Events are an integral part of the master programs: from workshops with guests professors to lectures series with relevant practitioners.
Wed, Mar 11, 2026
Masterclass
María Fabuel, Pedro Lipovetzky & Elisenda Muns, Gracias Grecia
Beyond walls: The renaissance of exhibition environments
Only for MVD students
Beyond walls: The renaissance of exhibition environments
What do a Balenciaga runway show, an MWC stand, and the latest Miró exhibition have in common? More than it might seem. Each of them tells a story through the design of an experience. Through historical and contemporary case studies and references, we will explore exhibition design as an expanding field that moves beyond the museum space. Through scenography, lighting, sound, and technology, stories are transformed into immersive experiences that are navigated, shared, and felt.
© Eva Carasol
At Gracias Grecia, we understand the exhibition environment as a space for encounter: emotional — through art, design, scenography, lighting, and participation — and intellectual, connected to content, knowledge, and debate. We are interested in that intersection between experience and thought, between collective expression and critical positioning. This is where our skills and our way of working converge.
Throughout our trajectory, we have developed projects in diverse formats: from the design of a 2,500 m² museum in Barcelona’s Port Vell to exhibitions at institutions such as CaixaForum and the Triennale di Milano, as well as experimental installations and hybrid formats that combine digital arts, theatre, and exhibition experience.
In a context of information overload, polarization, and constant technological transformation, we need environments where knowledge is not only transmitted, but collectively experienced and questioned. Exhibition design responds to this need by bringing together thought, form, critique, and emotion.
Wed, Mar 11, 2026
Bookworm
Three Contemporary Magazines, 1
Only for MED students
In the current landscape of editorial design, Emergence, Bill, and Inque represent three unique approaches to the magazine as a cultural object. Emergence Magazine, created by Studio Airport, combines narrative and photography in a slow, sensory experience. Bill, edited and designed by Julia Peeters, is a distinctive photography yearbook that proposes a “visual reading” of the articles without the distraction of text. Meanwhile, Inque, spearheaded by Matt Willey, is a literary magazine with impeccable design that invites leisurely reading. Together, these publications demonstrate how contemporary editorial design transcends its informative function to become a physical experience, an ideological stance, and a formal exploration.
In the Bookworm sessions we will explore iconic magazines and books that capture the spirit of the era in which they were created. The material comes from Elisava’s library collections, especially from its Reserve Fund, which contains publications that, due to their design, constitute a journey through the best of the past and present of modern graphics applied to the field of editorial design.
The Bookworm sessions are guided by Andreu Jansà, librarian and curator of the Enric Bricall Reserve Fund.
We will place the publications in their context and try to define what makes them relevant in the history of editorial design in the 20th and 21st centuries. The direct contact with the books and magazines that we will see in each session will allow us to experience the printed document from a material point of view: binding, paper, lay out, illustrations, typography. We will also be able to assess the adequacy between form and content.
Wed, Mar 18, 2026
Masters’ Talks
7.30 pm — Event at DHub
Open to the public
Kathy Ryan
Backstories
Backstories
Kathy Ryan will choose a handful of photographs that stand out in her mind from the pages of The New York Times Magazine during the 39 years she worked there. She will share the backstory for each picture to give insight into how that image came into being. The photographs will cover a wide range of subject matter including international news, lifestyle stories, and culture coverage.
© Inez and Vinoodh
Ryan will also show and talk about some of the photographs from her Office Romance series that she made during the last decade she worked at The NYTMAG. They are a love poem to her colleagues and a celebration of the radiant light in the Renzo Piano-designed New York Times building.
The longtime director of photography at The New York Times Magazine, Kathy Ryan has been a pioneer of combining fine art photography with photojournalism. She has worked with the world’s best photographers across all genres of photography. She regularly brought new talent into The Magazine’s pages. She left The Times after 39 years to focus on her own artwork, curating exhibitions, teaching a course at Yale, and speaking engagements.
In 2011, Ryan edited The New York Times Magazine Photographs, a landmark book published by Aperture. An accompanying exhibition, curated by Ryan and Lesley Martin opened at the Rencontres d’Arles in 2012, traveled to FOAM Museum in Amsterdam, Palau Robert in Barcelona, Universidad Católica in Santiago and ended its run at the Aperture Gallery in New York City.
