Environmental Communication Design

The focus is on questions relating to the discipline of signage, i.e. orientation and information systems, as well as the effect of colours in space, the interplay of space with displays and devices and the design of architectural processes.  

Design interventions allow concrete solutions to be realised and tested in different spaces in the spirit of ‘Research Through Design’. The close collaboration with research partners from BFH Architecture, freelance architects, signage designers and other stakeholders from industrial design, interior design, colour and lighting design and the construction industry enables the teams to be specifically tailored to the research questions of our partners from business and administration. The research field is closely linked to the Master of Advanced Studies in Signaletics – Environmental Communication Design at the HKB.  

Core Competences

• Expertise and studies relating to signage (orientation and information systems) and spatial communication design 

• Consultancy and support for complex tendering processes, from briefing to contract award 

• Visual analysis of spaces in administration, the private and healthcare sectors: inspection, documentation, analysis, consulting 

• Development and customised application of design research methods: visual analyses, participant observation, interviews, cultural probes, rhetorical design analysis according to the Bern model, etc.