MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Pauline Saglio
Folklore Fusion – a CGI character project developed by students in Bachelor Media & Interaction Design at ECAL, exploring the creative collision between Japanese and Swiss folklore through the lens of contemporary visual storytelling.
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Matthieu Gafsou
New transport infrastructure is emerging, while former industrial wastelands are giving way to modern buildings and redesigned outdoor spaces. Gradually, residents are moving into these new neighborhoods and adopting new habits. To capture the first moments of life in these spaces, the association "Ouest lausannois: Prix Wakker 2011" has invited second-year students from the ECAL Bachelor of Photography program to observe them throughout 2024. This project highlights 18 ongoing construction sites or recently completed neighborhoods. Through their perspectives, the students offer original approaches to discovering, understanding, and appropriating these new spaces. Photography maintains a unique relationship with the world around us, as it often depends on it. Far from merely documenting reality in a strict sense, it has the power to transfigure and reveal the invisible or the unspeakable. This is the approach adopted by the ECAL photography students at the request of the "Ouest lausannois: Prix Wakker 2011" association, as they explored various territories in western Lausanne. As part of this commission, each student was randomly assigned a specific location—be it a new neighborhood, a construction site, or a distinctive building—on which they worked over an academic year. Faced with spaces that were sometimes unphotogenic or even resistant to imagery, the challenge was to look beyond appearances, to resonate with these places in order to grasp their unique dynamics. The photographs question our perception of these recent landscapes and bear witness to the human activity unfolding within them. What do they reveal about our ways of living and moving? Who are the people inhabiting these spaces? What new landscapes emerge from these rapid transformations? Through approaches that are sometimes sensitive and intimate, sometimes detached and analytical, or even driven by a formal fascination with the objects captured, the works presented reveal the density and diversity of everyday life. They bring forth a poetic vision of the city, inviting us to consider these territories not merely as functional backdrops but as fully-fledged spaces, rich with history, form, and identity—fluid and multifaceted, just like those who inhabit them.
DESIGN FOR LUXURY & CRAFTSMANSHIP
At the invitation of Watches and Wonders Geneva, ECAL will present a brand-new project in partnership with Ceramaret, a leading Swiss company in the manufacture and high-precision machining of technical ceramics. To mark the occasion, a selection of five jewellery and bracelet designs will be on display at the LAB, a venue dedicated to innovation and design. Thanks to this first collaboration with the Neuchâtel-based manufacturer, students in MAS Design for Luxury and Craftsmanship got to discover a state-of-the-art machine park. Renowned for developing and producing components for the luxury watchmaking industry, Ceramaret’s teams contributed their expertise to this ambitious research. Combining innovation with creativity, the project brings together the know-how of specialised engineers in materials science and the boundless inventiveness of an up-and-coming generation of designers. Following the presentation of the students’ 15 concepts, five designs were selected and prototyped in technical ceramics, using additive technologies – a 3D printing process that provides the possibility to create intricate, previously unimaginable shapes. This collection, including bracelets inspired by fine watchmaking and innovative jewellery designs, draws its inspiration as much from the beauty of organic forms as from the complexity of systems derived from engineering.
PRODUCT DESIGN
with Augustin Scott de Martinville
Designed in CH, Made in JP is a collaborative project between ECAL Master Product Design, Karimoku New Standard, and Presence Switzerland. From 13 April to 13 October 2025, representatives from countries across the globe will gather to showcase innovation, culture, and sustainability at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan. For Switzerland’s pavilion, MA Product Design students at ECAL were tasked with designing a stackable wooden chair to be produced in Japan by Karimoku New Standard, intended to furnish the lightweight, bubble-inspired architecture by Manuel Herz. Under the guidance of Augustin Scott de Martinville, the class developed ten chair designs, each offering a distinct perspective. Some draw inspiration from the pavilion’s scenography, while others explore cultural iconography or celebrate the symbiosis between two nations—each unique in heritage yet united by shared values of craftsmanship and innovation. Of the ten designs, one was selected to be produced for the pavilion: HUG, designed by Jacob Kouthoofd Martensson and Min Xiyao, is a circular chair that stacks inversely—a feature that not only informs its name but also visually embodies the essence of collaboration. This versatile design accommodates a range of uses, from conferences to general pavilion seating. The final chair will be unveiled both in Osaka in the Swiss Pavilion at the World Expo 2025, and during Milan Design Week 2025, with the full project exhibited at the House of Switzerland.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Vincent Veillon, Paul Walther, Florian Pittet (Sigmasix), Vincent Jacquier, Julien Gurtner
During an intensive week, first-year students from the Visual Communication department at ECAL had the opportunity to create and produce the first edition of ECAL Night Live. The goal was to design a show inspired by satirical television formats. Divided into multidisciplinary teams—including students from the Bachelor programs in Graphic Design, Media & Interaction Design, and Photography—they collaborated to create all the content, set design, and visual identity of the show, delivering a fully homemade project in record time. The main theme revolved around self-mockery, targeting the visual communication professions, students, and the institution itself, with a subtle touch of current events. This project was supervised by Vincent Veillon and Paul Walther, directors of the RTS show 52 Minutes, as well as Florian Pittet, a digital scenography expert who guided the creation of the show's set design.
