This thesis introduces a practical methodology for integrating AI-powered tools into a present-day poster design process. It utilizes approximately 90,000 digital image files of posters from the Plakatsammlung der Schule für Gestaltung Basel, which are then categorized into various criteria to use as training data. Traditional posters are generally composed of two primary graphic design elements: images and typography. Given this, my experiment involved several computational steps: layout composition analysis, text detection, layer segmentation, and merging. The images of these posters were categorized by era, purpose, and type of imagery used (e.g., illustration, photography, or graphic shapes). After categorization, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) masking typically used for facial tracking in security systems, autonomous vehicles, and other surveillance technologies was used to create typography layers. OpenCV, a computer vision library widely used for tasks like image processing and object detection; or OCR-SAM, a unified tool for OCR and segmentation, was employed to separate the typography and image layers and to inpaint the image layers. Each layer was then independently generated and merged using Stable Diffusion, an AI-based text-to-image generation model, ensuring a seamless integration of the generated layers. My exploration suggests a system within which AI understands the purpose and message of poster designs, generating corresponding typography and image layers. It also demonstrates how AI can be utilized in specific stages of the design process of a poster and analyzes how AI tools can either complement or replace certain or all steps of a graphic designer’s design performance. The summation of my experiments proposes new possibilities in poster design amongst other forms of graphic design through creative and innovative AI approaches, ultimately seeking ways for graphic designers and AI to interface to achieve phenomenal visual solutions.


B i o g r a p h y
Eunbee Lee is a 2020 BA graduate in Painting and Textile and Clothing from Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul, South Korea. Complementary to her master’s thesis research, Eunbee is the current assistant graphic designer on Demain Conrad’s team for the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) Congress’s Special Project on generative AI posters in Basel. In collaboration with dreamlook.ai and the Plakatsammlung der Schule für Gestaltung Basel, Eunbee has assisted in building up the Swiss Poster Gen AI model and helped organize its exhibition. Eunbee's design practice is multidisciplinary, encompassing typeface design, poster design, editorial design, and extending to generative design.

eunbee.xyz
instagram.com/eun.bee.lee

This thesis project introduces a six-course dining experience designed to simulate the sensory aspect of a psychedelic journey. Through projection mapping, binaural sounds, and other techniques, all five senses are enhanced without the use of actual psychedelics. Each dish is inspired by a specific psychedelic substance and its associated rituals, using food as a cultural object to explore ancient practices and rituals from diverse cultures such as Ancient Egypt, Tibetan, Aztec, and Vedic traditions. Ingredients and visual styles reflect these practices and the effects of the substances. Visual projections and sounds transform the dining space to enhance the sensory experience. This approach ensures that every course not only satisfies the palate but also engages the other senses, creating either a sensory overload or deliberate sensory deprivation to intensify the overall journey. The focus is on challenging societal perceptions of psychedelics and exploring their potential benefits. The event offers a vegetarian menu to ensure inclusivity and aligns with many traditional psychedelic and religious practices that utilize plant-based substances. This project aims to redefine traditional dining methods and explore how sensory immersion can enhance our understanding and enjoyment of food. By merging historical practices with contemporary cuisine and food, this thesis offers an opportunity for a unique exploration that guides participants through a series of sensory and emotional states, making it an immersive and enlightening journey.


B i o g r a p h y
Mahmoud Hamdy is an Egyptian multidisciplinary designer, who lived in the United Arab Emirates for more than 20 years. His interests span branding, editorial design, web design, but his main interest is in experimental design, specifically exploring psychedelic and experimental design techniques. Mahmoud earned his Bachelor of Science in Visual Communication from the American University of Sharjah. In 2022, he relocated to Basel, Switzerland, to further his education and pursue a Master's degree (MDes) from the Basel Academy of Design in a joint program with the University of Illinois of Chicago.

mhamdy.com
instagram.com/mahmouddd4

NATURESCAPES – Hindsight VR is an immersive virtual reality experience set in a dystopian future. Due to drastic global warming, the polar ice sheets have melted considerably, causing a severe rise in sea levels around the world. Among many countries and cities around the globe, New York City and Manhattan have been completely flooded. The VR experience begins in the torch of the Statue of Liberty, which is still peeking out of the sea, and depicts an interactive space that takes a look at the climate catastrophes and, with hindsight, confronts the viewer with what needs to be done today to avoid such disasters in the future. Additionally, the audience can access two other levels: the iconic Times Square, now submerged, where the viewer will stand on a scaffold surrounded by water, and a subway car in the process of being flooded, complete with emergency evacuation alerts. From the Times Square platform, viewers can transition to a 360-degree VR view of a utopian future in which New York City is in harmony with nature and the climate crisis has been averted. The climate crisis is a real and present danger, but somehow still seems distant and abstract to many. By depicting an exaggerated, yet possible scenario in one of the world’s most familiar and iconic cities, NATURESCAPES – Hindsight VR attempts to make the crisis more tangible and provoke change in the viewers' minds. The VR experience aims to shed light on our current climate crisis and, through portraying a possible future, hopes to provoke discussion and instigate positive change using artistic and creative methods.


B i o g r a p h y
Born in New York City and raised in Switzerland, Quinn Evan Reimann is an award-winning collaborative filmmaker with 30 years of on-set experience around the globe. He holds a BA in Film Production & Screenwriting from Hampshire College, MA, as well as a Master of Arts degree in Film from HFF Munich / Zurich University of the Arts. Quinn decided to broaden his horizons with studies in the field of design at the Basel School of Design and the University of Illinois at Chicago and successfully gradated the MDes program with an International Master of Design degree in 2024.

ablinkfilm.com
instagram.com/quinnatwhoisquinn

This thesis commences with the proclamation of the Neue Trans Aesthetics Manifesto, wherein its legitimacy is asserted and its necessity argued. It then considers the ways in which humanity can differentiate itself and survive as an agent of aesthetic formation in an era in which the ontological question of human beings as agents of creation is being posed in an extensive artistic paradigm driven by AI technology. The research was conducted through three activities: interviews, manifesto writing, and visualization experiments. These activities were continuously influenced by and grew in conjunction with one another, akin to a living organism. The visualization experiment serves to metaphorically illustrate the message of the Neue Trans Aesthetics Manifesto. In the context of the 'Representation of Form', the exhibition experiments with the relationship between digital properties (photogrammetry scanning) and physical properties (3D-printed objects). It can be considered a visualized poem of The Neue Trans Aesthetics Manifesto with each element functioning as a metaphor.


B i o g r a p h y
Hongkyung Son (aka Sonny) is a multidisciplinary South Korean designer. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Communication Design from Yonsei University and embarked on his career as an editorial designer. He subsequently pursued a career in brand identity and exhibition graphics and enrolled for his Master of Design studies in 2022 in Basel, Switzerland. Sonny's work explores the relationship between digital and analogue, and experiments with the possibilities of personalized work within the standards of industry-driven aesthetics

instagram.com/sonhongkyung