June 26  2011

11 04 AM

Epilogue to the
Great European Adventure

It's good to be home. Seems back to normal — stationed at our workspaces, documentary in the background, sunlight leaking through the blinds — but something is different. More furious concentration, faster typing and impetuous clicks, more excitement, more smiles, more love. What an irreplaceable trip we've had, thanks to our company, our hosts, and London, Paris, Basel, Zurich, Milan, Munich, Weimar, and Berlin ♥

June  24  2011

07 40 PM

Hamburger Bahnhof: Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin

After the Bauhaus Archive and a filling sushi buffet, we walked to a contemporary art museum nearby the train station called Hamburger Bahnhof. Saw 'land artist' Richard Long's Berlin Circle, and visited the collections which included work by Joseph Beuys, Keith Haring, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol, to name a few.

Lovely stencil and umlaut found on a sign on a bridge.

Graffiti in Berlin.

June  24 2011

07 32 PM

The Bauhaus Archive at the Museum für Gestaltung, Berlin

Walked from our hotel through the Tiergarten (Animal Garden) to the Bauhaus Archive, where we saw a collection of work focusing on the history of the school and its teachers, students and masters, across all aspects of its architecture, design, and art theories.

June 23 2011

11 45 PM

Walking around
Weimar

Arrived in Weimar around 1pm today. We were met at the train station by Jay Rutherford, professor at the Bauhaus-University, who took us on a tour of the school and then a stroll through Park an der Ilm to the Haus am Horn, an experimental house built as part of the first Bauhaus exhibition in 1923. Took an evening train to Berlin, where we're currently in a beautiful modern hotel resting our tired feet.

Sign found on some equipment inside one of the Bauhaus University's print studios.

Some student work.

Big Stuff or Big Muff?

June  23  2011

07 45 AM

All the stuff we found
in Munich

We're on an early train to Weimar to visit Bauhaus University, and then we'll be on a train to Berlin tonight. We're in the home stretch—trying not to let exhaustion drag our feet, but can't say we're not also excited to go back home and make some shit. We've been inspired every day. Here are some of the inspiring things we found in Munich. The 'A' above is a little sign for Apotheke, a pharmacy here in Germany.

Found this lock on a student's desk at the design school. Designers have good taste. Where can we find this lock? We wants.

This little triangle was everywhere! Wish we knew who. Much likey.

Not sure what this was. Perhaps a sign for something electrical or water-related. COOL. Look at that 'T'.

Small sticker — barely caught this one. Lovely types, yes.

Sign near a fruit stand in the heart of München.

Bold, simple, and with a nifty texture to boot.

Most times us dudes enter a bathroom stall only to be greeted with a seat full of urine and an un-flushed toilet; this wasn't the case at Linke's school — the only stall in this bathroom was absolutely filled with graff and illustration. Always nice to have some reading material while you're doin' yer thang.

Uh, teach us the ways of this awesome.. please!

Streeeeetch!

This was the coolest piece from some past student work Oliver showed us. Going to do some research when we get home and find out how to get our hands on this gem.

June  22  2011

04 39 PM

Visit to KMS Team, agency
from Germany

This factory was converted to create one of the sexiest workspaces we had ever seen. Everything was black, grey, or brushed metal. The entire place was littered with Apple 23s, arrays of modern lighting, and a kitchen that belonged in Dwell. And the work? Well, with a client list boasting the likes of Porsche and Vodafone, they have put forth an impressive body of work that justifies their laundry list of awards.

Sexy light fixture at KMS.

Fire alarm at KMS.

June  21 2011

06 12 PM

Back to basics: A lesson in calligraphy with Oliver Linke

After a brief tour of his school, Deutsche Meisterschule für Mode, we made our way to a classroom to do a bit of hands on work. Oliver showed us a couple ways to use a variety of calligraphic tools. We left the workshop with ink-stained hands and sheets filled with experimental type. MadeService definitely geeked out hard, so much so we've decided to dedicate Saturday mornings to art-without-computer time.

June 20 2011

11 38 PM

Kochan & Partner:
Wine, Dine & Design.

