Caramblogage

This IGAF (Is Goodness a Fashion) series explores, from a non-expert point of view the social, economic and narrative ramifications I see developing from the COVID-19 crisis, worries, but also hopes for a future that the current shock to the system may result in. Many of the conversations I've been having lately have revolved around the emergency measures governments, states and unions of states have been implementing surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak. The tenor of these conversations is generally: so that healthcare measure was possible all the time? So the money for funding UBI is theoretically available? So you can call out the corruption of profiteering off such a situation? For years, the question when it comes to many hollowed-out state-run social welfare or even social support programmes, the question of "how do we pay for this??" has been raised. There are some very simple answers to that question, but it seems they required a radical suspension of "...

Note: MeMus was written from 2012-2015. Things have (again) changed since then. But I maintain that it is mainly an "export industry". The current Egyptian street art scene is an export industry. Due to legal restrictions on the use of public space as a forum for expression which are vigorously enforced and a general atmosphere of hegemonic domination in the country, many of the artists who can, by choice or necessity, remain in the country, choose to work outside their local contents. Though this allows for a higher degree of experimentation stylistically, it also removes the street from the art, thus removing the unmediated interaction by a public in a sphere. Though currently limited, the extensive use and cultural acceptance of street art as an art form opens a new horizon for the use and application of the practice to more mainstream artistic means. So far, it has not been used, except in erasing, in attempts at directly representing the government and remains exclu...

The following is what feels like a timely excerpt from Memetic Murals, 2016.  The internet phenomenon 1  of spreading street art directs attention not only to the topic, or cause, but also towards the person responsible for expressing it. International attention recreates the creative actor in the form of a constructed sym bolic gure, required to represent a majority they sometimes do not even agree with, or belong to. Many of the chosen representatives are masters in their respective arts and in expressing their personal observations on larger societal developments. No matter if their perspective conforms with the current opinions or not, artists are considered open minded observers, eloquent representatives of their societies. What is often underestimated is that artists mostly represent a cultured, liberal elite in their country, no matter how much they identify with the causes within. This reterritorialization of the Israeli Separation Barrier as an internatio...

Caram on Games (COG) is an occasional ramble in which I discuss computer gaming, gaming culture and how I perceive them, in an attempt to talk about a medium that I've always been passionate about, or at least enjoyed. Every part is an exploration of thoughts, meaning that it comes together as it is written- so while they may meander for a while, a point will eventually be reached. Maybe. After a lot of words, and sometimes numbers. You have been warned- there will be a lot of waffle and fewer pictures than befits a visual medium. Now you've been warned twice. Enjoy! There is a problem with writing about video games. Every time I do, I can't help but feel that this segment should be called "letters from the Matrix", that I might as well be discussing the systems and gameplay that underpin what we still agree to be our "real" lives. Is there a point to discussing the flat economy of traveling through Tamriel, when there are trade wars and very real eco...

We are now in January 2018. After soliciting sketches form another graphic designer, the association got back in touch with me, not satisfied with the suggestions they received. My brief changed slightly, to include a graphical element, in addition to typographical branding. "Make it like Bosch, or Siemens". The trouble for me, from a graphic point of view, is that neither Bosch, nor Siemens, has a bilingual subtitle that needs to be included in the branding. This is a challenge on several levels: the first one being that the client needed to be made very aware that they will be displaying their logo at small sizes and that there are only so many pixels in a logo that is 50px high. The same thing applies to print, though to a lesser degree- tiny print still has a higher dot density than most screens, can therefore smooth a font better. Most of this can be solved with vector graphics, but not all browsers support them. The second one is that I have done some research...

This time jump takes us a couple of months into the future- it's December 2017. At this point, I've been making subtle, well-recieved hints that the current logo does not represent the association adequately for a while, so I'm a very happy person when the call to get on it comes in. We know that part of next years' activities will include the design and development of a new logotype for the association, without knowing exactly where that road will lead us. Sometimes, I enjoy this kind of open brief, the kind that gives you the destination, but no map, or landmarks to orient yourself by- it allows experimentation, a lot of which will be done on my own time, and leaves an open question as to the result of the endeavour. It brings with it the risk of a longer than expected development process , many communications and course-corrections, but usually a satisfying reward and the journey, though arduous, is more adventurous. In this part, I won't say too much more...

