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Newsletter N°5
May 2025
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Dear Readers,
We’re excited to be back with the fifth edition of our Visual Communication Newsletter. As the semester progresses and our recent graduates prepare to leave ZHdK after three years of bachelor studies, we continue to witness how design can respond to the complexities of the world around us. In times marked by uncertainty for many, we’re reminded that Visual Communication, at its best, is not only about design legacy and aesthetics, but also about care, responsibility, and attentiveness to the voices that often go unheard.
In this edition, we share updates from our program, highlight upcoming events, and celebrate the inspiring work emerging from our community. We hope it brings you inspiration, reflection, and a sense of connection.
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The countdown to the most anticipated event of the year has begun: the Diploma Exhibition 2025 is approaching.
This year’s edition will be slightly different: with the introduction of the new major-minor system and the transition to the two-year MA program at ZHdK, only our bachelor students will be graduating. The exhibition promises to be a rich and inspiring showcase of their diverse projects and ideas.
We invite you to the opening on June 5th, 2025, to mark this milestone together and to discover the final works of our graduates. For an insight, we encourage you to attend the public bachelor presentations on June 11th at the Lecture Hall of the Museum für Gestaltung, Ausstellungsstrasse 60.
We look forward to welcoming you there.
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Opening
June 5th, 2025 at 17:00
Exhibition
June 6th – June 22nd, 2025
daily from 12:00 to 20:00
Toni-Areal, 3.K01 (Lecture Hall 1) and 6.K04
Pfingstweidstrasse 96, 8005 Zürich
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Public Presentations Bachelor Visual Communication
June 11th, 2025, from 10:45
Vortragssaal, Museum für Gestaltung,
Ausstellungsstrasse 60,
8005 Zürich
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Diploma Projects
Selection 2022
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To give you a sneak peak of the projects our students will be showing during the diploma exhibition, here is a small selection of 8 Bachelor projects.
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This year’s diploma publication is a a collage of perspectives. It explores questions of style – in design, in thought, in narration. Alongside glimpses of the diploma projects, it brings forward voices from graduating students, alumni, and current peers. Fresh from the press, the Edition will be available for free at the show opening – ready to be taken home.
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VC Diplompublikation 2025
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Limbo Vienna – Podcast #2
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EXPEDITION 5TH SEMESTER (BA)
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Hello, Oh Oh Oh, Vienna Calling!
The heart of every Limbo Tour is the thrill of the unknown—guided by a strong network of local designers, NGOs, experts, and friends. In Vienna, we waltzed through the city’s history and contemporary culture, gaining rare insights into its dynamic art and design scene.
To bring that experience to you, Andalus Liniger—the mind behind the Limbo Tours—has curated a brand-new episode of Listening Limbo, our official podcast.
Episode two is ready for you: 61 minutes of immersive, binaural sound. For the full experience, grab your headphones and tune in.
In that spirit, Bussi baba and Two, One, Zero: Listening Limbo Episode 2
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Photos: Artemisia Astolfi, Sarah Iller, Meriton Ajdini, Pascal Kägi
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Exploring real-world projects with our students has always been an important part of our approach in Visual Communication. As part of their extracurricular activities, students occasionally have the chance to pitch their ideas to external clients who express an interest in collaborating with our program. This semester, we’ve had the pleasure of working with three fantastic partners on such projects.
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Students from the Visual Communication and Trends & Identity programs visited the heritage house Hermès’ flagship store in Paris earlier this year, drawing inspiration for their work on this collaboration. The winning team, consisting of Jennifer Anger, Davide Iozzo, and Clara Kuhnke, designed the luxury brand’s shop windows on Zurich’s Bahnhofstrasse. Their concept, “To lose yourself means to find yourself,” creatively showcased the rich history of the traditional luxury house. Mentoring was provided by Katharina Tietze, Rebecca Morganti-Pfaffhauser, and David Walsh. Special thanks to the Hermès team: Chiara Anelli and Antoine Foegle.
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Window design by Jennifer Anger, Davide Iozzo, and Clara Kuhnke
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Our MA students Stephanie Bär, Bew Kullasatri, and Jonathan Youd took on an exciting challenge last semester: designing the new website for PH goes Poetry, the writing competition run by the Pädagogische Hochschule Zürich. The website will serve as an archive for the competition and provide a new platform for showcasing and reading the wide range of poetry created by PHZH students. It’s set to go live this autumn.
Mentoring was provided by Sarah Owens and Katharina Shafiei-Nasab with support from PH by Daniel Ammann and Alex Rickert.
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Prototype of the Website PH Goes Poetry by Stephanie Bär, Bew Kullasatri and Jonathan Youd
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At the beginning of the year, Theater Winkelwiese in Zurich approached us with an exciting opportunity: they invited our students to redesign their entrance tickets for upcoming performances. With its long-standing history and strong focus on contemporary plays—often premiering scripts that later become part of their online archive—the collaboration offered a rich foundation for inspiration. The project was mentored by Jonas Voegeli and Katharina Shafiei-Nasab and supervised by Clara Dobbertin and Hannah Steffen of Theater Winkelwiese.
We’d like to congratulate Alessia Rohrer and Hans Frauchiger on winning the pitch—their designs will soon be in the hands of theatergoers on their night out at Theater Winkelwiese.
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A first glimpse at the winning design by Alessia Rohrer and Hans Frauchiger.
