the finished poster for the exhibition in hoorn (see two post previous) also arrived back this week…

i posted about taylor holland a while back and he got in touch again this week to mention a new project of his: a wonderful collection of detail images from those really kitsch european touring buses

i have often been fascinated by these as we have a lot of them in amsterdam as well, it’s amazing to think that someone actually ‘designs’ these… thanks for sharing taylor, he has also released a book of the ‘eurobus’ project via matmos press

as i’m currently working on a new postage stamp series for PostNL i have a particular interest in these wonderful ‘extended’ paintings of stamps sent to me via mister ‘paul scott’

1. What influenced you to combine yarn and letters?

a large part of my work involves digital media (working behind a computer screen all day) and the idea to go back to handmade work was a reaction to/against this, string and nails are very flexible materials (literally and figuratively) so they offer a lot of space to make graphic shapes and typography this was the reason i chose them… also perhaps a certain nostalgia for ‘forgotten’ techniques like knitting and crochet (my mum taught me to knit when i was five) also the fact that working with these materials is very time consuming and often unpredictable adds interest to the process

2. Is legibility or visual impact more important in your designs?

legibility is certainly important in any design where text has to convey a message so yes… certainly it needs to be legible, unless making it difficult to read is part of the intention of the design (in my ‘bored’ piece made with pins this was partly the intention, i didn’t finish making the text as it was boring to do, that was a sort of design joke…)

however in most illustration pieces (at least my own ones) the impact of the visual technique is usually very important, if it is made by hand then it is usually also a priority to ensure that this is visible, otherwise it is pointless making it ‘by hand’ if you see what i mean…

3. Is it important for you to let your viewers know, how your type is made?

i partly answered that above by nr. 2, but yes it is generally definitely my aim to show the way it has been constructed and this is part of the reason i use these kinds of materials you can almost ‘feel’ how it was done… no tricks or hidden stuff, it looks like what it is…

4. What is your opinion on graphic design / craft collaborations? such as typography and embroidery, do you think there is a trend for this type of work?

well, there definitely seems to be a revival of ‘handmade’ type and analogue work, certainly as a reaction to the digital age and also because designers usually look for new techniques and methods to create imagery all the time

for me personally i do not hate computers or have a problem with digitally created work (quite the opposite in fact) i just like to use as many different methods as possible handmade work has prove to be a very fruitful route for me and my work in the past few years, however i always combine handmade and digital together whenever it suits me

i also love stuff like the ‘wild knitting’ trend and a lot of the 3D type work which is being made by young designers all over the world right now; i think it is a really exciting time to be a young designer right now…

hope this helps amy? let me know of you need any more info, incidentally there are quite a few pieces and interviews i’ve done on this subject on my blog (also an interview for IDN magazine) which you can find under the ‘me stuff’ part of my website

good luck & kind regards, martin

1. What influenced you to combine yarn and letters? 

a large part of my work involves digital media (working behind a computer screen all day) and the idea to go back to handmade work was a reaction to/against this, string and nails are very flexible materials (literally and figuratively) so they offer a lot of space to make graphic shapes and typography this was the reason i chose them… also perhaps a certain nostalgia for ‘forgotten’ techniques like knitting and crochet (my mum taught me to knit when i was five) also the fact that working with these materials is very time consuming and often unpredictable adds interest to the process

2. Is legibility or visual impact more important in your designs? 

legibility is certainly important in any design where text has to convey a message so yes… certainly it needs to be legible, unless making it difficult to read is part of the intention of the design (in my ‘bored’ piece made with pins this was partly the intention, i didn’t finish making the text as it was boring to do, that was a sort of design joke…)

however in most illustration pieces (at least my own ones) the impact of the visual technique is usually very important, if it is made by hand then it is usually also a priority to ensure that this is visible, otherwise it is pointless making it ‘by hand’ if you see what i mean…

3. Is it important for you to let your viewers know, how your type is made? 
 
i partly answered that above by nr. 2, but yes it is generally definitely my aim to show the way it has been constructed and this is part of the reason i use these kinds of materials you can almost ‘feel’ how it was done… no tricks or hidden stuff, it looks like what it is…

4. What is your opinion on graphic design / craft collaborations? such as typography and embroidery, do you think there is a trend for this type of work?

well, there definitely seems to be a revival of ‘handmade’ type and analogue work, certainly as a reaction to the digital age and also because designers usually look for new techniques and methods to create imagery all the time

for me personally i do not hate computers or have a problem with digitally created work (quite the opposite in fact) i just like to use as many different methods as possible handmade work has prove to be a very fruitful route for me and my work in the past few years, however i always combine handmade and digital together whenever it suits me

i also love stuff like the ‘wild knitting’ trend and a lot of the 3D type work which is being made by young designers all over the world right now; i think it is a really exciting time to be a young designer right now…

hope this helps amy? let me know of you need any more info, incidentally there are quite a few pieces and interviews i’ve done on this subject on my blog (also an interview for IDN magazine) which you can find under the ‘me stuff’ part of my website

good luck & kind regards, martin

made by my friends ‘andersen m’ in london

i currently seem to have an obsession with old ‘anton beeke’ posters, like this one with a wonderfully weird handmade cow for a film festival…

a smart little stop-motion film made with a large pile of black & white copies by ‘HKU’ academy student ‘menno hoppe’
(link via ‘paulina matusiak’)

we have just completed a new poster for an exhibition of 50 years ‘dutch national ballet posters’ which opens on the 29th of january (till late apri) at the dutch poster museum in the small town of ‘hoorn’

a series of roughly 50 of our posters are featured in the show and were also used to create the paper tutu shown above…

he’s been a favourite of mine for a long time, i share the same mentality about embracing the process and not shying away from the ‘long way round’ and although these pieces have been around for a while, this micro site is worth a new look

ian wright was comissioned by the ‘keaykolour’ paper company to make three artworks using their product range and has subsequently shared the process and thinking behind his work, the accompanying videos cannot be embeded annoyingly… but you can see them all here, very inspiring stuff

also check out his own portfolio

santa delivered a really funky personailsed ‘me’ stamp this year, courtesy of the wife and made by our friend/designer ‘masaaki oyamada’, check out the restof his stuff here: one stamp in a day, many thanks!

the new year hangover started early with a photoshoot together with the misses at our house on sunday, the poster should be ready this week… a serious hard disk crash on monday, meant a lot of files have possibly been lost, so not so good…

and some paper sculpting/illustration work currently underway for a new project this week…

nice cover for the NYT magazine special on ‘hacking’
(via ‘jean louis denis’)

the set of prints i have acquired from the ‘verveelkunst’ series by miss ‘afke besseling’ were personally delivered to the studio by the artist this week… many thanks!

in preparation for the ’50 years of ballet posters’ event we are taking part in at the dutch poster museum starting late january, i am currently making a poster for the exhibition

the idea was fairly simple: an abstract tutu/dancing figure made out of folded ballet posters, actually getting it work is taking a little bit more time however… more news soon