Following a collaboration with the Swiss avant-garde brand On, ECAL is proud to present the interdisciplinary work carried out jointly by the 2nd year students of the Product Design, Photography and Type Design Masters.
Project
Project
Project
In 2010 On created a new running shoe sole with a disruptive approach: CloudTec®. Built around a set of “flexible elements”, On soles ensure cushioned landing and propulsive take-off for a unique running sensation. This design has since been adopted by running enthusiasts and professionals alike. Nowadays, the search for new materials and technologies encourages the brand to explore the future of soles. It is in this perspective that the collaboration between two leading entities in the Swiss design scene – ECAL and On – was born. Through a transversal approach to innovation, 26 students on a Master’s programme at ECAL have developed a series of futuristic prototypes, rethinking the brand’s universe, and exploring new writing systems. The interdisciplinary project brings together three Master’s programmes: MA in Product Design, MA in Photography and MA in Type Design. Each year, these specializations attract students from all over the world.
Under the direction of Christophe Guberan, guest designer of the MA in Product Design and with the support of Thilo Alex Brunner, head of design at On, 7 students present elaborate prototypes exploring the possibilities offered by innovative materials, techniques, and creative processes. A resolutely prospective approach that relies on speculative design to think the sole of tomorrow.
Under the guidance of the photographer Maxime Guyon, 8 students have given shape to what On’s visual universe could be in the future. In close collaboration with the MA in Product Design, they present the universe and visual identity of the sole of 2040.
Under the direction of Larissa Kasper, artistic director invited by the MA in Type Design, 11 students question the construction of written language, and explore its futuristic developments, both alphabetical and ideographic. For On, they offer a new writing system, which will accompany the sole of the future.
Event
Event
Event
Product Design : Tsubasa Koshide - Stefan Troendle - Clemens Neureiter - Paul Rees - Lukas Lüttgen - Antoine Jacquat - Manuel Steffan
Photography : Emma Bedos - Mattia Dagani Rio - Clemens Fischer - Nikolai Frerichs - Mahalia Taje Giotto - Hikaru Hori - Yshao Lin - Alisa Strub - Yang Su
Type Design : Laura Zsófia Csocsán - Dominik Bissem - Charly Derouault - Alexandre Lescieux - Stefan Fitze - Amélie Gallay - Elena Baranowski - Giacomo Bastianelli - Sam Fagnart - Samira Schneuwly - Raphaela Haefliger
Product Design : Christophe Guberan
Photography : Maxime Guyon
Type Design : Larissa Kasper
Product Design : Camille Blin
Photography : Milo Keller
Type Design : Matthieu Cortat
PRODUCT DESIGN
by Tsubasa Koshide
Thanks to new multi-material 3D printing techniques, this shoe sole concept offers the possibility to customize material densities across the entire sole. Each Shoe can therefore be precisely adapted to each runner.
PRODUCT DESIGN
by Stefan Troendle
Playing with new possibilities of 3D weaving, this shoe sole concept could be produced in one part allowing for both customizable cushioning and efficient production.
PRODUCT DESIGN
by Clemens Neureiter
Pushing the expression of a shoe sole to its limits, this carbon fiber rod sole plays with the elasticity and the resistance of this highly technical material to create a good cushioning and to minimize weight.
PRODUCT DESIGN
by Paul Rees
Inspired by the feeling of jumping on a trampoline, this shoe sole is composed of two elements: a customizable elastic web and a hollow EVA sole. This new construction offers a new running dynamic.
PRODUCT DESIGN
by Lukas Lüttgen
Composed of recycled TPU, this concept shoe sole is designed to bio-mimic the fin-ray effect whilst being produced by traditional extrusion process.
PRODUCT DESIGN
by Antoine Jacquat
3D printing technologies are offering various new possibilities to the footwear industry; however, processes are often limited by slow production cycles. Instead, this concept uses a heat inflating 3D printed foam to allow for postprinting expansion, making production more efficient and feasible whilst benefiting from the free design constraint possibilities of 3D printing.
PRODUCT DESIGN
by Manuel Steffan
This shoe sole concept utilizes a 3D printed thread structure to both reduce the quantity of material required and allow for customizable sizing and compression density.
