Zürcher Theater Spektakel

Posted on by Marcus Kraft

The 41st edition of the Zürcher Theater Spektakel: (Not) A festival will take place from August 13th to 30th, 2020 in an alternative form. The complete program and further information can be found here. Studio Marcus Kraft has designed the accompanying campaign: Barrier tape and scenes with crowds of people are the main elements.

When the Swiss Federal Government decided in April that major events are not permitted until at least the end of August, the festival program and the campaign were already well advanced. The renowned festival, which attracts far over 100,000 people a year, subsequently had to reinvent itself. This year, for the first time, the festival will take place in a decentralized manner throughout the city of Zurich.

“We decided early on not to make a festival only with those artists who can still travel, but to look for ways in which art from distant places can still reach as many people in Zurich as possible,” says artistic director Matthias von Hartz.

Within a very short time, Studio Marcus Kraft developed the appropriate campaign. Scenes from past editions of the festival are shown, which are guaranteed not to happen this year: Densely packed crowds and hundreds of people queuing up. In black and white, the pictures almost seem to be from some other era. They are crossed out with yellow tape, which carries the most important information about the event. The claim in German can best be translated as “(Not) A Festival.”

“The fact that we cross out the photos with barrier tape is of course also a visual reference to today’s time—since the emergence of the corona virus, barrier and adhesive tapes have shaped our everyday lives. The yellow ribbons will not only adorn all media of the festival, but will also be used at the various venues,” says art director and designer Marcus Kraft.

This year’s highlights include the Lithuanian indoor beach opera “Sun & Sea,” which won the Golden Lion at last year’s Venice Biennale; a mobile interactive work by choreographer William Forsythe that will travel through Zurich for ten days; an international radio ballet; a pandemic simulation; pop-up street art; and collective listenings on 100 picnic blankets.

Zürcher Theater Spektakel: (Not) A festival

When?
August 13th to 30th, 2020

Where?
City of Zurich
Switzerland

Check out the festival program and visit the 41st Zürcher Theater Spektakel

Slanted in L.A.: Mark Kulakoff / BUCK

Posted on by Laura Nadvornik

In a town like L.A. and on a production like Slanted’s, which brings together the material for a magazine, not everything has to work out. Often, the best things happen when they’re not planned, just as they did when we went to this gleaming city in fall 2019. We were happy to meet the luminaries from the local creative scene and we are thrilled to share our inspiring encounters with you.

During our stay we took the chance to visit and interview the designer Mark Kulakoff. He is a design driven maker who works in the areas of illustration, 2- and 3D design, and animation. His work seeks to build meaningful form and storytelling for personal and applied arts. He currently works for BUCK L.A. as a Senior Art Director. Mark teaches Design and Motion Graphics for the University of Southern California and CalArts. In his free time he is a gardener and collector of aloes and euphorbias.

The work of Mark Kulakoff can be found in the Slanted Magazine #35—L.A.. Additionally we shot a video interview to talk about Mark’s attitude and view of things. Take a look at our new issue and the video platform to encounter new ways of design thinking!

Let’s Play Outdoors & Little Big Rooms

Posted on by Laura Nadvornik

There are many children’s books, but not all of them please us as much as these two releases from Little Gestalten. Especially in times of closed day-care centers and schools, it is more important than ever that the home is suitable for children and offers many play opportunities. Little Big Rooms gives valuable tips and unusual furnishing ideas. When it comes to going outside, Let’s Go Outdoors! offers an incredible variety of play ideas for different age groups … and parents will have fun doing it too 😉

Let’s Play Outdoors! (German: Raus an die frische Luft)
EXPLORING NATURE FOR CHILDREN

Let’s Play Outdoors! is a book that encourages children to go and play outside and discover what nature has to offer. Leave the house and roam outdoors: It is a fascinating place, waiting to be conquered by children with curious minds. Let’s Play Outdoors! encourages little nature detectives—not just to see, but also to listen, to touch, and to smell our surroundings. Climbing trees, watching clouds, tracing animals’ footprints, playing games outdoors …

This book is packed with simple activities and experiences to inspire the environmentally-conscious children of today. The suggested activities inspire independent learning about animals, plants, and the weather, as well as how to look after the world.

About the Author
Catherine Ard has written and edited many craft books for children. She lives in Bristol with her family, where their little dog, Annie sleeps at her feet while she is working.

About the Illustrator
Australian illustrator Carla McRae is living and working in Melbourne. Her work covers editorial, publishing, and branding. She also likes to design socks and paints large-scale mural projects.

About the Researcher
Researcher Polly Jarman has worked for many years with young people through environmental education and outdoor activity projects.

Written by: Catherine Ard
Illustrated by: Carla McRae
Researcher: Polly Jarman
Release date: March 2020
Language: German and English
Format: 21 × 26 cm
Volume: 56 pages
Workmanship: Full Color, Hardcover, stitch bound
ISBN: 978-3-89955-843-2
Price: € 14.90
Buy


Little Big Rooms (German: Kinderkram)
NEW NURSERIES AND ROOMS TO PLAY IN

How do you set up a children’s room that is fun, colorful, and fresh? One that gives children room for playing, daydreaming, and letting their imaginations run wild?