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Each year, the Swiss Design Award honors the brightest talents in Swiss design, and our students, alumni, and staff continue to make their mark in this longstanding competition. As we look forward to this year’s Award ceremony, which will take place during Art Basel from June 19–22, 2025, we are excited to congratulate three of our Visual Communication alumni who have been recognized as finalists. Congratulations to Dafi Kühne (BA, 2009), Ronny Hunger (MA, 2019) and Romain Salomon (BA, 2024) We are proud of their achievements and look forward to seeing their continued success in the design world.
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neo-Manuscripts, 2024, Romain Salomon
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VC-Edition:
What do we think we’re doing
by Stuart Bertolotti-Bailey
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By now, you're all familiar with our publishing series, VC-Editions. From all the focuses of our program, we frequently release publications based on core courses or occasional workshops. The latest addition to this series asks the question: What do we think we’re doing? This is a question that designer and publisher Stuart Bertolotti-Bailey explored with our students during a workshop in 2023. The result is a beautiful publication that visually takes us through a group discussion, where our students shared their opinions, anticipations, and concerns regarding the real-life working environments and responsibilities they will face as upcoming graduates and trained graphic designers.
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We’re delighted to welcome Samira Schneuwly as the new Teaching Assistant for Type Design and Typography, Nicola Canziani as Teaching Assistant for Branding, and Urs Hofer, who will join us as a lecturer to establish and lead our new focus on Transformative Technologies and Digital Tools. Starting this autumn semester, this new focus will replace the current Information Design track in our BA program.
With all the exciting developments ahead, we wish all three a great start and an exciting journey with us.
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Studio 2 with
Carolina Márquez Bernard
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MA VISUAL COMMUNICATION WORKSHOP
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In the three-week module New Ecologies: The New Fossils of the Anthropocene Era, students explored how human-made materials and emerging technologies are reshaping the planet’s ecosystems. Through collective readings, discussions, and visual analyses led by Carolina Márquez Bernard, students examined interspecies entanglements and the shifting boundaries of what is considered natural. The seminar emphasized the rise of new geological entities—“fossils” of the Anthropocene—that challenge conventional ecological and cultural frameworks. Alongside theoretical inquiry, participants developed visual narratives for a collaborative publication, each contributing 16 pages that reflect their personal research and interpretation.
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Image from “Do Not Open!” by Nevin Goetschmman
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Studio 3 with Christian Lange
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MA VISUAL COMMUNICATION WORKSHOP
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Christian’s workshop explored the theme of “Windows.” In his rich opening presentation, he took us on a journey through art, film, music, and pop culture to show that the window is not the glass — it's the hole. From Hitchcock’s Rear Window to the rhythm of Laurie Anderson’s voice to the stillness of an empty room, students were invited to look — not at things, but through them.
A window isn’t a thing; it’s an opening. A pause in the wall. A space for light, context, or defiance. We came to see the window not as an object, but as a framing device — a blank space that acts.
Together, students explored the editorial potential of this idea: What does a window do in design?
Windows unsettle. They are thresholds, not certainties. They interrupt. And interruption, we learned, is a design principle too.
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Image from "My little piece of Privacy" by Niklas Roy, 2010
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Information Design FS 25 with NORM
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For the very last round of our BA focus Information Design, we’re welcoming back NORM, who already taught the course last semester, to go out with a bang. And what a bang it is: this time, the course focuses on hyper layouts—inspired by Japanese teen magazines, loud, shrill, and extremely information-dense. These hyper layouts are a challenge for both designers and readers alike.
To help us make sense of the chaos we’re diving into, we’ve invited Tokyo-based graphic designer and editor of Fracture: Japanese Graphic Design 1875–1975, Ian Lynam, to talk to us about the rich history of information-dense Japanese layouts.
The results from this course will soon be available as our latest addition to the VC Editions, designed by our students in close collaboration with NORM.
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Gestaltungsgeschichte(n) der SBB
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The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) possess both rolling stock and infrastructure, including stations, technical buildings, and a rail network. These comprehensive assets have enabled internationally significant achievements in architecture, industrial design, visual communication and corporate design.
The symposium “Gestaltungsgeschichte(n) der SBB” offers insights into an interdisciplinary research project, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and based in our Visual Communication research unit, which examines the conditions, working methods, and outcomes of various design disciplines within a complex organization. The symposium presentations and panel discussions will showcase initial findings of the research.
The symposium is open to the public and free of charge. Please register via Eventbrite.
3 July, 18:30 to 21:00
Zurich University of the Arts,
Pfingstweidstrasse 96, 8005 Zürich, 5.K12
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Andreas Bürki with Uli Huber and Ueli Thalmann: Seating of the Standard Coach IV, 2nd class, 1982,
Photo: © Renate Meyer
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Agenda
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5 June at 17:00
Diploma Exhibition
Show Opening Toni-Areal,
3.K01 (Hörsaal 1), 6.K04
6–20 June, 12:00 to 20:00
Diploma Exhibition Toni-Areal,
3.K01 (Hörsaal 1), 6.K04
11 June from 10:45
Public Presentations Bachelor Visual Communication
Vortragssaal, Museum für Gestaltung,
Ausstellungsstrasse 60,
8005 Zürich
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14–22 June
Most Beautiful Swiss Books
Helmhaus Zurich
18–21 June
I Never Read Art Book Fair
Kaserne Basel
19–22 June
Swiss Design Awards
Hall 11, Basel Fair
3 July, 18:30 to 21:00
Gestaltungsgeschichte(n)
der SBB
Zurich University of the Arts,
Pfingstweidstrasse 96,
8005 Zürich, 5.K12
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Visual Communication
Zürcher Hochschule der Künste
Toni-Areal
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Pfingstweidstrasse 96
CH-8005 Zürich
Tel: +41 43 446 32 12
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