Who Designs our
(digital)(next)(uncanny)(interfacing)
Lifeworlds?
Praxis↭theory Seminars at the Hildesheim Faculty of Design Examine Current Interface Cultures and their Opaque Spheres of Production
Qualitative Design Research and Critical Design Praxistheory at the Nexus of Culture, Interfaces, and Strategy at the M.A. Gestaltung program Faculty of Design, HAWK University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Hildesheim, Germany)
This poster examines fairy tales through the lens of the uncanny, tracing how wonder and violence intertwine across narrative structures, historical periods, and cultural functions. Combining literary analysis, historical contextualization, and visual modeling, it maps the “Märchenwelt” as a shifting field between reality and fantasy, innocence and cruelty, moral instruction and emotional disturbance.
Through comparative case studies—such as Snow White—and diagrammatic frameworks, the project analyzes plot arcs, character constellations, and motifs like magic, punishment, and transformation. The work positions fairy tales as cultural technologies that negotiate fear, social norms, and ethical boundaries, revealing how the uncanny operates not as an exception but as a constitutive force within popular narrative traditions.
Ina Szczepanski: Uncanny Tales
Seminar work 2024 supervised by: Prof. Konstantin Haensch
This master’s thesis investigates how content strategies on TikTok can contribute to the visibility of artistic practice in jazz. Situating TikTok within the broader digital transformation of music cultures, the study examines how platform logics, algorithmic structures, and short-form video aesthetics reshape the conditions under which jazz musicians can present their work. Rather than focusing […]
This master’s thesis investigates how design can function as a research practice that makes knowledge in intercultural contexts visible and experientially accessible. Based on the project Concepts Trouvés, which examined English-language terms found in Beijing’s urban commercial landscape, the work reflects on how design ethnography and Research through Design can explicate implicit knowledge embedded in […]
This master’s thesis investigates how patriarchal structures and gender stereotypes are embedded in everyday products, spatial environments, and professional design processes. Combining feminist theory, sociological concepts such as Doing Gender, and contemporary design research, the project analyzes historical genealogies of gendered form, materiality, and usability while grounding these perspectives in an empirical user survey. The […]
