Awarded
Erich Moser / Cybu Richli
Publication 'Visuelle Erklärungen - Untersuchung zum Thema Infografik' (diploma work)
Graphic Design
Erich Moser, Cybu Richli
Erich Moser / Cybu Richli
Jury report
What the umbrella can tell us about the mallard
How can complex matters be expressed in visual terms for lay people? Erich Moser and Cybu Richli explore unusual paths. These two graphic designers, who trained at the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Luzern, have submitted acclaimed work for their diploma, which has been awarded the Raymond Loewy Prize. It is called 'Visuelle Erklärungen' (Visual Explanations), a somewhat modest title. The two infographic artists have brought off something extraordinary. They have used a system of banal everyday objects so that we can understand highly complex situations.
For example, what does the rubber seal for a Kilner jar have in common with a spinal column? Nothing at first, you might think. Except when the sealing rings are alienated from their real purpose and twisted in so that they can take on a whole variety of shapes, arranged in a particularly revealing way. If these pictorial elements – the two Central Swiss designers call it 'building kit' – are recombined, the process by which they are joined together in a chain ultimately produces a very vivid model of a spinal column. The pictorial database is contained in a 'picture case', so that other infographic artists can use this new visual alphabet as well.
The two designers use everyday objects so logically and innovatively that they are able to use phenomena from zoology and optics, as well as just anatomy, for example, when transparent film is used to illustrate the theme of visual acuity. The metal ribs and folding mechanism of an umbrella, with its countless stages of opening and shutting help us to see how a mallard flies. What the two designers achieve here is the maximum quality of attention. The fact that these unconventional visual demonstrations turn out to be not just dryly scientific, but markedly sensual, gives cause for hope that they will soon reach a wider audience.
Peter Stohler
Biography
Erich Moser
Born in
1977
Education
Designer FH mit Vertiefung in Graphic Design
Cybu Richli
Born in
1977
Education
Designer FH mit Vertiefung in Graphic Design