FILM STUDIES
with Klaudia Reynicke
The 2024 fiction film workshop for 2nd year students was lead by swiss and peruvian director Klaudia Reynicke.
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Laurence Bonvin
Dissapearing Bodies invites you to think about and create a project around the question of the disappearance of the body in today's world, which is increasingly virtualised and disconnected from physical reality, and in which more and more activities are delegated to machines. The augmented body, virtual reality, 3D, social networks - these are just some of the tools available to us through our new devices, smart phones and others, which are revolutionising our relationship with our bodies. Controlling, optimising and managing our physical activity, our sleep, our diet, our bodies that are slipping away from us.
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Natacha Lesueur
Vulgar First, it is photography that would be considered vulgar: due to its technical mediation (the infamous photographic click-clack), its commercial uses (press, advertising, and fashion), its dissemination, and its reproduction, photographic activity is tainted with vulgarity. A minor art, an art that does nothing more than imitate art?
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Calypso Mahieu
ZOOM IN ZOOM OUT This course, both practical and technical, required students to develop a true photographer’s eye. Its goal was to introduce them to or help them refine their skills in various photographic genres, such as still life, portraiture, architecture, as well as documentary and staged photography. These disciplines demanded particular attention and great rigor in selecting models, locations, and objects. Mastery of composition, framing, and light management—whether natural or artificial—was essential for achieving successful shots. Throughout the course, students were encouraged to sharpen their sense of observation and their ability to create images that were both precise and expressive.
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Olivia Schenker
Simulations By making a very short film, students learn fundamental notions in the narrative, visual and conceptual development of video production. The project provides essential technical skills in shooting, lighting, camera movement, sound recording, editing and post-production.
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Thomas Rousset
The aim of this workshop is to explore the boundary between docu-fiction and magic realism in photography, using the architecture and spaces of the ECAL as a narrative framework. Both approaches are rooted in reality, but differ in the way they inject fiction.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
with Harry Bloch
During the editorial design course with Harry Bloch, the 1st year students developed, during the fall semester, an edition around a personal survey.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
with Adeline Mollard
During the visual identity class, first-year Bachelor's students in Graphic Design were tasked with creating a poster project based on a randomly assigned event. They had to define their own visual system and explore a series of hand-drawn typographic posters. The visual identity of the event was developed through a poster and a flyer, accompanied by a research booklet documenting their entire creative process.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
with Robert Huber
First-year students were invited to manually sketch the typographic skeleton of lowercase alphabet letters. The objective was to maintain the proportions, curves, and characteristic axes of each letter while paying close attention to visual coherence and consistency in the drawing.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
with Guy Meldem
First-year students were invited to design their own coloring book, while exploring bichromy and experimenting with different printing techniques to create the cover.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
with Angelo Benedetto, Guy Meldem, Harry Bloch
In September 2024, 3rd year students explored the rich heritage of Italy's Veneto region, an area at the crossroads of artistic, cultural and industrial history. The trip gave the students an invaluable opportunity to immerse themselves between tradition and innovation, and to experience different facets of design and publishing through enriching encounters.
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Salomé Chatriot, Charlie Engman, Simon Lehner Milo Keller, Marco De Mutiis, Claus Gunti, Clément Lambelet, Giulia Bini, Simone Niquille
Soft Photography is a research project conducted by the Master of Photography at ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne with the support of the HES-SO. It aims to shed light on the role of human emotions in the creation and reception of images produced using generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) or computer-generated imagery (CGI).
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
with Stéphane Halmaï-Voisard
The first-year students of the Bachelor in Industrial Design (BADI) at ECAL, under the direction of Stéphane Halmaï-Voisard, head of BADI, embarked on a project to design their own unique interpretations of a Bluetooth speaker. This project challenged the students to work creatively within the constraints of an existing kit of technical components, encouraging them to explore innovative approaches in terms of form, materiality, and functionality.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
with Gilles Gavillet
Through the prism of visual identity, this project addresses issues of graphic language and artistic direction. Each stage of the project examines an aspect of the development of a visual identity: research, concept, visual language, design and communication.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
with Aurèle Sack
The second-year students had to develop the lower-case letters of two display fonts by hand.
