On August 26, 2025, Professor Lia Vilahur Chiaraviglio from the University of Girona, Spain, delivered two wonderful design lectures for the master’s and doctoral students in Department of Arts and Design, University of Macau.
The morning lecture aimed to guide students through the cultural and regional characteristics of color using concrete case studies and exercises, exploring how these elements influence design practices. Professor Lia focused on three cities Barcelona, Milan, and Stuttgart and introduced their distinct features across multiple dimensions: natural environment and materials, cultural symbols and festivals, colonial history and commercial development, as well as artistic and religious traditions. Based on these elements presented in the PPT, students were tasked with extracting representative color palettes for each city. During the feedback session, Professor Lia drew from her personal lived experiences in these cities to offer suggestions for refining the selected colors. The discussion also addressed the human need for connection and how emotional narratives of color have influenced color trends in recent years.
In the afternoon session, Professor Lia began with Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows to introduce the mystical qualities of light and shadow. Through analyses of works by photographers including Baron Adolphe von Meyer, Edward Steichen, George Hoyningen-Huene, Ruven Afanador, Alex Webb, Viviane Sassen, and Saul Leiter, she illustrated concrete applications of light and shadow in photographic practice. She also designed three hands-on exercises for master’s students to create their own photographic works, enabling them to explore the imaginative potential embedded in the interplay of light and darkness.
Through urban color extraction and photographic light-shadow practices, Professor Lia demonstrated the profound connection between cultural context and emotional narrative in design. These two lectures not only expanded students’ understanding of color and light but also inspired diverse possibilities for design as a cultural carrier, providing a vivid example for cross-cultural design education.
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