Springschool

We - the Department of Design at h_da - cordially invite you to get to know our two degree programmes Communication and Industrial Design and our campus on the Mathildenhöhe.

Through lectures, guided tours of laboratories and workshops, presentations, exchanges with students and lecturers and joint project work, we offer you special insights into design studies at the Department of Design over four to five days at the "springschool identify".

The "springschool" takes place every year in March or April under its own motto and will continue next spring. A number of former participants are now part of the student body with very good results.

The aim of the event is to convey what tasks and opportunities designers have as a career option.

Project management: Prof Sabine Winkler

Previous and upcoming "springschools identify"

30.3. to 2.4.2026 - "Layers, levels, dimensions" and their interrelationships are the theme of Springschool 2026. We usually perceive selective sections. We look at the topics from the perspective of maths, geography, society, structuring data, etc. When we set off, we think in terms of roads and paths; when we take a shower, we are interested in the temperature of the water, but we don't know much about the logic of water management. Weather is created by the exchange of processes in the earth's atmosphere; we experience the results of complex structures. Venue: Faculty of Design, Olbrichweg 10, Darmstadt. Daily from 10 am to 5 pm. The event is free of charge. Please register by 23.3.2026 by e-mail to springschool.fbg@h-da.de.

2025 - "Interactions and networks" Most people only know the fruiting bodies of mushrooms, which protrude from the earth. However, the mycelium that produces them is a huge underground network consisting of thread-like cells. These dynamic networks interact. Adaptable and flexible, they react to changes. These structures are instructive models, for example for the principles of AI. Fungi live and develop through continuous branching. The following applies to the choice of growth paths: more is more ...

2024 - "on / off " "on or off", "more or less", "gain or get rid of"; we want to deal with this together. We will develop objects and signs that can be perceived with all the senses and look at them in the context of their everyday use. It is our endeavour to enable people with a creative mindset to create future-oriented solutions and living situations in interdisciplinary teams.

2023 - "Elements" At the beginning of our universe was a small sphere. Around 300,000 years after the Big Bang, atoms and light developed - elements that make up everything we experience as humans. Curiosity and research have always and across all cultures characterised our view of the world and our idea of the elements that make up life. Elements become perceptible to us in their interplay - in their effects, interactions and consequences. Elements of design include recognising connections, creative and interdisciplinary thinking and the development of projective possibilities.

2022 - "Current ..."... and currents. Energy and movement are essential prerequisites for life. Current in the form of electricity is omnipresent in our everyday lives. Currents are in constant flux on many levels: for example in the form of social currents, movements in the bodies of living beings, in the universe, as ocean movements, etc. Design requires emphatic recognition, creative thinking and projective change - with the aim of developing possibilities. Recognising areas of tension and forces of attraction and trying out new things generates energy and movement when the spark is ignited.

2021 - "Instruments" Whether measuring, writing or musical instruments - they are tools of daily use. They are and have been a means to an end across cultures and times, are helpful and sometimes beautiful. Practice and experience make them versatile and skilful to use. Instruments of design include creative thinking, empathic recognition and projective change - with the aim of realising possibilities.
2019 - "Chess" As an international and traditional game, chess offers numerous opportunities for creative exploration: about the perception of the game and the nature of the pieces, dealing with and against each other, in analogue and digital ways, as strategic thinking and planning, as a question of human and artificial intelligence, of knowledge, recognition and change.

2019 - "Chess" As an international and traditional game, chess offers numerous opportunities for creative exploration: about the perception of the game and the nature of the pieces, dealing with and against each other, in analogue and digital ways, as strategic thinking and planning, as questions about human and artificial intelligence, about knowledge, recognition and change.