swing

A string hangs from a tripod, a brush hangs from the string and a blanc paper lies underneath. Due to the controlled movement of the string, the brush begins to swing.
Playing with the controlled coincidence creates excitement, because the shape of the letter can only be planned to a limited extent. Forms emerge in which the viewer can lose himself. The details bring mixtures of graphic drawings and appearances that seem sensual to us. New possibilities of interpretation emerge that are more familiar from painting. The free, abstract forms stand in contrast to the fonts we are familiar with.

Up Close

As the war in Ukraine rages on, so continues the plight of millions. Among these, each person has a story to be told.
This project aims to illustrate how stories of each individual ordeal can be drowned in a sea of tragedies. Hundreds of personal stories were sourced from newspapers and arranged in 3pt type. From afar this looks just like lines but can be read under closer inspection.
Fragments of the stories were put under a microscope, vectorized and placed over the stories. This aggressive disfigurement, almost as destructive as the topic itself, reminiscent of barbwire and charred remains, demonstrates
the mere quantity of such narratives vs. the individual tragedies behind each one.

Reverse Contrast Typeface

Experimental specimen of a reverse contrast, geometric, angular typeface (as of yet untitled) set in Black, which is one of six total family styles. Currently in the last stage of development, and set to release in the coming month(s).

I’ve designed pages in all six styles (Thin, Light, Regular, Medium, Bold, Black), but since this is a one page submission I’ve chosen one of the extreme styles. It has a tentative name that it will most likely release under so I’d be happy to update you and provide much more detail (font specifications, concept, final name, etc.) if this work is chosen.

Persimmons

Persimmons is an experimental interactive book translating the text of a poem into pattern through linguistic analysis and code. Words taken from each passage of Li-Young Lee’s poem, “Persimmons”, are run through Processing; the reader’s interaction with the book transforms the text’s phonetic structures into generated patterns.

Sayan Wa Shattan

Sayan Wa Shattan is a poster that encourages Arabs at reading Arabic poetry which they’ve neglected in the past decades. Sayan Wa Shattan is an Arabic expression that literally translates to “similar but different” which is the perfect way to describe Arabic poetry genres.

Type Unseen

Type Unseen (76 pages, 5” X 9”) is a reader on illegible graphic design and visual nonsense; it analyzes the influence our youth culture has had on experimental typography, all the while exploring the multitude of philosophies that drive us to construct and deconstruct meaning. The title on the cover layers different typographic treatments of the words, in order to become as illegible as possible without altering any letterforms.

Let’s Talk

A movie poster of the documentary “احكيلي” or “Let’s talk”. It’s a movie about an Egyptian director and filmmaker explores subjects such as motherhood, identity and ancestry with intimate conversations with her daughter. The translucent paper portrays the unearthing of memories and ancestries and the sewn typography adds to the poetic feeling of the movie and the poster.

Abi Fawq Al Shagara

A movie poster of the iconic movie”Abi foq al-Shagara“, it is a 1969 Egyptian drama musical romantic film.It is mostly famous with it’s Umbrella song “doqo el Shamasi”. That’s why I added the abstract umbrella cut-outs, and designed a typeface that would match that era, but with a modern spin to it.

Midsomar

A movie poster of the horror movie “Midsomar”. I incorporated the bright embroidery with the eerie photograph, similar to the movie where the videography was pretty and bright, however the content and story were horrific. Whenever I can I like my work to be analogue, in my opinion it gives it texture and personality.

Messages of the Sea

A movie poster of the movie “Messages of the sea” or “”رسائل البحر in Arabic. I made it using Lino cutting technique. Whenever I can I like my work to be analogue, in my opinion it gives it texture and personality. The movie is full of symbolism, so I tried to make my poster as poetic as the mobie.

A Golden Evening for People in Need

On March 19th, 2022, the iconic and unique Pforzheim Kontor building Kollmar & Jourdan hosted A Golden Evening for People in Need. The building shone in gold, with a meaningful, ambiguous facade installation to collectively raise money for a charitable cause.

Following a staging idea by Steffen Vetterle, Pforzheim jewelry designer Jasmina Jovy, with the help of many volunteers, had the windows on the south wing wrapped in gold foil. Over three floors until the opening of your showroom on May 14th, 2022, the facade receives a striking golden glow. On opening day, the gold wraps will then come off. Additional projections on the facade and in the showroom interior rounded off the public installation and the prevent.