A child’s room must be fun both for its smaller inhabitants and for the parents that arrange them; it’s here that budding young minds first begin to explore the world. These rooms have plenty to do, acting as playrooms, places to sleep, reading nooks, and spaces for young minds to concentrate and let their creativity unfold. Years can be spent playing and learning in a child’s room; a sibling might move in, making it a space for laughter and sharing. Setting up a children’s room can be a wonderful challenge.

Little Big Rooms is here to offer inspiration to parents, full of exciting tips for new rooms or spaces in need of an update, as well as furniture and accessory recommendations sure to please everyone in the family.

Editor: Gestalten
Release date: May 7th, 2018
Format: 22.5 × 29 cm
Volume: 256 pages
Workmanship: Full color, hardcover, stitch bound
ISBN: 978-3-89955-942-2
Price: € 39.90
Buy

Netzhaut

Posted on by CIN CIN

Films, concerts, live events and movie theater under the stars: the Netzhaut Ton Film Festival Wiener Neustadt takes place in the Bürgermeistergarten in front of the Museum St. Peter at the Sperr and in the movie theater in the Stadttheater Wiener Neustadt from August 27th to 30th, 2020.

International films are shown in the three program series Fiction, Documentary and Newcomer Film. In the presence of the filmmakers, the selection is dedicated to this year’s focus on Truth and Reality.

The full service studio CIN CIN created the corporate identity for the new Netzhaut Ton Film Festival. After the designers got the commission by Katharina Stemberger and Fabian Eder, the artistic directors of the first Netzhaut Ton Film Festival, they immediately got excited because they could come up with an identity from scratch and the briefing granted them an enormous amount of creative freedom.

After the initial research phase and early sketches, the concept of the festival’s identity soon evolved around the interplay of layers and textures, resembling the retina of the human eye metaphorically, while at the same time an actual eye is looking at you, grabbing your attention whenever you encounter a poster or one of the other executions. Individual interpretation and double meaning was what the Vienna based design studio was aiming for, therefore the different materials convey no specific meaning but form a poetic coalition of free associations.

Considering the multifaceted range of demands within the campaign, the designers always kept in mind that their visualizations would have to work in print, web, as well as in motion: this included the poster, printed banners and postcards, the website, and the festival trailer, for which the musical duo DIE STROTTERN, which is responsible for the festival’s music program, composed the original score. CIN CIN also implemented an interactive feature on the festival’s website, where you can move the elements with the cursor, and designed the 3D-printed statuette which will be awarded to the best newcomer films.

Netzhaut—Ton Film Festival

When?
August 27th to 30th, 2020

Where? 
Wiener-Neustadt
Austria

Find the full program here

Design: CIN CIN—Stephan Göschl, Gerhard Jordan & Jasmin Roth
Client: WN Kul.Tour.Marketing GmbH, Wiener Neustadt
Festival directors: Katharina Stemberger, Fabian Eder

Mail

Posted on by Laura Nadvornik

For Mail, artist Mungo Thomson (b. 1969, Davis, CA) asked The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles to let their incoming mail accumulate unopened during the run of the 2013 exhibition, Stories for Almost Everyone. Over the course of the show a pile of correspondence and packages grew, forming a temporary archive and timepiece. It is part sculpture, part institutional critique, part clock.

The book functions both as an artwork and as an elaborate and exhaustive documentation of the work as realized by the artist. Featuring an essay by Hammer Museum curator Aram Moshayedi, Mail performs a kind of autopsy of the sculpture, displaying every facet, and revealing the infrastructure of both the artwork and the museum.

The design of the book loosely mimics a popular mail-order catalog. Thomson’s photography of the items in the mail pile at the Hammer was undertaken with this catalog design in mind. Every letter, package, notice, magazine, flyer, restaurant menu, exhibition postcard, vendor catalog, and piece of junk mail is represented. Further, collections of like things have been arranged and photographed on a seamless backdrop in the style of product photography for a vendor catalog.

Mail

Design: Mungo Thomson & Brody Albert
Published: April 2020
Format: 21.59 × 26.04 cm (8.5 × 10.25 in) 
Volume: 496 pages
Illustrations: 3,000 in color
ISBN: 978-1-941753-34-7
Price: $ 45.–
Buy

Slanted in L.A.: Happening Studio

Posted on by Laura Nadvornik

In a town like L.A. and on a production like Slanted’s, which brings together the material for a magazine, not everything has to work out. Often, the best things happen when they’re not planned, just as they did when we went to this gleaming city in fall 2019. We were happy to meet the luminaries from the local creative scene and we are thrilled to share our inspiring encounters with you.

While we were in L.A. we took a look into the activities of Happening Studio which is built on a creative force between Karen To and Masato Nakada, founded in 2014. Their studio’s output is constantly shifting between commercial work and playful investigations to maintain their practice to be flexible, imaginative, and independent. The studio recently expanded its service to Tokyo for Asian clients.

