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The HGKK in Bern is offering a unique course in signage design across EuropeBy Simone Keller The University of Art, Design and Conservation (HGKK) in Bern is the first school in Europe to offer a postgraduate course in signage design. The new course is designed to take account of the growing complexity of urban space in terms of planning and implementation.
People can find their way around their familiar surroundings almost blindly. But if they leave their familiar streetscapes or visit a different city or even a different country, the new contexts have to be explained to them so that they can find their way around. The development of an efficient orientation system for navigating through a terrain is the subject of signaling.
From this fall, the HGKK in Bern will be a European pioneer in offering a comprehensive, practice-oriented postgraduate course (NDS) in this field. "We are living in a time in which the need for information in public spaces is increasing because the environment is becoming increasingly complex with larger buildings and more complicated systems," explains Christian Jaquet, Head of Visual Communication Studies at the HGKK. The main initiator and head of the NDS study program is Basel designer Theo Ballmer, who is also responsible for the signage concept at Frankfurt Airport.
In order for visitors or users of public spaces to find their way around, they need to be explained to them. A signage concept breaks down spatial information - of a cultural, historical or social nature - in order to present it visually. The term signage was introduced to distinguish information systems that convey content from "simple" signage systems.
Intensive communication between the planning and implementation specialists plays an important role in the conception of urban space. Coordinating their concerns is one of the central tasks of the signaller. According to Theo Ballmer, such an exchange did not take place in the case of the station square in his home town of Basel. When planning the streetcar system, all other road users were forgotten, he says.
The two-year, part-time course is primarily aimed at architects, planners and engineers. However, the postgraduate course is also open to sociologists, economists and tourism experts as well as people from administration and transport companies. Accordingly, the lecturing specialists include not only designers and architects, but also psychologists, urbanists and lawyers, who supervise the individual study units under the direction of Theo Ballmer.
Great interest in the unique training
While the first semester focuses on building up the theoretical foundation, students then work in groups to develop signage concepts for specific clients, such as the city of Burgdorf or Geneva Airport. Classes take place every second week on Fridays and Saturdays at the HGKK premises in Bern-Bümpliz.
Although there has been widespread interest in the new training course since it was announced, only 6 out of 90 interested parties had decided to register by the end of January. The HGKK therefore suspects that the registration deadline was set too soon after the course was announced. The registration deadline was therefore extended from January to March and then to the end of June, and the start of the course was postponed to September 27.
People can find their way around their familiar surroundings almost blindly. But if they leave their familiar streetscapes or visit a different city or even a different country, the new contexts have to be explained to them so that they can find their way around. The development of an efficient orientation system for navigating through a terrain is the subject of signaling.
From this fall, the HGKK in Bern will be a European pioneer in offering a comprehensive, practice-oriented postgraduate course (NDS) in this field. "We are living in a time in which the need for information in public spaces is increasing because the environment is becoming increasingly complex with larger buildings and more complicated systems," explains Christian Jaquet, Head of Visual Communication Studies at the HGKK. The main initiator and head of the NDS study program is Basel designer Theo Ballmer, who is also responsible for the signage concept at Frankfurt Airport.
In order for visitors or users of public spaces to find their way around, they need to be explained to them. A signage concept breaks down spatial information - of a cultural, historical or social nature - in order to present it visually. The term signage was introduced to distinguish information systems that convey content from "simple" signage systems.
Intensive communication between the planning and implementation specialists plays an important role in the conception of urban space. Coordinating their concerns is one of the central tasks of the signaller. According to Theo Ballmer, such an exchange did not take place in the case of the station square in his home town of Basel. When planning the streetcar system, all other road users were forgotten, he says.
The two-year, part-time course is primarily aimed at architects, planners and engineers. However, the postgraduate course is also open to sociologists, economists and tourism experts as well as people from administration and transport companies. Accordingly, the lecturing specialists include not only designers and architects, but also psychologists, urbanists and lawyers, who supervise the individual study units under the direction of Theo Ballmer.
Great interest in the unique training
While the first semester focuses on building up the theoretical foundation, students then work in groups to develop signage concepts for specific clients, such as the city of Burgdorf or Geneva Airport. Classes take place every second week on Fridays and Saturdays at the HGKK premises in Bern-Bümpliz.
Although there has been widespread interest in the new training course since it was announced, only 6 out of 90 interested parties had decided to register by the end of January. The HGKK therefore suspects that the registration deadline was set too soon after the course was announced. The registration deadline was therefore extended from January to March and then to the end of June, and the start of the course was postponed to September 27.
