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Type

Course

Know-how

Years

2008 2024
Digital Impact

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Digital Impact

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.

LET THE DATASET CHANGE YOUR MINDSET

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

LET THE DATASET CHANGE YOUR MINDSET

by Thomas Gaudin, Olivia Capol, Livia Schmid, Emilie Maier

This project revolves around a fully functional data visualization experience and graphical interface, designed and programmed by second-year Bachelor students in Media & Interaction Design as part of a course taught by Gaël Hugo. This exercise begins with the following reflection: "Fun" datasets concern topics that are of personal interest, and can be used to answer unexpected questions and explore relationships that aren’t immediately intuitive. Perhaps you start with a question or hypothesis, and then find a dataset to prove (or disprove) your theory. Or, you might even generate your own dataset using web scraping techniques or an open API. In fact, creating your own dataset enables you to collect, label, and prepare a clean dataset. - Kindra Cooper

ReGrid

PRODUCT DESIGN

ReGrid

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.

ECAL X KVADRAT - SUIT UP

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

ECAL X KVADRAT - SUIT UP

with Stephane Halmai-Voisard

For this project, the students had to design a seat, or rather requalify and rehabilitate a chair or armchair using existing models such as the monobloc, aluminium bistro chair, or deck chair, as the base structure. Employing Kvadrat upholstery textiles, the designs had to be reversible, meaning it should not alter the existing structure. While the original function of the chair could be maintained or altered, the proposals aimed to improved the comfort and aesthetic character of the seats.

Photographic Editions

PHOTOGRAPHY

Photographic Editions

with RVB Books/Matthieu Charon & Rémi Faucheux

Using pre-produced images, the students created one or more book models. How do you transform a series of photographs into a book? The Photographic Editions course introduces students to the selection of images, their order, format, graphics, ink, paper and binding. It addresses the specificities of the book as a medium and as a market.

BURNING CORSO - Thomas Mailaender

PHOTOGRAPHY

BURNING CORSO - Thomas Mailaender

with Thomas Mailaender

In the spring of 2024, Thomas Mailaender and the students of the ECAL Bachelor in Photography entered the ruins of the club with the intention of making it resonate once again. Between archaeology, documentary research, and imaginative speculations, the group of adventurers crafted a surprising exhibition path blending mold and glitter, ashes and glamour. For one night, the Corso was filled with explosive sounds and images in a fiery tribute to the nights of Renens.

Fine Art Photography

PHOTOGRAPHY

Fine Art 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.

Pratique photographique

PHOTOGRAPHY

Pratique photographique

with Maxime Guyon

"Extraordinary Daily Commodities": Everyday Objects What if the objects around us were not mere tools, but autonomous entities with their own essence? Inspired by Graham Harman's Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO), this semester invited students to explore objects from a fresh perspective. Freed from the shadow of our consciousness, they take a place equal to that of humans, animals, and plants. Guided by Maxime Guyon, second-year photography students were encouraged to rediscover what "banal" truly means and dive into a reflection on the place and sensitivity of objects in the contemporary world.

Blue jeans

PHOTOGRAPHY

Blue jeans

with Philippe Jarrigeon, Philippe Jarrigeon

This year, a unique workshop invited students to explore the relationship between an object and its image. By delving into the material properties, history, symbolism, and multiple representations of an iconic object, they sought to understand the aura that defines it. The subject of this first edition? The blue jean. From a simple utilitarian garment to a global symbol of style, the blue jean transcends generations and cultures. Throughout the semester, students were tasked with creating a photographic project or video that both questions and celebrates this emblematic object.

Picture Consequences

PHOTOGRAPHY

Picture Consequences

with Tamara Janes

The students task is to create their own story, storyline, narrative or sequences based on the existing given images. Using their personal interests, imagination and ideas they link the images together. They can continue the plot of the images, do in-depth research, write fictional stories or tell stories based on personal experiences. The students had the freedom to photograph, generate or film.

Workshop with Lorenzo Vitturi

PHOTOGRAPHY

Workshop with Lorenzo Vitturi

with Lorenzo Vitturi

The aim of this workshop is to engage students in a multidisciplinary process that combines photography with sculpture and scenography. To emphasize the importance of the creative process, students are encouraged to use primarily collected and recycled materials, which will need to be transformed and integrated into their visual narrative. The work presented at the end of the workshop will reflect this approach, combining visual results with sculptures and ephemeral installations.

No Signal!

