RedGes/Graphic Design

The field of Visual Communication is in constant motion and development: work is being done on technologies and new materials, programs are changing, ... newly developed media no longer replace the existing media, but the existing media are used in parallel. Media determine how we work, programs force us to work in a certain way, and that also means that they lay down ways of thinking and perceptions.

RedGes/Graphic Design examines the different media (from print to digital) and social, political developments; it concerns itself with content from different disciplines such as sociology, art history and theory, philosophy, architecture, urban planning etc.

Our aesthetic perception as part of events in society as a whole is an enormous challenge. What position can the editorial designer take up? What initiative can he or she take? Design may provoke questions and suggest a stance. How does the relationship between image theory and image practice develop? How do we deal with the visual imagery supplied by the media? What does the so-called "New Aesthetic" look like? What is the status of typography? What role will design play in the near future?

What is important is to develop skills for translating both unique and universally valid content into understandable visual or textual contexts. Graphic Designers must learn how to communicate their skills well in order to demonstrate the influence that design can have on daily life - on society. New fields of design work are created in interdisciplinary collaboration. The aim is to work on a project-oriented basis and encourage students to take up an analyzing position. It is about developing spaces in which we can play a more determined role so as to increase understanding of design in our society and so as not to be dependent on products, but constantly to invent ways/possibilities - to strengthen how people live and communicate with one another.

The Graphic Designer as a digital image director, as a translator, as a producer, as an editor, as a curator, creating a new scenario, which provides different platforms and starting points, for which craftsmanship and social reference are equally important.

I am defining the career profile very widely, from the free study through to concrete design tasks in given contexts.

Gabriele Franziska Götz, 2014