Badesaison – the Swiss design studio that can handle everything from Dada to music

Words by Lucy Bourton, Friday 26 August 2016

Earlier this year graphic design studio Badesaison created an advertising campaign for “Perlaton”, an annual music festival held in Zurich. The studio’s approach to design is ideal for the event – unbiased in genre or taste – and in many ways the studio shares values that represent the festival as a whole. For this campaign the studio reference a number of typefaces that could be related to any genre of music, a gothic style balanced against graffiti typography. Their ability of combining and contrasting elements doesn’t stop there. Black and white layouts are mixed with highly saturated still life photography which sit comfortably on the page they’ve designed for it.

Back in May the studio created the official program for Festspiele Zurich 2016 dedicated to the anniversary of Dadaism. “This machine we created is a collage from a very old tool catalogue, we found in a thrift shop” the duo explain, “Our inspiration was the french dadaist Francis Picabia and his imaginitive blue prints. It works a flow chart, that guides the reader to a certain event of his interest.”

More recently Badesaison designed Wir Sind Da a publication for the masters degree of fine arts for the University of Arts Lucerne. For the brief they shot a “photographic portrait of the city” where the exhibition took place. “The individual characteristics of the City, with its huge factories and construction sites is reflected in our design as well as in the artworks of the students,” say the designers.

Most Recent

More like this:

Work / Graphic Design Meet Universal Thirst, the Bangalore and Reykjavik-based foundry offering a dual perspective on type

Frustrated by the lack of attention paid to South Asian type design, designer and engineer duo Gunnar Vilhjálmsson and Kalapi Gajjar set up Universal Thirst in 2016. Now it’s a seven strong-studio based across India and Europe, creating innovative Indic and Latin typefaces for the likes of Frieze, The Gourmand and Monotype.

Laura Snoad — 14 November 2019
Work / Graphic Design “Legacy meets contemporary”: Karl Anders on its campaign for Red Star FC

The Paris-based creative studio talks us through its campaign design for the historic club’s latest season. Naming the project after Red Star FC’s old stadium, Bauer, the designers honour the venue and create a series of inspiring new visuals hoping to push the team back up to the second division.

Jyni Ong — 13 November 2019
Work / Graphic Design Studio Phenomena looks at syllable-based writing, lost dreams and sensory experiences

We chat with the Seoul-based graphic design studio’s director Irang Lim about analysing the formal structure of Hangul through physical objects and how starting her own independent studio allows her to have bigger creative control over her projects.

Alif Ibrahim — 12 November 2019
Work / Graphic Design Eloise Harris celebrates physical touch and materiality in her thoughtful design practice

Though much of her work exists digitally, the materiality of design is still highly important for the Berlin-based designer. Here, she talks us through three recent projects including the identity for a music festival in Cologne and a new jewellery brand.

Jyni Ong — 12 November 2019
Work / Graphic Design Designer Brando Corradini finds freedom in his personal work

Above all else, Brando Corradini considers himself to be an artist. With heavy streetwear and typographic influences, the Italian graphic designer talks to us about the freedom and importance of working on personal projects.

Alif Ibrahim — 11 November 2019
Work / Graphic Design Kontrapunkt's type designers talk us through its design for Copenhagen's in-train displays

Kontrapunkt’s heads of type design Torsten LIndsø Andersen and Rasmus Michaëlis talks us through the challenges of designing a bespoke typeface for a small electronic board that will be seen by thousands of people everyday.

Alif Ibrahim — 11 November 2019

Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Meji Alabi on discovering his roots through film and music

In the second half of October’s Nicer Tuesday director and photographer Meji Alabi joined us to discuss working with artists who are “transcending borders and representing the culture” of Africa.

It's Nice That — 14 November 2019
Work / Illustration Stoic black cats and burning worlds: Quentin Dufour on his chaotic illustrations

The French illustrator talks to us about using his illustrations to deal with a tough period in his life, and the joy of working with printed objects as an artistic practice.

Alif Ibrahim — 14 November 2019
Work / Photography Jiří Makovec’s photographs meander between the personal and the universal

From capturing ephemeral moments with strangers on the street to intimate shots of his grandmother in hospital, Jiří Makovec’s new book From… To… documents 16 years of the photographer’s everyday life, through good times and bad.

Jyni Ong — 14 November 2019
Work / Photography In photographing the American west, Andong Zheng uncovers hidden traces of Chinese history

The New York-based photographer, originally from China, found that Chinese labour was historically excluded in the archives and photographs of the First Transcontinental Railroad in the mid-19th century. He sets out to the American west to find the origins of the “unassimilable others” narrative that culminated in the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882.

