Institute Digital Communication Environments HGK Basel FHNW

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Institute Digital Communication Environments HGK Basel FHNW

Institute Digital Communication Environments (IDCE)
Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW They were outstanding models for a modernist design education.

The Basel School of Design and its students have influenced the international Graphic Design community since the 1960’s. Under the direction of Armin Hofmann and Emil Ruder courses for Graphic Design and Typography were developed. Since the year 2000, the Swiss educational system has undergone an astonishingly rapid process of adapting its educational institutions to the international standards of

the Bachelor and Master curricula at the University level. In this process the Visual Communication department became a separate institute from the vocational level School of Design (Schule für Gestaltung Basel). We are now part of the University system of Northwest Switzerland and have developed a curriculum for the University level with international accreditation. This University level institute is officially called the «Visual Communication Institute/The Basel School of Design» and forms together with seven other Design- and Art oriented Institutes the Academy of Art and Design Basel (HGK Basel) as a Department of the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW). Today the Visual Communication Institute/The Basel School of Design offers a Bachelor's Degree programm, an international Master’s Degree program, international Summer Workshops, and is involved in many national and international research and development projects. We are proud of what our institute has achieved during the past few years. The institute has a curriculum for today and tomorrow’s design world continuing the rich tradition of Swiss Design and Typography.

02/09/2026

Please join us on Wednesday September 2 for an additional lecture of last semester’s lecture series ‘Return’ with Atli Hilmarsson.

Date: Wednesday, September 2, 5pm
Room: D 5.06

Atli began his studies in graphic design at the Parsons School of Design in Paris, Los Angeles, and New York, graduating with honors, in 1990. After working in Iceland at the Icelandic Ad Agency, he attended the Basel School of Design Advanced Class for Graphic Design, 1991–1993. Afterwards he moved to Munich and worked for the firm KMS-Team for seven years. He was creative director at Meta Design, Berlin, 2000–2002. In 2002 he opened his own studio in Berlin and in 2003 he moved to Iceland and started Vinnustofa Atla Hilmarssonar (Atelier Atli Hilmarsson).

Atli’s work focuses on corporate design, signage, book design, and exhibition design. He has also taught design, at the Fachhochscul-Studiengänge-Vorarlberg, InterMedia, Dornbirn, Austria, at the Schule für Gestaltung, Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany, Schule für Gestaltung Ravensburg, Germany and at the Iceland University of the Arts, Reykjavík. He has given lectures in the U.S. and throughout Europe, and has received numerous awards and prizes.

https://www.atli.de/

06/07/2026

STUDY TRIP BA Visual Communication and Digital Spaces:

„Hamburg, kreativ und laut 🌈🔊

Ob Graffiti, Humor oder Persönlichkeiten, jeder Ecken ist voll mit Abwechslung.

Auf unserer Studienreise haben wir dies in diversen Grafikagenturen wahrgenommen, wobei uns jede mit persönlichen und innovativen Charakteren und Designsprachen einlud. Dafür nochmal ein grosses Dankeschön von allen! 🙏

Aber auch auf Hafenrundfahrten mit schaukelndem Boot, in eindrücklichen ausgestatteten Museen oder mit einer kühlen Flasche st.Pauli Astra in einer belebten Bar am Abend, ist die Farbenfrohheit und die Lebendigkeit der Stadt nicht zu übersehen.

Danke Marion und Susanne für die coole Reise, das cool sein und die funky Superbude, in der wir der Hitze ausweichen konnten 🥰“

superbude

.elin .heinzer ._ .gioana .n_ .art .maselli .lili

09/06/2026

Please join us on Wednesday, June 10, for the last lecture of this semester’s ‘Return’ series with Dan Solbach.

Dan Solbach (b. 1987) is a Swiss graphic designer based in Berlin whose work focuses on contemporary art publishing, visual identities, and typographic systems. Working across artists’ books, monographs, catalogues, and institutional communications, he collaborates internationally with museums, galleries, curators, writers, and artists to create context-driven visual identities and publications. He is co-founder of Kona Books and the affiliated Posta da Kona bookshop in Tbilisi. His clients include institutions such as Kunsthalle Zürich, Haus der Kunst, Kunsthalle Basel, MMK Frankfurt, Mudam Luxembourg, Tank Shanghai, and White Cube, and artists including Rebecca Horn, Andro Wekua, Sung Tieu, Meredith Monk, Peter Halley, and Richard Hawkins. His recent work includes the visual identity for the German Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Solbach received the Swiss Design Awards in 2018, has earned multiple international book design distinctions, and became a member of AGI in 2025. Alongside his studio practice, he teaches internationally and serves as a juror for design competitions and exhibitions.

5.15 pm, Freilager-Platz 1, Münchenstein, Open to public.

Credits: ©TimSonntag

01/06/2026

Please join us on Wednesday, June 3, for the next lecture of this semester’s ‘Return’ series with Marcus Kraft.

Studio Marcus Kraft is a Swiss graphic design studio based in Zurich. The studio creates custom-made projects with strong visual narratives for national and international clients.
Its focus lies in elaborate design concepts, art direction, identities, branding, publications, exhibitions, packaging, signage, digital, and motion — always with the bigger picture in mind, a great attention to detail, and a strong emphasis on typographic quality. The studio operates as a collaborative practice, often involving a broader circle of specialists to meet the unique multi-disciplinary requirements of each project. To learn more about the studio’s approach, readers are invited to explore its manifesto.
The studio’s work has been internationally awarded, exhibited, and published. It also runs two spin-off projects: Pop Music Wisdom and Tableau Zurich.

5.15 pm, Freilager-Platz 1, Münchenstein, Open to public.