In the process, gold and its glamour in the self-proclaimed gold city of Pforzheim were critically questioned: in the artistic concept, the gold foil—a normal rescue blanket—not only signifies the obvious glamour and luxury. The life blanket is normally used to protect people in need. It stands symbolically for all fugitives—on this evening and in the present context for Ukraine. A photographic work by Herlinde Koelbl with refugees wrapped in gold foil in Greece, as well as the facade installations by Ai Weiwei with life jackets of refugees served as basic inspiration for this.

After the Covid period, the high-profile action was intended to bring together diverse people—including current refugees from Ukraine—in Pforzheim and the surrounding area. At the same time, it was also about re-experiencing a city district with its diverse neighborhood and the Kollmar & Jourdan areal in the center, as the new creative hub within the city to communicate. In the exhibition itself, new jewelry positions could be met in an inspiring way and towards the later hour also celebrated again.

Since the gold foil can be described as unsustainable, the gold foil material of the installation is subsequently reworked into bags by Pforzheim fashion designer Monika Markert. These will find their use as goodie bags at the showroom opening and will be available for purchase. Also available for purchase were bracelets with a peace dove in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, specially designed for this evening in a limited edition by jewelry designer Jasmina Jovy. The catering and beverage suppliers provided everything pro bono.

Thus, in one evening came together not only the neighborhood, but the diverse users of the Kollmar & Jourdan areal—the Carlo Schmid School, the Technical Museum, architects, and designers. Thus, a total of over 200 people, through which almost 2,000 euros in donated funds could be collected to date.

Onomatopee 215

Onomatopee 215 is the result of the research project Post Digital Graphic Design (2019–2021), directed by Demian Conrad at HEAD–Genève, and supported by a grant from the HES-SO strategic fund.

Graphic Design in the Post-Digital Age examines the challenges and opportunities in the wake of the rapid rise of creative coding within a growing community of designers opting to make their own design tools. This comprehensive overview covers educational approaches in design programs and the historic and economic contexts of programming in graphic design, as well as the implications surrounding the integration of coding with design. The book includes over twenty interviews in which major figures in design reflect upon the ways in which coding has innovated and transformed their design practice and strategies, and the directions it will take in the future.

Introduction text by Demian Conrad, with an essay by Silvio Lorusso, and interviews by Demian Conrad and Rob van Leijsen with Dimitri Jeanottat (CH), Ted Davis (US), Urs Hofer (CH), Jeroen Barendse (NL), Casey Reas (US), Yehwan Song (KR), Luuse / Marianne Plano + Léonard Mabille (FR/BE), Sarah Garcin (FR), Tancrède Ottiger (CH), Jürg Lehni (CH), Loraine Furter (CH), Raphael Bastide (FR), Petr van Blokland (NL), Dinamo / Fabian Harb + Fabiola Mejía (CH), Johnson/Kingston / Ivan Weiss + Michael Kryenbühl (CH), Eurostandard / Pierrick Brégeon + Ali-Eddine Abdelkhalek (CH), Zach Lieberman (US), Samuel Weidmann (CH), Erik van Blokland (NL), Studio Dumbar / Sander Sturing and Stan Haanappel (NL), Émilie Pillet (CH) and Dia Studio / Mitch Paone (US).

Part of the editorial and research team was Demian Conrad, Rob van Leijsen, David Héritier, Aviva Cashmira, Nicolas Nova, Anthony Masure, and Daniel Sciboz.

Onomatopee 215

Editor: Demian Conrad, Rob van Leijsen, David Héritier
Author: Demian Conrad, Silvio Lorusso
Graphic: Johnson/Kingston (Ivan Weiss, Michael Kryenbühl, Massimiliano Audretsch)
Release: October 2021
Volume: 608 p.

Binding: Softcover
Format: 155 × 210 mm / 6.1 × 8.27 inch
Language: English
Binding: Softcover perfect binding
Paper: Profibulk 90 g/sm (inside) and Profibulk 300 g/sm (cover)
ISBN: 978-94-93148-68-0
Price: 24.– Euro
BUY

re_Creation 2022

Creativity wins! But what if the courage to actually use it is lacking, if routines stifle creative power? Where is creativity really needed? And how can money be earned with creative ideas? re_Creation 2022 invites you to rediscover creative forces together and return to everyday life strengthened. With an inspiring program for head, heart, and hand, the BDG Berufsverband Kommunikationsdesign offers designers space to take a deep breath and develop new perspectives from May 26th to 28th, 2022.