PHOTOGRAPHY
by Emma Bedos
In 2040, the earth has been trodden by billions of men, by armies, sportsmen, bankers and adventurers. It becomes mud, shapeless, it sticks everywhere after having been trampled by our plastic sneakers, symbol of our consumerism. But the earth turned into mud keeps in its heart the strength to carry life. Inexhaustible ground of energy and diversity, it takes shape again. This mud is the amniotic liquid of tomorrow’s material. The man of 2040 finds himself facing a new raw element, with which he regains his footing: the earth offers him a new ground to walk on.
PHOTOGRAPHY
by Mattia Dagani Rio
The protagonists of this series are the engineers of On, busy in creating and perfectioning the new sole Clouds 2040 in the On laboratories.
PHOTOGRAPHY
by Clemens Fischer
For the On Clouds2040 project, I focused on the engineering part of the brand and tried to get to know On products through testing them with fictive devices. In a second step, I thought about how I can improve the shoes to make them ready for the challenges of the future. These are the results of my research.
PHOTOGRAPHY
by Nikolai Frerichs
For the On running project, I created a futuristic visual world in which the shoes become living organisms. I took 3D scans of the shoes and transformed them into sculptures which would not be possible with classic photography. In the animations, they become something living even when they are made out of futuristic shiny materials. For me the future of products and materials should be hand in hand together with more natural and lab grown materials. On some pictures, it seems like you can harvest the shoes from the sculptures. The visuals also refers to classic still life photography and composition.
PHOTOGRAPHY
by Mahalia Taje Giotto
A little less than a month ago, China landed its first rover on Mars. Two months ago, the USA, with the help of its astromobile perseverance, converted carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere into oxygen. Twenty years ago, Russia sent their first tourist into space. What awaits us in twenty years from now? My vision of the future for 2040 is a vision that takes place elsewhere, in a different space-time, where the laws of physics that we have known until now would no longer apply. New materials will be discovered, materials that renew themselves and react according to the dimension in which they are found. As On is at the cutting edge of technology, the brand will have already appropriated the technology necessary to use these materials, in order to offer ever more daring models adapted to each level of intensity. Allowing then more space exploration.
PHOTOGRAPHY
by Hikaru Hori
For the concept of CLOUDS 2040, my goal was to show the visual speculation in which shoe industry will create 100 % recyclable shoes. On is one of the leading companies that pioneers to make sustainable products. Therefore, through my images, I wanted to show how shoe can be thought as a part of nature in the near future.
PHOTOGRAPHY
by Alisa Strub
According to the rover perseverance which landed in February 2021, life on mars doesn’t seem that far away anymore. So, the On 2040 campaign is all about looking forward to a new era of civilization on Mars while adapting to the changing environments. It focuses on growing from where we have come before trough the exploration of the planet, to try to find new sustainable materials in new organic growing, as well as the hybridization of humans and other non-human beings.
PHOTOGRAPHY
by Yang Su
Each rock is a hard drive in the natural form. Each rock contains a piece of memory that tells its own past, where it comes from, what it used to be, and what happened. Years after years, it keeps the data of itself as a secret, lying still in a river, in a mountain, meditating, waiting. Until maybe one day some force cracks the rock, or someone cracks the code, then they’ll find the secret of the rock, tells an ordinary but unique story.
TYPE DESIGN
by Laura Zsófia Csocsán
Searching for an answer to what type of writing system could be readable for a machine in the distant future, this abstract typeface is based on a circular 5-channel encoding system, working similarly to linear punchcards. There are 25 punch combinations in the 5-channel type system, meaning 32 places to encode letters, which can host the basic Latin alphabet. Visually, the typeface was inspired by cuneiform writing, which uses the stylus on clay tablets to punch ‘holes’ in the material. This aesthetic has been warped into signifying a punch on a few of the 5 places and providing each character with a unique combination of digits and forms.