PRODUCT DESIGN

No Signal!

with Reed Kram

No Signal! Is the the outcome of an exploratory one-week workshop completed for, and now exhibited in, the Mudac’s exhibition ‘We Will Survive’, which delves into the world of ‘Preppers.’ Guided by designer Reed Kram, students from the MA Product Design program, worked in pairs to create solutions for a hypothetical scenario in which phones no longer work, the internet is down, and grid electricity is unavailable. Faced with this breakdown of modern infrastructure, their mission was to reimagine how we might fulfill one of humanity's most essential needs—communication.

ECAL × JEAN PAUL GAULTIER: SPORT - CORPS

PHOTOGRAPHY

ECAL × JEAN PAUL GAULTIER: SPORT - CORPS

with Florence Tétier, Nicolas Coulomb

SPORT - CORPS : Jeux Olympiques et Paralympiques The project is based on the theme of the body, with a view to staging physical effort.  The recent context of the Olympic and Paralympic Games logically frames the choice of sport as an aesthetic means of highlighting different forms of bodily expression. The choice of discipline could be classic, out-of-games or even imaginary. The students worked around a certain vision of physical effort, movement, constraint, a form of discipline, or even joy.

Video

PHOTOGRAPHY

Video

with Olivia Schenker

Hot N Cold 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.

Fine Art Photography

PHOTOGRAPHY

Fine Art Photography

with Laurence Bonvin

Liquid Times Produce a project using photography and video on the theme of fluidity, liquid form and water.

Fine Art Photography

PHOTOGRAPHY

Fine Art Photography

with Natacha Lesueur

Documentary, the power of make-believe. Based on projects developed around a common theme, the students develop a personal, in-depth project around the theme of pretense. They build a project that plays with the limits of veracity in photography, using it as an artifice of deception.

Staged Photography

PHOTOGRAPHY

Staged Photography

with Charlotte Krieger

The aim of this course is to introduce students to the creation and management of a complex photographic project involving sets, characters and lighting. The theme is free.

Workshop Digital Medium Format

PHOTOGRAPHY

Workshop Digital Medium Format

with Anoush Abrar

Beauty shot The week-long Medium format digital workshop is both an introduction to shooting equipment and dedicated software. Students worked in groups to produce portrait images.

Applied Photography

PHOTOGRAPHY

Applied Photography

with Calypso Mahieu

Waliking in Renens A collaborative project in which students were asked to choose a local shop in Renens and to create a documentary project combining images of still life, architecture and portraits.

Paleo Workshop - Screening at Visions du Réel 2024

FILM STUDIES

Paleo Workshop - Screening at Visions du Réel 2024

by Loris Ciaburri, Jonathan Daza Ospina, Loïs de Goumoëns, Sara Dutch, Fei Fan, Pablo Guscetti, Anna Joos, Saleh Kashefi, Theofanis Papadopoulos, Valentina Parati, Antoine Scalese

Students in the Master Film Studies ECAL/HEAD produced documentary vignettes for the Paléo Festival, which were shown for the first time at Visions du Réel in April 2024.

Directing workshop with Alejo Moguillansky

FILM STUDIES

Directing workshop with Alejo Moguillansky

with Alejo Moguillansky

A 1 week filmmaking workshop led by the Argentinian director, screenwriter and producer Alejo Moguillansky with the students of the Master in Film - major direction.

Kosovo Grand Voyage workshop

FILM STUDIES

Kosovo Grand Voyage workshop

with Kaltrina Krasniqi

Each year, students of the Master's program undertake a "Great Trip" to discover the territory of a filmmaker. In 2022, they went to Kosovo with the director and screenwriter Kaltrina Krasniqi.

SORTIR DU CADRE – ECAL + DECATHLON

PRODUCT DESIGN

SORTIR DU CADRE – ECAL + DECATHLON

with Camille Blin

On the occasion of Paris Design Week 2024, DECATHLON is partnering with ECAL's Product Design Master's programme to unveil "Sortir du Cadre", an installation showcasing two prototypes of electric-assisted trekking bikes based on research into eco-design. Through this collaboration, DECATHLON engages the younger generation of designers around eco-design themes. These concept bikes, envisioned by students from Product Design Master’s  programme, express a vision of the future in which sustainable development and the pleasure of outdoor activities go hand in hand.

Video

PHOTOGRAPHY

Video

with Orsola Valenti

Hors-champ “Showing by hiding, revealing by stealing": for a political practice of the audiovisual image. The main aim of the course is to raise awareness of the political dimension of the audiovisual gesture and give students the tools to distinguish the cinematographic image from the media image. Whereas the latter - flattened, emptied and therefore interchangeable - overwhelms its receptor, rendering it powerless, the cinematographic image liberates emotion and critical reflection. In this way, it goes beyond the supposedly faithful representation of reality.

