Schule für Gestaltung Basel
Switzerland’s Schule für Gestaltung Basel (Basel School of Design) at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule and its students have influenced the international graphic design community since it opened in 1968. Its tradition was shaped by graphic design pioneers Armin Hofmann, Emil Ruder, and Wolfgang Weingart. The name of the school represents an educational approach which perpetuates their ideas: to lay a strong and broad foundation for the major design disciplines.
| Basel School of Design | |
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| Address | |
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Vogelsangstrasse 15 4058 | |
| Coordinates | 47.5667°N 07.6°E |
| Information | |
| Type | postgraduate |
| Opened | 1968 |
| Closed | 1999 |
Weiterbildungsklasse für Grafik (1968–99)
In response to the growing interest of many trained designers who were searching for a means to deepen or extend their knowledge or skills, an international postgraduate program for graphic design was conceived by Armin Hofmann and Emil Ruder. For thirty years, the Weiterbildungsklasse für Grafik / Advanced Class for Graphic Design offered an intensive study of basic design principles and a broad horizon in form-related design processes. Attended by students from all over the world, the program became an outstanding model for a modernist design education.
In 1999, the school was assimilated by the FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland. Continuing the tradition set forth by the Advanced Class for Graphic Design, a collaboration initiated in 2007 by the School of Design at UIC (University of Illinois at Chicago) and the FHNW HGK Basel Visual Communication Institute offers a two-year accredited MDes degree. This international Master of Design program provides graphic designers, with a bachelor’s degree and professional design experience, the opportunity to hone their skills and further develop their approach to visual communication.