The work of Happening Studio can be found in the Slanted Magazine #35—L.A.. Additionally we shot a video interview to talk about their attitude and view of things. Take a look at our new issue and the video platform to encounter new ways of design thinking!

Visual Coexistence

Posted on by Laura Nadvornik

In Visual Coexistence Ruedi Baur and his research team analyze visual graphics from different cultures and identify their specific principles of depiction. Interdisciplinary and intercultural experience coupled with sophisticated knowledge and skills are required for devising appropriate, differentiated design solutions for the global context.

The research was preceded by a comprehensive case study on the coexistence of Chinese and Latin as well as Arabic and Latin writing. The study culminates in an examination of the conditions under which the coexistence of diverse writing systems can enhance intercultural visual communication. This theme occupies designers in all cultures whose goal it is to promote global understanding while preserving the diversity of languages and writing systems.

Ruedi Baur examines design questions in social contexts, fundamentally oriented toward the development of an accountable design approach. He specializes in the design of public spaces and has developed internationally recognized projects with Intégral Ruedi Baur et Associés. He is a professor at the School of Art and Design, HEAD – Genève, the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (ENSAD) and the University of Strasbourg.

Ulrike Felsing studied visual communication at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig. Together with Ruedi Baur, she directed the project “Researching design methods in the area of transcultural visual communication,” which was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation from 2010-2015. She completed her PhD in 2018 and has been a lecturer at the Bern University of the Arts (HKB, Communication Design) since 2010.

Visual Coexistence

Edited by: Ruedi Baur, Ulrike Felsing, Civic City and HEAD Genève
With contributions by: Ruedi Baur, Sébastien Fasel, Ulrike Felsing, Fabienne Kilchör, Eva Lüdi Kong, Marco Maione, Roman Wilhelm
Design: Ulrike Felsing, Jeannine Moser, Roman Wilhelm
Language: English
Format: 16.5 × 24 cm
Volume: 312 pages, 193 images
Workmanship: Paperback
Release: 2020
ISBN: 978-3-03778-613-0
Price: € 35.–
Buy

Thelo

Posted on by Laura Nadvornik

Thelo is a type family that emerged from a consideration of the publishing conditions in the digital era. Designed by Tassiana Nuñez Costa between 2014 and 2020, the typeface aims to answer contemporary editorial questions of coherence and legilibility accross medias and reading formats. In order to adapt to different reading contexts, on screen as well as on paper, and to allow for an efficient hierarchization of content, Thelo has three variations of optical sizes (Display, Text, and Micro) that refer to the optical settings typically used by punchcutters of the lead type era. Applied to digital typography, this principle allows the optimization of reading comfort on screen.

The constraints of digital media have driven Tassiana Nuñez Costa to make some striking formal choices: Thelo Text (Regular, Italic, Bold) is adapted to the composition of running text. Its clean and functional design brings it closer to modernist style typefaces but its pointed connections and terminations evoke certain characteristics of flared glyphic typefaces. Thelo Display (Light, Regular, Bold) has been designed for composing large sized texts such as titles. Its design is enhanced by lively and sharp lines. Finally, Thelo Micro (Regular, Italic, Bold) is tailored to the composition of smaller sized texts such as footnotes and captions. Its quite solid rectangular serifs provide it with the aesthetic of a slab serif.

Thelo is named after the Thelocactus, a variety of cactus native to Mexico: linking the harsh aspect of on screen display and the arid lands of desert zones.

Thelo

Foundry: 205TF
Designer: Tassiana Nuñez Costa
Release: July 2020
Format: .otf (desktop); .woff, .woff2, .eot, .svg, .ttf (web, app, epub)
Styles: Display (Light, Regular, & Bold), Text (Regular, Italic, & Bold), Micro (Regular, Italic, & Bold)
Type specimen available
Price: Family € 400.–  (desktop), Optical Size Packages € 150.– (desktop)
Buy

Slanted in Rhineland-Palatinate: Gutenberg-Museum Mainz

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

Our new Slanted Special Issue Rhineland-Palatinate deals with regional design as well as arts and crafts. The German federal state has a long tradition of arts and craftsmanship, supported and kept alive by a strong middle-class as well as strong regional institutions and cultural drivers. In its state capital Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg invented letterpress printing and delivered the first printed Bible in 1456, and probably drank a pint of wine on it.

In the Slanted Special Issue Rhineland-Palatinate we present selected cultural institutions and drivers that are particularly important and formative for the region. This also includes the Gutenberg-Museum, located in the heart of the old town of Mainz. It presents two original Gutenberg Bibles as some of ist greatest treasures. In the reconstructed Gutenberg workshop, you can hourly watch demonstrations of how printing was done in Gutenberg’s day.

Get an impression of the Gutenberg-Museum Mainz from the current Slanted Special Issue Rhineland-Palatinate. Visit its website and get information about current exhibitions and workshops.

Supported by descom—Designforum Rhineland-Palatinate.