We were welcomed with fresh smoothies before the rain forced us inside for a quick presentation. The auditorium was beautiful, but fell second to the neatly organized workspace; everything in its place. Their team gave us a bit of insight into their work and what it meant to them to execute these projects. To finish it off, we enjoyed a buffet of home-cooked Bavarian food, along with champagne, wine, and of course, beer!

June 20  2011

07 21 AM

Guten tag, we're bloggin from Munich, Germany!

It is nice to travel back into a country where people know English—children start learning English at age 7-8 here so the communication breakdown isn't quite as harsh. Some of our awesome plans: visit to Kochan & Partner and KMS Team agencies, and a type workshop with Oliver Linke of Lazy Dogs Type Foundry. Photo above was taken at City Hall in Munich.

June 19 2011

11 45 PM

A weekend's worth of
type and stuff

We had a short time in Milan, but it was a nice weekend break— very welcome after a week of school and touring in Basel. We're taking our longest train ride tomorrow—7 hours— to Munich, Germany. Above is a photograph of some type found on one of the old books we saw while estate sale browsing. Following are more pictures of stuff we thought was worth remembering.

Estate Sale Hunting in Milan: A Trojan Treasure! Expect some illustrations inspired by this soon. Just imagine this re-vectored and then screen printed! What a find!

Turned a corner and found this little specimen. Loving those dots.

Attack of the killer chihuahua angels? Quality wheatpaste skills on blast.

June  19 2011

10 32 PM

Stroll through the park; gelato and an open market

It's been a relaxing weekend in Milan. We strolled through the park after the museum visit at a very relaxed pace, while the heat picked up through the afternoon. We enjoyed paninis on the grass, and stumbled upon an open market where we enjoyed some gelato and bought some old 1930's id card forms with neat old graphics.

June  19  2011

02 38 PM

Visit to Triennale Design Museum

We visited the Triennale Design Museum in Milan today. Awesome product and industrial design. And a unique museum layout as well. At the back of the building was a beautiful outdoor café where we enjoyed afternoon drinks and hors d'oeuvres.

June  18  2011

10 06 AM

On the train to Milan. We have seats this time.

This is the most beautiful train ride so far. Everyone seems pretty exhausted. Earbuds and naps, and trying to avoid talking to the very drunk Italian man on the car. Weather is supposed to be beautiful in Italy, can't wait.

June  18  2011

01 33 AM

Last day in Switzerland,
Milan tomorrow

Last day of the poster workshop today, currently chilling in the hostel with good friends and cheap wine, the faint smell of cigarettes outside and the sounds of the rain and tramway outside every 15 minutes. It's a nice, rare, peaceful moment on the trip — so nice, in fact, that this is tough to write because I keep getting lost in conversation. So enjoy this photo dump.

Sausages!

Love this style here. So scripty, almost arabic.

So unique! Interesting choice of letter spacing.

Neat old stuff everywhere juxtaposed to super clean Swiss stuff.

June  18  2011

01 06 AM

Art Parcours adventure until it started raining

After class we took the tramway to visit Art Parcours, a small art walk along the Rhine River organized by some folks from CCA in San Francisco. It started to rain just as we were about to make our last stop, so we hopped on the tram and headed back to the hostel.

June  17 2011

11 56 PM

Final
workshop day

Ta-daaa! We had a total of 3.5 days to work on a Basel culture poster. Matt's concept (left): Basel: beyond the grid. Jackie's (right): Everything is beautiful.

June 16 2011

11 56 PM

Visiting the home studio of Ralph Schraivogel in Zurich

What a treat today has been. First a private tour of the design collection and now an intimate visit to the studio of Ralph Schraivogel— tall, modest, and soft-spoken for being such a phenomenal designer. He walked us through a set of about 30 of his posters and included discussions of the each concept and process. Photo: Waiting to meet Ralph, by Kenji Chang.

June  16  2011

07 56 PM

Zurich Museum fur Gestaltung Design Collection

We visited another collection today, this time the design collection of the Zurich Museum fur Gestaltung. The photo above is just a tiny sample of some of the awesome things we saw today, including some original process pieces of Herbert Matter's famous Swiss tourism poster.

June  15  2011

08 46 PM

Poster Collection - School fur Gestaltung Basel

This trip has been exhausting, and at many times we think about home, but today was not one of those days. Today we toured the Basel Poster Collection of the School fur Gestaltung Basel. Curator Kurt Würmli took us through selected works from the archive, which featured original posters from some of the most famous (and not so famous) designers of all time. Mouth → floor.