TYPE DESIGN
by Dominik Bissem
The concept of this dystopian writing system is inspired by the artwork The Garden of Earthly Delights (1490-1510) by Hieronymus Bosch and its tripartite structure. The Trinity takes the main role and divides the static skeleton vertically into 3 sections: Positive, Neutral, Negative; Birth, Life, Death; The Garden of Eden, The Garden of Delights and Hell. Round, angular and diagonal capital letters of the Latin alphabet are arranged in categories. With the help of 3 defined basic shapes: circle, square and line, the characters are constructed on its defined skeleton. Altogether, the writing system consists of 24 characters – the manuscript was painted analogue with black ink on translucent paper and emphasizes the dystopian character.
TYPE DESIGN
by Charly Derouault, Alexandre Lescieux
Between typography and pictogram, our design is evolving. Inspired by the geometric forms already present in the On logotype, we have rationalized to the extreme the concept of a refined and methodical graphic system. By a new problematic of the coded language, associated with contemporary technologies, a completely modular encrypted typography was drawn. The pictograms and letters are composed by a very simple system of curves and lines which evolve and are assembled on a square grid, divided in 4. The only rule being that the forms cannot be superimposed the ones on the others. The script is programmed under Python language, allowing to generate and to exhaust the whole of the possible ones, that is to say 624 pictograms only composed of curves, having to represent the sport, the movement and always assembled within the same grid.
TYPE DESIGN
by Stefan Fitze
Over the course of our time, language and communication will evolve in such a way that current writing systems no longer suffice. While there will still be translation methods for older systems still known to us, the writing system of the future will free itself from present rules and conventions and organically evolve into something exceedingly more complex.
TYPE DESIGN
by Amélie Gallay
The blob is a mysterious unicellular slim mold creature growing into networks. Famous for its supposed immortality, it has also been showing signs of learning capabilities. After many years of scientific studies and stimulation, it is finally able to communicate with us in 2040. By using a morpheme-based system, the blob can express complex ideas with its web-like growths. As seen in this transcription (to be read clockwise), each tentacle and intersections represent a basic concept which is then extrapolated into sentences and finally a full text.
TYPE DESIGN
by Elena Baranowski
New proposal for sending out a message to the future about ON 20(40). This new form of constructed language and writing system is inspired by the thermal-transfer printing technics. This digital printing method is used when fast and higher durability of printed matter (especially against heat) is desired. This « New Alphabet » offers a set of uppercase characters, as well as numbers and has been developed during the one-week workshop.
TYPE DESIGN
by Giacomo Bastianelli
In the far future, human beings will communicate in whole new ways, we will understand the world around us in a much more complex way. The two-dimensional way of reading will be slowly replaced by three-dimensional holograms, capable of giving us a faster prediction of what is written. Based on the Spatial reasoning IQ tests exercises, this new writing system helps the reader draw conclusions about shapes based on limited information. Each face of the regular polyhedron will have a unique symbol on it (letter) and the Platonic solid will represent the complexity of the entire word. Holograms are a perfect solution when we don’t want our communication to be framed on a surface, but with this system, we could still write on psychical objects by simply unfolding the polyhedron into a 2D Pattern.
TYPE DESIGN
by Samira Schneuwly
In order to create a “new alphabet” that could potentially store knowledge about ON 2040(0) and transmit it into the future, I developed a constructed writing system consisting of two different styles. Both styles are built on the same basis. While the more organic style has a line system for better differentiation of the individual “characters”, the restrained one has a subtle feature consisting of different stroke lengths on the edges. Despite the technical appearance, the two styles enable a visual structure of the content into different information levels, which should help decrypt the message in the future.
TYPE DESIGN
by Raphaela Haefliger
Klaudz is designed to visually represent speech sounds in a written form by means of symbols. The script is based on a so-called phonetic transcription, whose basic principle is that it is applicable to all languages. Since its symbols denote the same phonetic properties, they break away from a language-bound orthography. Thinking of 2040, when internationality and the spoken language are gaining more importance, it is obvious to explore the forms of expression of an alternative phonetic script. The shapes of the letters derive from an underlying grid (the IPA vowel table), which in turn corresponds to the positions of the vowels resulting from the physical position of a speaker’s tongue when pronouncing those sounds. There is a round and a non-round version of each. The consonants are integrated into the script according to their groupings as diacritical marks.