VAUD-O-RAMA – JEUX OLYMPIQUES PARIS 2024

VAUD-O-RAMA – JEUX OLYMPIQUES PARIS 2024

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. Comprising some twenty synchronized screens offering a panoramic view of the canton and its major assets, Vaud-o-rama aims to promote the region and forge links with the public, helping them to discover its richness and diversity. Inspired by the diorama museal device, this installation offers a dynamic and immersive showcase for the canton of Vaud, highlighting four key areas: Innovation, Education, Culture and Sport. It presents a varied portrait of the canton and offers a current view of its activities. In this way, the canton of Vaud reveals itself as a center of excellence for research and innovation, a cutting-edge learning ground, a mecca for cultural creation and a sports ecosystem that is unique in the world.

Introduction to graphic design 23-24

FOUNDATION YEAR

Introduction to graphic design 23-24

with Violène Pont, Patrick Monnier, Denis Roueche

Exercise 1: Collecting images in vector graphics Exercise 2: Using the grid between image and text Exercise 3: Memento

Documentary film workshop with Alessandro Comodin

FILM STUDIES

Documentary film workshop with Alessandro Comodin

with Alessandro Comodin

The 2024 documentary film workshop for 2nd year students was lead by french italian director Alessandro Comodin.

Collector

GRAPHIC DESIGN

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.

Editorial Design S2 2024

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Editorial Design S2 2024

with Diego Bontognali

The semester project consists of two editions with identical content but different formats. Construct content from a news report, to produce two editions.

Type Design

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Type Design

with Aurèle Sack

The second-year students had to develop the lower-case letters of two display fonts by hand.

Type Specimen

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Type Specimen

with Robert Huber

Type design research and developmen displayed on a specimen.

TRANSLATION

GRAPHIC DESIGN

TRANSLATION

with Adeline Mollard

During the visual identity course, the 2nd year Graphic Design bachelors had to produce a communication project based on a translation. They had to define their own translation system and develop a visual language based on these rules.

So, how can we live better?

GRAPHIC DESIGN

So, how can we live better?

with Nicole Udry

Beyond questions of functionality, comfort and individual or collective well-being, the built environment is capable of responding in a stimulating way to societal, energy and environmental challenges. Workplaces, homes, public spaces, interiors and streets are all driven by real statements of intent that motivate their design. The 2nd year Graphic Design students worked on a communication based on one of these principles (or others) and on the architectural creation that refers to it in order to promote it.

Information Design

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.

I as an Island

PRODUCT DESIGN

I as an Island

with Chris Kabel

Like Robinson Crusoe scavenged the wrecked ship for materials to build his home, First Year Master Product Design students, guided by Chris Kabel, were invited to delve into the flotsam of their creative minds for this open workshop. The workshop began with collecting, organizing, and analyzing creative flotsam and jetsam to create a self-portrait as a designer. Unrealized projects, obsessions and fascinations, irritations, vague dreams, (bad) jokes, and ideas too weird to talk about—all these resided within a designer's mind. Beginnings already existed: inspiring photos on phones, inviting materials, first ideas hastily scribbled down, quick sketches on paper, half-baked assemblages, or flimsy maquettes. These fragments and particles were analyzed to discover the kind of designer each participant was, extracting a direction for development during the week. This process of analysis, ideation, and translation, including the ‘end result,’ became visible as an island, shaped and populated by each individual's design process. It featured fragile beginnings, iterations, and the choices made along the way, culminating in a final conclusion shaped by material samples, shape research, 3D sketches, the development of a mechanism, a campaign, a film scenario, or whatever else was distilled from the initial flotsam.

Creative drawing

FOUNDATION YEAR

Creative drawing

with David Monnet, Natacha Donzé

Drawing with an emphasis on research and experimentation from a purely artistic perspective.

Atelier Images 2023-24

FOUNDATION YEAR

Atelier Images 2023-24

with Francis Baudevin, Christian Pahud

Service Design - 2024

GRAPHIC DESIGN

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

PHOTOGRAPHY

Service Design - 2024

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.

REMIND ME I'M ALIVE

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

REMIND ME I'M ALIVE

with Alain Bellet

REMIND ME I'M ALIVE is a companion that combines the functions of a fidget toy with those of a personal reminder. The gadget uses information on Wifi connections in its immediate vicinity to better understand the user's environment. By examining these connections - the only gateway to the outside world - the gadget can tell whether the user is in a busy or quiet environment, and even give indications of possible stressful situations. When the user is not interacting with the device, it constantly monitors his or her status via the surrounding wifi connections. These connections provide implicit information on social conditions, working environments, infrastructures and much more. If the user does not communicate with the companion for more than six hours, it “dies” and must be resuscitated. This feature underlines the need for regular interaction and ensures that the companion is always ready for use.

