FINE ARTS
GRAPHIC DESIGN
with Joël Vacheron, Angelo Benedetto, Olympe Boutaghane, Francis Baudevin
Based on archives and experiences associated with Vibrations (1991–2013), this research analyses how the magazine's textual, graphic and photographic content provides insight into the challenges of communicating about popular music today.
with Patrick Keller, François Bovier, Erika Marthins
A comparative and practice-based study on the transformative effects at play in the digital and hybrid exhibition of a body of non-digital native artworks (some artworks by artist Nam June Paik serving as a mean of understanding).
FINE ARTS
FINE ARTS
MA CI
with Federico Nicolao
A collective exploration of the new relations between contemporary writing and artistic practice.
with Maxwell Ashford
This project develops design for recycling textile-based goods, one of the most damaging waste streams, using contemporary toolsets to dismantle products into pure fractions.
FINE ARTS
GRAPHIC DESIGN
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Sami Benhadj
Music video projects created within the framework of the Sequence course supervised by Sami Benhadj. Each 2nd-year student in the Graphic Design, Media & Interaction Design & Photography Bachelor programs produced an individual music video. Taking an existing track as a starting point, every project sought to translate the music into images, exploring visual storytelling, rhythm, and staging. Students were encouraged to experiment and develop a creative and personal approach, resulting in original graphic worlds where sound and image resonate with one another.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Giliane Cachin
As part of the course given by Giliane Cachin, 1st year students are required to produce an edition by examining the different axes that make it up. The course offers a study of various grid systems and the fundamentals of micro-typography. During the semester, students will look for the best way to structure and arrange the content they have chosen (or which has been assigned to them, depending on the semester's data). Some essential rules to know in terms of printing and bindings will be reviewed at the end of the semester, in order to bring the conceptualized object to life.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Anouk Schneider Agabekov, Emmanuel Crivelli
As part of the magazine course led by Anouk Schneider and Emmanuel Crivelli, second-year Visual Communication students had the opportunity to design a magazine during the second semester. Students were encouraged to fully embrace their artistic freedom at every level of creation, whether in terms of format, paper choice, binding, layout, illustration, text, or typography. In this course, the magazine can take shape through various forms of illustration, such as photography, reproduction, contextualization, drawing, 3D, and more. The focus is placed on the author’s artistic vision and the means used to bring it to life. Students take on multiple roles as editor, curator, and architect, assuming the responsibilities of art director, designer, photographer, stylist, illustrator, typographer, editor-in-chief, and editorial secretary. This course highlights contemporary editorial design by exploring the narrative potential of a carefully crafted content sequence.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Harry Bloch
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.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Angelo Benedetto, Vincent Jacquier, Pauline Saglio, Calypso Mahieu
During the Service Design course, the 3rd year of the Graphic Design, Photography and Media & Interaction Design bachelors had to create multi-media projects. A collaboration of the Visual Communication department which had as subject the SDGs (*Sustainable Development Goals). The theme was called "For a good cause, make the SDGs a reality" and its objective was to allow students to develop a cause that is close to their hearts. Each project consists of at least two different media, one primary and one secondary. These projects could take any form that the students deemed relevant, be it a website, editions, posters, a video sequence or virtual reality.
FINE ARTS
with Ingrid Luquet-Gad, Stéphanie Moisdon, Shirin Yousefi
This one-day conference is an interdisciplinary event taking as its starting point the fragmentation thesis, based on the observation that our political conversations online – in forums, social media platforms, or discussion sites – are secluded into ideologically uniform groups. This tendency towards homophily is nothing new yet it has dramatically taken speed recently, to the point that it can be seen as a planetary condition of our times. The infrastructural changes in our digital networks – privatization, tracking, and algorithmic rationality – are not the sole explanatory factors. Finance capitalism, genocidal conflicts, climate crisis, as well as ambient anxiety all trigger responses that tend to favor withdrawal strategies.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Anouk Schneider Agabekov, Nicolas Polli
As part of the editorial design course led by Anouk Schneider and Nicolas Polli, second-year Visual Communication students had the opportunity to design an artist’s book during the first semester. This book project stands out for its contemporary approach, aiming to create an editorial object that harmoniously integrates form and content within today’s publishing landscape. Students were encouraged to fully embrace their artistic freedom at every stage of the creative process—whether in terms of format, paper choice, binding, layout, illustrations, text, or typography. Within this course, the artist’s book can take shape through various modes of illustration, such as photography, reproduction, contextualization, drawing, 3D, and more. The emphasis is placed on the author’s artistic vision and the means implemented to bring it to life. Students take on multiple roles as editor, curator, and architect, thereby covering the responsibilities of art director, designer, photographer, stylist, illustrator, typographer, editor-in-chief, and copy editor. This course highlights contemporary editorial design by exploring the narrative potential of a carefully constructed content sequence.
