Another success for the Digital Media Systems (DMS) program at THM: Students specializing in media studies received multiple awards at the United Designs Alliance's (UDA) international "Poster Design 2026" competition. Two poster series were created in Prof. Dr. Nicholas Qyll's foundational course "Visual Communication," which the international jury recognized with gold and bronze awards.
The UDA is an international organization for communication design that promotes professional exchange between design practice and design education and organizes several competitions annually. At this year's Poster Design Award, two student projects from THMimpressed the judges.
The team of Victoria Badeke, Kristina Bus, Sarah Gloger, Sophia Haupt, and Ben Werner received a Gold Award for their poster series "mindness." The project translates mental health conditions such as ADHD, anxiety disorders, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and addiction into a unique, symbolic concept of form and color. The design is based on an abstract silhouette of a human head, from which theme-specific visual structures develop. The series was created for a self-designed week of events aimed at raising awareness of mental health and promoting understanding and education.
The project “Material Speaks – An Art Exhibition on Plastic Design Principles” was also recognized by the jury. Melissa Erdmann received a Gold Award, while Angelina Bensberg, Janina Euler, and Maximilian Glorius were each awarded Bronze. The poster series translates fundamental design principles such as rhythm, movement, contrast, and symmetry into experimental photographs of everyday materials. In addition, the students further developed the design system for an information campaign and a book cover, thus demonstrating its cross-media applicability.
“I don’t see design as mere embellishment, but as conceptual thinking within visual systems. Good design thrives on details. The students in my course develop a keen sense for precisely this. I am particularly pleased that their work has once again received international recognition,” says Prof. Dr. Nicholas Qyll. The award-winning pieces were created in his foundational course “Visual Communication.” There, students acquire the design fundamentals to systematically develop creative solutions for complex communication tasks. Last year, one of his student groups won a bronze award in the UDA competition – their project involved translating emotions into an expressive poster series for a specially designed art exhibition.