Ryan has contributed essays and Q&A’s to books by photographers Lee Friedlander, Christopher Payne, Seydou Keïta, Paolo Pellegrin, Lynsey Addario, Jack Davison and Brian Finke. She was the picture editor of Feeling the Spirit by Chester Higgins.
The Magazine‘s photography and videos have been recognized with numerous awards. Ryan was awarded the Dr. Erich Salomon Prize from the German Photographic Society in September 2025. Ryan was a recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the Griffin Museum of Photography in 2007; the Royal Photographic Society’s annual award for Outstanding Service to Photography in 2012; the Vision Award at the Center for Photography at Woodstock in 2014; and the Outstanding Contribution to Photography recognition from Creative Review in 2016. Ryan has been recognized as Photo Editor of the Year by the Lucie Awards and Visa Pour l’Image. Ryan won two Emmy’s for videos she produced for The New York Times Magazine’s Great Performers series. Kathy was the International Center of Photography’s Spotlight honoree in 2024.
Office Romance, a book of Ryan’s photographs featuring her colleagues and the beauty and poetry to be found in the radiant light in the New York Times building was published by Aperture in 2014. This work has been exhibited in Europe and the U.S. All of Ryan’s photography is done with the iPhone.
Wed, Mar 18, 2026
Bookworm
Three Contemporary Magazines, 2
Only for MED students
From the perspective of contemporary editorial design, MacGuffin, Science of the Secondary, and Apartamento propose three ways of understanding the magazine as a narrative device and cultural artifact. MacGuffin constructs each issue around an everyday object, developing a constantly evolving visual identity. Similarly, Science of the Secondary explores the material universe of the things that surround us and often go unnoticed. For its part, Apartamento opts for a deliberately informal, approachable, and seemingly spontaneous aesthetic, breaking with the traditional neatness of interior design magazines. These three publications demonstrate how editorial design is capable of articulating an aesthetic and conceptual discourse around material culture.
In the Bookworm sessions we will explore iconic magazines and books that capture the spirit of the era in which they were created. The material comes from Elisava’s library collections, especially from its Reserve Fund, which contains publications that, due to their design, constitute a journey through the best of the past and present of modern graphics applied to the field of editorial design.
The Bookworm sessions are guided by Andreu Jansà, librarian and curator of the Enric Bricall Reserve Fund.
We will place the publications in their context and try to define what makes them relevant in the history of editorial design in the 20th and 21st centuries. The direct contact with the books and magazines that we will see in each session will allow us to experience the printed document from a material point of view: binding, paper, lay out, illustrations, typography. We will also be able to assess the adequacy between form and content.
Wed, Mar 25, 2026
Graphic — Elisava lectures
7.30 pm — Sala Aleix Carrió
Open to the public
Ann Richter, Studio Pandan
BTS: Design Twists
BTS: Design Twists
From the visual identity of the art walk Balade to Mining Photography, glitches, edited magazine covers, and typographic climate crises, we navigate Studio Pandan’s project map. We look beyond final outcomes to the many paths that lead there. Design, for us, is a collaborative practice—within the studio and in close exchange with clients from art, literature, and architecture. Sometimes the first idea holds, but more often the work unfolds through a winding, transformative journey. Together, we’ll follow the twists and turns of this process.
Ann Richter studied visual communication at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart and graphic design at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig. Before co-founding Studio Pandan, she worked at international design agencies including Graphic Thought Facility in London and Project Projects in New York City. As a co-founder of the collective A.R. practice, she develops projects at the intersection of design and curatorial work. Alongside running the studio, she regularly lectures and leads workshops at art and design institutions.
© Robert Hamacher
Studio Pandan, founded by Pia Christmann and Ann Richter, is a Berlin-based design studio with a strong eye for detail and an imaginative outlook. We create visual identities across print and digital media, as well as publications and websites, shaped by careful research, playful sensitivity, and conceptual clarity. Since our beginnings in 2015, typography has been our core tool. Actively engaged in contemporary culture, we are especially interested in socially relevant and sustainable projects, seeing design as both a responsibility and a catalyst for change.
