»We are shopping for meaning. Not for brands.« This is the slogan under which the class created and developed visionary and socially relevant brand ideas. Six projects that were not only sustainable, non-commercial and socially relevant but also met the requirements of innovation and extraordinary design were created in three project phases. The participating student teams covered themes ranging from stylish radiation protection clothing for everyday use, sustainable modular food packaging or a community- based platform for knowledge exchange to a football table that collects donations as well as Viennese water and miracles in the public sphere. Each of the three project phases closed with a presentation before a review board consisting of external experts and teaching staff of the University of Applied Arts. Guest panellists for instance included Matthias Dusini (of the city newspaper Falter), Walter Puschacher (of DMC, Munich) and Helmut Leder, Professor for General Psychology at the University of Vienna.

The Essence 2010
Exhibition

For the duration of The Essence 2010, the annual exhibition of the University
of Applied Arts, the graphic design class of Prof. Oliver Kartak moved to the showrooms of the Künstlerhaus in Vienna. In addition to daily publications fresh from the press, an analogue and digital archive offered insight into the diverse methodologies and visionary themes represented in the class. The presence of students working on class projects and personal projects during
the exhibitions created an open lab situation. Interested visitors were invited
to stay and engage in dialogue with the students.

This year Christian Schlager conceived the media design for the »Show Angewandte 10«, which took place for the first time under the new head of the department Bernhard Willhelm.

The Essence 2010
Media Design

Tobias Egger, Stephan Göschl and Gerhard Jordan designed the media to announce »The Essence 2010«, the annual exhibition of the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Besides posters, flyers, invitation cards and an info screen video, the students also designed the supplement The Essence 2010 in the Wiener Zeitung.

The European design co-operation project Atelier Tipografic invited 34 design students from the Netherlands, Austria and Romania to work on the topic »Design.Politics.Europe«, individually or in international teams. The project
led to a joint excursion of all participants to Vienna and Bucharest in late April, the presentation of all works in print and on the web and a touring exhibition through Romania, Austria and the Netherlands. The project, which was organised by the Dutch designers Piet Gerards and Hans Bockting, took place for the second time this year and was realised in co-operation with several partners, including the Association of Dutch Designers (BNO), Grafische Cultuurstichting, the University of Leiden, Design Austria, the University of Applied Arts Vienna and the University Nationala de Arte in Bucharest. 

www.ateliertipografic.eu

»Life is a constant alternation of hunger and satiation. Eating is the first element of any economy on which all other elements are based,« writes Wolf Lotter in his contribution to »Gegessen wird immer«, a feature of brand eins magazine. What do students associate with hunger? Which developments, consequences and connections do young designers identify for our society on
a social, local, global, urban, rural, ecological or economic level? In the basic graphic design class »Grafik Design Grundlagen«, students were asked to examine these questions and to design and create a photographic statement
as a contribution for a joint publication. Students of Oliver Kartak’s and
Walter Lürzer’s classes created humorous, serious and critical contributions for this project, which were compiled the publication »I am 61.260 kcal«by Jasmin Orthofer and Stephan Göschl.

The assignment of this exercise of the course »Basics in Graphic Design« called »Black & White« was to translate the six terms space-disruption-rhythm-distortion-ambivalence-silence into the language of photography. The briefing allowed for an unrestricted interpretation except for the colour restriction. Stephan Göschls series »House Rules« shows the facade of an apartment building located in the Praterstraße which is manipulated to visualise each of the six terms. 

Study trip to Israel

In April, we travelled to Israel to visit Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Apart from sightseeing and city tours, our programme also encompassed e.g. a visit to the studio of Israeli designer David Tartakover, a meeting with Itzik Rennert at the illustration department of Shenkar College as well as a tour of the Design Museum and the Israeli Center for Digital Art in Holon. Some of us also travelled to Ramallah and to the Dead Sea. The students were asked to document the trip from their own point of view, using various media, and to collect souvenirs. Their personal keepsakes and visual travel reports were then collected in a publication and presented at »The Essence 2010«.

For the second time, two students from the class travelled to Istanbul to participate in the »International Istanbul Graphic Design Week« (Grafist). The Grafist has been organised annually since 1997 by the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in co-operation with ICOGRADA and the Turkish Society of Graphic Designers. It offers its participants one week of experts exchange in the metropolis on the Bosphorus. The programme comprises workshops, seminars and exhibitions aiming to encourage an intense exchange about current design criteria and visions between international and Turkish graphic designers and students. In the course of their participation in the Grafist 14, Malin Schoenberg and Marie Fegerl produced the publication »Hömhöröm«, in which they used clichés and irony to create a provocative fairy tale based on their impressions from the visit.

This film by Nick Kapros tells the story of a friendship which began in the 1970s on Cyprus and was torn apart by the local political events of 1974. 30 years later, the protagonist is a border guard and as such part of a conflict which he himself no longer understands nor supports. Nick Kapros started working on his diploma thesis searching for the story of his father and his home country. After two months of research on location and many discussions with Cypriots from both communities, the concept for the film began to emerge. The film was realised in a two-week shoot on Cyprus. Nick Kapros acted as writer, producer, cameraman, director and editor.