Free Poster

Posted on by Matter Of

Free Poster is a non-profit cooperative project which connects artistic productions within public and pri­vate spaces through analog media. It is published by Matter Of. Free Posters will be displayed widely and free of charge internationally in reopened facilities and bookstores. They can also be ordered free of charge at the Matter Of Shop.

The poster itself is a mobile medium that has no fixed home, but is intended to find one through its scattered presentation. Free Posters are platforms for the exchange of current themes and debates for international contemporary artists, of who they show photographs, artworks, illustrations, text or installations.

Part of the project are Anna Haifisch (Ger), Kristian Jørgensen (Den), Lou Buche (Fr), Friederike Hantel (Ger), Benjamin Niznik (USA), Lucas Dupuy (UK), Leonard Moser (Ger), Ismaaeel Solomon (S. Africa), Jim Klok (Nld), Elena Rotenberg (Isr), Domenico Carnimeo (It), Akasha Rabut (USA), and Leomy Sadler (UK).

Contrary to the total renunciation of printed products in climatic crises, their mission of sustainability is to create a new sensibility that can give weight again to haptic experiences and the craft handling of materiality. This is intended to oppose mass production via online printing houses, which shower us with ever-same papers and formats. Nevertheless, they are not merely a eulogy to the analogue, which condemns the digital, they themselves were created constitutively through digital exchange.

Free Poster 

Published by: Matter Of 
Supported by: Ritter Sport, Fedrigoni Fine Papers and VD Vereinte Druckwerke
Get your Free Poster

Remember the South

Posted on by Laura Nadvornik

In Remember the South, artist Frank Frances creates a contemporary re-imagining of colonialism through a fictional adaptation of elements used today that represent a potent past. Frances explores the frustrations of the nuanced variability of racism as well as their historical and current implications with a combination of photography and paper-cut collages. Elements of racism and stereotypes of the American South, including the use of blackface and other depictions of blackness, confederate symbolism, and crops including watermelon and cotton, are explored in meticulous assemblages, a kind of disturbing beauty that bears witness to inherited traumas that have yet to be fully realized. A visual narrative that is a nod to the systematic integration of a brutal history, Remember the South serves as an ode to the memory of a past that is still being experienced in the present.

Frank Frances (b. 1983 Columbia, South Carolina) is an artist based in New York. He received his MFA in Photography from School of Visual Arts and has been published and exhibited globally. His style is influenced by artists such as Gordon Parks, Roe Ethridge, and Mickalene Thomas.

Remember the South

Publication by: Frank Frances
Essay by: Diana McClure
Design by: Caleb Cain Marcus, Luminosity Lab
Publisher: MONOLITH EDITIONS
Format: 20.32 × 25.4 cm (8 × 10 in) vertical
Workmanship: softcover
Volume: 64 pages, 40 plates
First Edition: limited to 300 copies
Price: $ 25.–
Buy

Parcours Summer 2020

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

Parcours invites you, on behalf of all graduates, to the Finals Bachelor and Master of the MSD / Münster School of Design from August 14th to 16h, 2020—this year of course a virtual exhibition.

Parcours is more than just an exhibition. Rich in contrast and versatile, sometimes contradictory, but always individual and special.

From social magazine to sustainable product solutions and flexible exhibition concepts: Parcours presents design and design creators in all their diversity—tangible, digital and innovative.

A live program will provide additional insights into our workshops, as well as online lectures by graduates. Visit courses from the comfort of your own home.

Parcours Summer 2020

When?
Certificate Ceremony:
Friday, August 14th from 11 a.m. to about 12:30 p.m.
Please pay attention to the Live-Stream
Exhibition:
Saturday, August 15th and Sunday, August 16th, 2020

Where:
Online

Please pay attention to the online program! Follow the information on all relevant channels: Instagram, Facebook, and Website

The Gardens of Eden & Small Homes, Grand Living

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

We present you two new publications The Gardens of Eden & Small Homes, Grand Living by gestalten that can help you to make your life in an urban world even more individual.

The Gardens of Eden—New Residential Garden Concepts & Architecture for a Greener Planet

As our lifestyles become more sustainable, so does the way we interact with our gardens. No matter what size your patch is, it’s easy to create diverse and rich environments for plants and insects, or to grow your own fruits or vegetables. The Gardens of Eden introduces you to over 20 imaginative projects, featuring interviews with garden designers, insightful texts, and plans to show what contemporary garden culture looks like. In addition, this title offers information about different climate zones and soil types and gives tips for sustainable gardening and self-sufficiency. Get creative with native plants, and design greener corners within urban areas. The Gardens of Eden looks at fascinating examples of gardens around the world, teaching what you can do for nature while revealing what a green space can do for you.

Authors: gestalten & Abbye Churchill
Release date: Febuary 2020
Format: 21 × 26 cm
Features: Full color, hardcover, stitch bound, 256 pages
ISBN: 978-3-89955-990-3
Buy


Small Homes, Grand Living—Interior Design for Compact Spaces

Small Homes, Grand Living’s assortment of projects and homes pays homage to the iconic innovation within modest living areas and shows the creative usage of space in continually expanding urban areas. As more people across the globe move into cities, living space becomes a precious commodity. Designers, architects, and innovative inhabitants seek new ways of creating a home that is just as comfortable as it is functional and aesthetically pleasing. Where does one stow clothing, bicycles, suitcases, or bed linens? Where is the perfect place for the desk, bed, or couch? How does one use less square meters more effectively?

