Events are an integral part of the master programs: from workshops with guests professors to lectures series with relevant practitioners.
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
Mon, Nov 20, 2023
case studies
Natalia Santolaria, Domestic Data Streamers
Designing for the unknown
Only for MVD students
We, humans, struggle to build empathy towards large amounts of information. ¿How do we solve these challenges when the problems we face today are so inherently big, interconnected, wicked, and globalized? In this talk, we will explore some humble experiments done to overcome this lack of empathy through art, technology, and participatory experiences.
Natalia Santolaria is a creative director at Domestic Data Streamers, a storyteller who uses data as raw material. Trained in journalism and humanities, she works with a team of 25 designers, architects and technologists to create connections between information and people that trigger conversations and changes in fixed perspectives. Focused on social impact projects, she has directed campaigns and installations for organizations such as UN agencies, local governments or OXFAM. She explores how to bring interaction into the performing arts at matriu.id.
Domestic Data Streamers is an award-winning studio exploring how to express data through film, robotics, code, theater, or architecture in schools, prisons, cinemas, the streets of many cities, and even the United Nations Headquarters. They work for commercial brands and all kinds of old-school and new-kinky institutions. They truly believe data can be a real trigger of change and build bridges in a polarized society.
Nov 13 — 19, 2023
workshop
Martin Lorenz, TwoPoints.Net
Systemic Type Design
Only for MVD students
Systemic Type Design
We live in a (new) golden age of systemic type design. New technologies and easy to use programmes leveled the playfield for emerging designers and gave them the chance to experiment with new ideas. The world of display fonts has witnessed a lot of new impulses in the last years. Type has become more flexible, variable and kinetic as ever, adjusting efficiently and effectively to new communication channels.
Systemic Type Design is more than designing fonts. A type system is an efficient design tool that helps designers to design. If done well, the act of writing is the act of designing without the need to further layout the text. In this course we will develop an experimental type system that almost automatically generates fantastic design applications.
Martin Lorenz
might as well have become a cook, a comic artist or an architect, were it not for an internship at Müller+Volkmann. Lorenz studied Graphic Design at the University of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt and the Royal Academy of Arts (KABK) in The Hague. After working four years at the design agency Hort, he moved to Barcelona to found TwoPoints.Net with Lupi Asensio and do his MA and PhD in Design Research at the UB. Lorenz has taught since 2006 for Elisava and still likes to cook.
Wed, Nov 8, 2023
case studies
Anna Berbiela, Pràctica
Pràctica: Graphic Hunting
Only for MVD students
Pràctica: Graphic Hunting
Exploring our reality allows us to understand the creative potential that lies behind everything that surrounds us; In this session we will analyse, through visualising the latest Pràctica case studies, how our environment and surroundings can become an inexhaustible source of inspiration if we really pay attention.
Anna Berbiela
Graphic designer, creative director, and illustrator based in Barcelona. Anna Berbiela is co-founder, together with Javier Arizu, Carlos Bermúdez, and Albert Porta, of the design studio Pràctica. With offices in Barcelona and New York, Pràctica believes that design it’s a process involving researching, thinking, sharing, challenging… then giving all this a definitive shape.
Pràctica is a design and identity studio based in Barcelona and New York that seeks to reveal the particular truth of each brand. By simplifying complexity and shaping concepts, creates work that makes sense.
Mon, Oct 30, 2023
case studies
Daniel Ayuso, Clase
Enea
Only for MVD students
Enea
In this session we will be able to see through the case study of a real project from the studio how a brand identity is developed and how it is strategically translated into the different communication elements on and offline to define a recognizable and transversal personality.
Daniel Ayuso is a partner and creative director at Clase studio. From 2016 to 2021 he was President of the Association of Art directors and Graphic Designers ADG FAD. He is an associate professor at the Elisava School and the UPF. His trajectory has expanded from his training in graphic design to the development of more complex Visual Identities in which communication and visual language build a brand discourse through design itself, art direction in photography or audiovisual.
Clase is a design and creative direction studio that takes culture as a basis to develop brands and visual communication. They create voices and unique languages out of the essence of every project in order to build its particular universe. From strategy to the final output, they conceive solutions that are both conceptually and visually rich.
