The development of visual messages for digital and analogue communication channels is based on design processes. In this process, solution variants emerge that can be compared and evaluated to arrive at a definitive solution. In practice, design processes lead to a solution proposed for a singular task, which can be derived and also verbally argued about. But how can this ability to create variants be used for the purpose of research so that an insight emerges that may be applied and described beyond the solution for a merely singular task? How can we research something with a design and, thus, contribute to the critical discourse on the impact of visual messages and the applications of digital media? In the course of this one-week workshop, participants will learn about a design-based approach to research. They will learn how to formulate a research question and how to develop answers to a question through the very process of design. This workshop is intended for people from the practical field of design who want to learn more about design research and its interfaces with other fields of knowledge (image studies, media studies, anthropology, and psychology). The workshop is moreover intended for people interested in a reflected approach to practice or who want to learn about methods of design research in order to become active in this field of research.
Michael Renner, 1961, experienced the digital revolution first-hand when he went to work for Apple Computer Inc. and The Understanding Business in California in 1986, just after completing his diploma as Graphic Designer at the Basel School of Design. Research and reflection upon the meaning of images in the context of digital tools became the central theme of Renner’s practical and theoretical design activities. Since 1990, he has his own design Studio in Basel with corporate and cultural clients. He started teaching in 1990 in the Visual Communication Institute at the Basel School of Design (HGK FHNW) with an emphasis on Information Design, Interaction Design and Design Research. In 1999 he was named chairman of the institute. From 2005 until 2013 he was member of “eikones”, the Swiss National Center of Competence in Iconic Research and the European research network “What Images Do”. His approach to develop research activities in the field of design is based on the aim to further develop existing competencies of image creation. With this approach of gaining knowledge through the creation of images the design process becomes the central research theme and a methodology at the same time. He has lectured and taught workshops in Europe and abroad. Renner is visiting Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and at the Politecnico di Milano. He is member of the advisory board of Visible Language and of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI).
The Institute Digital Communication Environments (IDCE) / The Basel School of Design offers workshops for students, educators and graphic designers.
The workshops afford insights into topical themes of visual communication in a study programme reflecting the rich tradition of the Basel School of Design. Practical exercises with a high level of professionalism form the core of the workshops focus. Reflection as well as contextual knowledge will be conveyed by way of input sessions, allowing participants’ work to be judged within a contemporary, future-oriented context relevant to professional practice. The trinational Rhine River Valley is a unique cultural environment with easy access to France and Germany and to sites such as the Vitra Design Museum (G), the Isenheimer Alter (F), or Ronchamps (F). In Basel, the Fondation Beyeler, Tinguely Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Schaulager, and Museum of Contemporary Art are world-renowned. Besides its museums, Basel offers a rich mixture of cultural events.
20% discount with a valid student ID. This must be sent in with the registration (pdf).
Institute Digital Communication Environments (IDCE)
Through digital media and the democratisation of communication channels that goes hand in hand with it, the critical handling of their visual and interaction-based design has become decisively more important, because the social relevance of information and communication has thus fundamentally changed.