Wed, Apr 8, 2026
Graphic — Elisava lectures
7.30 pm — Sala Aleix Carrió
Open to the public
Bart de Baets
Paperclips
Paperclips
In his lecture, graphic designer Bart de Baets will show a large variety of works and elaborate more on the ways they find their form and are realized eventually. Although Bart’s practice is mostly spent working at the studio in Amsterdam, it is alternated by a parttime teaching position at the Royal Academy in The Hague, where he works with the first year students and the ones graduating. The way he teaches and cooks up his assignments is inspired by transforming everyday observations (at times obsessions) into educational exercises. The students are triggered to think of formal executions that evoke solutions close to Bart’s own practice visualizing abilities and editorial voice.
Although appearing less frequently today, Bart’s body of work’s been known to feature self initiated publications, such as Success and Uncertainty (together with Sandra Kassenaar), Dark and Stormy (together with Rustan Söderling), and Tabrat, a zine from 2022 in which de Baets confesses to be a tab hoarder (phone only, the browser tabs on his laptop are opened briefly and closed again efficiently) and shares them here with us in the charming A4-sized publication. His editorial assets have not been forlorn, and are frequently demonstrated more so in his collaborative works for artbook shop Page Not Found and exhibition space Nest (both are located in the city of The Hague). The talk at Elisava will prominently feature all of these works—and more—and provide insights into the developments of these designs by showing sketches, references and many inspirations.
Graphic designer Bart de Baets (1979, Knokke, BE) is based in Amsterdam. His design for the Sandberg Institute’s temporary master programme The Radical Cut Up was nominated for a Dutch Design Award. As a result, PostNL commissioned De Baets to design a series of stamps titled ‘Talk to the Hand’. With Sandra Kassenaar he designed the exhibition, campaign and catalogue for ‘Circulate’, an exhibition on photographic art acquisitions at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. The two also design the graphic identity of Kunstmuseum Bochum. He designed ‘On the Necessity of Gardening: An ABC of Art, Botany and Cultivation’ (2021), which was published parallel to ‘The Botanical Revolution’, an exhibition at the Centraal Museum, Utrecht. That year, the Stiftung Buchkunst awarded the book with the highest prize in the category Best Book Design from all over the World. A second title in that series, Mothering Myths, an ABC of Art, Birth and Care was released in May of 2025, for which he collaborated once again with editors Laurie Cluitmans and Heske ten Cate. He holds a part-time teaching position at the Graphic Design department of the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, and he has taught at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam for fifteen years.
Being educated by notorious wild collaborator Will Holder, the radical typographic thinkers of Experimental Jetset and conceptual makers like Linda van Deursen, triggered Bart de Baets to think like an editor early in his graphic design studies, making zines with and for his peers, or whipping up catchy writings to go with his posters and projects. His design skills were fed ferociously when working with Maureen Mooren and Daniel van der Velden (now Metahaven) whose interest in art inspired him. For them, that always seemed to come first, then design. For the pages of Archis (an architecture magazine–now Volume), the layouts of existing periodical publications were used to give form to the magazine’s content, and Bart was taught to study their characteristics and so became an excellent copycat.
Over the years de Baets’ body of work has developed immensely mostly so by certain significant collaborations. A few early memorable ones have been those with Melanie Bonajo and Frank Koolen, two (then) Amsterdam-based artists not much older than himself and whose practice inspired an idea on which to work together, and which, in a way, kicked off de Baets’ career. The likes of Rustan Söderling and Sandra Kassenaar are of similar influence and remain crucial design partners; both are good friends to this day. Their influence on some self initiated works, such as Dark and Stormy and Success and Uncertainty is essential for de Baets’ current design approach and visual language. Kassenaar and de Baets nowadays share a studio and work together as designers regularly.
His designs are rooted heavily in a kind of conceptual thinking, and his abilities to think along editorially with commissioners has given Bart’s body of work an outspoken character. His work is distinctively playful and seemingly intuitive, giving the impression that the designs could be made quickly or hand-made. Yet, each one of the designs is a carefully put-together composition made according to a bunch of guidelines and often uses typography or visuals referencing things “found” on the street. For years Bart’s been a teacher in graphic design often working with the first year students, introducing them to the job. Surrounded by other designers, skilled coders, letter drawers and colour wizards, his teaching encourages to explore what it’s like to make art and design in today’s environments by demonstrating personal fascinations.
Wed, May 27, 2026
Masters’ Talks
7.30 pm — Event at DHub
Open to the public
Jonas Janke, b+
Love me one time, two times … x times !
Love me one time, two times … x times !