We now find ourselves at the end of 2017, at the inception of a new project: Almanya auf Arabisch, which is conceived as a series of workshops in and around refugee camps, targeted at Arabic-speaking residents interested in integrating in Germany. And I have a written brief detailing what the design is supposed to communicate to a number of target audiences- when working with NGO's this is a rare and precious thing to hang on to. This occasion was enriched by detailed discussions around exact design placements, some serendipity in transparencies and the colour palette we had established over the last year. We decided early on that the Logo would include alphabetical and cartographical (fancy for: a map) elements. I still find the map questionable, as it delineates a geographic border which does not represent the breadth of its population and inhabitants in their entirety. But it is an understandable graphic representation which does not include beer, sausages, Lederhosen or...

Over the course of the year that followed, we put out a number of print products, oriented around the colouring and visual style of the guide- again, having set that precedent to follow, we found it to be more expedient not to reinvent the roundness of the wheel every time, but to try to make a better wheel every time. 2016 did not bring more publications, to my disappointment (and some relief- those things are hard work), but it did provide several opportunities to play around with what we had already developed, and see how it dealt with the ever-changing contexts. And so followed a year of banners, flyers the aforementioned reprint of the "Best Practices" guide. Without going into too much detail, I think I can describe this period as business as usual- we had a certain basic vocabulary established, and familiar with that, we expressed ourselves through it and adapted it into new shapes and contexts.   Throughout year, we realised that the logo we had sta...

I've been giving myself too little leeway (and reverse escapism) to focus on the little, but nonetheless satisfying little things that pay the bills and ensure that the a negative worldview remains in a firm state of semi-negative, rather than bleak. In this series, I would like to talk about the road that lead to the development of a logo- and a few other things for an NGO. We've been working together for a few years now, so there is a lot to cover, beginning in 2015, which, at the rate at which information currently races through the pipes dedicated to it, feels like it was decades ago- dog years have become human years in their compression. I'm calling this a personal design history, as it is somewhere between a case study and an account of my personal involvement and philosophy during a design process and thus utterly subjective and may not apply in other cases.   Let's start here:  My main body of work, when not arguably artistic*, deals with bilin...

There was, once upon a time, a small tribe that lived in a deep jungle. They were migrant farmers, traveling from cultivation spot to cultivation spot, depending on the season and their fancy. In their absence, these spots were often used by other tribes, with the understanding that they would set aside small amount of their harvest. This symbiosis benefited all involved, keeping the soil fresh and turned, providing sustenance for the inhabitants of the jungle  Their traditions compelled them to hospitality and friendliness toward visitors- their words for strangers and visitors translated into "friends-who-are-not-yet-friends" and "visitors-and-we-are-their-friend". If they didn't like someone, they would become "Friend-that-is-not-talked-to", usually adding "until we talk again", implying that ire was temporary and a return to friendship imminent.  One day, they were visited by a random anthropologist. Fascinated by the vocabu...

Caramblogage has, for a long time, been the main space I have aired thoughts in, hung out my brain to photosynthesise, ranted and expressed myself in a longer form than invites reading. I return here when I need to get stuff out of my head and talk to myself as if I were talking to an audience- Hello! Most of what you find here is freeform writing that I supplement with a bit of research and/or personal views. In a time in which my feeling tells me most media (and the people following that media) is moving too fast to react coherently, consistently, this is a soapbox built of letters and words that I pontificate from at my own pace. I have chosen to present myself by thinking about things, rather than in person here- my personal life informs these thoughts, but does not help me express, or illustrate them. Though, if you’ve been here for a while, you’ll find some posts that prove the reverse- I illustrate my life with these thoughts, and express them through these illustrations,...