Data Design + Art combines design, art, and data to create a future-oriented field of design. In this project-based bachelor's program, you will learn to explore, question, and visualize data—visually, interactively, animatedly, or spatially.
You will develop your own concepts at the interface of information, technology, art, and society. Artificial intelligence in images and language is also part of the program: you will use it in a targeted manner and critically reflect on its possibilities, limitations, and social impact.
The focus is on the creative interpretation of data, the development of relevant questions, and the opening up of new perspectives on complex contexts.
Three perspectives on data
In addition to a wide range of elective modules in design, film, and art, the three-year bachelor's curriculum consists of three recurring basic module types that open up different perspectives on data:
Play – Design skills + conception: You experiment with a variety of ways to present data. The focus is on visual experiments, creative processes, conceptual thinking, and playfully exploring new ideas. You try things out, discard them, develop them further—and find your own creative expression.
Think – Data Competence + Critical Reflection: You research, analyze, and work with real data. In exchange with scientists, researchers, and cultural professionals, you learn to develop relevant questions, critically examine data, and interpret it visually in a well-founded manner.
Share – DataTelling + Visual Communication: You tell data stories in a variety of formats. Using techniques from information graphics, data journalism, or spatial installations, you learn to communicate content in a way that is understandable and effective – for different target groups and contexts.
Curriculum Data Design + Art
Core Modules
Play: Experiment and Inspire
The “Play” modules represent play, exploration and experimentation. They are the centrepiece of the Data Design + Art curriculum and provide a playing field for visual data experiments. In the Play modules, you will experiment with design techniques including motion design (data motion), generative design (data code) and the 3D-modelling of data (data space). All these experiments ultimately revolve around the human perception of information. A Play project typically starts with a specific set of data required to achieve a holistic representation of our society or environment. Finding and representing data not only takes technical skills such as using sensors or digital and AI tools, but you will also need excellent observation and critical reflection skills.
Think: Analyse and Reflect
During your studies, you will have three years to build advanced skills in your areas of interest and to learn from experts in the relevant fields. In the practical “Think” modules, you will learn the proper and insightful handling of data. The aim is for you to develop in-depth data literacy, understand complex issues, and to empower you to participate in the discourse around the foundational values of our society and environment—including freedom, equity and climate preservation. Starting in the first module, you will build the relevant linguistic and infographic specialist vocabulary to make sure you can participate in exchanges among experts from the start. You will work with external data coaches, e.g., from statistical bodies such as the Statistical Office of the Canton of Zurich, Lustat and the FSO, from MeteoSwiss (the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology) and market researcher Demoscope. They will help you to research and process data and develop diagrammatic representations that allow for a discussion of your chosen topic. Small groups called “Data Circles” will then test, discuss and reflect on the gathering, contexts and ethics of the data used.
Share: Communicate and act
The “Share” modules are centred on the visual communication of information through varied forms of representation and storytelling. In the Share modules, you will develop a visually effective way to communicate the findings from (typically) your own research. This may take the shape of an infographic (data visualisation) or an interactive data story (data telling). This will deepen awareness of different user groups, e.g., by making complex content accessible for the public, creating visual data resources for scientific contexts or by using political data for activism purposes. Over the course of the programme, you will have several opportunities to present your ideas to a host of subject experts and, in some instances, to publish them. To this end, Data Design + Art cultivates an extensive network of cooperation partners from different fields including data journalism (NZZ), science (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research) and culture (Rimini Protokoll theatre collective).
The “Catch” modules, which are part of each semester’s curriculum, are dedicated to acquiring and challenging visual and textual knowledge. A competent reflection on, and discussion of, this knowledge—practised together in the dedicated Data Circles—requires prior engagement with historical, sociological and geopolitical infographics and academic texts. In this module, you will also learn to conduct a systematic search and documentation of data and references, develop relevant research questions, and use techniques of fact-based and academic writing.
