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Showing posts from July, 2011

Tribute to unhappy phones?

Yep, unhappy phones. Considering the number of people with phones this has so far produced…  So, this associated phones with stress, boredom and sad faces. 

A tribute to unhappy Hipsters IV

Continuing on the theme of telephones, this busy, telephoning young lady with peroxide hair

Tribute to unhappy hipsters III

And number 3 in the series, symbolising all the guys staring at their phone for some reason or other. This one wants to stand out with his neongrassgreen shirt. And a phone, if it had an IQ… Onwards. Hipwards.

Meanwhile, on the magazine trick front…

This may be my favourite page from the Egypt Magazine. It's the rear front page. I've been waiting for years to say that. Now I have. Bliss. To be concluded.

Tribute to unhappy hipsters II

I may have been too specific in my discrimination last post. For all I know, the young lady that set all of this off might have been a tourist, student or non-hipster local who happened to be bored.  So, even though I may change the title of this at some point, here's another installment in the series: This guy is no-one specific, just a reflection of people walking down the street, headphones drowning out the surrounding background and reinforcing a sense of personal reality. Something, I might add, I am  frequently guilty of. So, on a meta level, analysing this, you might surmise I'm bored and want to be a hipster. ;) PS: the rooster is an actual T-shirt Motif by R.Stevens of Dieselsweeties. 

A tribute to unhappy Hipsters I

Now, why is it that the Berlin Hipster feels the need to look unabashedly bored in all situations? Yesterday, while on a walk, someone quite similar to the young lady below walked past me. I'll set the scene for you. Bored and with a hauteur I found incomprehensible. So, for exercise, as much as for the pleasure of drawing and colouring, I decided to start a series of hipsterlustrations. This is number one.  By, the way, this is not to be confused with the photography site unhappyhipsters

Speak, and thou shalt be <…>

… insert desired state. Once again, Germany is made just a bit smaller through audacious use of telephone wires. Or wireless… This is the result that shrinking: Having shown you the final, let me share a directors cut version of what this may have looked like, had my brain had it's paper-folding, complicated way: Explanation: Somewhere along the road, I mentally turned a relatively simple layout into a more complicated four-way fold and built my document thus. Although this was a good exercise in layout, it was obviously not what the final product was intended to be– for which I am very grateful. Also for the hour-long conversation it took to iron out the final product.  Obviously, this is a flyer for the festival freisprechanlage.staging opinion , which I recommend to anyone currently toying with the thought of a short trip to Munich. They have a fine programme lined up for you. 

Printing the Niles

Yet another cause for rejoicing, and celebrating, even though I find the reason slightly dubious. The partition of Sudan into two new countries on the 9 th of July adds another country to the map. Born out of conflict, civil unrest and what the news media term "sectarian strife" and "divisions along ethnic lines" South Sudan seemed the solution to the conflict afflicting the Sudan for many years. A Sudanvotes project, The Niles commemorates this partition by reminding the Sudanese of their shared history and cultural roots. Designed by Gunnar Bauer and set to Arabic by yours humbly, it was a joy to finally hold the printed product in my hands. It also ties in neatly with earlier work, as I finally get to use typefaces I had hitherto only discussed in theory, namely Helvetica Arabic, which I appreciate greatly, all while wondering if it is an ideal complement for the Latin font used. Knowing that this is simultaneously being printed (en noir & blanc) i

Type research Diary: Printings!

Research into the what of what of being happy tells us that we experience happiness in jolts and starts, a curve that starts very high and dives to rockbottom within a day or so. So out of solidarity with that curve, this:  We have reached the stage where things that have been populating the web for the past half a year or so are beginning to penetrate into reality. The interface that allows this is based on the old idea that thoughts can be mass- produced on paper via a duplication tool, which used to be called a printing press after spending years of its life as a copy made by hand. It turns pixels on your screen into points of pigment on a page!  Absolutely brilliant.  This is what happens:  This is my first printing test, in which i discover flaws in type, reasoning and pictures. A lot remains to be done before I am fully satisfied, but it is an ongoing project. Now, some thanks are in order to those who have made the book what it is and possible. You will be getting emails,

Ready for 2011

One of the most respected figures in ancient Egypt was the Scribe. In an attempt to create a fitting cover for revolve¡ I have gone back a few thousand years, extracted an original scribe from about 3028 BC and equipped him with a brand new Blackbook. He is now ready to blog, tweet and Facebook about the Egyptian uprising. There is a sneak peak of what I have planned for the cover floating somewhere about the net… I suggest you look right to find a hint. And as ever… more to come!

revolve! (the next trick?)

I was happy the last time I wrote. Imagine the increase in happiness I experienced as this progressed to an almost final stage. Then let me walk you through what this project is all about. It's a magazine concept for revolutions. A quick look about the web and access to some great people will allow you to quickly gather material for a printed overview of the most up-to date impressions and insights form thinkers, journalists, artists and even politicians. Add to that the flavour of the country in question and some quality photographs and you have yourself a printed product for the people! It takes some planning to put such an effort together. Beside my hand-drawn notes, I also made a digital mockup to play with and change sections as neccessary. Also: fonts and grid. Both make life complicated, and then easy. A title page. It felt important that sections with authors should display a simile of the authors for visual effect and identification purposes. The life-blood of