COLLABORATIVE WORKSHOP
BETWEEN
GDVK UMPRUM & HEAD GENÉVE
Is it possible to translate a natural landscape into graphic design? And can the experience of a place be expressed visually? At the beginning of November 2025, 43 graphic design students from the Czech Republic and Switzerland met in the Giant Mountains in northern Czechia to try and answer these very questions.
The mountain huts of Pomezní Boudy, where the group spent three intensive days of working together, served as a neutral ground far from both universities. A perfect setting to launch the first part of the international collaborative workshop between UMPRUM Prague and HEAD Genéve. Beyond learning about the mystical figure of Krakonoš and settling table-football rivalries, the students worked intensively on preparing the collective exhibition Latitude Longitude, which opened immediately after the workshop at Prague’s Holešovická Šachta gallery.
After a long journey to the far north of Czechia, the students – along with various printers, scanners, paints, and even a children’s camera, some playdough and a receipt printer – finally arrived safely at the mountain huts. This somewhat unusual set of objects followed the purpose of the collaborative workshop as it focused on the anatomy, stories, and shared perception of a specific natural locality and nature itself became the main source of visual input. As one of the students later reflected, “This really helped with creativity, because we could play with tools we don’t normally use.”.
The students found themselves working at the intersection of graphic design and artistic field research, free to approach the task in their own way while simultaneously shaping the exhibition’s final concept and form.
IMPRINTING TRAIL MARKS
INTO PLAYDOUGH
To break the ice and get to know one another to form international teams, a speed-dating session took place on the first evening, before everyone got a good night’s sleep in preparation for the hike up the Mount Sněžka the next day. The professors of the local studio planned the climb and let the teams interact with their surroundings. “We set the route, and everyone went up at their own pace. The ascent took about three hours. Along the way, students conducted personal research, collecting inspiration, natural objects, taking photos, scanning, or making frottages of surrounding materials,” commented Richard Jaroš and Zuzana Lednická on the initial part of the stay.
The Giant Mountains form the border range between Czechia and Poland, a landscape long shaped by division and tension, but just as much by collaboration and connection. So apart from being the highest Czech peak, Mount Sněžka is wrapped in stories, myths, complicated history and symbolism, all of which inevitably seeped through into the student’s work. Still, the teams each approached the task differently.
“In our case, we didn’t really work with the border aspect. We focused more on the feeling of the place. What connected us was that we’re all graphic designers, so we thought it would be interesting to use that designer’s eye in our zine, which is all about textures. It’s basically our view of the journey and the place we were in – the feeling of nature filtered through a designer’s eye that sees the world differently, in grids and textures,” David Novák described his team’s approach.
LATITUDE
LONGITUDE
The exhibition took the form of a collection of black-and-white posters and zines, that each team presented. The works filled the raw, brick covered underground space of the Holešovická šachta gallery, a setting which underlined the unpolished quality of the graphics. The central point in one of the rooms was the enlarged version of a five-meter-long receipt print. “We found out that we could print anything in grayscale, as long as it was a specific format and DPI,” explained Ines Margiotta, one of the students who experimented with the receipt printer. Her team managed to crack its system by learning how to write their own code on the spot and making it print their scanned findings.
“In the end, we developed an idea around Krakonoš, the mountain spirit. He’s neither a good guy nor a bad guy, he’s nice to you if you’re nice to nature, and he punishes you if you’re not.” recalled Susana Lauer, one of the Swiss participants. “I found that idea very interesting in our current context of the climate crisis, and I think we should have more Krakonoš today,” she added with a smile.
The vernissage took place on the very day the group returned from the mountains and opened with warm remarks from UMPRUM’s rector, Jindřich Vybíral, and the heads of both studios. Accompanying the students from Switzerland were Rob van Leisen and Noemie Besset, who spoke alongside their Czech counterparts, Richard Jaroš and Zuzana Lednická.
CROSSING BORDERS
After such an intense working period, the students were exhausted, yet the energy the collaboration had sparked was still present. When asked whether they noticed significant differences in the approach to graphic design between the two studios, the students said they wouldn’t describe it that way. “Maybe it’s because of social media and how graphic design trends now cross borders,” Susana added, explaining her view.
But the initial question remained: is it possible to capture the atmosphere of Sněžka visually? Ines reflected: “I think it’s obviously challenging to decide what’s most important. But nature already gives you so many visuals and inputs and it’s so rich that you just need to look for what you want.” Susana expanded on this thought: “I guess you can try, but you will never fully capture it all. It would be a never-ending process.”
Although the official outcome of the first part of the workshop was the exhibition and the monochromatic works themselves, the days spent together in the isolated mountain huts brought something more to both students and professors. The workshop gave participants the chance to bond across cultures, navigate an unfamiliar environment, and embrace one another’s ways of seeing — and will do so again during its second chapter in April along the river Saône.
“What I’m taking away is the importance of slowing down and taking time to connect, tune into each other, and not push too hard at the beginning. And that it’s good to have a beer, be close to the teachers and just talk together,” David concluded our conversation with a laugh.