FINE ARTS
with Stéphane Kropf, Thibault Walter, Lucas Erin, Gina Proenza, Joël Vacheron
Parasonic is a research project on the social and racial constructions of aural practices, based on a critique of a regime of thinking and listening to sound that is over-represented in the arts, and which aims to create spaces for the transmission of fugitive aural practices.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
with Jonathan Hares
The third-year students had to produce an edition over half a term, choosing as their subject an event that had appeared in the newspaper on the date of the first lesson.
with Jonas Berthod, Davide Fornari
This project investigates the work of the graphic designer and artist, Warja Lavater, an internationally recognised Swiss graphic designer, illustrator, bookmaker, filmmaker and artist.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
with Guy Meldem
Third-year students had to complete an image creation project based on a free subject and medium.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
with Aurèle Sack
Third-year students had to develop a typography and digitise it.
PRODUCT DESIGN
with Augustin Scott de Martinville
Heat pumps are energy-efficient household climate systems essential for transitioning to renewable energy and combating climate change. Typically installed outside close-by to buildings, they are becoming common visual elements in urban landscapes, often resembling air conditioners with limited design variety across brands. To reimagine these essential typologies, Viessmann, a world leading Heat Pump producer, invited MA Product Design students from ECAL to develop innovative concepts, resulting in designs that challenge norms and explore new visual identities of heat pumps.
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Laurence Bonvin
Process The notion of Process, in the context of this course, can mean developing a project in which the students focus on the process rather than just the concept or the results. This should allow them to experiment, to look for new solutions, to explore unexpected paths, techniques and forms, to lose themselves and find themselves again. Sometimes we give up on an idea for fear of failure, of not having a strong enough idea or of not succeeding in producing sufficiently interesting images. The idea is for the students to free themselves from these injunctions so that they can explore their ideas, desires, obsessions and desires more freely.
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Natacha Lesueur
Last minute risk As the students enter their final year of training at the ECAL, and their interests and methods take shape, it's time to take advantage of this last project to question our own rules, achievements and influences, not to be satisfied with them, and to take risks.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
with Diego Bontognali
This editorial project, "1 dépêche, 10 secondes, 100 pages", is divided into three formats: the book, the poster, and the animation. The students are tasked with creating content and defining an editorial line based on a current news dispatch or brief.
FOUNDATION YEAR
with Nicolas Haeni
Semestre 1: Séquence d'images sur la thématique "Noise", suivi par Nicolas Haeni.
FOUNDATION YEAR
Film Option Christophe M. Saber This workshop aims to give young filmmakers the tools they need to obtain more precise and nuanced performances from their actors. Directing actors, the very heart of a film's success, will be explored from a number of angles: how to make relevant casting choices, work on the rhythm and dynamics of a scene, and communicate effectively with actors to translate an artistic vision into a convincing performance. Media & Interaction design option Floating Point Studio Introduction to 3D through a week-long workshop on the theme of CGI still lifes, designed to familiarise students with this medium. Photography Option Sabina Bösch Free photographic work on the body or bodies from different angles: The body as a physical entity and as a functional system, The body in digital space, Touch as interaction and its dimensions, The body as material and medium, The space of the body and its symbolic significance, Societal significance and the construction of the body. Graphic Design Option Eilean Friis-Lund Based on an unchanging timetable, this workshop provides an introduction to risography and explores a number of technical principles (screen, resolution, file preparation). Visual Arts Option Chloé Delarue In a world saturated with images and simulations, where the real and the virtual are intertwined, Chloé Delarue's aim is to create a world where the real and the virtual are intertwined.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Kylan Luginbühl
Video sequences created as part of the 3D Graphics course, led by Kylan Luginbühl. The videos interpret the theme Tease & Reveal. Whether for a movie, a series, a product, or a video game, the teaser sparks our curiosity and invites us to engage with the subject in just a few seconds. Projects created during the 1st year of the Bachelor in Media & Interaction Design.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
with Nicole Udry
Genius Loci, or the spirit of the place, refers to the unique identity or essence of a location. In architecture, this principle suggests that the specific characteristics of a place should be reflected and extended in a design. In the case of the second-year graphic design students, they have applied this principle to communication projects focused on promoting or extending the identity of a particular place through design. Their work likely explores how to visually capture and communicate the essence of a space, using graphic design elements that resonate with the architectural features or history of the place.
FOUNDATION YEAR
with Romain Collaud, Matthieu Minguet
Invisible Layers - with Matthieu Minguet Metadata, image descriptions, hidden pixels, cookies and other hidden elements: these extensions hijack the use of browsers by superimposing a graphic layer that reveals invisible data on websites.
FOUNDATION YEAR
with Francis Baudevin, Christian Pahud
1. Egg 2. Mickey 3. Faire Sans
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Angelo Benedetto
It’s about time is a series of digital clocks that explore the perception of time through different hierarchies of representation. This selection brings together projects created in the first year of the Bachelor in Media & Interaction, as part of the Dynamic Display course led by Angelo Benedetto.
