The creative process is rarely linear. In the transition from idea to realization, there are detours, second thoughts, and revisions that alter its form. It is a dynamic, potentially infinite journey, were it not for the need to stop - typically to meet a deadline.
An experience Andrea Gizzi went through while working on his thesis. His final project, the culmination of his Bachelor of Arts in Visual Communication, earned him the award for best thesis in his degree program. “I’m very critical of my own work,” confesses the 22-year-old, who now divides his time between freelance work and his roles as a graphic designer and photographer for the Hockey Club Lugano. “Looking at my colleagues’ projects, I was very impressed by their ideas and solutions. So the award came as a surprise.”
A surprise - or rather, recognition - that just a few months later transcended the walls of SUPSI. Andrea Gizzi was in fact named a finalist in the prestigious Swiss Design Awards in the Design Research category, thanks to his thesis project “SENSE Visual system for smart roads.”
(All images in this article are published courtesy of Andrea Gizzi, andreagizzi.ch)
“When I was notified that I’d been selected, I was obviously happy, but I didn’t dwell on it too much. Now that the list of finalists has been made public, many people have started writing to me to congratulate me. I’m really starting to realize the significance of this. I’m having a hard time believing it, because my work will be displayed alongside that of more seasoned designers. Much like with my now former colleagues, this won’t be a time to boast, but rather an opportunity to learn something new - some perspective or insight I haven’t yet considered.”
On June 15, we’ll find out if SENSE stands out in its category during the presentation of the Swiss Design Awards and the Swiss Design Grand Prix. The following day and through June 21, it will be exhibited alongside the works of the other 50 finalists in Basel, coinciding with Art Basel. Whatever the outcome, it will be an exceptional showcase, attended each year by approximately 12,000 visitors who will have the chance to get a closer look at SENSE and all the other projects competing for this prestigious award sponsored by the Federal Office of Culture.
“It wasn’t easy to figure out what I wanted to do. At the thesis pitch - the moment when students present potential projects to faculty and external designers. I showed up with three ideas. None of them made any sense at all. At that moment, I was able to rely on the invaluable advice of Luca Pellegrini, Leonardo Angelucci, and Michael Zehnder (lecturers on the Bachelor of Arts in Visual Communication program). The first specializes in typography, the second in digital interaction, while Zehnder served as a sort of balancing element between these two worlds for me and provided great emotional support. Talking with Leonardo Angelucci sparked the idea for my thesis, which I then nurtured and developed. I began thinking about how robotics is present in our lives and what communication problems might exist. I focused on road signage, also considering robots used for package delivery and self-driving cars that recognize signs. In the end, I decided to create a signage system composed of glyphs (i.e., letters and pictograms) that can be understood by both humans and machines.”
This research encompassed both the study of a typography comprehensible to humans and artificial intelligence and the cataloging of pictograms, which vary by country and culture.
“I created a dataset with over 5,000 images of road signs from 14 countries selected for their communicative differences. I wanted a broad spectrum of cases to then define the most universal solutions. Using machine learning, I trained an image classification system to which I subsequently proposed signage prototypes. The system flagged cultural biases or readability issues. With this feedback, I was able to gradually refine and develop my own signage system. The typographic aesthetics certainly have room for improvement - a criticism I also received when presenting my thesis - but I am very satisfied with the concept and the research I conducted.”
The entire process has been compiled into a manual that summarizes the project’s stages in three main chapters: typography design, image research and cataloging, and finally the validation of the signage through the machine learning-based classification system.
“The feedback I received during my thesis defense highlighted the research work behind the project. That’s why I entered the Design Research category. I won’t deny that at times during the process I thought I wouldn’t make it - I felt like I didn’t have enough time - but I was able to count on the support of friends, family, and colleagues. Looking back a few months later, I can’t help but feel satisfied with the entire journey. Especially because I learned so much. I learned to program in Python and to use various machine learning libraries. I tackled the design of a typeface. Basically, I gathered the input I’d received over these years of training and developed it using the tools at my disposal. It’s something I’ve had for a long time: this constant desire to explore, learn, and understand new dynamics. At SUPSI, I found professors and people who helped me with this. In Basel, I’ll have the chance to discover other realities and keep learning. The exhibition will also be an opportunity to represent Ticino.”
And who knows if the Swiss Design Awards jury will recognize the curiosity channeled into SENSE by Andrea Gizzi. To find out, we’ll have to wait until June 15.