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.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Angelo Benedetto, Vincent Jacquier
From March 10 to 14, ECAL is taking part in Digital Cleanup Week, a worldwide event dedicated to raising awareness and taking action for a more responsible digital world. A week to repair, recycle, clean and think!
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).
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Giliane Cachin
As part of the course given by Giliane Cachin, 1st year students are required to produce an edition by examining the different axes that make it up. The course offers a study of various grid systems and the fundamentals of micro-typography. During the semester, students will look for the best way to structure and arrange the content they have chosen (or which has been assigned to them, depending on the semester's data). Some essential rules to know in terms of printing and bindings will be reviewed at the end of the semester, in order to bring the conceptualized object to life.
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.
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
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Sami Benhadj
Unofficial VR music video projects created by 2nd-year students in Visual Communication, specializing in Graphic Design and Media & Interaction Design. Working in groups, the students were given full freedom to experiment and develop creative, exploratory, and original approaches, combining narrative and visual worlds. Inspired by selected music tracks, they imagined immersive stagings where sound and image interact to create unique sensory experiences. These projects were carried out as part of the course supervised by Sami Benhadj.
FOUNDATION YEAR
with Sylvain Meltz
Introduction to moving images and animation (video, kinetics, etc.) using After Effect.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
with Angelo Benedetto, Vincent Jacquier
Selection of animated sequences made during a 3D course directed by Benjamin Muzzin. The students were inspired by a painting and transcribed it into three different scenes.
with Calypso Mahieu Laurent Soldini, Sophie Wietlisbach
The project aims to shed light on the career of Richard Authier (Lausanne, 1925–2018), who was an industrial designer at Hermes Paillard International in Yverdon-les-Bains and a pioneer of industrial design in French-speaking Switzerland.
with Julien Gurtner, Vincent Jacquier, Matthieu Minguet, Anthony Guex
As part of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the canton of Vaud has commissioned ECAL to create an original work of art, on view from July 24 to September 8 in the Maison suisse set up for the occasion in the courtyard of the Swiss Embassy in Paris.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Sami Benhadj
Clips produced as part of the Sequence course supervised by Sami Benhadj. Second-year students from the Bachelor's programs in Graphic Design and Media & Interaction Design each created a music video. Each project brings an existing piece of music to life, exploring visual storytelling, rhythm, and the creation of a unique graphic universe.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Anouk Schneider Agabekov, Chi-Long Trieu
As part of the publishing course led by Anouk Schneider and Chi-Long Trieu, 2nd year Visual Communication students had the opportunity to design an artist's book during the first semester. This book project stands out for its contemporary approach aimed at creating an editorial object that harmoniously integrates form and content in the current context of the editorial landscape. Students were encouraged to exploit their artistic freedom at all levels of creation, whether in terms of format, choice of paper, binding, layout, illustrations, text or typography. As part of this course, the artist's book can take shape through various illustration modalities, such as photography, reproduction, contextualization, drawing, 3D, etc. The emphasis is on the author's artistic vision and the means implemented to realize it. Students take on multiple roles as editor, curator and architect, covering the responsibilities of artistic director, designer, photographer, stylist, illustrator, typographer, editor-in-chief, and editorial secretary. This course highlights contemporary editorial design by exploring the narrative potential of a sequence of controlled content.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Giliane Cachin
As part of the course given by Giliane Cachin, 1st year students are required to produce an edition by examining the different axes that make it up. The course offers a study of various grid systems and the fundamentals of micro-typography. During the semester, students will look for the best way to structure and arrange the content they have chosen (or which has been assigned to them, depending on the semester's data). Some essential rules to know in terms of printing and bindings will be reviewed at the end of the semester, in order to bring the conceptualized object to life.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Angelo Benedetto, Vincent Jacquier, Pauline Saglio, Calypso Mahieu
During the Service Design course, the 3rd year of the Graphic Design, Photography and Media & Interaction Design bachelors had to create multi-media projects. A collaboration of the Visual Communication department which had as subject the SDGs (*Sustainable Development Goals). The theme was called "For a good cause, make the SDGs a reality" and its objective was to allow students to develop a cause that is close to their hearts. Each project consists of at least two different media, one primary and one secondary. These projects could take any form that the students deemed relevant, be it a website, editions, posters, a video sequence or virtual reality.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Charlotte Krieger, Jean-Vincent Simonet, Florian Pittet (Sigmasix), Vincent Jacquier, Julien Gurtner, Matthieu Minguet, Cédric Duchêne, EPFL+ECAL Lab, Giacomo Bastianelli
For a week, the first-year visual communications students worked on an installation consisting of 15 screens, accompanied by a 360° sound system developed by EPFL+ECAL Lab. This chandelier, five metres in diameter and suspended from a height of three metres, served as a support for their experiments. Using music specially composed and spatialised for the occasion, the students explored the dynamics of sound both visually and in movement.