Eszter Kapitany’s book »Subtown« is a work of fiction that tells a detective story set in an underground metro world. The protagonist is a heroic but introverted private detective called Peter Gocchi. The short novel, which
shows a great attention for detail both in writing and illustration, mixes a sinister fantasy world with classic noir elements. In the seven chapters of the imaginary metro ride, Peter Gocchi meets evil little mice and other strange characters. The female protagonist is Helga, a rebel who is planning to blow
up the artificial metro world of the GTA (Global Transit Authority). The happy ending, as well as the rest of Eszter Kapitany’s diploma thesis, which received
a distinction from the jury, are accompanied by mixed technique illustrations that are very rich in detail.

There are about 2,070,000 cats, 720,000 dogs, 220,000 cage birds, 580,000 rodents and bunnies as well as 4.06 million tank and pond fish in Austria - and almost as many pet owners. Nevertheless, only 17 animal psychologists are offering their services in the country. Nobody knows how many pets could use their help. For a book on abnormal animal behaviour called »Das bunte Buch verhaltensgestörter Tiere«, six animal psychologists from Austria and Switzerland agreed to be interviewed about their work. In his diploma thesis, Patrick Bonato, who graduated with distinction, describes and illustrates the five most interesting patient histories.

For his diploma thesis, Martin Wunderer took a detailed look at design awards. For graphic design alone, there are currently more than one hundred awards and their significance and quality are often difficult to assess for the designers themselves. In order to provide some orientation and guidance in the awards jungle for himself and others, Mr Wunderer developed »Design Award Awards«, an independent contest which confers awards for especially functional or innovative graphic design assessment systems.

Gudrun Olsen’s diploma thesis »Looking-Glass« is a subjective portrait of Vienna, which focuses on the windows of the city. Gudrun Olsen walked through Vienna from its western to its eastern outskirts along a straight
line drawn across the city map. The objective of the tour was to produce drawings of private windows in pre-fixed regular intervals. Gudrun Olsen thereby focuses on a detail of the city that reflects both public and private life. In the book »Looking-Glass«, Gudrun Olsen presents the results of her exploration of Vienna in a series of 45 detailed drawings.

Thrombophilia is an umbrella term covering a wide range of abnormalities which substantially increase the risk for blood clots. It is estimated to be between 3 and 10 times as common as haemophilia, the bleeding sickness, yet thrombophilia remains unknown in comparison. For over 20 years there has been an ongoing international debate about whether or not obligatory screening for thrombophilia should be established, sadly this debate has so far remained fruitless. The overall objective of the project is to impart knowledge and raise awareness about thrombophilia. To avoid such barriers as language, time and place a website was chosen to transport the message. The visitors of this website are introduced to the subject through personal stories, which are further enhanced through family portraits. In order to make the illness visible in these photographs, a knitted costume depicting the risk zones was created and worn by the affected persons.

For his diploma, Vedran Pilipovic launched a typographic experiment: under the name Chronomyth, he developed abstract typographic sign systems, i.e. video fonts that translate literary texts into rhythmic visuality based on their intra- and intertextual structures and references. For demonstration purposes, Vedran Pilipovic created four different abstract animations that allow for a structural visualisation of literary works, such as 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez or The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner.

Always prepared and at your service – that is the concept of standby. In her diploma thesis, Leonie Lawniczak conducts a critical investigation of the energy consumption of electrical devices in standby mode and exposes the presumed resting state as a frequently underestimated waste of energy – 10 per cent of annual electricity consumption is due to standby. An informative video clip and a website enabling users to calculate their personal standby consumption are intended to encourage critical awareness among consumers and motivate them to increase the pressure on electronics makers and retailers.

Karin Freinhofer’s social design project »Ich und mein Planet« aims at raising awareness for global environmental and socio-political issues, such as poverty, climate change, overpopulation, etc. Through workshops at schools, »Ich und mein Planet« tries to reach as many children as possible – as well as their families – from various social backgrounds. Dealing with the big problems of our times on a factual and creative level is intended to help pupils make more conscious decisions and act as part of a big and complex system. The objectives of the project are providing comprehensive information for pupils, encouraging debate and helping the participants be active and responsible members of society.

Working on the subject of “Walls”, one of the thematic options available in “Storytelling and Animation”, Tal Adler visited the Kartak class to talk about the Security Wall between Israel and Palestine sharing his personal experiences and shedding light on the political background. Tal Adler is an Israeli artist, activist and curator living in Tel Aviv and Vienna.

www.itemz.org

»Why Publish?«
Workshop with Urs Lehni and Stefan Marx

The workshop »Why Publish?«, conducted by Urs Lehni and Stefan Marx, deals with the phenomenon of »independent publishing«. Here content, design, production and distribution are kept going and mastered through the motivation of autonomous publishing and the idea of DIY. In the frame of a three day workshop a collective publication based on the subject “interview” came into being, where each student was responsible for one chapter and which was produced with the Xerox machine of the class.

www.lehni-trueb.ch/ www.livincompany.de

Stefan Sagmeister
»Things I’ve learned
in my life so far«

Stefan Sagmeister, alumnus of the Angewandte and already a cult designer, returned to his former training institution for the very first time to hold a lecture on "Things I’ve learned in my life so far". Patrick Bonato’s humorous design was picked for the poster announcing this event. It refers to Sagmeister’s image as a guru of design and employs the esthetics of posters for spiritual and adventure trips. Further poster contributions were exhibited on the attic –and were scrutinized by the guru himself.

www.sagmeister.com