Urban aesthetics, public transport, social responsibility, and the connection between tradition and contemporary design: the diploma review platform Graduation Projects have again selected this year’s most interesting diploma works from the region. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of the projects we found the most exciting.
Graduation Projects is an initiative focusing on the diploma works of design graduates from the countries of the Visegrad Group. Young designers can apply for the review in two categories: applied graphic design and industrial design. For this 19th call, students submitted 243 entries, out of which 30 projects have been selected. The winning diploma works will also be displayed at the 16th Zamek Cieszyn Design Festival in Poland, when the pandemic allows.
UNITED COLORS OF BETON
The project of Sára Hammadová deals with the new cityscape of Bratislava and its transformation. The designer examined each districts’ blocks of buildings and their systematic nature: as a starting point, she created a pattern book based on the arrangement and colors of the buildings from the research documentation. The composition of the concrete jungles turned out to be random, so the designer decided to create abstract collages from the patterns typical of each district—the resulting works can serve as a basis for further discourses on the cityscape’s aesthetics.
Sára Hammadová (SK) | Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava
Vokoun – Ferry boat for Prague
Vokoun is a ferry boat designed to make transport easier between the two banks of Prague’s Vltava river, especially in places that are far away from bridges or other forms of transportation. The designer has created the boat so that it can become a part of Prague’s transport system: its design refers to the iconic vehicles of local public transport, evoking the design of trams in particular.
Jan Kulhánek (CZ) | Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic
Zamigaj mi!
The series of games entitled Zamigaj mi! was created in the spirit of inclusive design, addressing hearing-impaired children and their hearing parents. The books, boards, jigsaw and memory games created as part of the collection encourage their users to learn the Polish Sign Language by playing together—allowing children and their parents to overcome communication barriers and obstacles. The creators collaborated with teachers of hearing-impaired students, speech therapists, and the Polish Association of the Deaf during the product development process.
Oliwia Michniewska, Paulina Szuścik (PL) | Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice
itthon.
Bálint Szalai’s project entitled itthon. (at home.) has grown beyond the scope of diploma projects and is gaining in popularity (we have also introduced the brand before—the Ed.). Its concept is built around a brand whose objects are made by craftsmen living in the designer’s hometown, Ada in Vojvodina, Serbia, based on handcraft traditions. In the objects produced, local values and expertise are mixed with the tools of contemporary design, creating a new market opportunity for the community living in Ada. The itthon. product range is available in a webshop, where we can choose from plates, vases, candleholders, seating units, and rolling pins.
Bálint Szalai (HU) | Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design
Double smile
The body-positive zine created by Veronika Trnková uses our sense of humor to increase our self-confidence and healthy self-esteem. The publication was printed with a risograph, making each copy unique and imperfect—just like ourselves. This effect is emphasized by the zine’s layout and hand-sewn binding. Trnková has published three issues of the zine so far: each of them featuring different illustrations and color palettes, but all visually connected by the same orange background.
Veronika Trnková (SK) | Technical University of Košice
If all goes well, an exhibition will display the winning diploma works at the site of Zamek Cieszyn from March 19 to May 9. As an addition to past events, the exhibition will feature introduction videos about the designers, which will also be available on the Graduation Projects website.
The winners of the 2020 Graduation Projects diploma review:
2D (applied graphic design ): Lucie Koháková (CZ) | Jan Kulhánek (CZ) | Eliška Otevřelová (CZ) | Tomáš Skřivánek (CZ) | Katarína Raškovičová (SK) | Csiby-Gindele Botond (HU) | Adrienn Király (HU) | Bálint Szalai (HU) | Magdalena Bojko-Michalak (PL) | Kamila Cembor (PL) | Sylwia Kruźlak, Dominika Jędrzejek (PL) | Kamil Kozik (PL) | Marlena Norowska (PL) | Ewa Przepióra (PL) | Agnieszka Wójcik (PL)
3D (industrial design): Darjan Hardi (CZ) | Eszter Szőcs (HU) | Enikő Horák (HU) | Kovács Mónika (HU) | Maria Gumulak (PL) | Kornelia Konieczka (PL) | Oliwia Michniewska, Paulina Szuścik (PL) | Dorota Nowa (PL) | Katarzyna Rachuba (PL) | Maria Smaga (PL) | Marta Wężykowska (PL) | Lucia Gandelová (SK) | Sára Hammadová (SK) | Katarína Kyselicová (SK) | Veronika Trnková (SK)
Graduation Projects | Web | Facebook
Source: Graduation Projects
The vote is on! | Highlights of Hungary
Museum of Contemporary Art | Belgrade, Serbia
