At the heart of the King’s Cross design district, welcoming Design Junction as a neighbour, Brain Waves presents the work of leading design graduates, exploring the varieties of design intelligence they deploy in their work as they engage with uncertain futures.

As the complexities of contemporary life demand new ways of thinking, breadth of approach is essential. Brain Waves sets out four territories: Creative Forensics, Empathic Invention, Haptic Thinking and Shifting Reality. The aim is not only to show how different types of design intelligence are applied to process and object, but also their wider potential and application. Design is not the route to more things and new aesthetics, it is a key to making sense of the world.

Creative Forensics | Situationist Typography by Emily Schofield /// BA Graphic Design

Can a typeface protest? This set of typographic experiments explore the possibility of a typeface breaking out of its system and taking control over its content. www.situationisttypography.co.uk

Materials: screenprint, digital /// Awards: Dean’s Award for Excellence, Central Saint Martins

Shifting Reality | Assimilation by Srabani Ghosh /// BA Ceramic Design

As a response to Central Saint Martins’ home at Granary Square in King’s Cross, Ghosh’s work explores creative provenance and place. www.srabanighosh.com

Materials: ceramic, aliminium

Contemporary Reality | Contemporary Fragmented Vision by Nils Braun /// MA Communication Design

Through thechnological change, our environment has in many ways been transformed into a simulated, artificial and increasingly virtual world. We live in a time where image making is constantly available and this changes how we document our world leading us to perceive, consume and interpret our environment on screens and in fragments. www.nilsbraun.ch

Materials: mix media

Shifting Reality | Citizenshop by Nele Vos /// MA Narrative Environment

Citizenshop is an interactive travelling installation interrogating current dialogues around citizenship. www.vos-org.com

Shifting Reality | Chinese Dream by Zhiwen Tang /// MA Communication Design

Chinese Dream is a graphic novel based on the experience of Zhiwen Tang’s father. Having contributed to the construction industry for more than forty years, his father witnessed China’s transition from the post-Maoist era to ‘Socialism with Chinese people, became both the benefeciary and victim of this transformation. www.cargocollective.com/zhiwentang

Creative Forensics | The Contemporary Guild of the Knockers Through by Jonathon R C Howard /// BA Architecture

Can an alternative model of self-build restoration also be a communal and celebratory act? The project follows a group of indeviduals called the ‘knockers Though’. Known to literally ‘knock through’ walls, this tribe of people renovate properties perceived to be low in value.  www.jonathonrchoward.com

Haptic Thinking | Depth of Light by Orla Lawn /// BA Textile Design

How could a wall dissolve into a textile? For Depth of Light, casting and weaving are combined to create a hybrid manufacturing method that results in three-dimensional textiles with an architectural feel. These pieces showcase the strenght and versatility of silk fibres as well as the unique, unpredictable forms of poured materials. www.orlalawn.com

‘Brain Waves‘, an exhibition and events programme, serves to provoke thought, stimulate action and raise awareness. New futures are considered through ‘empathic imagination’, ‘creative forensics’, ‘haptic thinking’ and ‘sense making’.

17 September – 29 October, Lethaby Gallery