Alif Ibrahim — 14 November 2019
Work / Graphic Design Meet Universal Thirst, the Bangalore and Reykjavik-based foundry offering a dual perspective on type

Frustrated by the lack of attention paid to South Asian type design, designer and engineer duo Gunnar Vilhjálmsson and Kalapi Gajjar set up Universal Thirst in 2016. Now it’s a seven strong-studio based across India and Europe, creating innovative Indic and Latin typefaces for the likes of Frieze, The Gourmand and Monotype.

Laura Snoad — 14 November 2019
Work / Photography Manchester Girls, the new series from Dean Davies, is a visual homage to the women of the north

After successfully reaching its Kickstarter crowdfunding goal, the series – in collaboration with Vicky Olschak – is set to come to life in print for early December. Stylistically a marvel that sends you back in time to the 90s, it gives a necessary voice to the female perspectives within Manchester’s working class heritage.

Ayla Angelos — 14 November 2019

Sponsored / Found in Adobe Stock Michael Crowe and Ben Denzer craft hilarious book titles and cover designs using Adobe Stock

For the latest segment of Found in Adobe Stock, It’s Nice That has commissioned artist and writer Michael Crowe and Catalog Press’ Ben Denzer to create a new series of work which explore the world of Adobe Stock.

Jyni Ong — 14 November 2019
Work / Illustration Back in 1900, activist W. E. B. Du Bois was using infographics to challenge white supremacy

A new show at the House of Illustration, called W.E.B. Du Bois: Charting Black Lives, explores the little-known infographics created by the African American activist and intellectual to challenge racism at the Paris Exposition in 1900.

Laura Snoad — 13 November 2019
Work / Animation Two old witches discover Tinder in Worthikids' hilarious animation

With witty voice acting, excellent comedic timing and simple yet effective character design, the Michigan-based animator shows us a short film where two old witches discover the possibilities of online dating. The witches talk through the ethics of extracting youth potions and putting up younger pictures of themselves online in this amusing little gem.

Alif Ibrahim — 13 November 2019
Work / Digital Watch Tomorrow Bureau’s obsessive and macabre ode to technical outdoor gear

At first glimpse Xtreme Scenario is a two-part film that studies the aesthetics, textures and sounds of fancy camping and hiking kit and the natural environment, but is there something morbid afoot?

Laura Snoad — 13 November 2019
Work / Photography Viktor Hübner photographs American anxieties amongst a shifting political environment

Hitchhiking across 41 states, getting 248 rides and travelling 26,000 km within two years, the German photographer wanted to document the political anxiety that Americans across all generations and political spectrums felt after the 2016 election. In his photographic and oral history project titled The Americans I Met, he collects anecdotes of political wariness, while still finding personal trust in the people he met.

Alif Ibrahim — 13 November 2019
Work / Graphic Design “Legacy meets contemporary”: Karl Anders on its campaign for Red Star FC

The Paris-based creative studio talks us through its campaign design for the historic club’s latest season. Naming the project after Red Star FC’s old stadium, Bauer, the designers honour the venue and create a series of inspiring new visuals hoping to push the team back up to the second division.

Jyni Ong — 13 November 2019

Work / Opinion Studying a master's felt like a party Stacie Woolsey wasn't invited to, so she made her own

Following her degree, Stacie Woolsey was looking for ways to further her education, but fees made it impossible. Instead she developed her own curriculum and chose her own tutors, making her own master’s. Now a graduate of her very own kind, Stacie is rethinking the education system and opening applications for students to join her on a unique, beneficial and, most of all, affordable master’s course.

Stacie Woolsey — 13 November 2019
Work / Nicer Tuesdays How to materialise the different facets of an artist: InterestingProjects on re-imagining Keith Haring

Comprising of James Mason and Joana Filipe, the duo takes us through its work conceptualising and designing the first major Keith Haring exhibition in the UK.

It's Nice That — 13 November 2019
Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Enda Bowe on connecting beauty across borders

Joining us at October’s Nicer Tuesdays was Irish documentary photographer Enda Bowe, who lit up the room with his cinematic portraits of Belfast’s youth culture: segregated by walls, but unified by “the emotional journeys that bind us all.”

It's Nice That — 12 November 2019
Work / Graphic Design Studio Phenomena looks at syllable-based writing, lost dreams and sensory experiences

We chat with the Seoul-based graphic design studio’s director Irang Lim about analysing the formal structure of Hangul through physical objects and how starting her own independent studio allows her to have bigger creative control over her projects.