June  15  2011

08 40 PM

Workshop day two and MFA presentation

Arrived at our second hostel today. Feels like grown up summer camp. Spent the morning working more on our projects, then went to a presentation about the MFA programs at the Institute Visual Communication The Basel School of Design from Professor Michael Renner.

June  14  2011

09 47 PM

Workshop day one and meeting Wolfgang Weingart

First day of our poster workshop with Jean-Benoit Levy. We conceptualized and sketched ideas for our Basel culture-themed projects. After that, took a train to meet with Wolfgang Weingart for a few hours. That's right, Weingart.

June  14  2011

09 37 PM

We're in love
with Basel

We could live here, I swear, if everything wasn't so damn expensive. Art everywhere you turn, friendly locals, beautiful weather and the Rhine River. We're spending the week at a poster workshop at the Basel School of Design. Perfect time to be in Basel, Art Week June 15-19. Photo above is one of the many awesome signs here.

June  14  2011

01 34 AM

We had the most interesting train ride here...

Just imagine what might happen if you book 23 people to 8 seats and try to board a train 4 minutes before departure. We annoyed a bunch of French people and sat between cars, shifting around other people's luggage for 2 hours. At least we made it! We're here and Switzerland is beautiful!

June  14  2011

01 34 AM

Internet on and off here, and France type dump

Sorry that the posts have been sporadic and untimely to the actual events. Internet has been so-so at the places we've been staying at. Switzerland seems to be the exception though, so expect some regular updates in the next week. For now enjoy all the type shit we found in France.

So much great street art in Paris.

Case in point no. 1.

Case in point no. 2.

Case in point no. 3.

Invader!!! So stoked to have spotted these! Hoping to find more outside Paris.

Old school Mac full garbage can.

Rainbow type!

June  06 2011

09 44 PM

Stanley Kubrick Exposition at la Cinémathèque française

Totally nerded out today at the Kubrick exhibition in Bercy. The exhibit was a documentation of his life's work, complete with storyboards, director's notes, costumes, set props, behind-the-scenes photos and screenings of the movies. France win.

June 06 2011

01 24 PM

Centre Georges Pompidou: neat architecture and modern art

A nice contrast to visiting the Louvre was visiting the Pompidou, a marvel of postmodern architecture and full of wonderful contemporary and modern artworks. Located in the Beaubourg area, alive with culture, hippies, music, and locals. Photo © Grayson Yokota.

June 06 2011

12 32 PM

Powerwalking through
the Louvre

Went to the world famous Louvre today, however we had to tackle it in under two hours. So we huffed quickly, passed by Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, and Nike von Samothrake to name a few. Missed the lot of it but when you try to do Paris in two days I guess that's what happens. Followed up the visit with lunch on the terrace—croque monsieur et escargots yum! Photo © Louvre.fr

June 05 2011

08 12 PM

Paris,
je t'aime.

Remembering a fair amount of French, actually. Our hotel is a major upgrade from the disaster of the Ascot Hyde Park hotel in London. After we got our rooms we went straight to touristing about — first the Eiffel Tower followed by the Arc de Triomphe. Authentic French nightcap of baguettes, cheese, fruit, wine and...chocolate pudding.

June 05 2011

02 02 PM

I guess we'll find out how much French I remember

J'éspére c'est plus qu'un petit peu. We're currently on the train to Paris, France, but by the time you read this we will have arrived. We've got a landscape of green fields, old houses, and street art to enjoy, as I (Jackie) fight off the urge to nap and finish some projects I'm working on so I can finally fully vacate.

June 10  2011

09 18 PM

Tate Modern, followed by a visit to SoHo

Had a great visit to Tate Modern, London's modern and contemporary art museum, housed in a uniquely shaped brick building right next to the Thames River. After the museum, we took a walk through Covent Garden and poked our heads in some design bookstores and enjoyed authentic meat pies and a lively string quartet in the Market. Photo © Tate.

