Looking back to the future – the past semester exhibition

At the end of the 2023/24 winter semester, students and graduates of the HfG Schwä­bisch Gmünd showed what they have created in recent months. As always, there was a wealth of sustainable, inno­va­tive and crea­tive projects on display.

The aim of the works is to find solu­tions to human and social problems through design. Low literacy, for example, describes the diffi­culty of under­stan­ding complex texts – for whatever reason. ​„Lila“, the Bache­lor’s project by Julia Klotz, Jakob Seeger and Antonia Gruber from the Inter­ac­tional Content Manage­ment degree program, opens up the possi­bi­lity of using arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence to make these text units easier to under­stand and thus make life easier. Orien­ta­tion in the profes­sional world also some­times causes problems. Alex­ander Struppe, Carlo Mailänder and Kevin Costa desi­gned an app called ​„Bloom“ for pupils. A guided process of self-reco­gni­tion ulti­m­ately gives them greater confi­dence when choo­sing a career.

Inte­res­ting final theses in the field of know­ledge transfer were produced as part of the commu­ni­ca­tion engi­nee­ring degree program. Silas Diessner and Henri Kral, for example, focused on piety and supers­ti­tion. Their exhi­bi­tion concept explores the topic on an inter­ac­tive journey through the centu­ries. The project ​„Hexe, the [f]“ by Georgia Simons and Estella Staader also draws a line between the past and the present. Their critical exami­na­tion of the arche­type of the witch allows us to draw conclu­sions about our image of femin­inity today.

The Digital Product Design and Deve­lo­p­ment degree program deve­lops smart and networked digital products. Luca Alba­nesi and Saban Emre Coskun deve­loped an inno­va­tive solu­tion to opti­mize the irri­ga­tion of public green spaces and trees. With ​„Hydro­logic“, the two graduates present an irri­ga­tion manage­ment system that far surpasses current solu­tions in terms of resource conser­va­tion. Eileen Selby and Marvin Ebert took advan­tage of the oppor­tu­nity to form inter­di­sci­pli­nary teams. Their project, called ​„indi“, shows a compres­sion stocking that they have deve­loped, which uses a skillful combi­na­tion of diffe­rent mate­rials and closure tech­no­lo­gies to ensure greater inde­pen­dence and comfort for those affected.

Evri­pidis Lalis­sidis and Peter Swirsky are crea­ting an inno­va­tive opti­miza­tion of macro­algae culti­va­tion with ​„biosea“, their final project in product deve­lo­p­ment. Macro­algae can be used as a sustainable and resource-saving compo­nent of the diet. ​„echo sense“ is a project by Amanda Grigo­leit and Daniel Auspurg that focusses on the percep­tion of space and sound. Their tool helps people to perceive sounds and objects that are outside their field of vision through vibra­tion. In the spirit of universal design, it does not matter whether the impair­ment is perma­nent, as with hearing impairm­ents, or only tempo­rary, as with workers in a noisy, confu­sing environment.

The Master’s degree program in Stra­tegic Design offers graduates of the HfG and other univer­si­ties the oppor­tu­nity to expand their skills and to deal in depth with ques­tions about the future and the shaping of over­ar­ching social issues and processes. ​„Rethin­king Death“, the project by Jonas Krüger and Jessica Worms, shows how appe­aling instal­la­tions in public spaces can open up access to the topic of death – before one is confronted with it in a crisis. Julia Mühl­eisen and Julian Hamdorf’s project ​„Circu­la­rity Prin­ci­ples for Premium Product-Service-Systems“ explores the ques­tion of how the circular economy can also be realized in the premium segment, for example in luxury coffee machines, and how new ideas can satisfy the desire for status symbols. 

Impres­sions of the exhi­bi­tion (pictures by Katha­rina Neugart):

And to ensure that all these diverse and forward-looking ideas can be imple­mented, the goHfG start-up initia­tive once again travelled with experts from industry and busi­ness to award a goCard to promi­sing projects. This gives the project teams the oppor­tu­nity to take part in work­shops and coun­sel­ling sessions on setting up their own busi­ness and turning their inno­va­tive ideas into reality. 

Rector Maren Schmohl is delighted with the success of the exhibition:

„The sheer abun­dance of crea­tive and surpri­sing projects makes the work of the univer­sity tangible and under­stan­dable. We are very pleased with the great inte­rest and the large number of visi­tors who came to Rektor-Klaus-Strasse to see us on this occa­sion and are already looking forward to the next exhi­bi­tion on 12/13 July 2024.“

If you didn’t make it to the exhi­bi­tion or would like to find out more, you can still visit the digital exhibition: