Andreas Uebele (DE)

Andreas Uebele, born in 1960, studied Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Stuttgart, and Art at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design. In 1996, he founded his own Visual Communications agency in Stuttgart, and since 1998 has been a Professor of Communications Design at Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences. In the same year, he became a member of Forum Typografie.

Since 2002, Andreas Uebele has been a member of the Type Directors Club of New York and the Art Directors Club of New York. In 2007, he became a member of AGI – Alliance Graphique Internationale. In 2004, he was a co-founder of aed and has served on its advisory board since 2013. Since 2009, he has also been a member of BDG – the Association of German Communication Designers.

Büro Uebele’s work is represented in DHUB Disseny Hub Barcelona, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, The Chicago Athenaeum, The Museum of Modern Art Toyama, Museion – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Bolzano, and Sammlung Grafikdesign Kunstbibliothek Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz.

In 2015, he received a scholarship for practitioners at Villa Massimo in Rome.

Andreas Uebele’s participation in the AGRAFA’26 Cycles conference is funded by the Goethe-Institut

»b+c+d=a«

First there’s one thing, then another. then – oops, we didn’t see that coming – a third factor enters the equation. but wait, what’s this? here’s a fourth element that leads straight back to whatever it was we started with. then the whole process starts over. that may sound circular or cyclical but it’s not.

a cycle implies a dependable, recurring order to things, providing a sense of control and security, making processes predictable: a is followed by b; winter is followed by spring; waking up is followed by a cup of tea. for us, however, the nature of design is the exact opposite: the processes involved are more of a zigzag, complete with diversions and spirals. cup of tea, off to bed, swimming costume, snowstorm. we start with b, give a bit of thought to c, get some work done on d, and end up by sheer serendipity with the solution to a.

in place of order, there is chaos; things happen in parallel, get mixed up, abandoned, taken up again and rearranged. the only cyclical thing about the process is this: there is always a beginning (clueless) and an end (a design, phew). just how this design methodology works, if indeed it does work, you will see and hear for yourself in andreas uebele’s presentation.