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Narrative(s) of “Digital Excavations” and Other Icons
Clémence Imbert will present the main issues of the project WYSIWYG: An Inquiry into the Adoption of Graphic Design Software in Switzerland and France, from 1980 to the Present, which she initiated in 2024 at HEAD (IRAD). Caroll Maréchal and Léonore Conte, researchers within the project, will revisit the specific questions raised by the …
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On November 19, 2025, Léonore Conte and Caroll Maréchal presented part of the research conducted for the WYSIWYG project as part of the Actualités de la Recherche seminar, co-organized by Anthony Masure (HEAD – Geneva) and Giovanna Zapperi (University of Geneva).
In their presentation, drawing on concrete case studies, they addressed the methodological challenges and key issues raised by the …
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Invited to present her ongoing research at the Institut supérieur des arts et du design de Toulouse, Caroll Maréchal delivered a lecture titled Documenting the History of the Graphic Design Profession: Methodologies, Objects, and Challenges, in which she drew extensively on research from the WYSIWYG project to develop her argument.
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Between November 2024 and November 2025, Léonore Conte and Caroll Maréchal conducted several interviews with Christophe Jacquet, known as Toffe, and Philippe Gerbaud in their respective studios.
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Philippe Gerbaud (1955–) and Christophe Jacquet, known as Toffe (1955–), began collaborating in the late 1970s during their studies at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-arts in Paris. Their …
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Two of our articles have been published in the Italian academic journal AIS/Design.
Of Pencils and Pixels.
The Early Years of Computer-based Graphic Design Teaching at the Basel School of Design 1984–1990
Written by Sandra Bischler-Hartmann, this paper investigates the transformations triggered by the advent of the Macintosh computer in graphic design education, focusing on the specific case of …
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On September 22, 2025, Caroll Maréchal visited the French National Archives to consult part of the archives of the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs (Ensad).
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Ensad established a computer lab as early as 1982 with the support of the Ministry of Culture. While the history of this lab is particularly well known for its involvement in animation and 3D experimentation, archival research …
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On April 7, 2025, Léonore Conte and Caroll Maréchal conducted an interview with graphic designer Jérôme Saint-Loubert Bié at his studio.
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Jérôme Saint-Loubert Bié (born 1970) is a French artist and graphic designer. He developed an early interest in personal computers and, as a teenager, first began working with an Apple II at his family home. From 1984 onward, he kept up with emerging trends, …
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On June 30, 2025, Léonore Conte and Caroll Maréchal conducted an interview with the French graphic designers M/M (Paris) at their studio.
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M/M (Paris) is a French graphic design studio founded in 1992 by Michael Amzalag (born in 1968 in Paris) and Mathias Augustyniak (born in 1967 in Cavaillon). As early as 1986, Michael acquired an Apple Macintosh and began experimenting with the tool, notably …
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On the 25th of March 2025, WYSIWYG Seminar #2 was addressed by Michael Renner, Head of the Institute Digital Communication Environments at the Basel School of Design – FHNW, and member of WYSIWYG Advisory Committee. In a room filled with students of the HGK Basel, Michael had gathered printed material of several decades, including the portfolio he had brought with him to the United States in the …
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On 26 February 2025, Clémence Imbert presented the WYSIWYG project at the Actualités de la Recherche seminar, co-organised by Anthony Masure (HEAD - Geneva) and Giovanna Zapperi (UNIGE). In her presentation, Clémence Imbert went back over the origins of the WYSIWYG concept, pointing out that it is more a marketing promise than a technical reality. Between the mid-1980s and the 1990s, desktop …
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On February 19, 2025, researchers Clémence Imbert and Julie Blanc presented an initial overview of the project at Automatic Design Type 3 at ANRT (Atelier National de Recherche Typographique) in Nancy, France.
The talk was a general presentation of the project, with a particular focus on the legacy of the WYSIWYG paradigm (common to both type design and graphic design software) and a reflection …
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On January 30, 2025, Léonore Conte and Caroll Maréchal consulted part of the archives of the Musée de l’Imprimerie et de la Communication graphique in Lyon, with a particular focus on selected works by Roselyne and Michel Besnard, Ladislav Mandel, as well as computer manuals.
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On 29 January, for the first session of WYSIWYG seminar in Geneva, we had the pleasure of welcoming Maddalena Dalla Mura (Università Iuav di Venezia) and Monica Pastore (Politecnico di Bari) to discuss their recent research on the digital turn of graphic design in Italy.
Maddalena Dalla Mura is a graphic design historian. In 2016 she co-edited an issue of the journal AIS/Storia Ricerche (vol. 4, …
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On 16 October 2024, the research team and its scientific committee met in Geneva for the kick off of WYSIWYG research project. The event provided an opportunity for all those involved to get to know each other in person, and to continue the virtual exchanges that have been taking place over the past few months, both before and after the SNSF-funding application and the recruitment of 4 …