INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
with Elric Petit
As part of the CITY TREES project, students were invited to design an object in connection with a tree of their choice within the urban landscape of Lausanne. Drawing inspiration from dendrology, they observed an existing tree and envisioned a subtle, respectful, and reversible intervention. The aim was to highlight the unique characteristics of the tree while ensuring the project harmoniously blended into its surroundings.
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
with Christophe Guberan
In collaboration with a local craftsman, the students designed a reusable packaging solution suitable for production in a little series. The project aimed to enhance the value of an everyday food product while addressing current challenges related to transport, sustainability, and the second life of packaging. The intervention had to be simple, functional, and eco-friendly, offering a purpose beyond its original packaging function.
FILM STUDIES
with Benoit Rossel
The 2025 documentary film workshop for 1st year students was lead by french swiss director Benoit Rossel.
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Natacha Lesueur
Documenteur – The Power of the Fake Based on projects developed around a common theme, students create a personal and in-depth body of work exploring the notion of deception. They build a project that plays with the boundaries of photographic truth, using the medium as an artifice of lies.
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Maxime Guyon
OBI: Object Brochure Investigation More than just a store, OBI has become an integral part of local history. This Renens landmark also maintains a close link with ECAL, serving as a landmark and source of inspiration for its students. In fact, there is an architectural filiation between the two: Jean Tschumi's son, Bernard Tschumi, is the architect who designed the ECAL's renovation. This generational dialogue further strengthens OBI's place in students' visual and creative imaginations. OBI embodies the spirit of “Do It Yourself” (DIY), a concept that emerged in 1968 under the impetus of Stewart Brand, founder of the Whole Earth Catalog, an alternative publication born of his exploration under 200 micrograms of LSD. The DIY movement advocated an alternative lifestyle and resistance to hyper-consumption. Today, this philosophy is far removed from that embodied by OBI, considered to be a mass-market store. This paradox will be the focus of this semester's project. Since DIY has been structured around a publication, students will come full circle by producing an OBI-inspired edition of their own.
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Matthieu Gafsou
This year's “Documentary Practices” course is devoted to a territory that is very close to us and, in a way for most of us, very far away: the countryside. For a city-dweller, the countryside is an out-of-town territory where you can go for a walk, where there are farmers, fields and forests. Recent votes in Switzerland testify to a considerable widening of the gap between town and country: the far right would be the place of rurality, while the left would be urban. This territory is not only topologically different from the city, but also seems to be inhabited by people whose lifestyles and thinking are at odds with the city. The reality, however, is obviously more complex and resists such simplification.
PRODUCT DESIGN
with Christophe Guberan
‘Stool Story’ invited students to explore innovative, re-contextualised, or intriguing materials and production techniques to create a simple yet fundamentally structural typology: the stool. Each process was documented through a short, vertically formatted video. The result is a range of stools, each demonstrating a unique perspective and approach.
FOUNDATION YEAR
with Sylvain Meltz
Introduction to moving images and animation (video, kinetics, etc.) using After Effect.
FILM STUDIES
with Radu Jude
<meta charset="UTF-8">On the first year of their Master degree, students embark on a “Grand Voyage” to discover the region and a filmmaker. In 2025, they went to Romania.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Valerio Meschi
During the Realtime Narratives course, second-year students had to create a real-time narrative experience using Unreal Engine software. The aim of the project was to raise students awareness of the use of 3D realtime engines and the various links with other software specific to each stage of development.
FILM STUDIES
with Patric Chiha
In partnership with La Manufacture, the Cinema Dapartment invited austrian director Patric Chiha for a direction workshop destined to 3rd year students.
FOUNDATION YEAR
with Clelia Bettua, Luc Aubort
Work on the seven colour contrasts
FOUNDATION YEAR
with Tonatiuh Ambrosetti, Daniela Droz
Exercises: - Studio photography (a mirror, a portrait, a still life) - Photographic editing Theme: The problem doesn't exist
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Harriet Davey
Who are you in the digital realm? Your avatar, your videogame skin, your alter ego. Second-year students, led by Harriet Davey, crafted digital alter egos from scratch. They used Daz, Blender, and VR to explore an alternate personality or expression through the digital self.
PRODUCT DESIGN
with Philippe Malouin
SolarPunk is a design exploration into how increasingly accessible solar energy might shape and integrate into our everyday lives in the near future. Embracing a hopeful vision of sustainability, the movement challenges traditional perceptions of renewable energy by imagining creative, aesthetic, and functional uses of solar power. This collection of work was created by first-year Master’s students in Product Design at ECAL, under the guidance of designer Philippe Malouin. Developed specifically for the Soleil·s exhibition at the MUDAC design museum in Lausanne, the projects reflect bold experimentation and speculative thinking. Rather than focusing solely on efficiency or utility, the students explored poetic, playful, and sometimes unconventional applications of solar energy, highlighting the emotional and experiential potential of this technology. Among the featured works are two standout projects which have been developed and feature in the exhibition: ‘Solar Shade' by Carl Johan Jacobsen, a wearable hat that powers a cooling vest using flexible solar panels, and ‘Butterfly Sunglasses’ by Takumi Ise, simple lightweight eyewear that combines colour, movement, and solar functionality.
