July 14 and 15, 2023: Semester exhi­bi­tion at Univer­sity of Applied Sciences Schwä­bisch Gmünd (HfG)

In July 2021, North Rhine-West­phalia and Rhine­land-Pala­ti­nate were hit by a flood disaster due to persis­tent heavy rain: Commu­ni­ca­tion desi­gners Char­lotte Beha, Sofia Bikovskis, and Kira Lehmann presented ​„Hydro­phob“, a concept for flood preven­tion in Germany, at the semester exhi­bi­tion of HfG Schwä­bisch Gmünd. More sustaina­bi­lity in forestry was the theme of product desi­gner Thorben Westen­dorf’s ​„Auto­no­mous Forest Helper“ project. In order to create a more resi­lient forest, increased refo­re­sta­tion and the deve­lo­p­ment of new forest areas is neces­sary in times of climate change: Westen­dorf does this by using a robot – it takes over tasks such as plan­ting and forest main­ten­ance, partly on its own. In the Digital Product Design and Deve­lo­p­ment (Internet of Things) course, students Tara Monheim, Marius Schairer and Maxi­mi­lian Becht deve­loped a route plan­ning and navi­ga­tion plat­form for people with mobi­lity impairm­ents as part of their bache­lor’s thesis entitled ​„Blob – Opti­miza­tion of urban navi­ga­tion using a data­base provided by citi­zens“. Students Felix Cordes and Jere­mias Lange from the master’s program in Stra­tegic Design also dealt with the topic of acces­si­bi­lity in ​„New Para­digms of Digital Inter­ac­tion“. In the Inter­ac­tion Design course, students Alisa Bogu­kanin, Adrian Jans, Malte Opder­beck, and Marie Köhle presented ​„Loc:Scel,“ possi­bi­li­ties of digi­tiza­tion for police work.

These and many other final and project works were shown at the HfG semester exhi­bi­tion on July 14 and 15, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., respec­tively. The exhi­bi­tion took place on both days in the main buil­ding of the HfG in Rektor-Klaus-Straße 100 in Schwä­bisch Gmünd. Visi­tors were able to discover inno­va­tive product deve­lo­p­ments, multi­media instal­la­tions as well as unusual commu­ni­ca­tion and exhi­bi­tion concepts. As in previous semes­ters, a virtual exhi­bi­tion was presented at the same time at ausstellung.hfg-gmuend.de.

But not only the final theses were worth a look, but also the project works, which were also shown in the Rektor-Klaus-Straße. The works showed what the studies at the Univer­sity of Applied Sciences Schwä­bisch Gmünd are all about, how design contri­butes to respon­sibly influen­cing future deve­lo­p­ments and accor­ding to which criteria design decis­ions are made. 

The team around the start-up initia­tive ​„goHfG“ was again present at the semester exhi­bi­tion with experts from busi­ness, the public and teaching and was able to iden­tify promi­sing projects and award the goCard to moti­vated students. This gives the project teams the chance to parti­ci­pate in work­shops and consultations. 

For those who were unable to attend the on-site exhi­bi­tion, you can still view our digital exhi­bi­tion online!