Compact flats perched atop the roofs on high-rise buildings. A one-bedroom apartment that houses a family of four. Stairs that cleverly transform into wardrobes. A collection of cozy cocoons shows the personality and innovation of those living inside: a home is both shelter and a welcoming reflection of the residents. Small Homes, Grand Living offers real interior design solutions directly from the occupants’ imaginations.

Editors: gestalten
Release date: April 2017
Format: 21 × 26 cm
Features: Full color, hardcover, 256 pages
ISBN: 978-3-89955-698-8
Buy

Slanted in Rhineland-Palatinate: Anselm Littschwager

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

Our new Slanted Special Issue Rhineland-Palatinate deals with regional design as well as arts and crafts. The German federal state has a long tradition of arts and craftsmanship, supported and kept alive by a strong middle-class as well as strong regional institutions and cultural drivers. Awards such as the State Prize for Arts and Crafts promote, amongst others, outstanding gem and jewelry designers, ceramists, silversmiths, carpenters, barrel makers, and textile designers of the region.

In the Slanted Special Issue Rhineland-Palatinate we present selected artisans: Anselm Littschwager is a silversmith, tool smith, and custom knife maker from Rockenhausen. His products are hand crafted by himself using the highest quality materials. He works using traditional methods that are sustainable. Most of his work is commissioned directly by customers. Each item he creates is unique.

Visit his website or take a look at his beautiful work in the Slanted Special Issue Rhineland-Palatinate.

The Book Block

Posted on by Rúben R Dias

The Book Block is a manual of industrial binding techniques, the first in the Making a Book collection, which focuses on manuals for graphic book production. With the aim of elevating knowledge about graphic production among designers—helping them to produce better books and communicate more effectively with all those involved in the process—The Book Block brings together the 17 most common industrial binding techniques in 6 categories, exploring each one in detail, describing them, and showing what is possible to do in this day and age.

Conceived from scratch to be bilingual, in Portuguese and English, the book seeks to systematize Portuguese terminology in the printing industry, while providing the same information in the lingua franca of today’s global market: English. In an international context, with customers, employees, and producers sprinkled throughout the world, this book provides the perfect tool for an effective communication. Developed by experienced book designers and bookbinders—Itemzero and Maiadouro—this book is a summary of decades of know-how, now easily made available.

Due to recent high demand, the first edition is already out of stock. A new revised reprint will be available in early August. In order to ensure your copy at its current price, reserve your book now.

The Book Block

Title: The Book Block / O Miolo do Livro
Subtitle: Insustrial Bookbinding Techniques / Técnicas de Encadernação Industrial
Design and Infographics: Itemzero (Rúben Dias, Fábio Martins, Ricardo Dantas)
Prepress, Printing and Finishing: Gráfica Maiadouro
Language: Portuguese and English (Bilingual)
Authors: Rúben R. Dias, Rui Oliveira, Fábio Duarte Martins, Ricardo Philippe Dantas
Publishers and Editors: Itemzero + Maiadouro
Publishing house: Itemzero
Typeface: Uivo by Scannerlicker
Release: December/2019
Volume: 144 pages
Format: 11 × 27 cm
ISBN: 978-989-330088-6
Retail price: € 17.90
Buy

Slanted in L.A.: Rob Carmichael / SEEN

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

In a town like L.A. and on a production like Slanted’s, which brings together the material for a magazine, not everything has to work out. Often, the best things happen when they’re not planned, just as they did when we went to this gleaming city in fall 2019. We were happy to meet the luminaries from the local creative scene and we are thrilled to share our inspiring encounters with you.

Rob Carmichael opened SEEN in 2005 after many years as a designer in the music and publishing industries. SEEN is an independent art direction and graphic design studio primarily serving clients in music, publishing, and the arts. The studio’s work is realized in various mediums: Packaging, books, posters, clothing, identities, and websites. SEEN is based in El Sereno, L.A..

The work of Rob Carmichael and his design studio SEEN can be found in the Slanted Magazine #35—L.A.. Additionally we shot a video interview to talk about his/her attitude and view of things. Take a look at our new issue and the video platform to encounter new ways of design thinking!

Eye 100

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

After nearly three decades of continuous publishing, Eye’s hundredth issue is a special called Talking about graphic design, a broad overview of current design and designers. We wish the Eys team the best for their anniversary and are already looking forward to the 200th edition!

For this edition Eye invited eleven prominent individuals to talk about graphic design, including Liza Enebeis, Bobby C. Martin Jr, Fraser Muggeridge and Sophie Thomas, all of whom took part in the online Type Tuesday launch event on June 9th, 2000. The cover feature is an interview with ‘mag-man ad-man’ Richard Turley, photographed by Maria Spann. Other interviews are with Elaine Ramos, Michael Bierut (Pentagram), Kate Moross, Jessica Walsh, Françoise Mouly (The New Yorker) and Milton Glaser, who voice their opinions and discuss work, design processes, clients and other concerns.