Alif Ibrahim — 12 November 2019
Work / Animation Animal training and symphonious masses: Louis Morton animates his post-climate change world

Set in a not-so-distant future world, LA-based Louis Morton’s Floreana is a mesmerising animation where a new generation of humans are training to mimic animals in a story that explores the idea of evolution, climate change, and human-animal relationships.

Alif Ibrahim — 12 November 2019
Work / Illustration Smudgy lines and bulging behinds: meet Fátima Moreno’s cheeky characters

Clad in sassy boots – with claws sharply filed – characters strut, wiggle and leap through the Spanish illustrator’s vibrant world.

Peach Doble — 12 November 2019

Work / Graphic Design Eloise Harris celebrates physical touch and materiality in her thoughtful design practice

Though much of her work exists digitally, the materiality of design is still highly important for the Berlin-based designer. Here, she talks us through three recent projects including the identity for a music festival in Cologne and a new jewellery brand.

Jyni Ong — 12 November 2019
Work / Publication Covering beauty, masculinity and reproductive justice – Polyester releases four iconic anniversary zines

In celebration of Polyester reaching its fifth birthday, its founder Ione has released four zines to mark the occasion. “Each zine we’re publishing represents the essence of Polyester in its own way,” she says.

Ayla Angelos — 12 November 2019
Work / Photography Telling scenes and soft embraces: Guen Fiore captures the intimacy of the female form

Guen’s portraiture is intensely honest. Achieved through an active approach to finding a narrative, she believes that you don’t need much to create a beautiful story: “If you’ve got the right face and good light, then you’ve got almost everything you need.”

Ayla Angelos — 12 November 2019
Work / Illustration Otto Splotch combines the gross and absurd with beautifully detailed handiwork

The New Orleans-based illustrator draws inspirations from the “wild and dysfunctional party city that requires a specific skillset to live [there]". Here, the artist talks us through his recent publications from the fart-joking Stink Helmet to the loose and experimental narratives of Hairdriver.

Jyni Ong — 11 November 2019
Work / Graphic Design Designer Brando Corradini finds freedom in his personal work

Above all else, Brando Corradini considers himself to be an artist. With heavy streetwear and typographic influences, the Italian graphic designer talks to us about the freedom and importance of working on personal projects.

Alif Ibrahim — 11 November 2019
Work / Graphic Design Kontrapunkt's type designers talk us through its design for Copenhagen's in-train displays

Kontrapunkt’s heads of type design Torsten LIndsø Andersen and Rasmus Michaëlis talks us through the challenges of designing a bespoke typeface for a small electronic board that will be seen by thousands of people everyday.

Alif Ibrahim — 11 November 2019

Work / Photography Giovanni Hänninen documents the people of Tambacounda through 200 portraits

The project, currently on show at the Also Known As Africa (AKAA) art and design fair, presents 200 individuals – from doctors to bankers, teachers to farmers – in their environments, and is accompanied by Senegal/Sicily, a series of six short documentaries created in collaboration with filmmaker Alberto Amoretti.

Ayla Angelos — 11 November 2019
Work / Art Anything and everything is possible in Howie Kim’s digital fantasy worlds

The Singapore-based digital artist talks us through his magical artworks, where contemporary internet culture overlaps with the strange and sometimes disturbing.

Jyni Ong — 11 November 2019
Features / Digital Larry Achiampong and David Blandy use video games to explore issues around race and class

The world of Grand Theft Auto might seem an unlikely arena in which to tackle social politics, but for mixed-media artists Larry Achiampong and David Blandy the virtual space of gaming offers a pertinent metaphor for the structures that govern our lives and experiences IRL.

Rebecca Irvin — 11 November 2019
Work / Photograhy Photographer Arnhel de Serra turns the lens back on today’s selfie-stick culture

What do people do in their leisure time? For some, the simple act of people watching is a hobby, but for Arnhel de Serra, it’s an art. His absurd photography captures everything from the tackiness of tourism to the welly-wanging nature of home counties Britain.

Peach Doble — 11 November 2019
Work / Advertising M&S brings Single Ladies director on board for a jumping Christmas advert

Its premise is simple: Marks & Spencer’s jumpers are dually great for the winter and the Christmas season: they’ll keep you cosy and act as a failsafe gift too – they’ll even get you moving.

Lucy Bourton — 08 November 2019
Work / Photography Land in Sonne explores the young generations now living in former East Berlin and its impacts

The former assistant to Nan Goldin talks us through the series behind her latest book, capturing the generation known as “Wendekinder”, the children of German reunification.

Jyni Ong — 08 November 2019