The lecture is not a conventional showcase of selected projects from our daily practice, but rather aims to provide a broader insight into the network of actors in which b+ (bplus.xyz) operates, how we understand the contemporary way of an architectural practice and scope of work of an architect, and how we approach our projects—in short: who b+ is and how we work, what our values are, and what our understanding of our duties and responsibilities as architects is.
Jonas Janke (DE, 1991) is an architect and partner at bplus.xyz (Berlin). He has a diverse background in architecture, was trained as an architectural draughtsman before pursuing his studies in Hamburg, Stockholm, and Berlin. He gained valuable experience as a tutor and assistant in various departments including design & typologies, building construction, and structural design. He was part of the team 2038, the German Pavilion at 17th Venice Architecture Biennale 2021.
His early teaching experiences include guest studios at the University of Innsbruck (Austria) and Politecnico di Milano (Italy). He is regularly invited to give lectures and guest critiques at universities, cultural institutions, and public institutions. His focus is on new ecological construction materials and methods for adaptive reuse and renovation projects, seeking pragmatic and efficient technical and mechanical solutions that use material and construction thoughtfully.
bplus.xyz (b+) is a collaborative architecture practice (led by Arno Brandlhuber, Olaf Grawert, Jonas Janke and Roberta Jurčić) that operates at the intersection of theory and practice, using different media and formats. The practice seeks to engage with the contemporary challenges of our time, particularly those related to the social-ecological transformation of existing buildings, offering economically viable solutions.
b+ understands architecture as an open process, and views buildings as part of larger systems that require a systemic approach. The practice sees the given framework of existing buildings and legislation as an active design tool with the potential for transformation. Thus, b+ celebrates the potential of the existing built environment and aims to reveal and activate the latent potentials within.
b+ emphasizes working with different actors and stakeholders in project development. The practice values their knowledge and expertise and aims to create spaces for exchange and collaboration. b+ seeks to advance a new value system in architecture, one that places greater emphasis on collective responsibility, systemic thinking, and ecologically and economically viable solutions.
The current project in the field of political activism is the European citizens’ initiative HouseEurope! – HouseEurope! wants to create incentives that make renovation the new norm. This will boost the renovation market and give new value to what is already there. The goal is to preserve homes and communities, ensure a fairer and more local building industry, save energy and resources, and preserve our memories and stories.
past events
Wed, Mar 4, 2026
Bookworm
Three pioneering magazines, 1990-2010
Only for MED students
We will explore three magazines that pioneered a new way of understanding editorial design: Colors (1991-1995), Nest (1997-2004), and Dot, dot, dot (2000-2010). These publications represented an innovative approach in both concept and style. Colors, designed by Tibor Kalman, challenged the conventions of corporate strategy with a provocative mix of images and text. Nest, edited and designed by Joseph Holtzman, offered an ironic and sophisticated vision that questioned the notion of good taste prevalent in mainstream interior design magazines. Dot, dot, dot was a unique magazine on graphic design and visual culture founded by Peter Bilak that contributed to enriching the discourse around graphic design, demonstrating that it was deeply connected to other disciplines and aspects of the cultural sphere.
In the Bookworm sessions we will explore iconic magazines and books that capture the spirit of the era in which they were created. The material comes from Elisava’s library collections, especially from its Reserve Fund, which contains publications that, due to their design, constitute a journey through the best of the past and present of modern graphics applied to the field of editorial design.
The Bookworm sessions are guided by Andreu Jansà, librarian and curator of the Enric Bricall Reserve Fund.
We will place the publications in their context and try to define what makes them relevant in the history of editorial design in the 20th and 21st centuries. The direct contact with the books and magazines that we will see in each session will allow us to experience the printed document from a material point of view: binding, paper, lay out, illustrations, typography. We will also be able to assess the adequacy between form and content.
Wed, Mar 4, 2026
Showcase
Pol Pérez, Studiopol
Proof of concept
Only for MVD students
Proof of concept
From detail to the general, or from the general to the detail; from concept to form, or from aesthetics to the idea; from the material to the graphic, or vice versa.
There are various ways to design: all of them valid, but each with its own advantages and disadvantages. In this showcase, we will discuss different ways of working, supported visually by some of the studio’s editorial and physical projects.
