Study design at the univer­sity where we all know each other.

We are a state univer­sity with five loca­tions in Schwä­bisch Gmünd and you study without tuition fees. Our main buil­ding is a comple­tely reno­vated art nouveau buil­ding with state-of-the-art equipped rooms, labo­ra­to­ries and IT labs. You can print, plot, cut, saw or mill your work in our work­shops. You can design your proto­types on physical compu­ting plat­forms such as Arduino or produce them on a 3D printer in our proto­ty­ping lab. In the work­shops, you can choose from a wide range of mate­rials, from wood and metal to plas­tics, cera­mics and clay, with tips from the work­shop managers.

In the final semester you will work with your project group in our ​„Haus Goethe“ where you can write your bachelor or master thesis in peace and quiet.

University Facilities

Schwä­bisch Gmünd is only 30 minutes away from Stutt­gart and surrounded by gree­nery. In the city, living space is affordable and distances are short. Students prefer the central loca­tion in the city centre with its histo­rical buil­dings.

However, Schwä­bisch Gmünd not only offers affordable rents, but also has a crea­tive envi­ron­ment with design offices, start-ups or co-working labs. In addi­tion, there is not only a great land­scape with sports faci­li­ties right on the door­step, but also nume­rous world market leaders, hidden cham­pions and the major auto­mo­bile groups – our coope­ra­tion partners.

Location and Buildings

We do ever­y­thing for you – well, almost ever­y­thing. Every day we do our best in the most diverse areas to make the HfG work. Whether in the class­room, in the canteen or in the workshops.

Over two days the HfG invites all inte­rested parties to the semester exhi­bi­tion. On Friday and Saturday, students will present their work and projects from the fields of Digital Product Design and Deve­lo­p­ment – Design of Networked Systems, Inter­ac­tion, Commu­ni­ca­tion and Product Design, as well as from the Master’s Programme in Stra­tegic Design.

Exhibition

In coope­ra­tion with the Museum Ulm, the Univer­sity of Applied Sciences realized the exhi­bi­tion ​„Trans-human – from prosthe­tics to cyborg“. With over 120 exhi­bits, the exhi­bi­tion opened up a diverse view of the topic of trans-huma­nism from the perspec­tives of design, medical history, tech­no­logy and art. 

More about the exhibition

All rese­arch acti­vi­ties are centrally bundled in an Insti­tute for Applied Rese­arch (IAF). The focus is on rese­arch and deve­lo­p­ment issues related to the three core areas of inter­ac­tion, commu­ni­ca­tion and product design.

Applied rese­arch projects focus, for example, on the ergo­nomic design of medical products and systems or the inter­ac­tion between humans and desi­gned products or systems. The usabi­lity of products, analyses of deve­lo­p­ment and work processes and the deve­lo­p­ment of Internet appli­ca­tions are also part of this. The IAF is also a service faci­lity for employees and companies.

Research

External scouts from the start-up sector and with exper­tise in the field of company foun­da­tion select suitable final projects for the HfG’s foun­da­tion offen­sive at the semester exhi­bi­tion. Students with a goCard can then take part in the funding offers such as lectures or work­shops and are advised by the goTeam on start-up topics.