These illustrated conversations are interleaved with thirteen snapshots of projects that range from editorial design to digital processing, from calligraffiti to Hangul type design. In ‘Remixing the here and now,’ Derek Yates profiles Dines’s Studio Blup, while ‘Kiel’s code’ by John-Patrick Hartnett examines Kiel Mutschelknaus’s evolving Space Type Generator.

Three articles address historical matters: Silas Munro’s review of ‘As, Not For,’ Jerome Harris’s traveling exhibition of work by black designers; ‘Objects of inspiration’ about the Letterform Archive in San Francisco; and ‘Eye’s early years,’ in which Rick Poynor, who edited the first 24 issues, recalls the aims and ideas behind the magazine’s 1990 launch. Other subjects include photographer Jack Davison (profiled by The New York Times Magazine’s Kathy Ryan); the geometrical approach of illustrator Malika Favre; French studio Spassky Fischer; Swiss letterpress designer Dafi Kühne; and Extinction Rebellion.

Editor John Walters describes Eye 100 as ‘a panorama of current, time-stamped graphic design practice,’ representing ‘a freeze-framed “now” that has taken on new significance’ in the shadow of the pandemic. At 140 pages (including covers and inserts), this is the biggest Eye ever, thanks to the generous support of readers, subscribers and advertisers worldwide. All final design and production took place during the Covid-19 lockdown, thanks to the socially distanced design team of Simon Esterson and Holly Catford and the enthusiasm and skill of Dawkins Color and Pureprint, respectively Eye’s repro house and printers since 2008.

Eye 100

Publisher: Eye Magazine
Editor: John Walters
Volume: 140 pages
Buy

DO YOU READ ME? & Buchhandlungen

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

DO YOU READ ME?
Bookshops are not the only places where books are sold. They are places of togetherness in a neighborhood and often the first port of call for travelers who want to explore a city. Bookstores invite you to linger, to readings, concerts and parties; always with the aim of bringing together people who are thirsty for knowledge and curious and to make friends with strangers.

The shops themselves are as different as their owners. There are small bookshops where books are stacked up to the ceiling, minimalist concept stores and true book temples; they are located in apartments, on boats or in Gothic churches. Do you read me? brings together bookstores from all over the world and introduces some of the people who make them unique places.

Publisher: gestalten
Author: gestalten & Marianne Julia Strauss
Release: April 2020
Format: 21 × 26 cm
Volume: 272 pages
Language: English, German
Workmanship: full color, Hardcover, thread stitching
ISBN: 978-3-89955-884-5, 978-3-89955-994-1
Buy


Buchhandlungen—Eine Liebeserklärung (“Bookshops—A Declaration of Love”)
“Books are the proof that humans can do magic.” If one takes a look at the bookstores portrayed by the renowned photographer Horst A. Friedrichs, the quote by the author and astrophysicist Carl Sagan is immediately understandable: From a floating bookstore on a canal boat to endless rows of books in a former cathedral, Friedrichs shows an exquisite selection of 47 independent bookstores. His pictures open the doors to the unique world of books and their enthusiastic dealers, who with great sensitivity and passion create extraordinary places. Treasure chambers full of precious ideas, rooms of fantasy, and rebellion. Microcosms for people with an open mind.

These places have never been more important than today, in a time of fake news and short messages. The stories are told by the author Stuart Husband. With portraits of the bookshops Walther König (Cologne), Shakespeare & Company (Paris), Lello (Porto) and many more.

Publisher: Prestel
Foreword: Nora Krug
Workmanship: Hardcover, half-linen
Volume: 256 pages
Format: 24,0 × 28,0 cm
ISBN: 978-3-7913-8580-8
Release: June 2020
Buy

The Unheard Archive

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

The Unheard Archive is the outcome of an oral history project initiated by Zara Arshad in May 2019. This project entailed reflecting on graphic design practice in South Korea today via conducting interviews with numerous locally-based graphic designers. It draws particular attention to the experience of women designers, those engaged or working with marginalized communities (e. g. LGBTQ+ and physically-disabled groups), emerging designers, and other underrepresented voices in design history.

The Unheard Archive website is a storytelling platform—an online catalog, rather than a repository of oral history materials. It offers just a sense of some of the conversations that have taken place between the researcher and narrators.

Materials from each interview session (comprising audio files and transcripts) are in the process of being prepared. These resources will eventually be deposited at an institution that will make them available for public use. This will include material from interviews conducted with the following designers: Lee Jaeyoung, Lynn Kim, Shin In-ah, Yang Meanyoung, Kim Somi, Woo Yunige and Sunny Studio.

The Unheard Archive was created by Zara Arshad, a researcher, curator and design historian. Arshad has previously held roles at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), Design History Society, Beijing Design Week and Icograda Beijing. She is currently a PhD researcher at University of Brighton/V&A.

