Environmental Communication Design

„Environmental Communication Design” explores the interplay between communication design and (particularly architectural) space. 

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.  

Ongoing Projects

Selection

The Inheritance of Looting. Medieval Trophies to Modern Museums

The project examines how looted objects become „art”. Key case studies will reveal how museum collections have been formed through histories of displacement and (mis)appropriation, and how cultural heritage has been defined through acts of war and violence. The interdisciplinary team is also developing a virtual exhibition that digitally brings together looted artworks – some scattered across the globe, some lost or destroyed – and attempts to tell their stories to scholars and the broader public alike.  

Link to the research project

Zuger Kantonsspital – Prozessbegleitung Signaletik

Process support for the new signage for the Zug Cantonal Hospital, taking into account the heterogeneity of the target groups and communication scenarios. 

Link to the research project 

Augusta Raurica – Signaletik

Monitoring of the study commission and the implementation of the pilot project as well as implementing the evaluation after commissioning „Neue Signaletik Augusta Raurica”.  

The detailed analysis and the development of a basis for the orientation and information measures in the Augusta Raurica open-air museum resulted in the project documentation and the booklet „Konklusion und Teilprojekte”. Based on this, the various topics and issues were critically analysed with the Augusta Raurica project team. The next step will be to initiate and implement the tree sub-projects „Signaletik”, „Zielkonflikte” and „Digitalität und Wissensvermittlung”.  

Link to the research project

Augusta Raurica – Digitalität und Wissensvermittlung

Development of a vision of how different formats of knowledge transfer can be generated in the future. 

The detailed analysis and the development of a basis for the orientation and information measures in the Augusta Raurica open-air museum resulted in the project documentation and the booklet „Konklusion und Teilprojekte”. Based on this, the various topics and issues were critically analysed with the Augusta Raurica project team. The next step will be to initiate and implement the tree sub-projects „Signaletik”, „Zielkonflikte” and „Digitalität und Wissensvermittlung”.  

Link to the research project

Signaletik für die Friedhöfe der Stadt Zürich

The development of standardised signage that can be used for small, medium and large cemeteries in the city of Zurich.  

The signage in the cemeteries in the city of Zurich was often not effective, contrary to its intended purpose. Orientation was very difficult or even impossible for many cemetery visitors or relatives. Time and again, relatives or visitors were unable to find burials, graves, burial plots or toilet facilities. 

In the current project phase, the implementation of the Sihlfeld cemetery pilot project will be evaluated in detail after commissioning in order to assess the impact and functionality of the new signage. The qualitative study using the Shadowing survey method (accompanied observation) is intended to provide findings that will allow the signage concept and measures to be refined and thus form an important planning basis for the further implementation of the new signage in all cemeteries in the city of Zurich (from 2023). 

Link to the research project

Bestattungskultur im Wandel – Berner Friedhöfe als öffentliche Räume?

Social change and modernisation trends are also reflected in changing attitudes towards death and burial cultures. The project provides a basis for an efficient adaptation of the cemetery planning in the city of Bern. 

The project focuses on a needs-based adaptation of the mission statement of Bern’s cemeteries and a review the concept of „cemeteries as public spaces” in light of increasingly changing burial cultures. The project builds on the competence-building project „Sepulkraldesign in der Modellregion Bern” from 2002. The project focused on the already topical question of whether cemeteries could be used more widely as public spaces, for example for cultural events. Further detailed wishes regarding the design of gravestones, burials and funeral services were clarified. The planned repeat survey will provide a basis for needs-based and culturally sensitive urban planning and facilitate a dialogue on the values of „cemeteries as public spaces”. 

Link to the research project

Contact

Get in touch with us! We will be happy to inform you about other projects in this research field and answer your questions.

Bern Academy of the Arts HKB 
Research 
Institute of Design Research 
Secretariat: Edona Idrizi 
Fellerstrasse 11 
CH-3027 Bern