Wed, Oct 25, 2023
masters’ talks
7.30 pm — Event at DHUB
Open to the public
Alice Rawsthorn
Design as an Attitude
What does design mean to us now? What will it mean in the near future? How can it help us to address the complex challenges of this turbulent, often terrifying time: from the climate emergency and refugee crisis, to curbing inequality, bigotry and violence, and ensuring that powerful new technologies will be used to make our lives better, not worse. Alice Rawsthorn will describe how the new generation of “attitudinal designers” are reinventing the practice and possibilities of design by using their skills, networks and resourcefulness to address these issues and to foster positive change.
Alice Rawsthorn is an award-winning design critic and author, whose books include Design as an Attitude and, most recently, Design Emergency: Building a Better Future. co-written with Paola Antonelli, senior design curator at MoMA, New York. Alice’s weekly design column for The New York Times was syndicated worldwide for over a decade. In all her work, Alice champions design’s potential as a social, political and ecological tool to foster positive change.
Born in Manchester and based in London, she is a founding member of the Writers for Liberty campaign for human rights and a cofounder, with Paola, of Design Emergency, a podcast and research platform that investigates design’s role in forging a fairer future.
Wed, Oct 25, 2023
showcase
Mela Dávila Freire, Artfile
“The servants, the artisans, the workers, the others”:
Visible and Invisible Hands in Publishing
Only for MED students
Making a book means undertaking a complex task which is eminently collective. In addition to those who create content, design it and print the resulting book, other roles and knowledge must be involved whose participation is not always visible from the outside. This session will review all of the agents involved in editorial publishing, as well as some of the types of balance that can be established between such roles throughout the work process.
In her professional career, Mela Dávila Freire has combined institutional work – at Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona and Museo Reina Sofía, among others– with research,writing, editing and curating. Her work focuses in particular on artist publications and art archives, spanning topics such as the theoretical and practical overlaps between archives and art collections, the ideological biases in archival structures,and the feminist revision of the genre of artists’ publications.
Her most recent book, Mission and Commission: documenta and the Art Market, 1955 – 1968, deals with the relationship between the early documenta exhibitions and the incipient art market through the publication of multiples and graphic works.
1 — Damián Ucieda, Camiño negro, 2022. Design by Luis Llorens Pendás, A Coruña / Hamburg. / 2 — Essay 2: We Want to Know, 2022. Design by Todojunto, Barcelona. / 3 — Mission and Commission: documenta and the Art Market 1955 – 1968, 2022. Design by Cosmic, Barcelona. / 4 — The publication My Holy Nacho (2015) in Jamie Allen and Bernhard Garnicnic’s installation Sectioning: My Holy Nacho, Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen, 2016. Design by Cosmic, Barcelona. / 5 — Poster for a presentation at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg (HfbK), 2019. Design by Luis Lloréns Pendás, A Coruña / Hamburg.
Wed, Oct 11, 2023
showcase
Clara Layti, LLOS&
Design-focused website development
After more than 10 years collaborating with designers for the creation of digital projects, we will analyze relevant works of our trajectory, share experiences and give examples of how to prepare the ideal hand off for the development of a website, making life easier for the developer and minimizing feedback and unforeseen events.
Clara Layti is a web programmer at LLOS& since 2020. She has led the development of web projects produced by studios such as Folch, Hey, Affaire or Proxi, among others. Working with the latest web development technologies, she seeks to adapt to the needs of each project to offer the best user experience. He studied Creation and Development of Digital Activities, specializing in UX design and web programming.
LLOS& is a web development studio in Barcelona specialized in pixel-perfect front-end finishing.
Our projects are programmed from scratch with emphasis on aesthetics, animations and interactions, almost always executed by the hand of art direction and design professionals.
Wed, Oct 11, 2023
lecture
7.30 pm — Sala Aleix Carrió
Open to the public
Martin Lorenz, TwoPoints.Net
Flexible System Design,
the 21st Century Skill
Flexible System Design, the 21st Century Skill
In a world of constant change, everything rigid will break. We need to unlearn static approaches and learn to see, understand, and design flexible systems. Martin Lorenz will talk about the main shifts we need to make in System Design if we want to be prepared for a better future.
Dr. Martin Lorenz (1977, Hannover, Germany) graduated in Graphic Design at the KABK after previously studying communication design in Darmstadt, Germany. He founded TwoPoints.Net studio with Lupi Asensio and completed a master’s degree and a PhD at the UB, Spain, writing a doctoral thesis on flexible visual systems in communication design.
