Content and structure

Course content.

Students are taught how to communicate scientific content visually with a wide range of tools and methods – from A for animation to Z for ZBrush. You learn how to develop top-quality creative, aesthetic methods of representation and acquire all the theoretical and practical skills required to understand the use of images in science and create illustrations and visualizations. 

Drawing and painting are just as much a part of the degree programme as the use of relevant digital tools for image processing in 2D, 3D and the video area. The wide range of design tools and methods also provides students with access to interactive and immersive media. Cooperation with experts gives students an insight into natural scientific research areas such as medicine, biology, zoology and archaeology, and enables them to try out their skills on real-world tasks from the industry. 

Course structure.

Representation
Students are introduced to naturalistic methods of representation. Skills taught include understanding, recognizing and presenting the perspectives and proportions of spatial construction, the methods of representing space, object plastificity and surface quality, as well in-depth exploration of composition and image design.

Media
Students learn about relevant digital programmes (image processing, vector graphics, 3D visualization and animation) that they can use in their practical projects. They also acquire an overview of tools and workflows and their connectivity to advanced technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, interactivity, imaging procedures, etc. 

Professional field and practice
Students undertake independent research into their professional field, visit studios and speak with professionals from the field of scientific visualization, which enables them to strengthen their professional profile for the future. The focus is also on self-marketing, setting up a website, and the students’ own portfolios. 

Application and communication
Learn the concepts and methods of scientific visualization through project work with scientific experts, in particular in the fields of archaeology and medicine. Students explore target groups and didactic teaching and put their own methodological and media skills under the microscope by undertaking practice-oriented work.

Specialization and core subject
In two comprehensive projects, students learn about the core subject areas of Science/Education and Scientainment, and develop a project from the research stage through to the design prototype. Afterwards, they decide on a topic and select a scientific cooperation partner as preparation for their graduation project and present their topic research and objectives for their thesis in the form of a project plan.

Theory & context 
The theory programme comprises the interdisciplinary range of courses offered in the Design degree programme and the related theoretical content, which focus on knowledge creation in the context of scientific history. This includes the psychology of perception, image theory, scientific communication and scientific sociology, museography and didactics. The degree programme also teaches students the basics of academic work. 

Practical work with other majors
Learn how to act and work in interdisciplinary design teams. Students formulate and implement joint ideas on a current issue, learn how to communicate design processes, and get across their understanding of design in discussions with others. 

Graduation project 
Complete a graduation project: After completing your written thesis, you develop your design project together with your cooperation partner. Support is provided in the form of mentoring sessions.

Skills acquired in the course.

  • Mastery of the basics of handwork and design, the digital tools for spatial-naturalistic representation and their use in visual knowledge transfer.
  • Basic knowledge and use of animation and interaction in knowledge transfer.
  • Knowledge of how to exploit and classify scientific findings
  • Knowledge of the conventions of scientific illustration in the most important fields of practice (medicine, biology, archaeology and life sciences) 
  • Analyse complex scientific content and correlations in cooperation with experts in the field; develop and implement the corresponding visual concepts
  • Development, implementation and needs-based use of students’ own projects in the field of visual knowledge transfer and on a contractual basis.
  • Knowledge of subject-specific theory and classification of students’ own work in subject-specific discourse

Admissions requirements

You would like to captivate and strike a chord with a range of audiences using scientific stories. You are interested in current scientific issues. You are keen to learn about the wide range of design methods available for knowledge transfer, and have the following skill set:

  • Creative potential
  • Drawing-design skills
  • Spatial imagination
  • Analytical-content skills
  • Good observational skills and the ability to work in a team
  • Interest in the natural sciences
  • Skilled communicator
  • Passion for teaching/knowledge transfer

Benefits of studying at ZHdK.

The degree course in Knowledge Visualization is more than 70 years old and is internationally unique:

  • Your lecturers still work in the industry as illustrators; they support you and provide you with practical advice
  • You have contact with like-minded people throughout the course who are passionate about illustration, images and communication
  • You create a unique network for team and cooperation projects, which provides an optimum springboard from which to launch yourself into your professional future

Studying at ZHdK offers you a wealth of benefits.

  • Take your future in hand: You enjoy a contemporary, interdisciplinary, highly specialized education. 
  • You have access to the Toni Campus. This centre for education and culture combines all disciplines under one roof and is unparalleled in its dimensions anywhere in Europe. 
  • ZHdK regularly puts on projects and events. 
  • You benefit from professional networks and collaborations with the creative industry and other educational institutions in Switzerland and abroad.