Design Academy Eindhoven specialises in design. It offers a four-year Bachelor’s course and a two-year Master’s course. It has an impressive, international team of tutors at its disposal and the quality of the designers they educate is very high. The DNA of Design Academy Eindhoven can be described as conceptual, authentic, creative, flexible, free, passionate and curious.

DNA
The first thing that typifies Design Academy Eindhoven is the autonomous set-up of the teaching. The design departments, compass departments in the bachelor’s course, and the programmes within the master’s course are all headed by people who are leading figures in their professions. Owing to their extensive networks, their enthusiasm, and their ability to help students in directing the content of their designs, the actual current profession is a day to day inspiration to our students. Secondly, the academy is firmly rooted in the professional field. Each tutor works as a professional designer for most of his/her time or is otherwise active in the current professional practice. This allows the Academy to respond rapidly and adequately to signals from the professional field and society.
The third theme is the Academy’s sensitive antenna for social phenomena as a motor for innovative design. The Academy has set up its educational model based on social phenomena with man as the focal point. Design is in the service of man and society and social developments are the most important mainsprings for innovative design.

Designers who graduate from the Academy are particularly gifted conceptualists. Wherever they end up, whatever they do, their main weapon is conceptual thinking. It allows them to ask critical questions about existing things and to introduce new approaches and to design from a bird’s eye view. Both with regard to design and research they know what they want and what they can do. They know their strengths and have charted their skills and their limitations. Autonomy and originality are their trade mark.

In the Academy’s own view, its excellence lies in the fact that it trains designers to be aware of the social implications of their designs. This is why the Academy chooses a more horizontal and integral approach to design over the more traditional vertical structure within each design discipline. The link between this integrative approach on the one hand and autonomy as a principle on the other is characteristic of the Academy as an organisation and as an educational institution.
 

Identity

Our design school has an open visual identity with an abstracted letter ‘E’ which houses the name of the academy. The visual identity system is strikingly straightforward and was designed by The Stone Twins Amsterdam.
The idea behind the bold graphic signature began with the ‘E’ of Eindhoven – and was conceived to be customised by the hundreds of students and staff of the academy. By handwriting the words ‘Design Academy Eindhoven’ within the three bars, there are infinite permutations of the logo. In addition, users are also invited to own and personalise it by employing different messages or slogans (e.g. Dream Academy Eindhoven, Kiss the Future, Dare to Dream etc.). As a hybrid of a static and a dynamic identity approach, the real brand expression will come in engaging and creative implementation.

The branding signals a fresh era for Design Academy Eindhoven. According to Director Anne Mieke Eggenkamp “The era in which we are living in, holds transformations and innovations both within the academy and in the world around us. These call for a strong positioning of our visual identity.”
An important aspect to the visual identity is our desire to engage and utilise the talents of the students.This strategy, in combination with the customisation of the DAE logo loosens the academy’s institutional feel – and reflects it’s inclusive, progressive and dynamic nature.