Since 2003 he has taught at several European universities. He currently teaches at Elisava, Barcelona, and flexiblevisualsystems.info.
The design studio TwoPoints.Net was founded in 2007 with the aim to do exceptional design work. Work that is tailored to the client’s needs, work that excites the client’s customers, work that hasn’t been done before, work that does more than work.
Wednesday,
June 14, 2023
7.30 pm
Fanette Mellier
graphic.elisava lectures
Printed stuff
fanettemellier.com
@fanettemellier
Open to the public
Printed stuff
Fanette Mellier works in an artisanal way in her studio in Paris. She practices a radical and colorful graphic design. She will present in this conference her latest projects: visual identities for cultural structures, typographical plaids, and experimental books produced in parallel. Lots of printed stuff!
Specializing in print design, Fanette Mellier (1977) creates mainly atypical works in the cultural field. Besides commissioned work, through which she handles several themes, Mellier invests herself in experimental projects that freely shuffle fundamental aspects of graphic design: typography, color, printing process and relation to public spaces.
Her works have been displayed in numerous contemporary art museums and centres, such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and the Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York.
Wednesday
May 31, 2023
7.30 pm
Gail Bichler, The New York Times Magazine
Masters’ Talks
Design for the Times
Design for the Times
The New York Times Magazine is known for bringing together ambitious journalism, powerful visuals and daring typographic systems. Creative Director, Gail Bichler will discuss how her team approaches designing for the diverse range of content that the magazine publishes including designing for current events in real-time.
She will talk about the current role of the magazine within the larger context of the Times, give a behind the scenes look at how their conceptual covers are made, and share her thoughts on the role of experimentation in everything from the magazine’s special issues to their digital presence to some of their forays into other mediums like audio and print only sections of the paper.
Gail Bichler is the creative director of The New York Times Magazine where she leads the creative team responsible for the design and art direction of The Magazine and its supplements. She and her team have won numerous awards for their print and interactive design from organizations including the Art Directors Club, the Society of Publication Designers, D&AD, the American Institute for Graphic Arts, the Type Directors Club and Creative Review, among others. Gail has taught and lectured internationally. She is a member of AGI and a former board member of the SPD.
Wednesday,
May 17, 2023
Irma Boom's books
Bookworm 4
Irma Boom’s books
Only for MED students
In the last session we will see a selection of books designed by Irma Boom, one of the most renowned graphic designers of the moment. We will be able to take a journey from her first designs in the 1980s to recent examples, taking as a guiding thread the third edition of the retrospective miniature catalogue that she herself periodically updates.
Irma Boom’s work is a tribute to the history and present day of the book, a celebration of its powerful presence as an object and a testimony to its survival in times of electronic publications.
The book has been the medium and the message of the diverse movements in the arts during the last century. The book, with its emphatic material presence, takes on a special value now that we are witnessing its dematerialization, reduced to digital data in electronic format.
Over the Bookworm sessions we will explore several iconic books that capture the spirit of the era in which they were designed. We will place the books in their context and try to define what makes them relevant in the history of 20th century book design. The Bookworm sessions are guided by Andreu Jansà, librarian and curator of the Enric Bricall Reserve Fund.
Wednesday,
May 17, 2023
7.30 pm
Jonathan Hares
graphic.elisava lectures
Is it better than a Tree?
Is it better than a Tree?
Design books in 2023
Jonathan Hares is a British designer living and working in Switzerland, having moving there after meeting his wife, Nicole Udry at the RCA, London. Since 2018, he is been working with Cornel Windlin at Lineto.com in Zurich. He continues designing books and exhibitions in his studio in Lausanne. He mostly works for a small circles of clients based on relationships that have lasted years. He is currently designing books for Isamu Noguchi for the White Cube gallery and the second edition of the Museum is not Enough for the CCA, Montreal. He teaches at the ECAL, Lausanne.
Lineto.com is Switzerlands first digital foundry, and started a trend for designer-created fonts, pulling together a generation of European designers who created type as a by-product of their working process. Jonathan is the designer of the current Lineto website with Jürg Lehni and Cornel Windlin. (Studio) Jonathan Hares is the loose name given to what whatever else happens in the remaining days of the week. Which is Mostly books, often working with Amaury Hamon and Jonas Marguet. Finally Jonathan Hares teaches on the Editorial course at the ECAL with Gilles Gavillet.