June  10  2011

09 08 PM

The Tower Bridge, Borough Market, and more pics of type

Before Design Museum, we walked in the rain over the Tower Bridge. After the exhibition, we checked out Borough Market before heading to Tate Modern. The bridge was bridgy. The Market, though - AMAZING. We don't have markets like this in the States. High quality, local and organic foods, in an open market style covering an area that spanned 3+ blocks. Enjoy the next few pics of stuff we found along the way.

Spotted Build at the Design Museum shop. Also picked up a limited edition poster from them and a stack of new books to take home.

Everything looks better here, from taxis and truck wraps to wayfinding signage. Also, MadeService colors!

We're not sure who this is, but seen a few of these around London and love the colors and symbol. Even the little folded corner, intentional or not, is perfect.

Love the "come get it" nature of this hand-chalked type. Perfect for the market.

No shortage of hand painted menu signs in London. Loving this R in "Restaurant" and "The Anchor" type.

June  10  2011

07 34 PM

Wim Crouwel: A Graphic Odyssey at Design Museum

This was the exhibit I was most looking forward to during our stay in London, and it certainly did not disappoint. It was a wonderful retrospective of his achievements as one of the top graphic designers of the 20th century. While his career spans branding to type to poster to exhibition design, he's always had one eye on simplicity and the other on the future. Couldn't take photos inside, shown is a pic from Unit Edition's blog.

June 09 2011

09 15 PM

Type workshop at the
University of Reading

Today we met with Gerry Leonidas, expert typographer and professor of type design at the University. Key takeaways: good designers understand the processes by which the design is delivered, and understand of the end user's needs. We got schooled on history, had many oohs, ahhs, and photo ops as Gerry showed us a sample of his personal and the school's collection of awesome stuff (which included a monotype machine!). Photo credit: Chang Sik Kim.

June 08 2011

07 35 PM

A visit to Dalton Maag font
foundry in Brixton

Our curriculum in the States includes only experimental display typeface design, so today's workshop was especially interesting. We learned about a whole new world - designing a typeface for reading, and it is a labor of love indeed. Dalton Maag specializes in corporate typeface design and has worked with companies such as Toyota, Vodafone, Ubuntu, and Puma. Photo credit: Chang Sik Kim.

June 08 2011

01 21 PM

Spotted:
Buff Monster

Our first encounter with real street art in London whilst strolling to St. James's Park en route to Buckingham Palace. We're hoping to see more slap-happy wheat pastings throughout our trip in person!

June 08 2011

01 21 PM

Victoria & Albert Museum in South Kensington

Visited the massive collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum today, which boasts a variety of works from around the world, from jewelry to metalwork, Renaissance sculpture to Contemporary Art, and an awesome moving sign of their logo at the Underground entrance to the museum! Promotional materials for this museum were recently featured on Behance. Check it out.

June  08 2011

09 15 AM

The next few posts are all pictures of type

Sign painting is still very much alive here. This is just a small sample of some of our favorites. Maybe we'll make a Flickr album with all of 'em in the future. For now, enjoy these!

Found in a display case at the University of Reading type department.

Outside the Paddington Station, by the steam that smells like biscuits.

Outside our hotel.

At Dalton Maag type foundry.

At Dalton Maag type foundry.

Found in a display case at the University of Reading Typography department.

June 07  2011

05 15 PM

On the train back to London from Baseline Magazine

We spent the day visiting the studio of Baseline Magazine, housed in a beautiful old building in Kent with the backdrop of rolling green hills. We were hosted by Hans Dieter Reichert, who gave an inspiring, sometimes tangential, discussion covering everything from the history of the building to the lost appreciation for printing processes. "Design is absolutely vital to make society better, I truly believe that." - Hans Dieter Reichert.

June  06 2011

03 55 PM

Ten-and-a-half hours later, we have landed in London!

We haven't slept yet, but adrenaline must be pumping or something. Going to explore the area around our hotel today and get some rest. Our favorite thing so far? There is nowhere you can turn without seeing some handpainted type!

June 05  2011

01 02 PM

Well, almost in England.
We're departing today!

Hello friends! We're packed, amped, and raring to go! We've been furiously working on this blog for the last few weeks making sure it was ready to go when we were. Alas, here it is! We'll be posting snapshots and updates as we make our way across five countries, so check back every once in a while. See you next time, from halfway across the globe!