Pol Pérez is a graphic designer living and working in Barcelona. He graduated from Elisava in 2010 and, after working at several studios and agencies in the city – such as Bendita Gloria, Avanti Avanti and Folch Studio – he co-founded Affaire together with Josep Román. After spending a year working at the agency …,staat in Amsterdam, he resumed his independent practice in 2020 through Studiopol.
He combines his professional practice with teaching at Elisava, where he has taught editorial design and visual identity projects in the Master’s programmes in Editorial Design, Photography and Visual Identity.
Studiopol (Claudia Agusto, Daniel de Fortuny and Pol Pérez) develops projects in editorial, web and exhibition design, as well as visual identity and communication. The studio is characterized by a restrained approach and by a practice that prioritizes narrative and meaning over stylistic trends. From this standpoint, each commission is approached through a solid conceptual framework and a high level of technical rigor.
Wed, Feb 25, 2026
Bookworm
Irma Boom books
Only for MED students
Irma Boom is one of the most influential contemporary book designers, known for her innovative and experimental approach to editorial design. Boom challenges conventions and forces the reader to interact with the book in a different way, reconsidering its function and structure. She works closely with the authors and publishers of the books she designs, influencing not only the aesthetics but also the visual narrative and content. Her work has led to a revaluation of the book as a physical object, an unbeatable experience compared to e-books. We will see some of her most important books, such as the one dedicated to the textile artist Sheila Hicks, the invisible book about Chanel or the tiny catalogues devoted to her own work.
In the Bookworm sessions we will explore iconic magazines and books that capture the spirit of the era in which they were created. The material comes from Elisava’s library collections, especially from its Reserve Fund, which contains publications that, due to their design, constitute a journey through the best of the past and present of modern graphics applied to the field of editorial design.
The Bookworm sessions are guided by Andreu Jansà, librarian and curator of the Enric Bricall Reserve Fund.
We will place the publications in their context and try to define what makes them relevant in the history of editorial design in the 20th and 21st centuries. The direct contact with the books and magazines that we will see in each session will allow us to experience the printed document from a material point of view: binding, paper, lay out, illustrations, typography. We will also be able to assess the adequacy between form and content.
Wed, Feb 25, 2026
Graphic — Elisava lectures
7.30 pm — Sala Aleix Carrió
Open to the public
Piero Di Biase, Formula Type
Expert beginners
Expert beginners
In some fields, coding for instance, an “expert beginner” is often seen negatively: as someone who has no real skills but behaves like a professional. To me, however, the term “expert beginner” sounds like a playful oxymoron. I see an expert beginner as someone who has gained enough experience to handle everyday tasks confidently, while still exploring the deeper aspects of their field. This is exactly how I feel about my journey into type design: confident in handling what I know, yet aware that there is always more to learn every day.
Piero Di Biase is a graphic and type designer. He trained in the graphic arts sector and then became a graphic designer. After collaborating with various design agencies, in 2011 he co–founded Think Work Observe, where he worked for national and international clients until 2022, when he launched Formula Type, an independent digital foundry that produces and distributes retail and custom fonts. Since 2017, he has been a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI).
© Andrea Arduini
Formula Type is a digital type foundry started in the wettest region in Italy. Formula is a potion blended especially for those who will drink it; Formula is a chemical equation that leads to a result. This playful yet precise idea captures the dual soul of Formula Type. Its past was graphic design, and its present is type design, but there’s no real separation between the past and the present. Our fonts are crafted with a flexible designer eye and in the fifteen years since our first releases they have evolved freely through experimentation. Our approach is that of expert beginners, always welcoming new partnerships and projects.
Feb 16 — 20, 2026
MIWW workshop
Masters’ Interdisciplinary Workshops Week
Tereza Ruller, The Rodina
The Synthesized Self
Open to all Master’s students
Crafting Personal Narratives through AI and Sound
Inspired by Donna Haraway’s A Cyborg Manifesto, this workshop explores the intersection of human creativity and artificial intelligence through inclusive music-making. Participants use generative music AI to transform personal text prompts and lyrics into complete songs, without needing musical experience. The process emphasizes self-expression, identity, and storytelling. The experience extends into visual creation, as participants design simple animated posters or videos that reflect the themes, emotions, and keywords of their AI-generated songs.
Tereza Ruller (she/her) identifies as a mother, a communication designer, and an educator. Her studio, The Rodina, explores the spatial and interactive possibilities of virtual and hybrid environments as spaces for new thoughts and aesthetics that emerge from the intersection of culture and technology.
