LITE:

How might we co-design a graduate program to foster individuals toward entrepreneurial success in the 21st century?

At ATÖLYE, we believe that the boundaries between organizations and education institutions are blurring. Knowledge cannot be contained between walls and needs to be transparent and fluid to diffuse between disciplines as well as organizations. Together with Istanbul Bilgi University, we have created LITE, a progressive graduate program that explores the frontiers of hybrid learning in a university setting.

Project Team:

Başak Aras, Ceylan Uşaki Erali, Deniz Yazıcıoğlu, Emre Erbirer, Engin Ayaz, Kerem Alper, Mert Çetinkaya

Project Lead:

Emre Erbirer

Community:

Didem Toprak (UI Design), Murathan Sırakaya (Animation)

Network:

Mehmet Hazman (Software Development)

In the era of hyper connectivity and rapid digitalisation, transfer of knowledge has gained unprecedented prominence for the success of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. LITE which stands for Learning Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship, is a graduate program that equips its participants with innovative thinking and entrepreneurial skills by teaching students to think systematically, develop creative ideas and blend it with theory to translate ideas into reality.

The role of education can no longer be confined within the boundaries of traditional higher education. -Kerem Alper, Co-founder, ATÖLYE

During the initial planning of the program, we have designed, hosted and facilitated a strategy workshop with BİLGİ. The workshop focused on the strategy and the curriculum of the program with the facilitation of our Learning Designer Ceylan Uşaki Erali. The first semester is designed to focus on the global for comprehending the trend and the challenges of our world, society and its future. The second semester will focus on organizations and how to understand and transform them. The third term focuses on the person to embark students on a self-discovery of understanding themselves to become future agents of change.

LITE is designed to teach participants the management in current systems. With LITE participants will comprehend economic perspectives on the basis of theories and manage sustainable ideas ethically to put ideas into practise.

Potential entrepreneurs who can identify innovative business opportunities during the program and implement these opportunities in various sectors will investigate ways to transfer today’s current technologies to their initiatives. Students will capture and enlarge ideas in the enterprise process, learn to make presentations to investors, how to become a company and have an idea of advertising and marketing techniques.

ATÖLYE’s Digital Design practice undertook the branding and the digital design of the program. The branding aimed to create a brand that stands out from the current graduate’s programs and academies. LITE’s logo is designed to resemble a colon. Colon as a punctuation mark which leads to an explanation or listing. It represents perpetual becoming and redefining which is also the impact LITE will have on its students. With LITE, students will re-define themselves to become the entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

LITE’s web site was designed with a visual language to look powerful, refined and cutting edge. Taking into focus the audience as young professionals and new graduates, UX design embraces a sense of design that is attention-grabbing with the help of specific color choices and animations yet still staying faithful to the content of the program. Supporting colors were used to keep cohesion with the vivid and bold style of the web site. Custom designed animated icons exhibits an innovative approach to the visual design of a graduate program.

Within the scheme of ever-evolving content, a graduate program’s website is transformed into not just an informative page but also a platform where visitors can get up to date information on topics technology, entrepreneurship and design. Overall LITE web site, exhibits a contemporary combination of colours, animations, visuals and content.