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MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Viktor Gagné – Serialized Saplings

by Viktor Gagné

The weight of materials produced by humans is now believed to exceed that of all terrestrial biomass. How will these artifacts integrate into the rest of the environment in a million years? Serialized Saplings is an interactive installation that speculates on a potential form of vegetation to come, heavily altered by the excesses of human production, here crystallized through the symbol of the electrical outlet. By manipulating the connections of several power strips, the participant is invited to program the "genetic code" of hybrid plant species that do not yet exist and whose appearance resembles our industrial standards. This generated vegetation is then classified in the form of a digital herbarium that can be consulted and studied.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Bruno Pauli Caldas – Personenwagen 6+2

with Stephane Halmai-Voisard, Christian Spiess, Carolien Niebling

Personenwagen 6+2 is an electric taxi specifically designed for short trips within urban areas, with an emphasis on local production. It was developed in collaboration with STIMBO, a family-owned business that has been producing electric taxis and commercial vehicles in the Valley of Zermatt since 1980. It is designed as a mobile element of public space, rather than a private commodity. Stripped down to a minimum, the design prioritises simplicity and offers an immersive riding experience for passengers.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Soft Power

with Christophe Guberan

Under the direction of Christophe Guberan, the students used their design talents to rethink an everyday object that consumes more energy than it should, using their powers of observation to choose a type of contemporary object that consumes energy and reduce its dependence on energy during use.

DESIGN FOR LUXURY & CRAFTSMANSHIP

Collaboration with L’Epée 1839

with Fiona Krüger

Regatta Very few sports, or indeed very few human activities, merit the term ‘graceful’ as much as does sculling. Long, streamlined craft cutting the water like a stiletto and leaving barely a ripple are among the most elegant forms of human displacement on earth. And that sense of grace conceals both the incredible power of the oarsman and the arrow-like precision of their craft. L’Epée 1839 harnesses and pays homage to the grace of sculling with La Regatta, a sleek vertical clock invoking the shape of the long thin scull, with both the power (8-day power reserve) and precision of the most elegant of watch sports. Our modern lives are often busy and, at times, even chaotic, La Regatta invokes a sense of peace and calm.

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Nora Fatehi – Mirror Me-rror

with Alain Bellet, Christophe Guignard, Gaël Hugo, Laura Nieder, Pauline Saglio

In an environment where the line between digital and tangible is becoming increasingly thin, having an existence in immaterial spaces implies shaping and maintaining an avatar that is often created in one’s own image. Living in these in-between worlds inevitably leads to the development of a more or less strong connection with one’s own digital representations. This is notably the case of my own avatar, with whom I share more than just a well-defined clothing style. In Mirror Me-rror, she and I become one. By using my physical and digital data to influence her abilities as my “virtual self”, I find myself constantly connected to her. With this project, I question the relationship that each of us nurtures with our digital identities and offer a gamified perspective of our own lives.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Dario Aguet – R-D Earbuds

with Stephane Halmai-Voisard, Maddalena Casadei

My graduation project is a set of earbuds that can be taken apart, designed to provide easy access to all the internal components so that they may be replaced and disassembled in order to be recycled. There are hundreds of wireless earbuds in the world, of all shapes and sizes, which cannot be repaired and at the end of their lives are seldom recycled. The design of these earbuds relates to the concept of disassemblability so that consumers can change parts if they break and do not have to buy a new product. At the end of the product’s life, every material can be easily disassembled and recycled. These considerations, which are the result of decisions made at the product design stage, justify my approach to design.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Laure Wasser – Eventa

with Stephane Halmai-Voisard, Maddalena Casadei

Eventa is an adapted diary that is designed for elderly people with cognitive problems, particularly relating to memory, and can be essential in enabling them to remain independent in their own home while offering complete peace of mind. On a tablet of their choice, elderly people use a digital app that enables them to contact their loved ones by text message or phone call. It also provides them with a diary that emits sounds to remind them of their daily events. The simplified keyboard is integrated into the shell of the tablet. It allows direct, non-touch navigation in the application. The device evolves as the disease worsens. In addition, caregivers and relatives can easily interact with Eventa by text message or by adding events to monitor the patient.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Lucie Herter – R2Home

with Stephane Halmai-Voisard, Maddalena Casadei

Every day, 1800 radiosondes are sent into the atmosphere to collect data and make weather forecasts. However, only 20% of the instruments are recovered worldwide. R2Home is a solution developed by Yohan Hadjil, EPFL student, to address this problem. It features a fully autonomous paragliding robot that navigates to a precise landing spot determined by the user. More information on www.r2ho.me. My project focuses on the development of the shell that protects the mechanism from the cold, the rain and shocks. It is mainly made of expanded polypropylene. The shell consists of two parts that can be assembled using PET pieces. All materials can be easily recycled. Intuitive design, easily replaceable parts, environmentally friendly and reusable, R2Home is the next generation of radiosondes.

