FILM STUDIES
Workshop Shitty Rigs
Workshop led by Michael William Farino, Jonathan Ricardo Argudo and Herbert Mayer and given to students in the Bachelor's degree programmes in Cinema and Industrial Design.
FILM STUDIES
Workshop with Benoît Dervaux
by Noé Bregnard, Eva Rust, Victor Durand Matinella, Lou Haenggi, Samuel Harari, Hana Magimel, Nolan Grando, Mileny Viera de Andrade, Zélia Zanone
Second-year Bachelor's students attended a workshop with Belgian cinematographer Benoît Dervaux, known for his work on the Dardenne brothers' films. He was responsible for the cinematography on the Swiss films Laissez-moi by Maxime Rappaz (2023) and À bras-le-corps by Marie-Elsa Sgualdo (2025).
PHOTOGRAPHY
ECAL x Moncler
with Philippe Jarrigeon
Drawing on Moncler’s Alpine heritage, its timeless style, and its technical mastery, the ECAL Bachelor Photography students developed their own interpretation of the brand’s visual language, blending documentary photography with staged scenes, and merging reality with fiction, under the artistic direction of French photographer Philippe Jarrigeon. As part of Paris Photo 2025, the students’ work was showcased at the Moncler boutique on the Champs-Élysées.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
LET THE DATASET CHANGE YOUR MINDSET - 2025
by Steve Bouillant, Teo Grajqevci, Yann Müller
Data has the power to reshape the way we interpret the world. Starting from a simple question or hypothesis, this project explores how visualization can reveal patterns that are not immediately visible. The result is a fully functional data visualization experience with an interactive interface, including a mobile controller that allows users to manipulate the display in real time. Designed and programmed by second-year Bachelor students in Media & Interaction Design as part of a course taught by Gaël Hugo, the project demonstrates how interactive visualization can make complex data more accessible and engaging.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
Much Faster / Much Slower – 25-26
with Alain Bellet
Second-year Interaction Design students imagined and prototyped a mobile application exploring the theme “Much Faster / Much Slower.” The project examines our fascination with speed and slowness in digital interfaces, and how technology shapes our perception of time, attention, and communication. Building on this tension, students developed app concepts that propose alternative ways of communicating, consuming, or creating content, where rhythm becomes a central element of interaction design. Each project takes the form of an interactive prototype, offering a distinctive and sometimes deliberately non-immediate experience that questions our everyday digital habits.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
SCREEN DESIGN – 2025
Websites developed over a semester according to a book chosen by the students as part of Harry Bloch's Screen Design course, second year Bachelor of Visual Communication.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
Dynamic Identity - 2025
with Angelo Benedetto
First-year students designed visual identities for fictional museums. As part of the Dynamic Display course led by Angelo Benedetto, this project led them to create graphic universes that that express the character of each imaginary exhibition site.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Genius Loci - Spirit of the place
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.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Type Design BA1 S1 2024/2025
with Robert Huber
Designing a logotype means defining a strong visual identity anchored in a specific context. First-year Graphic Design students developed a hand-drawn logotype based on a subject, theme, or environment of their own choosing. This creation was informed by prior research in typographic archives. Each student produced a reference booklet and a specimen system based on six or more typefaces, to ground their visual and conceptual exploration. Balancing typographic culture and contemporary expression, each project investigates what makes a visual identity truly distinctive.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Information Design
with Angelo Benedetto
During the information design course the students of the second year have been asked to design a cartographic poster based on a film in the road movie genre, in a direct or abstract representation.
FILM STUDIES
Documentary film workshop with Alessandro Comodin
with Alessandro Comodin
The 2025 documentary film workshop for 2nd year students was lead by french italian director Alessandro Comodin.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
Show more / Show less
with Alain Bellet
Fictional mobile apps based on the "Show more / Show less" theme, offering new ways of consulting, communicating, creating, playing, discovering and learning. Students in their 2nd year of Bachelor Media & Interaction Design designed a dedicated experience and graphic interface via interactive prototypes on Figma.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Type Design BA2 S2 2024 - 2025
with Aurèle Sack
The second-year students had to vectorize a typeface they had drawn last semester.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Editorial Design BA2 S2 2024 - 2025
with Diego Bontognali
Development of an editorial system deployed across three publication formats, centered on the theme of prohibition.
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
ECAL LOCAL
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
Documentary film workshop with Benoit Rossel
with Benoit Rossel
The 2025 documentary film workshop for 1st year students was lead by french swiss director Benoit Rossel.
