i came across the early sketches and proposals for my 2008 stamp design this week, so for the completists here are a few of the rough sketches and the ideas that didn’t make the grade
one of the other ideas i was working on was a little wrapped present image made out of cut paper, i’m sure that will become a design for something, one day…
the early sketch work dates back to january/february 2008, shown below is a detail of the final piece (see ‘me work’ for more images)
this article is currently being worked on (come back soon for the finished artcle…
first word (starting point):
language – taal
me designer/art director
andré thijssen photographer/image maker
nonsense – nonsens
david snellenberg creative/copywriter
krijn van noordwijk photographer
bedside table – nachtkastje
wilbert leering creative/copywriter
paul faassen illustrator/image maker
chapter – hoofdstuk
(the dutch word is a combination of the words ‘head’ & ‘piece’)
martin cornelissen creative/copywriter
lukas göbel photographer
interment – teraardebestelling
poppe van pelt creative/copywriter
vincent van gurp photographer
trap – valkuil
(the dutch word is a combination of the words ‘falcon’ & ‘owl’)
narda van veer photographers agent
sander plug graphic designer
nightlife – nachtleven
gusta winnubst editorial writer
dominic davies photographer
zoo – dierentuin
patrick van de gronde creative/copywriter
symen veenstra illustrator
contact – contact
tim van der velde marketing manager
ruud baan photographer
desire – begeerte
tom kniesmeijer strategy director
erik hoogendorp graphic designer
fried food – frituur
jacques vereecken commercial director
vincent van de wijngaarde photographer
souvenirshoppasserbyshadowplay – souvenirshoppassantenschaduwwerking (which a fictional word)
hans aarsman photographer/author
raymond waltjen photographer
loneliness – eenzaamheid
jochem myjer comedian
marco de boer creative
hideout – schuilhoek
eddy terstall film director
saskia de brauw photographer
captured – gevangen
ted brandsen ballet choreographer
bart oomes still-life photographer
random specimen – steekproef
(the dutch word ‘steek’ also means to stab)
marleen schefferlie author
richard van der laken graphic designer
nightmare – nachtmerrie
julius vermeulen communication consultant
levi van veluw photographer
tango – tango
jarr geerligs creative
garech stone graphic designer
meatball – gehaktbal
kluun author
jouk oosterhof photographer
this fictional dutch word ‘(h)eerlijk? is a play on two terms ‘delicious’ & ‘ethical’ (or ‘fair’)
carolien gehrels amsterdam city counsellor
ronnie besseling creative
fat – vet
mark müller creative/copywriter
christian borstlap creative/illustrator
self-gratification – selbstbefriedigung (german)
heike gülker art editor
wim klerkx photographer
simulacrum (which a fictional word)
eric wie creative/copywriter &
nina folkersma art historian/museum curator
last word (the end)
i have been invited to take a seat in a one-off editorial team for a a communications magazine that celebrates it’s 35th anniversary in september, we are currently working on all the ideas for this special issue, one of my (rejected) ideas is this:
i asked random people to draw well known logos from memory, as an experiment, the point was to see if people can remember and reproduce, pieces of graphic design that are designed for that very purpose… a sort of memory game if you like… the quick conclusion i made was that people often appear to know very well what logos look like even if they can’t draw them correctly, they have assimilated the ‘essence ‘ of the symbol in their memory, the dutch railway logo (blue one bottom right) for example: the person who drew it couldn’t exactly reproduce it but did understand it’s principle form… i will be making an article on this for myself in the near future anyway, should be interesting… (most of these samples are well-known local dutch brands)
at least that is one way of putting it, according to paul rand; rand always had plenty of definitions to offer on the subject of defining design, for example:
design can be art[/b] but also…
design can be aesthetics[/b] …but then again he also said:
design, just as art, has multiple definitions; there is no single defintition[/b] how confusing…
oh well… i am trying to collate a list of design definitions to write an article or something like that, so here’s a little ‘call for entries’ if you have any interesting definitions or one-liners about what design is, be it somebody else’s words or your own, i would be very interested to hear from you
please e-mail your entries to me (see mail address on the left)[/b] don’t forget to mention the author of the quote, credit where credit is due… all contributions are welcome, even silly ones… thanks in advance
This book (which i recently acquired in a second hand bookshop) is one of the seminal pieces of dutch design made by the master ‘piet zwart’.
here’s a short excerpt about the book:
Het boek van PTT, Nederlandsche Rotogravure Mij., Leiden, Netherlands, 1938.
25×18 cm, 50pp,
One of the seminal designs of the 30s. Commissioned by the Dutch PTT, Zwart, commencing in 1930, wrote and designed this book to explain the workings of the telephone and postal systems to schoolchildren. Eight years later he completed the task. Noteworthy for its masterful use of experimental type, photomontage, puppetry, stage photography and pencil illustration. There is considerable Russian influence here which is not surprising considering Zwart met El Lissitsky in the early 20s (learning a great deal from him regards the integration of photography). Zwart was also considerably influenced by Rodchenko.
