Hybrid Skill Sets

In addition to the core competencies in spatial design, experience design and media design, the program teaches design and architecture methods, theories and skills as well as the use of planning tools. Interdisciplinary modules complement the program. Students can set their own focal points during the course of their studies and also deepen these in an internship or exchange semester.

The program is divided into modules. The subject modules are made up of project-based and accompanying courses. The project-based courses teach the core competencies of the program. The accompanying courses dive into design methods, theoretical foundations, CAD and plan understanding, image processing, model making, visualizing, graphic design, video, 3D modeling, virtual and augmented reality. The specialized modules are complemented by +++Modules that focus on interdisciplinary future skills. The final module includes the practical and the written part of the bachelor thesis as well as the presentation.

The degree course may change slightly, as it is continually under review.

In the specialised modules, core competencies from the three focal areas of the degree programme – spatial design, experience design and media design – are taught in project-based courses. Theory and practice are taught in a productive coexistence and tested in projects.

Spatial Design
Whether office space, shopping mall, train station, museum or theater stage – space is the medium with which students deal in theory and projects – both in physical and digital space (virtual reality/augmented reality). Spatial designers focus on the experiences in space and first examine the perceptions, actions and interactions that take place in it. Based on the insights gained from this, the design of the space can be tailored to the users. Spatial Design thus adds the dimension of human action, memories and rituals to the space and considers it as a narrative and virtually expandable medium. Students are therefore also concerned with the question of what space is and on the basis of which parameters different types of spaces can be designed. Spatial design is closely related to experience design and digital media design. Experience design involves the aspects that influence experiences in space and form the basis for the development of concepts. In conjunction with digital media design, students learn how digital technologies can support experiences in space.

Experience Design
Experience design can be used to design the experiences and interactions of visitors in a museum as well as coherent chains of experiences when visiting a tourist attraction in the Swiss Alps.
Skills in experience design are important when it comes to drawing conclusions for the design of space from people's experiences and behavior as well as from the analysis of the environment. Insights in this regard are gained primarily through the means of observation. Here, the entire process, before, during and after use, is always observed and documented in a visualization of the process. This then forms the starting point for improving or redesigning processes and spatial relationships.

Digital Media Design
How can exhibits in museums be brought to life using virtual reality? How can exhibition content be digitally archived and made accessible via the Internet? Can a business meeting take place in a virtual room? And how can such a space be designed and used?
Digital media can support the experience in a room or – e.g. by using virtual reality – be the actual experience itself. Using materials, color and light as well as various media such as images, video, animation and sound, students learn to conceptualize and design experiential spaces. The course also imparts practical knowledge about virtual and augmented reality. In projects, concepts are developed in the form of prototypes and their effect is tested.

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Within the specialised modules, theory, design methods and practical knowledge on planning, display and presentation tools for physical and digital space are taught in accompanying courses. The range of courses is designed to give students the opportunity to set their own priorities through personal selection. Some of the courses are described here as examples:

Toolbox 1: Planning tools for physical space 
The Toolbox 1 course teaches the basics of drawing and reading plans, creating 3D models using CAD, and working with image editing programs to add atmospheric elements such as material, color, light, and shadow to 3D models or model images. Likewise, model building techniques and materials for building scale and atmospheric models are addressed.

Toolbox 2: Planning tools for hybrid space
The Toolbox 2 course teaches the basics of 3D modeling as well as the application of photogrammetry for the three-dimensional recording of objects and spaces. The models created in this way form the basis for creating and experiencing virtual spaces as well as for 3D printing.

Graphic Design
The aim of the Graphic Design course is to teach the fundamentals and skills that create knowledge and understanding of graphic and formal design with type and images in the context of a layout. The course serves to document and present one's own work adequately and comprehensibly.

Web Design
In the web design course, students learn how to create a homepage as well as how to use social media to present their own projects, tell a good story about them, and generate interest and attention for them.

Video Essay
Video essays can be used to communicate time-based contexts easily and effectively - both in terms of research and to convey concepts. The course teaches the basics of storytelling, image cropping, simple shooting techniques, and editing programs.

Visualizing
Based on perceptual phenomena and graphic conventions, this course will explore styles, formats, techniques, and materials for drawing research and representation of space, as well as practice spatial vision, spatial awareness, and drawing analysis and representation of space-based interactions and processes.

Presentation skills
Presenting oneself and one's own ideas and projects in front of an audience or clients is a skill that accompanies designers throughout their entire professional lives and often plays a decisive role in the success of a project. In the course on presentation skills, the relevant competencies are taught and practiced.

The Lucerne School of Art and Design promotes looking beyond one‘s own subject area, it opens up individual learning paths and strengthens future-relevant competencies. These include digitality, explorative research, creative entrepreneurship, critical thinking, material & practice, sustainability and self-empowerment & engagement. In addition to the future competencies, overarching theory on scientific work, methods and writing is taught. Students acquire theoretical and methodological knowledge and learn to reflect and present their work linguistically.

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The Spatial Design course concludes with a Bachelor‘s thesis comprised of a theoretical (written) paper and a practical project. For the Bachelor project, students realise a complex design and thereby demonstrate the entire design process, from initial inception of the model/prototype to its construction and testing. Mentors support and advise them throughout. Projects are presented to the jury and the public at the end-of-year degree show.

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