28/05/2026

APPLY NOW: Summer Workshops , HGK Basel FHNW
June–July 2026

Inquiry by Design
by Michael Renner (23.06.-27.06.2026)

Poster Design
by Leander Eisenmann (29.06.-03.07.2026)eisenmann

Type Design
by Philipp Stamm (06.07.–10.07. 2026)

Creative Coding
by Ted Davis (06.07.–10.07. 2026)

Please find the full program here: www.baselsummerworkshops.ch

Application Deadline: 4 weeks before the respective workshop. The workshops will be held in German and English.

20/05/2026

Please join us on Wednesday May 27 for the next lecture of the ‘Return’ series with Lena Friedli.

Lena Friedli (b. 1985) has been director of Forum Schlossplatz—an exhibition space for art and contemporary issues in Aarau—since late 2019. Her program features socially relevant thematic group exhibitions and projects in the fields of visual arts, performance, and literature, with a focus on site-specific formats, residencies, and performative projects.

The art historian and cultural studies scholar previously served as artistic director of the akku Kunstplattform in Emmenbrücke. In earlier years, Lena Friedli was a research assistant at the Kunstmuseum Luzern, co-director of the Ausstellungsraum Klingental in Basel, and co-founder of the Projektraum KECK in Basel. Lena Friedli lives in Suhr near Aarau, is the mother of a daughter, serves on boards, expert committees, and juries, and works as a freelancer on exhibitions and publications.

Credits:
Displays in Dialogue, MA-Thesis by Lena Friedli and Michael Huebner, 2015.
Mit Haut und Haar, Publikation, hrsg. v. Lena Friedli und Theres Inauen, Forum Schlossplatz, 2022, graphicdesign by upset Zürich.
Performance von Martina Lussi, akku Kunstplattform Emmenbrücke 2019, Foto: Luis Hartl.
Residenz Residenz mit Stirnimann-Stojanovic, Forum Schlossplatz Aarau 2022, Foto: Peter Koehl
We would prefer not to, Ausstellung im Forum Schlossplatz Aarau mit Werken von Alex Hanimann und Katharina Anna Wieser, 2023, Foto: Peter Koehl

11/05/2026

APPLY NOW: Summer Workshop „Poster Design“
by Leander Eisenmann .eisenmann, June 29–July 3, 2026

Everyone realizes whether a poster is outstanding immediately upon seeing it: its visual appeal, the stringency of its content, a surprising punch line, its topicality and individuality convince us in an instant. But how can we design such a mind-blowing poster ourselves? A poster is a large, two-dimensional surface with a fascinating illusion of colour and form, movement, space, and perspective. Its design will have to correspond to many different aspects: a key concept and an existing corporate identity, for instance. It will have to be recognizable, understandable, original, and project an independent artistic expression.

Right at the beginning of the workshop, we shall enter an inspired, creative flow and develop such a work by means of playful, experimental design techniques and a sharply analytical eye, discovering that there are virtually no limits to the possibilities of good design!

In input sessions (a visit to an outstanding design studio, a visit to the Basel Poster Collection, plus insights into Leander Eisenmann’s own collection of exclusive screen-printed posters), we shall place the iconic Swiss poster culture in a current, contemporary context and explore what excellent poster design means in 2026. For all this, we have time, motivation, and a perfect setting at our disposal – so let’s get to it!

Please find the full program here: https://baselsummerworkshops.ch/

Application Deadline: June 1, 2026. The workshops will be held in German and English.

.eisenmann

27/04/2026

APPLY NOW: Summer Workshop „Inquiry by Design“
by Prof. Michael Renner , June 23–27, 2026

Typically, design processes are used to craft visual messages for a specific purpose. In contrast, the Inquiry by Designworkshop explores how design processes can be employed to enhance our understanding of how images create meaning in specific contexts. This approach, which we call Practice-led Image Research*, focuses on acquiring knowledge about the vast field of image phenomena. Various academic disciplines, including Art History, Linguistics, Psychology, and Anthropology, have emphasized the need for a scientific approach to studying images. While most academic fields address research questions through theoretical methodologies, the Inquiry by Design workshop introduces participants to practice-based methodologies in the field of Visual Communication.

Please find the full program here: https://baselsummerworkshops.ch/

Application Deadline: May 26, 2026. The workshops will be held in German and English.

23/04/2026

A glimpse into the exhibition of the Bachelor of Arts in Visual Communication and Digital Spaces.

Our sincere thanks to Claudia Perren and the advisory board members Christoph Schmid, Esther Zumsteg, and Prof. Gabi Schillig.

With thanks to the lecturers who contributed to the exhibition: Dirk Koy Ted Davis Jinsu Ahn .ahn_basel Viola Diehl Prof. Marion Fink Kambiz Shafei .shafei Prof. Philipp Stamm

22/04/2026

Please join us on Thursday April 30 for the next lecture of this semester’s lecture series ‘Return’ with Philip Burton.

Philip Burton, is professor emeritus and founding chair of the graphic design program in the School of Design in the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts at the University of Illinois Chicago. Professor Burton has practiced and taught design for forty years, having held full-time faculty positions at the University of Houston, William Marsh Rice University and Yale University. He has coordinated and taught at the Yale-Brissago Program for more than 20 years. He served on the MDes faculty, the joined program between University of Illinois Chicago and the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst in Basel, Switzerland. He is also a consultant to Chicago-based, Morningstar, Inc., a global financial investment research company. In 2003 he was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, and was awarded the Julius Adams Stratton Prize for Intercultural Achievement by the Friends of Switzerland/Boston in 2016.

5.30 pm, Freilager-Platz 1, Münchenstein, Open to public.

Adresse

Freilager-Platz 1
Basel
4002

Webseite

https://linktr.ee/hgkbasel_idce

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