FINE ARTS
with Geoffrey Cottenceau, Gina Proenza
Whether it’s a parade, a particle accelerator or a dance ball, SLAP invites you to inhabit a space from a gravitational perspective. Positioned on the boundary between two and three dimensions, the works are subject to centrifugal laws and find themselves exchanging with one another to create fortuitous narratives, as if the continuous round of which they were a part of had suddenly come to a halt. The exhibition space becomes the site of a fundamentally social event - in terms of the works it hosts and the exhibition context - and reveals the social perspective that the works hold in rela- tion to each other. Like a boring chat with a friend of a friend, some pieces are overwhelmed by their conversations, while others lend themselves easily to them. You’ll have no hesitation in intercepting some of the phrases exchanged between the works, while having the opportunity to: reply/nego- tiate/argue with the social time-space that SLAP, as a real static meeting point, offers for an evening.
with Jonas Berthod, Louise Paradis, Gilles Gavillet
Matter’s career was that of a multidisciplinary, international designer working across commerce and culture. He was not only a graphic artist but also a photographer, type designer, art director, teacher and film-maker. His work in the field of advertising and editorial design, his collaborations with artists, his self-commissioned work, his photography and film outputs and his long-serving position as an educator provide as many entry points to analyse the impact of migration and an international network on a graphic designer’s career. It also provides a case study to analyse the professional model of the designer working as photographer and layout artist simultaneously.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Angelo Benedetto, Vincent Jacquier
The Clean Up Digital Week takes over ECAL from March 11 to 15. Throughout the week, discover five different visual communication campaigns created by students from the Bachelor in Graphic Design and the Bachelor in Media & Interaction Design. These campaigns aim to raise awareness and encourage everyone to adopt responsible digital practices—starting now—with simple everyday actions.
TYPE DESIGN
with Matthieu Cortat, Alice Savoie, Kai Bernau, Radim Pesko, Roland Früh
In the early age of digital type, several methods were explored to draw letterforms. One of them, the Bézier spline, an algorithm that generates curves with a small quantity of data, has the crucial advantage of sparing computer memory and processing resources. It is today the industry standard. This project aims to question and reevaluate it, to move beyond established trends, to develop innovative ideas by exploring alternative methods of drawing curves, and letterforms.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Elodie Anglade
Selection of animated sequences made during a 3D course directed by Elodie Anglade. The students were inspired by a painting and transcribed it into three different scenes.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Anouk Schneider Agabekov, Chi-Long Trieu
As part of the publishing course led by Anouk Schneider and Chi-Long Trieu, 2nd year Visual Communication students had the opportunity to design an artist's book during the first semester. This book project stands out for its contemporary approach aimed at creating an editorial object that harmoniously integrates form and content in the current context of the editorial landscape. Students were encouraged to exploit their artistic freedom at all levels of creation, whether in terms of format, choice of paper, binding, layout, illustrations, text or typography. As part of this course, the artist's book can take shape through various illustration modalities, such as photography, reproduction, contextualization, drawing, 3D, etc. The emphasis is on the author's artistic vision and the means implemented to realize it. Students take on multiple roles as editor, curator and architect, covering the responsibilities of artistic director, designer, photographer, stylist, illustrator, typographer, editor-in-chief, and editorial secretary. This course highlights contemporary editorial design by exploring the narrative potential of a sequence of controlled content.
with Sophie Wietlisbach
Between the 1940s and the 1990s, three companies manufactured type components for typewriters in Switzerland: Caractères SA, Setag and Novatype. During more than fifty years, they supplied the biggest manufacturers of office machines in Europe and around the world, such as IBM, Remington, Olivetti, Paillard-Hermès or Triumph-Adler. Having held a leading position worldwide, the three manufacturers played a key role in the design, development, and production of type components and typefaces for typewriters, as well as for all kinds of impact printers.
