After the Second World War, the academy had two departments in graphic design, Advertising (Kiljan/Schuitema) and Drawing and Painting, led by Willem Roozendaal. Roozendaal was appointed for book illustration and decoration, but also taught a wide range of courses including typography and typesetting. Henri Friedlaender and Bertram Weihs gave course on writing and characters. Piet van Trigt taught calligraphy and typography and brought Gerrit Noordzij to the academy in 1960. With funding from the State and the Municipality, the director J. de Hey set up a weekend course in industrial design in 1950, which was taken by seventeen students who were already working in the industry, for a tuition fee of 80 guilders per year. The courses included two- and three-dimensional design, psychology, art history, aesthetics, biotechnology and theory of forms, sociology, business economics, cultural history, statics and mechanics, and knowledge of materials. Teachers included G. Rietveld, W.H. Gispen, C. Alons, G. Kiljan and W. Zaalberg.
Since 1957, the academy was entitled to add the predicate Royal to its name. That year it offered painter, sculptor, interior architect, fashion designer, industrial designer training, and a secondary architectural education course. J.J. Beljon, the director in 1957, said: ‘We want to provide such a contribution to the development of the student’s character so that he or she will be able to discuss their designs with their clients on a high level, and is able to handle suggestions in such a way that the professional ethics is not jeopardised.’ He emphasised the technical, aesthetic and mental education of the pupil. Beljon felt that Kiljan and Schuitema’s methods were outdated and he believed that their students were unable to get a job, so he appointed Jan van Keulen as the head of the graphic design department. Other teachers were Jacques Jansse, Mart Kempers, Mike Toner, Gerard Wernars and Ton Raateland. During the 1960s there were not only designers teaching at the industrial design department (such as Istha, Kramer, Kho, Lodder, Simonis and Rietveld), but also economists, psychologists and philosophers. Gerrit Noordzij trained many type designers, and some of which revived this profession around 1990.
The Dutch version of this biography is taken from the book Visies op vormgeving, het Nederlandse ontwerpen in teksten deel 2: 1940-2000 (2008) by Frederike Huygen. The following sources have been used for this biography:
– Beljon, J.J. ‘Een plicht: het opstellen van een ethiek voor de vormgeving’, Bouw (1957) 40, pp. 1002-1004.
– Beljon, J.J. ‘Jan van Keulen’, letter to the NAGO, 31 August 1994.
– Verhoeven, N. (ed.) ‘Zeskant. Tussen ontwerpschool en praktijk, Amsterdam (IIV)’ 1968.