Caramblogage

Amongst many other things, the MeMu's are an evolving set of volumes. This is a quick development shot from v2's dummy.

“ Dear reader permit me to present myself… I, God forbids from the word “I”… My name is 7anzalah , My father’s name is not necessary, My mother… her name is Nakbah and my younger sister’s name is Fatimah… My foot’s size, I don’t know… because I am always barefooted… Date of birth: I was born on June 5th 1967… Nationality” I am not a Palestinian, not Jordanian, not a Kuwaiti, not a Lebanese, not an Egyptian, not anybody… etc… In brief I don’t have an identity and I don’t intend to get nationalized… Simply I am an Arab and that is all… “   The figure of Handhala has become a fixture in the visual semantics of the Palestinian protest movement, in spite of his initial refusal to be nationalised.  Created by the caricaturist Najib Al-Ali (1938—1987) in 1969, the figure represents a 10-year old boy who refuses to grow up until he can return home. He turns his back on the world and clasps his hands behind his back, refuses an outside solution to the conflict th...

Proof (mostly to myself) that this magazine exists on more than my screen and has a real life existence. After months of work and gathering, this act of political admiration and expression of expression has been printed, bound, read and graded. For those of you interested in the full product you can download a PDF version of the magazine here . Pictured here:  Front cover! As this thing reads in both directions, I decided to play with reading habits and have the magazine start on the right and flow to the right, but keep the spreads in a left-to- right alignement, as you shall see later. The rear, dare I say back cover. Back, only if it is not the front, which it could also be. Every section of the magazine has its own intro page with a quote and the contribution authors. I felt it was a nice way to introduce the section without illustrating too much. The Timeline, based on the facebook and twitter Feeds of Khalis Said. It is important to announce your content clearl...

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!

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...

This project has been with me and you, dear reader, for a while now, and I am happy to say that this, too has reached a stage of near-completeness. Together with the magazine from the last post, the culturefile is the first part of a three-part cycle I am working on about the Arab spring. This part is the past, the second part, presented before this one, the present and the third part, due begin in late July, will represent the future. So, in todays ongoing mission of spreading happiness through spreads, this: Many thanks to all of those who have involved themselves in this project through interest, coercion or necessity! A Note: This still lacks a name. Suggestions are welcome! The same applies to this project as did to the last:  To anyone happening on this blog and finding their material within: Up to now, this project is entirely non-commercial. Should my use of your output offend you, please get in touch with me. 

"At the point of these interviews, to paraphrase one interviewee, there is a deep split in the Arab persona. A part of it is the proud heir of an ancient culture, deeply rooted in religion and tradition. The other part of it is keenly aware of the occident and the lifestyle generally associated with it: freedom of expression, wealth and ease of life, sexual liberation and rationalism are terms, which while expressed differently, form a great part of the narrative about Europe and America." "When setting type in Latin script, it is possible to set a language you do not know as the letters are mostly separate, standing on their own and do not take on specific forms depending on their position. Latin type includes ligatures, yet they are mostly used for ornamental purposes and handwriting. Arabic type consists of ligatures, interrupted by spaces after certain letters, both in and writing and in type. It is also written from right to left." "The language has al...

One of the happiest times for anyone is when months of research and various prototypes lead to a tangible result. Between all the revolting and exhibitions, one of my main projects has been this volume in  four parts (a flipbook with head, middle and feet plus an appendix).  To arrive at the final result, a ringbound 112x125 booklet with a gated cover, I went through three black and white and two coloured prototypes, two of which you will find below. I was trying to avoid a ring-binding, however experimentation showed me that it would be a difficult book to open with a sown back. My second goal was to have the book and the cover bound together, which was possibly even easier with the ringbound version than with the sown. Though the sown version is more elegant and I may attempt to make an 6th version with different materials and better print, paper & binding.  Soo… Documentation pictures! V3: Still black and white, but the binding is almost final.  V4: A...

Its a book. of characters. Now with icons. More to come…

Proof that firepower can be put to creative use. See which ones you recognise.

Assignement: take all these number I gave you right here and turn them into a comprehensible and concise infomative piece of graphic design. Being on an illustration kick and going down the pencil and ink route, mashing it up with some digital blingosity, I created something I believe to be fun and incomprehensible — simultaneously. The state of designers' purses is more than somewhat depressing …  But, as the man said, KBO. 

Ranting and Type research aside, I am currently engaged on a project I like to call the Little Book of Fears. While it is a working title and I cannot show you the final results yet, have a few sketches for the characters and stereotypes that will populate the final result. I'll go into this in more depth once the project has attained the depth I am looking for.  Happy saturdaying!

…with a bit of help from all its other grains of rice friends. Not being able to do decent research into nutrition forced me to get a bit creative with this one. And do actual maths. Thanks to Ugur & Silke for their help in this. Extra Info: this is what a single grain of rice looks like close up: from  AMagill  on flickr I wonder if a series of single grain infographics would be would be interesting?