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Jaya Pelupessy
This exhibition presents the outcome of a five-day workshop led by artist Jaya Pelupessy, where students explored the unstable terrain between creation and reproduction. Through hands-on experiments with various duplication methods and strategies of appropriation, the workshop invited a reconsideration of the image—not as a final product, but as a process, a question, a site of continuous transformation. Embracing moments of uncertainty, trial and error, and unexpected discovery, participants focused on what Pelupessy calls The Indecisive Moment: the in-between phase where outcomes are unclear and intention is disrupted by chance. These works reflect a shift from the pursuit of fixed meaning toward an image in flux—unfinished, open, and relational.
FINE ARTS
Une semaine focalisée sur la spéculations et les nouvelles histoires déclenchées principalement par la matière avec l'artiste Una Szeemann. Les étudiant.exs ont orienté leurs réflexions sur le pouvoir des objets, du point de vue de l'art, du fétichisme, de l'object oriented ontology, de la psychanalyse et de la magie…
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.
FINE ARTS
HUM HUM MAGAZINE est une publication-exposition nomade conçue par le Bachelor Arts Visuels de l’ECAL dont le premier numéro investit la galerie parisienne Treize. Organisée autour d'une série d'invitations, chaque édition est pensée par les étudiant·e·s du Bachelor Arts Visuels comme une exposition facilement diffusable et activable à l’infini. À l’occasion du lancement de son premier numéro, HUM HUM MAGAZINE investit Treize à Paris pour y déployer son sommaire à l’échelle du lieu. Un projet initié par Philippe Decrauzat, Gallien Déjean et Stéphane Kropf.
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 Charlotte Krieger
SCREENPLAY This course introduces students to the creation of a seven-image series built around the theme Screenplay. They will learn to combine set design, characters, and lighting to produce strong, coherent staged images. Through a practical and technical approach, the course develops their ability to conceive and manage a complete photographic project, direct models, work with natural and artificial light, and collaborate under conditions similar to professional editorial or commercial shoots. Students will refine their photographic vision while preparing for the creative and technical demands of the industry.
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Natacha Lesueur
VULGAR Based on projects developed around a common theme, students create a personal and in-depth body of work exploring the notion of deception. They build a project that plays with the boundaries of photographic truth, using the medium as an artifice of lies.
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.
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.
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Kim Knoppers
Do Not Disturb – Curating in Progress The course Do Not Disturb – Curating in Progress is designed to give students a sneak peek into the craft of curating an exhibition from the perspective of an independent curator (formerly at Foam, Amsterdam 2011-2021). The course teaches to engage with the historical, theoretical, and practical matters of curating a photography exhibition, with issues regarding the desperate desire of mankind to display objects, the photography exhibition in the digital age, the blending of photography with other disciplines in a physical space, Imaging the Anthropocene and Photography in Times of Radical Change. Students were invited to create a group exhibition with a physical model and an online solo exhibition with their own work.
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.
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Laurence Bonvin
Dissapearing Bodies invites you to think 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 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.
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.
FINE ARTS
Inspiré·e·s par un atelier intense et stimulant avec l'artiste américain Kenneth Goldsmith, les étudiant·e·s du Bachelor Arts Visuels ont valorisé des signes subtils du quotidien, transformant des pensées errantes en un tapis : non pas comme un dessin, mais comme un détour ; non pas comme une déclaration, mais comme une collection d'absurdités oubliées. Poète distingué par le MoMA, Kenneth Goldsmith s’inspire de son manifeste Uncreative Writing pour créer notamment livres, textes critiques, émissions et installations à partir de collages de matériaux trouvés.
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.
FINE ARTS
by Zuzana Baková, Caroline Bischoff, Emma Blanc-Germser, Mykolya Churmantaiev, Anna Cocimarov, Oana Cuozzo, Mayalène de Roquemaurel, Eulalie Félix, Louis Fontaine, Duna György, Marsaili Venus Haas, Olivia Handschin, Amina Loumachi, Clara Luna, Céleste Meylan, Diego Mühlematter, Paul Reachi, Baptiste Schaerer, Charlie Schär, Jamie Soria, Nayla Younes
Pour célébrer les cents ans de la mort de Félix Vallotton, le Musée Jenisch Vevey invite le Bachelor Arts Visuels de l'ECAL à rendre hommage à cet artiste suisse emblématique dans une exposition collective. S'inspirant de ses gravures qui reflètent l'ambiance parisienne de la fin du XIXe siècle, des colonnes Morris sont recréées dans le musée comme supports modulaires. Elles accueillent affiches, tracts et posters, échos de la culture contemporaine et des questionnements des étudiant·e·s d’aujourd’hui.
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.
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
with Elric Petit
Newspaper is an industrial design project that aims to cultivate fresh ideas with the potential to seamlessly integrate into our contemporary society and its economy. Under the guidance of Elric Petit, each student had the possibility to explore a chosen topic, expressing their personal affinities and interests, thereby enhancing the overall project experience. In the spirit of multidisciplinarity, the students underwent a writing workshop with a professional journalist, which culminated in 25 articles written by the students on their individual projects, collected in a printed journal.
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.