Through her independent practice and PhDArts research at Leiden University, she examines performative and critical approaches to communication design, emphasizing playfulness, participation, and relationality. By addressing ecological and social crises—she seeks to develop collective shifts in perspective.
Ruller teaches as Professor of Digital Communication Design at HfG Karlsruhe and as a Critical Narratives tutor at Design Academy Eindhoven, nurturing contemporary design practices that encourage thinking-through-making and explore ways to engage with technology, society, and the environment.
Feb 16 — 20, 2026
MIWW workshop
Masters’ Interdisciplinary Workshops Week
Pedro Barquin & Anna Diaz, Hamill Industries
AI experimentation
Open to all Master’s students
An exploration of creative processes & custom workflows using visual algorithms
The workshop presents Hamill Industries’ experimental approach to visual creation, moving beyond purely digital tools toward self-built devices, practical effects, and hands-on experimentation. Drawing from everyday materials, natural observation, and the dialogue between analogue and digital technologies, their practice spans diverse tools such as 1980s consoles, oscilloscopes, pigments, light, and artificial intelligence. Through case studies and behind-the-scenes documentation, the seminar reveals an open, trial-and-error methodology rooted in an artisanal mindset and focused on building custom tools and processes.
With a strong emphasis on recent AI-based work, the seminar invites participants to treat generative AI as a flexible creative engine rather than a black box. Using open-source platforms like ComfyUI and self-constructed datasets, participants explore the creation of a “visual atlas of impossible bodies,” seeking beauty in error and deviation from standard aesthetics. The goal is to foster creative agency, DIY learning, and personal aesthetic exploration at the intersection of the real and the algorithmic.
Hamill Industries (the artistic duo of Pablo Barquin and Anna Diaz) craft films, installations, and stage productions. With the physical world as inspiration, not only the virtual sphere is re-imagined, but so is reality. Straddling the line between inventors and illusionists, their projects are always highly sensory pieces, regardless of the final medium. Their work explores the expanded visual, committed to questioning and blurring boundaries between digital and tangible realms. Transmedia flexibility is facilitated by extensive workshop research, developing state-of-the-art tools. Their pioneering vision around the use of technology earned the trust of collaborators and institutions, including the San Francisco Ballet (with Tamara Rojo) Floating Points, CCCB or Caixaforum among many others.
Feb 16 — 20, 2026
MIWW workshop
Masters’ Interdisciplinary Workshops Week
Kris De Decker, Low-tech Magazine
Design within limits
Open to all Master’s students
How to Build Small-scale Autonomous Power Systems
This workshop introduces students to designing and building small-scale, autonomous renewable energy systems and devices that run on them. It focuses on hands-on skills such as constructing solar power installations, creating solar-powered heating appliances, and modifying commercial products to operate on low-voltage solar electricity. A key principle is avoiding batteries, which are often the least sustainable part of energy systems, by designing appliances and power setups that can function directly with variable solar input.
Beyond technical skills, the workshop promotes a bottom-up approach to renewable energy design. Instead of scaling renewable systems to support energy-intensive, fossil-fuel-based lifestyles, students learn to align energy demand with locally available and intermittent power sources. This mindset emphasizes designing within limits and engages with broader issues such as climate change, energy resilience and security, consumerism, e-waste, the right to repair, and circular, sustainable design practices.
Kris De Decker is the author of Low-tech Magazine, which challenges the idea that every problem requires a high-tech solution. Since 2018, the magazine runs on a solar-powered server and has been in print since 2019. He has published research on energy demand at Lancaster University and co-founded Human Power Plant, exploring human energy use. Since 2016, he has collaborated on designing objects inspired by the past to guide technology toward more sustainable directions.
Feb 16 — 20, 2026
MIWW workshop
Masters’ Interdisciplinary Workshops Week
Elaine Lopez, Parsons School of Design NYC
Bound Together
Open to all Master’s students
Collective Bookmaking Through Dialogue, Connection, and Risograph Printing
Bound Together is an interactive, dialog-based workshop that uses conversation and Risograph bookmaking as tools for connection, reflection, and collective meaning-making. Created in response to transactional modes of communication, it invites participants to slow down, listen deeply, and engage one another as whole people rather than roles or titles. Through paired dialogue and hands-on making, the workshop emphasizes presence, care, and shared experience.