As this is a diary, I will allow myself a small rant. This concerns me, who have gotten too used to working in a certain way, and computers, which have accustomed me to working that way. If the term prosthetic memory means nothing to you, here is a short explanation: it is a device you use to extend the recollective function of your brain. In the past, this would have been a dictaphone, a piece of paper, an elephant you keep under your desk to remember things for you. I also have a grey beast lurking under mine. Not only is it a prosthetic to my memory, it also extends my abilities in other areas. About a month ago, this useful monster took ill, as some of those who read me on Facebook may have come to realise. After a few shops, we finally found a group of benevolent witch- doctkrs willing and able to heal the ailing animal. Their price is of course exhorbitant, but their services, once rendered will prove invaluable. Will prove, as the winter snow has done more than disrupt t...

A week later, I am sitting at home, sifting through about ten hours worth of interviews. Turns out my interviewees have a lot to say on topics I'm interested in. First off, let me disappoint you: anyone expecting graphic prejudice or explicitly stated dislike of Arabs on principle here will only find some general opinions that are held by society, but I am glad to be able to report at this point that even three years of Islamic Studies do not induce fear or hatered in those that study it. In stead, we are faced with a broad variety of views in different hues of gray. Bear in mind also that the object of this research is not to examine opinions about Arab society in all its depth. Center stage: language and writing, combinations of Latin and Arabic type and the amazing Branding Question. Of course, to get there, the culture those symbols represent should not be neglected. Without a background, these symbols are just that. Heiroglyphs that might as well be left alone if not for a...

And مع السلامة as the course ends. I meet my two volunteers, two young ladies who are prepared to brave me. It's not all that hard. Selecting a third member of the class, we leave the room to a quiet place where we might talk for half an hour without too much noise in the background. We end up in one of thr noisier student- run cafés that grace the FU (and open at nine, remember that.). This turns out not to matter too much, as the recorder slept in today. Lucky you. I am lucky in that the three interviewees come from different backgrounds. The ones who have already travelled to Arab countries, those who grew up with a mixed background, those who grew up in the local background… For now their identities must be withheld. As I try to keep up with furious notes, they introduce themselves. At this stage, there is not much more I can ask of them. In preparation for these interviews I have prepared a sheet of type for them, showing Arabic and Latin script in various constellations...

All hail Zarathustra! I am transformed from a paleolithical fossil to an evolved creature within seconds by something black. Coffee. All references to monolyths are purely intentional. Having done homework and drunk coffee, I finally make it into an introductory session, to be ushered into class soon thereafter. The first object related to the class is a trolley, which returns five minutes later with a stack of Hans Wehrs, collosal when compared to the person pushing the trolley. On her insistance on shoving it into the classroom herself, we move on to the next section of the programme. The classroom is familiar, I may have spent time in it myself, learning Spanish, in a previous life. A few students are waiting for the clas to begin, for their classmates to arrive. They do, it begins. Repetition and sentences. This is the third level, Intermediate to advanced, these students have spent a minimum of three semesters infusing themselves whith knowledge of Arab culture. Arab culture...

My first contact with the actual Arabic classes comes in form of a young lady, who having had her class cancelled, is very early for her next course. She reveals to me that the class doea not take a break, allowing the students to immerse themselves in the language and culture for an hour and a half, four times a week. In combination with her next informatiom bit, makes me wonder once again at the teaching methods employed here. She confirms to me the fact that the excersise of turning the theory of caffeine into a practical cup of coffee only begins at nine within these hallowed halls. Having done so, she produces a multitude of notebooks, notepads and vocabluary notes, spreading them in a wide half- circle in front of her. Soon, her look begins to flit between grammar, vocabluary and half- formed sentences, forming homework out of seemingly random associations. I begin to get an idea that this series may be more interesting than anticpated. At this point, One may ask why these cl...

I've been spending a lot of time in language classes recently. Asking myself whether eight or eight thirty in the morning is the best time to inflict the linguistic convolution that is Arabic on the willing, yet sleepy brain, I am late. I also have ample opportunity to refresh my memory of the Freie Universities corridors. They remain badly lit and carpeted with red. Which, in the green light, looks like it might just about come alive and swallow an unsuspecting student at any given moment. I am currently squating on one of those carniverous carpets, preparing questions that will be asked of students learning Arabic at a slighlty later date. These questions pertain to culture, cultural expectations, cultural paralells and differences. These very cultural questions are being prepared in hope of obtaining answers that will illuminate the Franks view on a people that have been an integral part of European history for more than a housand years: the Arabs. It has, unfortunately, b...

Welcome to a new semester of fun and games! Today, we have a football infographic, commissioned by the course on and in infographics. This is going to be quite an arcane semester, in which I plan to explore a couple of subjects that have been interesting to me for a while now.  Note that football is not one of those things.