Sustainable, human-oriented and society-shaping design concepts with significant added value. We picked our favorites out of the winning diploma projects of the 2019 call of Graduation Projects.
We have already written about the 2019 call of the Graduation Projects diploma muster previously, you can read about it here. The initiative focuses on projects of the Visegrad Four countries, inviting students graduating on BA or MsC courses in the given year to apply in the categories of graphic design and industrial design. 289 projects were submitted to the muster organized for the 18th time, out of which 30 projects have been selected.
Here are the ones we consider the most interesting, without being exhaustive.
The visuality of schizophrenia
The negative and stigmatic stereotypes of mental illnesses, including especially schizophrenia, are always present in social perception. Adrienn Császár approaches the problem from a personal aspect. Her carefully designed publication reflects the characteristics of schizophrenia in its every bit: the applied graphical and material solutions continuously urge the reader to interact, this way helping the audience to get to know the illness better and to get rid of the prejudices surrounding it.
Adrienn Császár (HU) | Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design
SPOTS is an alternative work space. András Fakó considered the needs of workers who spend the majority of their time in coworking spaces (cafés, libraries, co-working offices) in line with today’s tendencies. The SPOTS system consists of a protective mantle, a wireless charger pad and a speciallz developed application. With the help of the app, we can lock and unlock our protective equipment, which sends a notification to the user in case of danger or theft: this way, SPOTS is perfectly suitable for keeping our work equipment safe even if we do not have a direct view on our stuff.
András Fakó (HU) | Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design
Agnieszka Cieszanowska and Helena Wierzbowska would like to fill a gap on the market with their project: the designers created a furniture set with contemporary design suitable for furnishing a small balcony. The furniture collection contains every element that is necessary for creating a small garden – it consists of a table, two chairs, matching pillows, puffs, flower pots and a watering can, and they even added an ashtray to the set. The project does not offer a ready-made solution for how to furnish our balcony, it rather serves as a kind of “catalogue” from which the buyers can select the pieces they need.
Agnieszka Cieszanowska, Helena Wierzbowska (PL) | Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
Photos: Agnieszka Cieszanowska, Ignacy Ciszewski
Passing appears as a recurring theme in different art projects, but it is not a usual choice in the field of product design yet. Martyna Piątek provides a new formal and functional solution in the spirit of environmental-consciousness: I remember is a series of objects made out of natural materials, consisting of sheets of paper for burning, a memory cup with an ash container as well as a vase and a pot suitable for holding flowers. The need for preserving the solemnness of saying goodbye is also emphasized by the refined simplicity of the object collection.
Martyna Piątek (PL) | Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice
One of the goals of the SOUNDER project is to provide an alternative for the games because of which children spend too much time in front of the screens. It is a complex and multifunctional set combining traditional and modern technologies: it consists of building blocks of various shapes and sizes, and the different elements have different sounds. This way, we can build exciting tower-like forms and electrifying sound-collages, too. In addition to being plain and decorative, the game also promotes the development of children’s haptic and cognitive skills, and stimulates the sensation of sounds.
Zdeněk Růžička (CZ) | Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague
In addition to the objects presented above, an exhibition featuring 30 graduation projects will open in the building of Zamek Cieszyn cultural institute in Poland, between February 22 and March 26 , where the audience will also be able to meet the creators. The exhibition will also be showcased between May 1 and 8 at Zlin Design Week in the Czech Republic.
Graduation Projects 2019 Facebook event
Graduation projects web | Graduation projects Facebook
The winners of the Graduation Projects 2019 diploma muster
Graphic design: Ilya Bazhanov (CZ) | Zuzana Bramborová (CZ) | Jan Buble (CZ) | Silvia Klúčovská (CZ) | Michael Rosa (CZ) | Adrienn Császár (HU) | Mátyás Grünczeisz (HU) | Marek Mati (SK) | Rudolf Vychovalý (SK) | Natalia Gil (PL) | Patrycja Kędzierska (PL) | Marta Klibert (PL) | Izabela Lewkowicz (PL) | Mariana Mamikonyan (PL) | Katarzyna Olejarczyk (PL)
Design: Eliška Luhanová (CZ) | Zdeněk Růžička (CZ) | András Fakó (HU) | Lili Pázmány (HU) | Barbara Szőke (HU) | Lenka Erd (SK) | Lucia Gamanová (SK) | Sonia Kalandyk, Anna Pielesz (PL) | Agnieszka Cieszanowska, Helena Wierzbowska (PL) | Klaudia Gołaszczyk (PL) | Magdalena Michna-Czyrwik (PL) | Martyna Piątek (PL) | Ewa Piechocka (PL) | Zuzanna Wrocławska (PL) | Marek Kuźmiński (PL)
Professional partners: Zamek Cieszyn (PL), 2+3D (PL), Czechdesign (CZ), Hungarian Design Council (HU), Slovak Design Centre (SK)
Source: Graduation Projects