Book Design Graphic Design

The Book Design/Graphic Design program at the HGB combines contemporary openness with a rich design tradition. The discipline of graphic design is in constant flux, continuously shaped by technological, cultural, and societal developments. The program emphasizes artistic engagement with design and production – in terms of content, form and technique. Graphic design at the HGB is understood as an open, research-driven program that thinks and works across disciplines. The diploma program offers students the time and space to develop and grow their own practice – both independently and collaboratively. The roles of designers today are diverse – ranging from authors, consultants, curators, organizers, editors, to mediators – with growing responsibilities for the complex interconnections between such roles. The two-year foundation course (Module 1) lays the foundations for this practice, providing a broad visual vocabulary in form, content and attitude, together with a solid handcraft base. Students explore their own design interests and sharpen their perception of imagery, typography and graphic systems. The program includes foundation courses in graphic design, drawing and typography, as well as interdisciplinary workshops and laboratory formats exploring various techniques from hand-setting type and bookbinding to analogue printing processes and digital tools. The System-Design Class (Fachklasse System-Design) is a graphic design unit headed by the designer Maureen Mooren (NL) at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig. It takes conceptual graphic design as a starting point to be developed into various media and formats. Design is seen as a critical, research-driven and holistic tool towards 'the publishing of ideas'. Practical outcomes and projects range from books and other publications, identities, exhibition designs, time-based media and film to installation and architectural situations. The Type Design class at HGB frames type design as both a technical discipline and a cultural practice. Unique in Germany and rooted in Leipzig's tradition since 1914, it provides a foundation for developing new typefaces at a professional level. Students shape letterforms across analogue and digital tools, working from research and vector drawing to full font production. Along the way, they explore new aesthetics, challenge traditions, and work with the optical factors of type design. At the same time, they build a critical perspective through history and technology, learning how typefaces shift across design and visual culture. The class runs as an open studio, balancing long-term projects, experiments and external collaborations.