Image captions
– Poster designed by Sunny Studio for Shin Ji-ye, 2018 Seoul mayor candidate and representative of the Green Party.
– Park Ji-sung (left) and Park Chulhee (right) of Sunny Studio.
– Drag workshop for a local queer parade. Credit: Lee Kanghyuk.
– #MeToo #WithYou’ signs at Doing Cafe (2019). Photo by Zara Arshad, taken during a research trip to Seoul, which entailed investigating new ‘safe spaces’ for women. Many of the stops I made are listed in this article by the New York Times.

Absolute Egypt

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

Absolute Egypt book is a documentation of the local visual culture through the lens of graphic design in the local older areas of Cairo and takes the reader on a tour in our local streets by presenting a collection of its most mesmerizing vernacular graphic designs.

The book was originally Moataz’s bachelor thesis in the German University in Cairo. Then after the completion of the bachelor, the book underwent further refinement for almost two years, under the supervision of lecturer Philipp Paulsen and the guidance of publisher Khatt Books (with the editing of Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès and Edo Smitshuijzen), resulting in this final published version.

Raghda Moataz wanted to make sense of her local environment, to investigate those local vernacular graphic designs and understand their spectrum in a research-based book, and not just look at their aesthetics in a brief encounter. Therefore, when the author studied graphic design, she could see beyond the visuals and organize the designs to understand the underlying skeleton of how people live through graphic design and how those graphic designs tell the story of our culture.

Raghda Moataz graduated from the Faculty of Applied Sciences and Arts at the German University in Cairo (GUC). She is a writer, researcher and graphic designer, with a deep love for practicing and teaching design. Moataz became one of the youngest authors in her field when she published her first book Absolute Egypt. Her work especially revolves around researching visual culture and reusing its meanings to produce new visuals that are relevant and powerful. In regards to work, Moataz was a graphic design instructor at Kemet Arts & Design, was the art director of Hundred Best Arabic Posters (100/100) competition round two and was among the founding team of Hasala donations services. She was also an Adobe Achievement Award semi-finalist, listed among the 100/100 competition round two winners, featured in the HGB book fair 2018 in Germany and a three-times excellence award winner for high academic achievements at the GUC.

Absolute Egypt

Author: Raghda Moataz
Publisher: Khatt Books
Release: 2020
ISBN: 978-94-90939-19-9
Pages: 240
Format: 18.5 × 20 cm
Edition: softcover (with flaps)
Languages: English & Arabic
Price: € 29.50
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BEYOND Filmfestival 2020

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

At the 9th International Symposium-Future Design and Film Festival-Climate Change from July 23rd to 26th BEYOND Filmfestival 2020 will stage a triad of science, art and technology with the aim to create a better future.

Both events, Film Festival and Symposium will be broadcasted virtually, live and online worldwide. Take a look at the program here.

The climate crisis and the crisis of imminent ecological collapse not only affect the nature we live in, but our economic, political, social and technological systems. The climate crisis is a crisis of contemporary global civilization and therefore also a task for art.

This year, BEYOND Film Festival Future Design therefore focuses on climate change and its effects. National and international films that deal with ecological and social problems, films that force society, politics and companies to think and above all to act, films that create new narratives and ideas for the 21st century and design alternative futures are welcome. Discover all movies here.

The symposium will be translated live into several languages using the artificial intelligence Lecture Translator developed at KIT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology).

BEYOND Filmfestival 2020

When?
July 23rd to 26th, 2020

Where?
Online

Get your ticket here

A Shift in Perspective

Posted on by leoniekaltenegger

The discipline of visual communication, similar to many others, underlies a great deal of pressure, as it involves a high need for surprising, unconventional ideas: creative solutions. A Shift in Perspective: An Investigation into Creativity from Constraint examines not only whether or how one can influence creativity but also whether constraints can promote the creative process. Furthermore, since creation is often associated with freedom, this thesis intends to change how the creative process is perceived. While several psychologists and philosophers have widely studied creativity, much uncertainty regarding the correlation between creativity and constraint still exists. Divided into two parts, this thesis addresses the framework behind creativity from theoretical and empirical perspectives. Conducted as self-study, this small-scale observation aims to resolve the main research question and provide a better understanding of the creative process.

The empirical self-study, which includes an in-depth analysis of creative constraints along with the daily creation of a poster, intends to shift how society understands the creative process. When one considers creativity, terms such as ‘freedom of creation’ and ‘boundless possibilities’ often come to mind, as well as an open space for spontaneous, informal creation. However, this experiment proposes that rather than being unlimited, the creative process necessitates constraint, which opens creators to new perspectives and allows them to explore unknown spaces that might have never been discovered otherwise. The experiment was conducted over six months, with an overall duration of 168 days. With the idea of limiting herself for that time, the designer introduced a new constraint every 14 days. The selfstudy was organized into twelve chapters: six months of daily creation divided into 12 categories, one for each constraint.

