Author: demetrios@europeandesign.org

Students from the Institute of Creativity and Innovation at Xiamen University created works that reflect their individual interpretations of ex-centric and eccentric design. Embracing the diversity of creative disciplines and aiming to push boundaries, they were encouraged to explore new design frontiers with an intercultural and interdisciplinary approach. They integrated digital technology, critical thinking and experimental narratives. The diverse outcomes reflect the exhibition’s central theme: a plurality of creative approaches. Each work addresses themes relevant to contemporary society: inclusion, sustainable development, and a shared aspiration for a better global future.

The exhibition explores contemporary graphic design and its historical legacy within four of the six former Yugoslav republics: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia. It looks at the period between 1960 and today through the thematic lens of radical, unconventional approaches to design that deliberately break established standards, challenge, or even invert the notions of what design and visual communication entail. It leads towards understanding design as a reflective, discursive practice. One that,beyond métier and skill, has something to say about communication itself; about the social and political circumstances in which it arises; about the public space and the ripples it generates within it; and, most importantly, about ourselves.

Founded in the mid-1980s by Lejla Mulabegović, Dalida and Bojan Hadžihalilović while they were still students at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, the TRIO design group quickly gained prominence. Before the Bosnian War (1992-1995), their work was highly visible, notably in album designs for renowned Sarajevo pop and rock bands like Bijelo dugme, Plavi orkestar, Bombaj štampa, and Đino banana. They also created striking posters for theater productions at the Yugoslav Drama Theatre in Belgrade, the YU Fest Theatre Festival (directed by Ljubiša Ristić), and numerous other cultural events. Additionally, they designed several covers for the Slovenian magazine Mladina.

During the war, TRIO remained in Sarajevo, contributing to the magazine DANI with cover designs. They also produced a series of posters, “Greetings from Sarajevo,” expressing the resilience of Sarajevo’s citizens and emphasizing the city’s role as a repository of global civilization values. These posters, later printed as postcards in early 1994, garnered international acclaim, including the ICOGRADA Award, significantly boosting their international recognition.

The exhibition by the Department of Visual Communication Design at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana, presents projects at the intersection of student creativity and professional boldness, beyond the rigid frameworks of market logic. Located on the city’s edge, it deliberately embraces the periphery—geographically and conceptually. It showcases practices driven by inquiry, critical distance and eccentricity, grounded in international pedagogical excellence. These works do not seek approval through popularity, but aim for relevance in contemporary society, raising new questions about the active role of visual communication in shaping it. The exhibition is both a reflection and a manifesto of our approach: we push boundaries, insist on excellence, and believe in the power of ideas born beyond the centre — yet aimed directly at it.

Students from the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering and the Department of Information and Graphic Technology have, through various course projects, approached their final solutions by exploring unconventional and acceptable responses to the chaos of everyday global reality using interdisciplinary methods. Within the theme ExCentric, they incorporated both analog and digital techniques, aiming to evoke in the viewer a reflection on design, visual, and creative apocalyptic expression.

Students of Visual Communication Design at the Faculty of Design explored diverse expressive possibilities under the theme ExCentric – a concept that encourages reflection on deviation, shifting centres, and transcending convention. The works were created within the Studio for Visual Communication Design VI – Graphic Design and Digital Illustration, where the authors focus primarily on developing their own artistic expression within the field of illustration. In the creative process, various analogue and digital techniques intertwine, as students examined the boundaries between traditional drawing, contemporary visual approaches, and personal interpretations of the chosen theme. Each illustration thus becomes a distinct world – an eccentric reflection of an individual perspective that resists straightforward interpretation and invites contemplation.