Media technology is omnipresent today. We carry multiple screen-based devices and explore realms like AR and VR. However, storytelling often remains limited to a single screen experience. How can we integrate our surroundings into narratives? In this assignment, students explore blending traditional media design with methods from human-computer interaction (HCI) to incorporate spatial elements into interactive stories.

In this assignment our students were tasked to investigate the technical and ethical frontiers of Midjourney, an AI image synthesis tool. Their objective was to create an artwork inspired by a specific image of Dieric Bouts, a renowned Flemish master. This task encouraged hands-on research at the intersection of renaissance art and AI technology. The resulting artworks were displayed at bac Art Lab in Leuven at the New Horizons festival.

Students were asked to design a new monthly magazine which focuses on a broad range of topics. The magazine aims to reach an internationally orientated and “educated” public. It had to look beautiful and contemporary, fun to leaf trough, and interesting to read. Students also had to come up with a name for the magazine and design multiple covers.

For the Visualexicon assignment, students clarify or illustrate chemical concepts related to Mendeleev’s table using micro-animations. This exercise explores how to purify both the message and design to its essence.