Grounded in psychologist Arthur Aron’s research on intimacy and informed by dialogical art practices and thinkers such as David Bohm and James Baldwin, the workshop combines structured questions with collage, Risograph printing, and binding. Participants print pages reflecting their conversations and assemble them into a collaborative book. Rather than prioritizing polish or productivity, Bound Together values experimentation, attentive listening, and the radical act of making together.
Elaine Lopez is a Cuban American designer, researcher, and educator whose work uses print, self-publishing, and participatory workshops to explore cultural identity, memory, diaspora, and U.S.–Cuba relations. Centered on collaboration and pedagogy, she frames publishing as a political, relational act. She is Assistant Professor of Communication Design at Parsons and runs LoPress Press, collaborating with institutions and exhibiting, lecturing, and leading workshops internationally.
Feb 16 — 20, 2026
MIWW workshop
Masters’ Interdisciplinary Workshops Week
Stephanie Rodriguez & Ricardo Lynch
Garden of Light, Movement & Sound
Open to all Master’s students
An AI + Arduino Creative Technology Experience for Artists
In this 4-day workshop, artists collaborate with AI and Arduino to craft reactive plants that glow, move, and sing — forming a shared Garden of Light, Movement & Sound. This hands-on workshop invites participants to explore creative human–machine collaboration through the design and construction of a living plant prototype.
Working in small groups, participants will create a sculptural plant that responds to human presence using light, sound, and movement. Each plant will be built on a shared physical framework and will include 3D-printed structural components, ensuring coherence while leaving room for creative expression. The workshop is designed for beginners—no prior experience in programming or electronics is required.
Participants will learn how AI can be used as a creative partner through “vibe coding,” helping to shape each plant’s personality, behavior, color palette, and narrative. By the end of the session, all creations come together to form a collective interactive garden, bringing to life the concept of human–machine co-creation. Participants will leave with a practical understanding of AI-assisted creativity, basic interactive design principles, and a tangible experience of collaborative making.
Stephanie Rodriguez is a leader and educator working at the intersection of technology and human experience. With a background in mechatronics engineering and a master’s degree in intelligent interactive systems, her work centers on human-centered and ethical AI. She has led and contributed to projects in robotics and artificial intelligence across multiple organizations, with experience in social robotics, generative AI, computer vision, data science, and emotion-inspired robotic systems.
Ricardo Lynch is a Digital Interaction Designer and engineer passionate about technology, politics, and education. Experienced in manufacturing, electronics, and digital products with societal value, currently focused on product design and development at Futurity Systems. Former Deputy Director at Exploratec UDD, bridging technology with design and engineering students, consulting on projects. Professor for interaction, robotics, and prototyping workshops at UDD and OAS Dlab Global.
Feb 16 — 20, 2026
MIWW workshop
Masters’ Interdisciplinary Workshops Week
Germán León & Regina Dos Santos
AI Entrepreneurship & Vibe Coding
Open to all Master’s students
Building Human-Centered AI Products
This intensive four-day workshop introduces participants to the ASPIC Framework, a practical, human-centered methodology for building AI products that truly matter. Rather than starting with technology, this workshop teaches participants to begin with empathy: identifying real user pain, designing trustworthy AI interactions, and building sustainable AI businesses. The framework stands for: Attract, Segment, Personalize, Interact, and Convert. Participants will walk away with a working prototype of an AI product, validated by real users, and a clear go-to-market strategy.
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to: Discover real user pain through structured interviews, Define AI value aligned with measurable business outcomes, Design trustworthy AI interfaces using the Five Moments of AI, Develop working AI MVP using no-code/low-code tools, Test through feedback loops and user validation, Grow using the Bullseye Framework for focused strategy, Monetize with pricing models designed for AI products, Build Responsibly with ethics, privacy, and trust as foundations.
Vibe coding is the art of building AI products with personality and intention. It moves beyond mechanical automation to create AI systems that feel intelligent, responsive, and genuinely helpful. Through careful design of prompts, interfaces, and feedback loops, participants learn to craft AI products that don’t just function,they resonate. Key vibe coding techniques include: Prompt craftsmanship, Personality design, Micro-interactions, Trust signals, and Feedback systems.