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
with Adrien Rovero
AGO Lighting has come together with ECAL Bachelor students in Industrial Design, under the guidance of Swiss designer Adrien Rovero, to conceive a collection of lighting installations to be used in public places such as museums, hotel lobbies, coffee bar and so on. Focusing primarily on the spatial aspect of light, our approach was to design lighting structures based on components supplied by AGO and inspired by the fabric of Seoul, rather than creating mere lamps.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Kushagra Gupta
Third-year students in Media & Interaction Design created posters depicting insects whose appearance is inspired by their evolutionary adaptation to their environment. This week-long workshop was led by artist Kushagra Gupta.
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Jean-Vincent Simonet
As part of this second edition of XXL Projections, 2nd-year Bachelor of Photography students from ECAL/Ecole cantonale d'art de Lausanne developed projects in a course dedicated to the creation of video mapping. Supervised by Jean-Vincent Simonet, this course enabled students to conceive immersive creations designed to animate the facades of mudac and Photo Elysée with creativity and fantasy.
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Louie Banks
Returning to the basics and origins of photography will allow students to focus their energy and ideas meaningfully on their concept and subject. Louie Banks provided them with three keywords to consider as a way to create photographs with more impact than what is typically expected from today’s editorials and campaigns. The students were free to draw inspiration from one of the following keywords or to try incorporating a bit of each into their project: "Movement," "Costume," "Emotion."
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Chaumont–Zaerpour
Each group was tasked with creating a series of fashion images by appropriating or subverting visual codes from existing images. Everyone approached this exercise with creativity, exploring a variety of references, whether iconic fashion shots, works of art, or visuals from popular culture. Once all the series were completed, they were compiled into a printed and bound magazine. The assembly of the images gave rise to a unique object, where each project found its place within a coherent and visually striking whole. This magazine thus became the tangible trace of this collective exploration of fashion imagery and its multiple reinterpretations.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Mario Von Rickenbach
The students worked on an interactive countdown in a web environment. Each day, they were tasked with creating a new sketch, culminating in their own collection, which could also be combined with projects from the entire class.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Gaël Hugo
During this workshop, second year media & Interaction design students crafted interactive 'wonder-rooms' inspired by curiosity cabinets, blending 3D environments with real-time interactions. A collection of bizarre, imaginative little worlds to be explored.
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Simon Lehner, Milo Keller, Clément Lambelet
For this workshop, ECAL invited Simon Lehner, a Vienna-based visual artist whose interdisciplinary practice spans photography, 3D rendering, AI-generated imagery, lens-based paintings, and sculptures. Social media algorithms manipulate memory and emotions by trapping users in echo chambers of repetitive imagery and ideas. These visual cycles exploit memory processes, triggering emotional responses—such as fear, envy, or desire—that reinforce behavioral patterns. Corporations leverage photographic images to target insecurities, activating primal instincts to drive consumption and engagement. Before the workshop, students were invited to reflect on their personal echo chambers—encountered on their social media feeds. They were asked to think about the following: • What trends or niches were suggested to you? • Which emotions played a role in these trends? • What emotional responses did they trigger in you? By analyzing these patterns, students gained insight into how photographic images and algorithms influence memory, emotions, and behavior. This critical awareness serveed as a foundation for exploring the broader societal implications of visual media.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Nicole Ruggiero
Guided by New-York based 3D arist Nicole Ruggiero, the first year students brought their most impactful digital memories to life. Using Cinema4D, ZBrush, and Substance Painter, they crafted animations exploring how technology has shaped our experiences through nostalgic tributes.
PRODUCT DESIGN
with Thélonious Goupil
During this one-week workshop led by Thélonious Goupil, edits were made to a ‘drop false ceiling’ in Bar Gala Lausanne. By hacking the system, playing with existing elements such as lighting or ventilators, the outdate ceiling was given new life without the need for full renovation.
FINE ARTS
Week dedicated to experimentation with printing techniques
FINE ARTS
PRODUCT DESIGN
with Augustin Scott de Martinville
For this semester, students were invited to focus on the creation of a “One-Off” of their choice. They were encouraged to free themselves from the issues traditionally associated with industrial design - mass production, costs, market positioning, etc. The project concluded in a silent auction at the ECAL's traditional Christmas Market.
PRODUCT DESIGN
with Studio Isabel + Helen
This workshop was led by Isabel + Helen Studio, a duo of London artists known for their captivating kinetic sculptures and installations. They blend art with movement to create playful and thought-provoking works. During the week, they guided students through the fundamentals of creating dynamic, moving sculptures. Using umbrella mechanisms, students created fireworks.