Written for UMPRUM Online by: Anna Grabherr
Photos: Jozef Virányi (workshop), Šimon Roubal (exhibition)
Video: Giuseppe D’Andrizza, music: Awir Leon, Kgotso (2024)
COLLABORATIVE WORKSHOP
BETWEEN
GDVK UMPRUM & HEAD GENÉVE
Is it possible to translate a natural landscape into graphic design? And can the experience of a place be expressed visually? At the beginning of November 2025, 43 graphic design students from the Czech Republic and Switzerland met in the Giant Mountains in northern Czechia to try and answer these very questions.
The mountain huts of Pomezní Boudy, where the group spent three intensive days of working together, served as a neutral ground far from both universities. A perfect setting to launch the first part of the international collaborative workshop between UMPRUM Prague and HEAD Genéve. Beyond learning about the mystical figure of Krakonoš and settling table-football rivalries, the students worked intensively on preparing the collective exhibition Latitude Longitude, which opened immediately after the workshop at Prague’s Holešovická Šachta gallery.
After a long journey to the far north of Czechia, the students – along with various printers, scanners, paints, and even a children’s camera, some playdough and a receipt printer – finally arrived safely at the mountain huts. This somewhat unusual set of objects followed the purpose of the collaborative workshop as it focused on the anatomy, stories, and shared perception of a specific natural locality and nature itself became the main source of visual input. As one of the students later reflected, “This really helped with creativity, because we could play with tools we don’t normally use.”.
The students found themselves working at the intersection of graphic design and artistic field research, free to approach the task in their own way while simultaneously shaping the exhibition’s final concept and form.
IMPRINTING TRAIL MARKS
INTO PLAYDOUGH
To break the ice and get to know one another to form international teams, a speed-dating session took place on the first evening, before everyone got a good night’s sleep in preparation for the hike up the Mount Sněžka the next day. The professors of the local studio planned the climb and let the teams interact with their surroundings. “We set the route, and everyone went up at their own pace. The ascent took about three hours. Along the way, students conducted personal research, collecting inspiration, natural objects, taking photos, scanning, or making frottages of surrounding materials,” commented Richard Jaroš and Zuzana Lednická on the initial part of the stay.
The Giant Mountains form the border range between Czechia and Poland, a landscape long shaped by division and tension, but just as much by collaboration and connection. So apart from being the highest Czech peak, Mount Sněžka is wrapped in stories, myths, complicated history and symbolism, all of which inevitably seeped through into the student’s work. Still, the teams each approached the task differently.
“In our case, we didn’t really work with the border aspect. We focused more on the feeling of the place. What connected us was that we’re all graphic designers, so we thought it would be interesting to use that designer’s eye in our zine, which is all about textures. It’s basically our view of the journey and the place we were in – the feeling of nature filtered through a designer’s eye that sees the world differently, in grids and textures,” David Novák described his team’s approach.
LATITUDE
LONGITUDE
The exhibition took the form of a collection of black-and-white posters and zines, that each team presented. The works filled the raw, brick covered underground space of the Holešovická šachta gallery, a setting which underlined the unpolished quality of the graphics. The central point in one of the rooms was the enlarged version of a five-meter-long receipt print. “We found out that we could print anything in grayscale, as long as it was a specific format and DPI,” explained Ines Margiotta, one of the students who experimented with the receipt printer. Her team managed to crack its system by learning how to write their own code on the spot and making it print their scanned findings.
“In the end, we developed an idea around Krakonoš, the mountain spirit. He’s neither a good guy nor a bad guy, he’s nice to you if you’re nice to nature, and he punishes you if you’re not.” recalled Susana Lauer, one of the Swiss participants. “I found that idea very interesting in our current context of the climate crisis, and I think we should have more Krakonoš today,” she added with a smile.
The vernissage took place on the very day the group returned from the mountains and opened with warm remarks from UMPRUM’s rector, Jindřich Vybíral, and the heads of both studios. Accompanying the students from Switzerland were Rob van Leisen and Noemie Besset, who spoke alongside their Czech counterparts, Richard Jaroš and Zuzana Lednická.
CROSSING BORDERS
After such an intense working period, the students were exhausted, yet the energy the collaboration had sparked was still present. When asked whether they noticed significant differences in the approach to graphic design between the two studios, the students said they wouldn’t describe it that way. “Maybe it’s because of social media and how graphic design trends now cross borders,” Susana added, explaining her view.
But the initial question remained: is it possible to capture the atmosphere of Sněžka visually? Ines reflected: “I think it’s obviously challenging to decide what’s most important. But nature already gives you so many visuals and inputs and it’s so rich that you just need to look for what you want.” Susana expanded on this thought: “I guess you can try, but you will never fully capture it all. It would be a never-ending process.”
Although the official outcome of the first part of the workshop was the exhibition and the monochromatic works themselves, the days spent together in the isolated mountain huts brought something more to both students and professors. The workshop gave participants the chance to bond across cultures, navigate an unfamiliar environment, and embrace one another’s ways of seeing — and will do so again during its second chapter in April along the river Saône.
“What I’m taking away is the importance of slowing down and taking time to connect, tune into each other, and not push too hard at the beginning. And that it’s good to have a beer, be close to the teachers and just talk together,” David concluded our conversation with a laugh.
Written for UMPRUM Online by: Anna Grabherr
Photos: Jozef Virányi (workshop), Šimon Roubal (exhibition)
Video: Giuseppe D’Andrizza, music: Awir Leon, Kgotso (2024)