Generated memories

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Generated memories

with Guy Meldem

During the Image Creation course with Guy Meldem, students explored the benefits of AI. Feeding the machine with their own illustrative style, they were able to generate a certain quantity of images, enabling them to produce a graphic novel, a collection of images or other types of illustrated editorial work.

Nuancier

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Nuancier

with Julie Richoz

"Nuancier (n.m.): A presentation tool displaying the colors and shades of a product." — Larousse definition For this project, the students created and developed their own shades, surfaces, assemblies or materials, which they then shaded in several samples and assembled to create their own nuancier.

SYNC SCREEN

GRAPHIC DESIGN

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

PHOTOGRAPHY

SYNC SCREEN

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.

Photography 23-24

FOUNDATION YEAR

Photography 23-24

with Tonatiuh Ambrosetti, Daniela Droz

Exercise 1: Still life and portrait work, between studio and location Exercise 2: Short work based on experimentation Exercise 3: Narrative series Exercise 4: Series of images linked to the music Mind if I stay by Kadebostany

ECAL X HORGENGLARUS The Future is... Older

PRODUCT DESIGN

ECAL X HORGENGLARUS The Future is... Older

by Youssef Bassil, Meri Hozumi, Altamirano Castro Eduardo, Sofia Biondi, Gabriella Duck Garnham, Louis Ferraz, Justus Hilfenhaus, Clémentine Merhebi, Fanny Marrot, Lilian Onstenk, Aurelia Pleyer, Antonio Severi, Loïs Weber, Yichen Wu, Tom Jacquérioz

Who will we be? What will we need? How will we live? What will design offer? “Between 2015 and 2050, the proportion of the world’s population over 60 years will nearly double from 12% to 22%.” — World Health Organization Led by Tutor Sam Hecht and completed by first-year students of ECAL Master Product Design with input from the senior-lab, this project presents a range of objects designed for Horgenglarus that cater to the growing population of elderly users. The aim of these objects is to challenge the stereotypes associated with this frequently medicalised category, while leveraging Horgenglarus’s extensive expertise in wood-based craftsmanship.

BY HAND

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

BY HAND

with Friederike Daumiller

Even if it seems that digital is taking over analog, there's still an interest and need for us as humans to have a physical connection to our daily tools. So many designers swear by their drawing routine and real-life experimentation still plays a important role in our practices. Under the guidance of Friederike Daumiller students took the challenge to design their own interpretations of hand writing and hand drawing instruments always referring to their hands-on tests and experience.

Figure Libre

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Figure Libre

with Elric Petit

Figure libre is an industrial design project that empowers students to explore topics of their choice. This semester, guided by Elric Petit, students developed their personal projects inspired by articles from specialized newspapers or magazines. The objective is to create projects with the potential to seamlessly integrate in our contemporary society and its economy, leveraging their personal affinities and interests to enhance their work.

Betaverse

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Betaverse

with Alain Bellet, Mario Von Rickenbach

Using a mixed reality headset, the students used their surroundings as playground. Through creative gestures, each experiment proposes a way of interacting with the environment.

ECAL x FREITAG - Access over ownership

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

ECAL x FREITAG - Access over ownership

with Christophe Guberan

Second-year industrial design students collaborated with Zurich-based brand FREITAG Lab, leveraging their expertise in environmental awareness, material upcycling, and the circular economy. Using the FREITAG manifesto as a foundation, they developed new shared products centered on the principle of "access over ownership."

Workshop Jiri Oplatek

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Workshop Jiri Oplatek

by Candice Aepli, Amélie Bertholet, Coraline Beyeler, Delphine Brantschen, Léa Corin, Matteo Cortesi, Mathilde Driebold, Eliot Dubi, Marc Facchinetti, Emilie Müller, Dorian Pangallo, Paul Paturel, Hugo Scholl, Diego Steiner, Cyprien Valenza, Alfredo Venti, Arnaud Wenger, Constance Mauler, Flora Hayoz, Lidia Molina González

An Ode to the Poster 80 Attributes 80 Fonts 80 Posters During this week, the second year students had to create 80 posters, i.e. 4 posters per person. Based on a list of defined attributes, they had to create typography and concepts around them.

Workshop Hélas Studio

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Workshop Hélas Studio

with Eilean Friis-Lund, Alice Vodoz

Mise en scène An exercise centered around the poster format with a typographic approach. The goal is to convey the atmosphere of a film through lettering by graphically staging the text.

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