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
CITY TREES
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.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Fine Art 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
Pratique photographique
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
Photographic Essays
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.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Visual Identity BA1S2 – Collector
with Adeline Mollard
During the visual identity course with Adeline Mollard, the students had to develop an identity project promoting a collection chosen by them. Each project includes the design of a catalogue contextualising and presenting the collection, together with the design of a poster.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Image Creation BA1S2 – Insta Books
with Guy Meldem
In the age of social media, Instagram has become a true space for graphic experimentation. This semester, first-year Graphic Design students created a printed edition of at least 100 pages, exploring the question: what does it mean to design for Instagram? Through this investigation, they examined the platform’s visual codes, its attention-driven dynamics, and the graphic forms it inspires. Each project reflects on how these creations can be translated, extended, or reinterpreted in the digital space. Balancing printed matter and online presence, these works outline new ways of inhabiting both images and networks.
PRODUCT DESIGN
Stool Story
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
Moving Images – 24–25
with Sylvain Meltz
Introduction to moving images and animation (video, kinetics, etc.) using After Effect.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
MATHEMATICAL MUSIC – 2025
with Gaël Hugo
Soundtoys coded by 1st year Bachelor students in Media & Interaction Design as part of a semester project led by Gaël Hugo.
FILM STUDIES
Romania Grand Voyage workshop
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
Realtime Narratives 2025
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
Direction workshop with Patric Chiha
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
Color – 24–25
with Clelia Bettua, Luc Aubort
Work on the seven colour contrasts
FOUNDATION YEAR
Photography – 24–25
with Tonatiuh Ambrosetti, Daniela Droz
Exercises: - Studio photography (a mirror, a portrait, a still life) - Photographic editing Theme: The problem doesn't exist
PRODUCT DESIGN
SolarPunk
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.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
Folklore Fusion
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.
PRODUCT DESIGN
Designed in CH Made in JP
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.
FILM STUDIES
Fiction film workshop with Klaudia Reynicke
with Klaudia Reynicke
The 2024 fiction film workshop for 2nd year students was lead by swiss and peruvian director Klaudia Reynicke.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Staged 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
Fine Art 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
Video
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.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Editorial Design BA1 S1 2024/2025
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
Visual Identity BA1 S1 2024/2025
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
Type Design BA1 S1 2024/2025
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
Image Creation BA1 2024/2025
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.
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
Hi-Lo-Fi
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
Contemporary Photography - Spring 2025 - MAP1
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.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Self-Initiated Project - Spring 2025 - MAP1
with Bruno Ceschel
The course is a platform for the development of personal projects that arise from the desire and curiosity of each student. The basic concept of the work must be relevant to the field of contemporary photographic images. Each project can take a different form depending on the specificities, contents and inclinations of each participant. From books to multimedia installations, from performance to CGI, group discussions will articulate a plural vision of photography’s applications today.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Visual Identity BA3 S1 2024-2025
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
Type Design BA2 S1 2024 - 2025
with Aurèle Sack
The second-year students had to develop the lower-case letters of two display fonts by hand.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Applied Photography - Spring 2025 - MAP1
with Charlie Engman
This course explores contradiction, ambiguity, and authorship in photographic meaning and the role of aesthetics in shaping an image’s function across contexts. Photography operates in a complex space where visual style, context, and audience expectations interact to produce meaning. This course asks students to examine how photographic aesthetics influence interpretation and how an image’s function shifts when adapted for different applied photography frameworks. This course explores contradiction and ambiguity in photographic meaning and the role of aesthetic conventions in shaping an image’s function across contexts. Through the course, students will be expected to develop a coherent series of at least 10 images that applies a distinct treatment or aesthetic to a subject matter or multi-image narrative not typically represented in that style or aesthetic. Through this process, students will examine how visual codes, contextual shifts, and aesthetic strategies influence interpretation.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Materialized Photography- Spring 2025 - MAP1
with Felicity Hammond
In this module, we will explore the potential for the photographic image to simultaneously be a backdrop, object, and prop. We will make images both for the purpose of being re-imaged and for their sculptural possibilities, ending in a work that investigates the potential for an endless cycle of images and objects. Crucially, we will consider the staging of the work, and the conceptual and physical site for which it is intended.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Editorial Design BA3 2024-2025
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.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Image Creation BA3 2024-2025
with Guy Meldem
Third-year students had to complete an image creation project based on a free subject and medium.