Zero-Zero-One

We’re looking for students who want to build the magazine from the very beginning. There is no fixed format and no finished structure yet – that’s exactly the point. Within the group we split the tasks as it suits you:

• Editorial and research: finding topics, researching, contextualising, writing
• Design: visual identity, typography, imagery, layout
• Technology and production: website, e-book, app or whatever suits the content
• Audience: Who do we reach, through which channels, in which tone?

You don’t have to be able to do everything. What matters is that you enjoy building something together that doesn’t exist yet.

• Research topics, contextualise them and prepare them editorially
• Derive a form from the content instead of taking it for granted
• Understand the technical conditions of a platform and help decide
• Make a publication accessible
• Decide as a team about selection and responsibility

The magazine is made across all formats of the studio at once: we discuss topics, form and the state of the work together. Decisions are made together.

1. Kick-off on 15 October 2026, 1 pm, room 3.14b: We present first ideas and look for students who want to join.
2. Collecting topics: What is happening in the department, what is worth telling, what has been missing?
3. Finding a form: analogue, digital or both — the form follows from content, purpose and audience, not the other way round.
4. Research, design and production: We work on contributions, on the visual identity and on the technology behind it.
5. Publishing: The magazine goes out into the world — and we see what it sets off.

What the magazine looks like, what stance it takes and whom it reaches: we will only know once we have made it. Come to the kick-off.

This winter term two things begin at the Department of Design that cannot be explained separately: the Studio for Digital Publishing and a digital magazine from and for the department, of which little is certain so far beyond the will to make it.

There is also a date: in 2027 Folkwang turns one hundred. That is not a reason for the magazine, but a good occasion to ask what an art school tells about itself, and how — and whether what it shows is what it is made of.

You can work on the magazine in all formats of the studio, with or without enrolling in a course:

• Digital publishing practice: the basics of conceiving, designing and producing digital publication formats.
• Open Studio: supported work on your own projects, building on the basic course — including the magazine.
• Skills lab: weekly workshops on tools and techniques, freely selectable.
• Editorial team: where all courses come together. We discuss topics for the various publication formats and the current state of the work.