Germán León is a futurist, AI and UX expert, entrepreneur, and advisor. He is the founder and CEO of Helvetica Digital and founder of Gestoos, a computer vision startup acquired by Preact. With a master’s degree in Interaction Design from Umeå University and training in AI Design at MIT, he has led innovation at Oblong Europe and Vodafone Group. He currently directs master’s programs in AI and UX at Elisava. In this practical workshop, his goal is to provide students with clear and applicable tools to develop and bring their own projects to fruition.
Regina Dos Santos is a UX/UI designer and front-end developer focused on user-centered digital products. Her hybrid profile blends design, technology, and strategy, linking concept to execution. She covers full UX/UI processes—research, flows, IA, prototyping, interface design, and testing—guided by clarity, usability, and visual consistency. As a front-end developer, she works in the Google Cloud ecosystem, using Firebase, cloud services, and APIs to build scalable, production-ready apps. She collaborates with multidisciplinary teams, bridging design and technology with a product-driven, experimental mindset. In the workshop, Regina presents a practical approach combining UX, UI, code, and AI.
Wed, Feb 11, 2026
Masters’ Talks
7.30 pm — Event at DHub
Open to the public
Karel Martens & Thomas Castro
Unbound
Unbound
From July to October 2025, the Stedelijk Museum honored Dutch design icon Karel Martens with a comprehensive retrospective curated by Thomas Castro. Karel and Thomas will “flip-through” 200 pages of Martens’ works and invite the audience to participate in a lively conversation of anecdotes, insights, and unique examples of works, systems and sketches from his personal archive. From stamps and books to monoprints, architectural signage, and digital experiments, this is a unique opportunity to dive deep into the work of one of the most influential voices in graphic design.
Karel Martens (1939) is a Dutch graphic designer and educator. He studied at the Arnhem Academy of Art and Design, graduating in 1961. From 1977 to 2020, he taught internationally at ArtEZ, the Jan van Eyck Academie, and Yale University, and co-founded the Werkplaats Typografie in 1998. Martens designed the award-winning OASE magazine from 1990 to 2021. His work is held in collections including SFMOMA and The Art Institute of Chicago, and has been shown in solo exhibitions at P! (New York), Kunstverein München, 019 (Ghent), and Platform-L (Seoul). He received the BNO Piet Zwart Prize in 2023.
Alongside commissioned work, Martens has consistently developed an autonomous practice, most notably through his monoprints, begun in the 1960s. Since the 1990s he has used archival cards from the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, printing found objects onto them to create compositions that integrate printed imagery with existing archival text. Known for an experimental approach to typography, grids, color, and printing, his work moves fluidly between books, stamps, monoprints, signage, and digital systems.
Thomas Castro (1967) is a graphic designer, educator, and curator, and since 2019 Curator of Graphic Design at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. There he initiated the Post/No/Bills public poster circuit, curated the exhibition Karel Martens: Unbound, and edited the collection book Stedelijk Museum Posters by Color. Previously, he co-founded the multidisciplinary studio LUST and LUSTlab in 1996, which was awarded the BNO Piet Zwart Award in 2017 for their two-decade oeuvre. His practice connects making, education, and curating, with a focus on expanding the graphic design canon.
Wed, Feb 11, 2026
Bookworm
Joost Grootens books
Only for MED students
Joost Grootens is a Dutch graphic designer known for his innovative approach to book design, especially in the field of atlases and reference works. His publications are characterised by an ability to present complex information in an accessible and visually appealing way, promoting the idea that design should serve content and not compete with it. He uses infographics, graphs and maps to simplify and organise large amounts of data aimed primarily at scientific and academic audiences, providing them with an intuitive visual navigation that allows them to explore the book in a non-linear way. We will see several examples of his work that demonstrate that such books can be functional and beautiful at the same time. Grootens knows how to find beauty in information and poetry in data.
In the Bookworm sessions we will explore iconic magazines and books that capture the spirit of the era in which they were created. The material comes from Elisava’s library collections, especially from its Reserve Fund, which contains publications that, due to their design, constitute a journey through the best of the past and present of modern graphics applied to the field of editorial design.
The Bookworm sessions are guided by Andreu Jansà, librarian and curator of the Enric Bricall Reserve Fund.
We will place the publications in their context and try to define what makes them relevant in the history of editorial design in the 20th and 21st centuries. The direct contact with the books and magazines that we will see in each session will allow us to experience the printed document from a material point of view: binding, paper, lay out, illustrations, typography. We will also be able to assess the adequacy between form and content.