with Quang Vinh Nguyen, Cynthia Ammann, Chi-Long Trieu
Cà phê (coffee), atisô (artichoke), xi nê ma (cinema), căng tin (canteen) or xi-măng (cement): in the Vietnamese language, many words bear the imprint of a French origin. And what if the same were true of everyday objects? Somewhere between cultural anthropology, the epistemology of Vietnamese design and the sociology of objects, this research project analyses the production of objects in Vietnam in the light of French colonisation and decolonisation.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Giliane Cachin
As part of the course given by Giliane Cachin, 1st year students are required to produce an edition by examining the different axes that make it up. The course offers a study of various grid systems and the fundamentals of micro-typography. During the semester, students will look for the best way to structure and arrange the content they have chosen (or which has been assigned to them, depending on the semester's data). Some essential rules to know in terms of printing and bindings will be reviewed at the end of the semester, in order to bring the conceptualized object to life.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
PHOTOGRAPHY
by Emma Grosu, Seraphine Sallin-Mason, Rebecca Alfandary
The Anthracite project aims to raise public awareness about the dangers of light pollution, which threatens the survival of nocturnal insects and impacts biodiversity in Switzerland. Through a carefully crafted edition blending scientific outreach and photography, the project strikes a delicate balance between poetry and urgency. Anthracite also takes shape in two additional formats: a visual installation made up of striking images, and a teaser video. These mediums of awareness immerse the audience by adopting the perspective of an insect, inviting viewers to directly experience the effects of human-caused pollution. Ultimately, the project seeks to inspire greater protection for the vulnerable insects at risk.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Sami Benhadj, Vincent Jacquier
An immersive and magnetic visual environment, created by ECAL students, illuminates the facades of the mudac and Photo Elysée building. As part of an interdisciplinary project within the Visual Communication department of ECAL, students in the Photography, Graphic Design and Media & Interaction Design Bachelors programs developed immersive video projects designed to adorn the facades of Photo Elysée.
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Milo Keller, Marco De Mutiis
The MAST Foundation is presenting the seventh edition of Foto/Industria, the world's first biennial event devoted to photography of industry and work, at a number of historic venues in Bologna and at MAST. The 12 exhibitions in Foto/Industria 2023 represent a chronology of points of view on the theme of PLAY, from the end of the 19th century to the present day. They offer an opportunity to observe and delve into the research of a selection of international artists. The ECAL is presenting an exhibition of its research project Automated Photography. An increasing number of images are produced autonomously by machines for machines with a gradual exclusion of any human intervention. Automated Photography is a research project developed by the Master Photography that addresses this situation by examining the technologies of image production and distribution such as: machine learning, CGI, photogrammetry.
with Davide Fornari, Jonas Berthod, Chiara Barbieri
The research project investigates the discourse on graphic design in Switzerland in the under-researched period from 1980 to 2020. While the 1950s and 1960s saw graphic design in Switzerland reach international recognition and commercial expansion under the label “Swiss style”, a paradigm shift emerged in the following decades. The attention of many practitioners turned away from design as a pure service for the industrial and service sector and moved towards cultural commissions on a local, national and international level. Instead of aiming for maximum return, they chose their commissions according to whether they promised them creative freedom and whether they contributed to the profiling of their portfolio in alignment with their new definition of the profession as a lifestyle. This project examines the emergence and the development of this phenomenon, which became known as “cultural graphic design”, in professional graphic design in Switzerland.
FINE ARTS
FILM STUDIES
FINE ARTS
FILM STUDIES
with François Bovier
Artists who produce archives from their own work approach archival activity as a creative gesture: here, the archive literally becomes a work of art. In parallel with the “archival impulse” that has run through contemporary art since the 1960s, this research project examines the “performative agency” of archives when they are constituted from “image acts”. The selected corpus is based on an extremely singular case, the cinematographic work of Gregory J. Markopoulos (1928-1992) and the Temenos archives.
UNITE DE THEORIE
FINE ARTS
with Vincent Normand, Stéphanie Moisdon
This research project questions what has come of youth – a conceptual, aesthetic, and political figure that was born with modernity – in the visual arts, popular culture, and the humanities. Conversely, the project addresses what the problematic category of “youth” has brought about in contemporary art and thought.
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Alain Bellet, Andrea Anner, Thibault Brevet, Martin Hertig
Robotic arms have long been a common sight in many industries. They are currently making a rapid entry into art and design studios and practices. Yet, at the same time, difficulties remain in accessing the workflows and work methods demanded by these machines given a clear lack of reference resources suited for this community. The same applies to Art and Design schools, which are increasingly investing in this type of equipment, often without having the resources to run it. This research project uses applied case studies to explore and define a set of exemplary work methods, capable of both informing and inspiring future users.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
with Angelo Benedetto, Vincent Jacquier
Selection of animated sequences made during a 3D course directed by Benjamin Muzzin. The students were inspired by a painting and transcribed it into three different scenes.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Sami Benhadj
Music video made by Julie Turin and Charlotte Pralong during the second year video course in Visual Communication Bachelor.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Benjamin Muzzin
Selection of animated sequences made during a 3D course directed by Benjamin Muzzin. The students were inspired by a painting and transcribed it into three different scenes.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Sami Benhadj
Music video made by Théo Déchanez and Viktor Gagné during the second year video course in Visual Communication Bachelor.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Sami Benhadj
Music video made by Jérémie Kursner and Alexandre Gambarini during the second year video course in Visual Communication Bachelor.