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Fantastic Smartphones

with Pauline Saglio, Vincent Jacquier

Fantastic Smartphones – a series of interactive installations developed by students in Bachelor Media & Interaction Design at ECAL, investigating in a critical and offbeat way our relationship with smartphones and the way they influence our daily behavior. See the press room

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Ivan Chestopaloff – (un)load

with Alain Bellet, Christophe Guignard, Gaël Hugo, Laura Nieder, Pauline Saglio

In a world dominated by images, where content is constantly blasted at our brain, the race for maximum performance and ultra-high definition feels endless. (un)load chooses to go beyond the classic forms of digital experience. With this tool, we will try to dive into a molecular state, where the single unit becomes the whole. In a kind of reverse cinema, you will be deprived of some of your senses and will reach overload through extreme reduction. Expressing the constant overload we experience as a society and the capacity we have to construct our own relationship to the world, (un)load explores the narrative potential of immersive technologies, based on the senses and beyond representation. Warning: this work contains flashing lights.

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Malik Sobgoui – Oblique Reasoning

with Alain Bellet, Christophe Guignard, Gaël Hugo, Laura Nieder, Pauline Saglio

Nowadays, almost all of us have adopted the unconscious reflex of pulling out our smartphone when we are faced with some form of loneliness or passivity. Hence, it has become difficult for us to cope with waiting without the help of our cell phones. The aim of Oblique Reasoning is to invite users to question notions of attention economy and FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) while offering, in the manner of Oblique Strategies, reflections and alternatives. By recording unread notifications and quantifying them in units of time, this portable device offers us the possibility to step back and rethink our relationship with the smartphone.

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Valentine Leimgruber – Sanctuaires

with Alain Bellet, Christophe Guignard, Gaël Hugo, Laura Nieder, Pauline Saglio

Through a narrative experience, Sanctuaires invites visitors to discover their relationship with plants. This project is structured as an interactive exhibition on the great trees of the city of Lausanne. As in a treasure hunt, visitors have to look for the trees, thanks to clues and a map on the app. When they find one, they connect to it through touch, thus triggering the beginning of the experience. Like a wise storyteller, the sanctuary-tree shares a tale with the visitors, telling them about its sensitive experience and observable universe. Urban tree development coincides with the advent of issues related to the ecological crisis. What do trees have to say about this and how can their perception help us improve our lifestyles?

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Dorian Jovanovic – IFTTA

with Alain Bellet, Christophe Guignard, Gaël Hugo, Laura Nieder, Pauline Saglio

IFTTA (If This Then Authenticate) is a modular authentication kit that allows users to design passwords to access their digital environment. Nowadays the majority of online services require complex authentication from their users. However, our ability to manage our passwords is becoming time consuming: we forget, make mistakes and retype. By default, we have accepted the present systems in place: double verification, SMS, phone calls, e-mails, etc. What if we tried something different? A more personal approach for example. This kit reflects the way we want to view our relationship with passwords. Each of the proposed modules involves a distinct mnemonic interaction: touch, position in space, hearing and sight. These elements can be added up as well in order to design a personalised authentication system.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Stéfanie Kay – Helia

with Maddalena Casadei, Stéphane Halmaï-Voisard, Julie Richoz

Most people spend almost 90% of their time indoors, lit by artificial lights which, unlike the sun, do not change colour or intensity during the day, thus disturbing the circadian rhythm. Helia follows the user throughout the day – from waking up to falling asleep – varying its light intensity and colour and thus improving the user’s concentration, productivity, quality of sleep, mood, etc. Thanks to its modular head, Helia can be used to create either ambient or work light. The project, carried out in collaboration with the EPFL+ECAL Lab, turned out to be a very rewarding experience. Mixing different skills in one project was both interesting and instructive.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Souhaïb Ghanmi – Elos

with Stephane Halmai-Voisard, Julie Richoz, Maddalena Casadei

In the Swiss meat industry, there are more than 230,000 tonnes of waste each year from slaughterhouses. I focus on the recycling of food waste, especially bones, which pollute by disintegrating, and thus use as much of the animal as possible. Bone is, for me, a forgotten and unexploited material despite its many properties. Elos is a range of switches and sockets using bone meal for its electrical insulation properties. The socket is inspired by the articulation of the head of a femur to accompany the cable and thus avoid wear and tear, and the organic shapes of the switches are inspired by the cut of long bones. A cover variant combining a cable reel and a phone charging station has been added to the collection.

