Seiko and others and has designed graphic supports, exhibition materials for numerous exhibitions and museums. In 1985 he participated in an international competition for the new logo of the Fiera di Milano and his design was chosen and exhibited at the exhibition at Castello Sforzesco in Milan. In 1992 he collaborated at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan in the "Projecto Diseno" Castilla-La Mancha for graphic design and, the same year , became technical co-ordinator of the Graphics and Computer Graphics Department of the Istituto Europeo di Design. In 1993 he taught a research course on pictogram signs at the IED in Turin and also became head of two-dimensional design (Graphics, Computer graphics, Illustration, Photography) at the IED in Milan.

In 1995 he was director of the graphics course of IED in Milan and, from 1996 lectured in "Progettazione di Immagine coordinata e segnaletica" as part of the same course. That same year he participated, with a report on "Progetto di comunicazione visiva nei musei" (visible communication design in museums), in the study day on "Ricerca scientifica e sviluppo: beni culturali e nuove professionalitā" (scientific research and development: cultural heritage and new professionalism), organised in Cortona at the Scuola Normale Sup. di Pisa, In 1997, with Lodovico Gualzetti and Roberto Maremmani, he created the "La cittā delle fabbriche" project, an exploration of the history of Sesto San Giovanni and two years later, again with Lodovico Gualzetti, a design project for "I luoghi della memoria", an exhibition identifying the significant places in the history of Bolzano.

In 1990 he became a partner in AIAP (Associzione Italiana Creativi Comunicazione Visiva), in 1991 he became a partner in BEDA (Bureau of European Designers Associations) and a member of the ICI (Interassociazione della Comunicazione d'Impresa). In 1999 he became director of the Scuola di Comunicazione Visiva (Graphics, Computer Graphics, Photography, Illustration) of the IED in Milan.