In Berlin’s Wannseeforum the BDG will deal with topics that concern designers in their daily business with speakers who know what they are talking about because they come from the design industry. Among others: the author of the book Wir Internetkinder, Julia Peglow, with an evening BookTalk; the designer and coach Florian Caspers with the workshop Ambitious, creative and underchallenged—liberation from constricting routines; the agency owner Katrin Niesen with the workshop on her book Designprozesse gestalten and the designer Simon Wehr with an introduction to the design of workshops for clients.

At the centre of re_Creation 2022 is one thing above all: creativity. We will approach it together and alone from left, right, above, and below—in nature or at the lunch table. Because it is what drives our profession, challenges us, and leads us to inspiring solutions.

re_Creation 2022

When?
May 26th–28th, 2022

Where?
Wannseeforum
Hohenzollernstraße 14
14109 Berlin
Germany

Tickets
Meet & Sleep

May 26th 5 p.m. – 28th 3 p.m.
Workshops, two overnight stays, catering
€ 220.– for BDG Members
€ 150.– for student BDG members
€ 280.– € for non-members
€ 190.– € for students
all prices plus 19 % VAT

Just Meet
May 26th 5 p.m. – 28th 3 p.m.
Workshops, catering
€ 110.– for BDG Members
€ 75.– for student BDG members
€ 140.– for non-members 
€ 95.– for students
all prices plus 19 % VAT

Find further information here and the link to registrate!

Miss Read 2022

The Miss Read 2022 will take place again in Berlin from April 29th to May 1st at Haus der Kulturen der Welt. We are very happy that we got the opportunity to be there with a small booth. We are already looking forward to your visit!

Miss Read will bring together a wide selection of 300+ publishers, art periodicals, and artists/authors. In conjunction, the Conceptual Poetics Day will explore the imaginary border between visual art and literature.

This book fair brings together a wide selection of the most interesting artists/authors, periodicals, and art publishers and is accompanied by a series of lectures, discussions, book launches, and workshops exploring the boundaries of contemporary publishing and the possibilities of the book.

Miss Read is Europe’s Art Book Festival, dedicated to community-building and creating a public meeting place for discourse around artists’ books, conceptual publications, and publishing as practice. In 2019 Miss Read was gathering 304 exhibitors.

The art book fair was founded in 2009 by KW Institute for Contemporary Art, argobooks, and Michalis Pichler. Since 2015, it is artist-run and organized by Yaiza Camps, Kristen Mueller (only 2015), Moritz Grünke, and Michalis Pichler. It was supported by many interns, among them Yuma Carpenter-New, Raül Fernández Gil, Ethan Levenson, Olivia Lynch, Nikita Moutsoupoulou, Nina Rose-Lewis, Natalia Saburova, and Alexander Zondervan. Since 2017, Miss Read takes place at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin.

Miss Read

When?
April 29th–May 1st, 2022
Friday 5–9 p.m. // Opening Party 9 p.m. till late.
Saturday 12–7 p.m.
Sunday 12–7 p.m.

Where?
Haus der Kulturen der Welt
John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10
10557 Berlin

Tickets
FREE ENTRY

Find more information here!

Wasserstories

Wasserstories: Our Future—Their Reality is an interactive web documentary, developed by Caroline Breidenbach as a master-project at the Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin, which critically and artistically explores the issues of water privatization and water crisis.

In Wasserstories, three multimedia stories give alarming insights into the past and future of our water. They deal with the universal question: Who owns the water? The project is located in the area of DesignFiction: true events from Bolivia, South Africa, and Portugal are projected on German locations and fictitiously told in our near future. Facts are intertwined with fiction and it results in disturbing scenarios.

Provocatively, the stories deliberately put three of our most basic needs at risk: health, money, and security. Each story has its focus on a different topic and its own storytelling method: scrollytelling, interactive video, and interactive map. Storytelling makes the underrepresented issue of water privatization more accessible and depicts it in new perspectives. The fictional story takes place as close as possible to the user’s life, which brings the user’s very own concern into prominence. Afterwards, the real events are revealed in documentary form. In addition, there is an index—an interactive dictionary with explanations of words which appear in the project or are related to the topic. This is not only about simple definitions, but also about a critical framing of the terms in a complex system.

The project was realized in cooperation with the Stiftung für Mensch und Umwelt and the Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin.

Wasserstories: Our Future—Their Reality

Idea, concept, and content: Caroline Breidenbach
In cooperation with: Stiftung für Mensch und Umwelt, Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin
Design and implementation: Caroline Breidenbach, Madeleine Stöber
Supervision: Cornelis Hemmer, Prof. Barbara Junge
Take a look at the full project here and find them on Instagram