Students Explore Slovakia’s Design Scene Through Studio Visits and Risograph Printing

In late March 2026, graphic design and visual communication students from Whitecliffe University of Applied Sciences travelled to Slovakia for a four-day excursion led by research and teaching associates Barbora Demovič and Krištof Reviľák. The trip offered students direct access to the Slovak design scene through studio visits, a hands-on riso-printing workshop and a visit to a poster archive.

The programme began in Bratislava, where students visited three design studios. Čierne Diery, a creative project documenting overlooked architectural and cultural heritage through riso prints and books, opened its doors and shared the story behind its now widely collected print series. Tab Studio, known for its work in visual systems and book design, gave students insight into both design practice and design community building. Andrej and Andrej, a studio recognised internationally for its work in branding, typography and identity design, walked students through their day-to-day studio routine.

In Trnava, students spent three days at Risko Print, an independent risograph studio run by Alica Füssiová and Peter Kočiš. Risograph is a printing technique that works similarly to screen printing, building up images layer by layer in individual spot colours to create a distinctive, analogue aesthetic. Working through the full process from drawing and sketching through colour separation and print data preparation to final output, students produced their own artist prints. The artist prints were all bound together into a collective publication. The workshop took place within Kubik, a local community creative centre.

While in Trnava, students were granted access to the archive of the Trnava Poster Triennial, a poster design competition and exhibition established in 1991, where they were able to handle the originals as submitted firsthand. We finished our excursion with a visit to Pergamen, a visual communication studio operating since 1993 and holder of multiple international awards including Pentawards and Red Dot, which focused on packaging and bottle design.