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

From Screen to Paper Abecedarium

with Jessica In

A one week workshop with Jessica In where 1st year Media & Interaction Design and Graphic Design students worked together on the link between screen and print content. During this week, the students did formal research in Processing in order to create an alphabet book, which was then printed using an Axidraw plotter.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Mobile Fan

with Christian Spiess

Fans with USB power supply for mobile use, for the Swiss brand Stadler Form. Stadler Form is a Swiss company that produces fans, humidifiers, purifiers and other air treatment devices. For this project, the students in 2nd year Bachelor Industrial Design, directed by designer Christian Spiess, had to make a “personal” fan, equipped with a USB power supply for mobile use. They had to think of new scenarios and contexts where a small fan would be useful. They were free to explore different usage scenarios, materials, etc. other than those currently in the Stadler Form catalog. The projects had to meet Stadler Form’s high standards of industrial design, but also challenge and question their existing products. Vidéo ECAL x Stadler Form - Agnes Murmann Vidéo ECAL x Stadler Form - Alex Nguyen Vidéo ECAL x Stadler Form - Stéphane Mischler Vidéo ECAL x Stadler Form - Lucie Herter Vidéo ECAL x Stadler Form - Alexandre Desarzens Vidéo ECAL x Stadler Form - Constance Thiessoz

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Alice Dermange – Culina Hortus

with Stéphane Halmaï-Voisard, Christian Spiess, Maddalena Casadei

“Culina Hortus” is an indoor ceramic lamp for aromatic plants that complements natural light. There are two lighting positions, one for a single pot and its plant, the second for several containers and their plants.

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Aurélien Pellegrini – Pump and Surf

with Alain Bellet, Christophe Guignard, Gaël Hugo, Laura Nieder, Pauline Saglio

Pump and Surf encourages internet users to find out how much energy is spent when they are surfing the internet. Before being able to view a website, internet users are asked to make a physical effort similar to the energy required to convey the data that will enable the site to be displayed. Through interactive experiences and graphic visualisations, Pump and Surf leads users to take the measure of the quantity of energy involved in the exchange of information, to the point of feeling them physically.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Figure Libre

with Elric Petit

Figure libre is an industrial design project realized in correlation with the thesis topic of the 3rd year students. They were advised to choose a field that the students would like to pursue after their studies. This free exercise allowed each student to express themselves on the subject of their choice. Whether it was about furniture, mobility, connected objects or so many other possible subjects, each subject treated seriously became fascinating.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Into the Wild

with Stéphane Halmaï-Voisard

Re-design of objects and accessories to practice wild camping or bivouac, realized by the 1st year students in Bachelor Industrial Design.

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Guillaume Simmen – zero lux(e)

with Alain Bellet, Christophe Guignard, Gaël Hugo, Pauline Saglio

Light pollution is a nuisance that humans don’t notice. But it disrupts the eco-system of thousands of species. The objective of my project is to turn off night lighting in rural areas. It is composed of three tools, a DIY geolocated luxmeter to measure the pollution of its village, a DIY box to place under a streetlight that allows to alert the municipality, and the website that gathers the collected information and that also serves as a support to mobilize people. This project has shown me how I can help in important causes. zerolux-e.org

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Diplomas

with Chris Kabel, Elric Petit, Stéphane Halmaï-Voisard

Bachelor Industrial Design diploma's projects, 2019

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Maëlle Chenaux – Plug-in

with Alain Bellet, Christophe Guignard, Gaël Hugo, Pauline Saglio

Plug-in allows you to discover and enjoy music content in an original way at any time and in any place. The consumption of sound is affiliated with the environment in which it is found, creating an intimate and individual listening context linked to common places. The ambiguity of the object will allow the most curious to discover its exclusive content, combining private speeches and public music. Designed to promote a musical event such as a festival, it offers a tangible and different way of sharing and communication.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Soundmachine

with Nicholaï Wiig-Hansen