Leonie Kaltenegger is an Austrian designer with a strong focus on visual communication—creating brandings, corporate identities, visual concepts and editorial content, currently based in Salzburg. Her practice combines diverse fields of visual communication and is often characterized by the use of extreme contrasts and bold typography. Driven by a subtle, abstract visual language, she aims to reveal the essential characteristics of a brand or project. Besides her studies, she works on selected projects on a freelance basis and enjoys to collaborate with other creatives. Aiming to shape and create, giving thoughts a figure.

A Shift in Perspective

Editorial, Concept, and Layout: Leonie Kaltenegger
Project: Bachelor Thesis, University of Applied Sciences Graz
Release: February 2020
Volume: 255 pages
Format: 25.7 × 20 cm
Language: English
Production/Finishing: Book, Softcover, refined with a color cut in black
Print: Aichfelder Druck GmbH
Binding: Buchbinderei Papyrus GesmbH & Co. KG
Paper: Curious Matter Goya Black Truffle, Munken Kristall Rough
Edition: 10 (not for sale)

Moholy-Nagy 125

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

László Moholy-Nagy, the great intellectual and technical innovator and world-famous Hungarian artist was born on July 20, 125 years ago. His oeuvre is well known in many countries around the world, his works are auctioned at record prices and have been exhibited in recent years in the largest museums in London, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles attracting huge audiences. However, few are aware of the roots of this decisive, experimental, innovative creator of the 20th century, namely that he was Hungarian.

On the occasion of the anniversary, the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest (MOME), named after the artist, created an unusual audiovisual campaign, which will be presented on July 20th, on László Moholy-Nagy’s birthday, by Hungarian media service providers, online platforms and foreign Hungarian institutes.

On this occasion, the university pays tribute to the timeless validity of Moholy-Nagy’s ideas by releasing an audiovisual package online on July 20th at 10 a.m. together with the Moholy-Nagy 125 report film, by Moholymotion a 125-second animation, dozens of interviews and video messages, as well as an interactive website.

The initiative features such prominent figures of Hungarian art and cultural life as art historian Krisztina Passuth, artist Dóra Maurer, Julia Fabényi, director of the Ludwig Museum, architect Zsófia Csomay, József Fülöp, rector of MOME, István Orosz, graphic designer, a member of Hungarian Academy of Arts or Károly Gerendai, cultural manager. In addition to members of the Moholy-Nagy family, renowned professionals from the international art world contributed to the commemoration such as Karole P. B. Vail, director of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, and Annemarie Jaeggi, director of the Bauhaus Archive in Berlin.

The Urania National Film Theater, Budapest will host the film premiere screening at the opening night to the series of events on July 16th. The film produced by MOME will be accompanied by the Hungarian premiere of The New Bauhaus, an American documentary about László Moholy-Nagy.

The online commemoration on July 20th will be followed in the fall by further events on MOME’s new, world-class campus opened last September.

The commemorative series was created in collaboration with MOME, the Hungarian Academy of Arts, the National Film Institute, the National Office of Intellectual Property, and the Urania National Film Theater.

Moholy-Nagy 125

Concept by/Producer József Fülöp, Tamás Kollarik
Producer: Zsuzsanna Vincze
Co-producer: Tamás Gergely Kucsera
Creative producer: Viktória Szabó
Line producer: Györgyi Falvai, Dóra Csányi
Communication: MOME Brand Office
Finance: Mónika Mayer, Andrea Nagy
Film staff: Annamária Maronics, Kristóf Pajor, Krstan Petrucz, Barbara Keserű, Dániel Firnigel
Animation: Melinda Kádár, Bori Mákó, Lili Korcsok, Éva Darabos
Layout, microsite: Balázs Vargha and Gábor Réthi
Released by the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, July 15th, 2020

When?
July 20th, 2020
10 a.m.

Where?
Online

Shape Grammars

Posted on by Clara Weinreich

How can unique pieces be mass produced? Or: How can the computer take over and support creative work? Sol LeWitt writes in his Sentences on Conceptual Art: “The idea becomes a machine that makes the art. […] There are many side effects that the artist cannot imagine. These may be used as ideas for new works.” A form is removed from the status of pure art as soon as it is filled with unambiguous information or applied utility. Its poetic function as art is thus weakened, its practical function as design is strengthened.

With the right system, an idea can also become a machine that produces design instead of art. This is then called generative design. However, this form of design is primarily used to display complex data sets or to fire off overwhelming visual spectacles.

Based on the work of Sol LeWitt, graphic designer Jannis Maroscheck has designed and programmed his own production systems that can draw an unlimited number of individual graphic shapes.

The result is a systematic catalog—a kind of dictionary of shapes—for browsing and exploring geometric systems, in which one can always discover something new.

Shape Grammars is intended as a handbook for graphic designers for the design of fonts, logos and pictograms, which, in addition to 150,000 generated shapes, shows some potentials and limitations of generative design. At the same time, the work serves as a basis for further research on more complex systems and artificial intelligence. The computer can thus already function as a dialog partner in the creative process.

Shape Grammars

Editor, Designer: Jannis Maroscheck
Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Release: July 2020
Volume: 836 pages
Format: 18.5 × 23.4 cm
Language: English, German
ISBN: 978-3-948440-09-1
Price: € 45.–
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