Festland – Agency Library

I’ve yet to write up my time spent with the corporate advertisement agency Festland in ST. Gallen. I wanted to share something that delighted me when I was working there. Festland has a large library of books and I took some time out to browse through them. The majority were in German, but some were of other languages.

There were also many recent magazine subscriptions that the agency shelved in the waiting area and corridor. I’m sure they’re primarily there for the clients to browse through as I didn’t see any staff making use of them.

Festland’s book resource

Many design books consisted primarily of images (just the way I like it) and so I could enjoy heavy tombs full of photography. One such book that stood out was Unter den Brüken (‘Beneath the bridges’) and had many beautiful pictures of notable bridges about Switzerland and the areas underneath and around them.

Unter den Brüken is a rectangle… a brick-like book…

The physical traits of Unter den Brüken are beautiful. It’s an art object, for sure. My phone photos don’t do it justice. The thick, cardboard cover features numerous rectangles cut out – in a seemingly random placement – teasing us with the vibrant title page underneath.

The title page is a beautiful safety-orange

Turn past the title page and see there’s a map with the country’s bridges marked out by orange rectangles. Now the reasoning behind the haphazard-looking cover pattern reveals itself!

Map with bridged marked out

Once opened, the rectangle-shaped book forms a neat square, and the pictures inside are square, too.

Page 124 of Unter den Brüken

Each page showed either a photo of one of the bridges’ unique structure and characteristics, or the surrounding area the bridge cut through. Some locations has several photos taken at different times of the year, to show how the change of the seasons effects the area.

Transutopia

There were some fine art books, such as Transutopia. The library art books were in German (of course) but the works covered were world-wide; some classic, some contemporary. You’ll know many classic works catalogued even if you can’t read these books (and hey… they’re full of drawings and pantings… art is a universal language if there ever was one).

Inside the art book, Transutopia

Transutopia is a catalogue of modern artworks. Like almost all books I encountered in Switzerland, the editorial layout was organised by strict rules, immediately obvious to anyone used to reading books with a more clumsy layout. The text is organised to aid memory (the line you left off on) and is much more pleasing to the eye with the rhythm it flows in. No justified text here. I’d like to discuss Swiss typography rules in a later post, using printed media I picked up while away.

Helvetica Homage to a Typeface

There was a tiny (tiny!) book full of photos of Helvetica in use about the world; on signposts, on posters, on decals etc. It was nice to flick through during a lunch break.

Inside Helvetica Homage to a Typeface

I’m sure I took more photos of the library books than I’ve got to show, but I must’ve misplaced them! Oh well. I was gifted the book TYPE FOR TYPE Custom Type Solutions for Identity Design by the agency as a leaving present, so when I share, I’ll have to take many photos of it! …It’s an art object.

Bilingual book, Office style Guide Das Arbeitsbuch (‘Office style Guide The Workbook’)

There were good books that had wandered out of the library bookcase.

About the studio there was a guide to office layouts, Office style Guide Das Arbeitsbuch. It’s a workbook with cardboard templates and stencils to cut out, draw, and model studio plans with. The books is bilingual, so just flip it upside down and turn it over to read it in English. It’s also insightful into the types of studio a person might want to build.

An explanation of office layouts and any corresponding productivity change

The book’s divided into sections each covering ‘different feeling’ studio types (such as industrial-themed studio) which include the materials that are best suited to an aesthetic. It’s well-known that the work environment effects the mood and thus the productivity of those inside it. The book gets quite analytical with MATH! With FACTS! FIGURES!

Truth be told, I’d not given that much thought to the process of creating the ideal layout for a creative studio. (I don’t own an agency, so I don’t need to, really.) I realise, if you have a large space, you may dedicate serape rooms to different functions, such as a room just for staff who need solitude or for absolute privacy with a client. There may be a part of the studio for relaxing and reading. Festland had such areas and rooms. But Festland was large – two stories – compared to other creative studios I have visited that were just single-rooms.

If there’s anything I’m expecting from other agencies from now on, it’s a decent library of creative books!

Creative Industries – Staff Exhibition 2020

On the 31st of January 2020, I visited the preview night of the creative industry staff artworks exhibition, held within Newcastle College’s Mandela Building. The exhibition runs until the 21st of February this year. The opportunity to visit during opening night brings with it the usual perks; conversation, atmosphere, and drinks.

Print (detail) by Hania Klepackia

Within exhibition were photography, digital photomontages, prints, collage, sculpture, watercolour paintings, acrylic paintings, oil paintings, mixed-media, video,  pottery, found objects, and more.

The exhibitions space is relatively small, but it was used most practically; there wasn’t any wasted space.

Here are a very small number of photos that I took of artworks on display. Not every piece had a name, but all of the works were credited.

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Wire bird sculptures by karl Mercer

Close up of karl Mercer’s sculptures. These are 1:1 to the bird they’re modelled after.

I’ve had conversations with friends in the past about sculpture. Some who create sculpture believe that the medium used to create pieces should be embraced; that is, the materials should not be obscured and be readily obvious to the viewer. I have not yet formed a view on that particular argument myself. No deception is involved in the presentation of these birds.

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Photography by Laura Sedgwick

Photography by Graham Stouph

Getting to talk to some of artists was an opportunity that felt good to take advantage of. When asked, staff shared the thoughts or reasons behind creating pieces, the inspirations, or the mediums used with me. Overall, it was a very casual opening night.

I don’t believe that every staff member exhibiting happened to be present at the opening show. None of my tutors were exhibiting work, and I only talked to a few of the staff to ask about their pieces – admittedly, the staff members I already knew.

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Stories by Steve Baxter (driftwood cast in resin)

These pieces were created with found driftwood cast in opaque resin, displayed over a lightbox.

Most of the artwork on display was for purchase. There was no price tags, but the artists were happy enough to talk to those interested about pricing.

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Since most everything I’ve made recently has been digital –  for the sake of replication, mostly –  it was nice to see work that there are only single copies of. It’s harder to share these works because of their solitary existence, but of course, as with any gallery viewing, it feels as if I am privileged to see them in person. And that’s not to say that digital artwork – sometimes freely circulated on the internet – is not as valuable, but it certainly is refreshing.

As it’s been a while since I have visited any of the art galleries in the city of Newcastle, I wish to see their current exhibitions. Maybe some of my peers will show an interest in seeing them together, if I invite them.

Zine Pickup – Pizza and Japan

Picked up a couple of zines to go towards self-publication research. One is a text-heavy personal zine (often shortened to ‘perzine’) and the other is a collection of photographs. I won’t be keeping either of them; I don’t have the space, but we’ll take a quick look at ’em here and now.

Neither zine is a standard print size, and both use different printing methods!

Two zines by Awkward Ladies Club, plus a vinyl sticker

Quit your job and eat pizza #1 Fan Fiction Piracy is printed on playful, hot pink paper and has a silkscreened cover, and photocopied interior. Bound by staples; ‘saddle stitch’ binding. It’s really, very tiny in my hands, but it’s 24 pages long.

The opening segment of Quit your job and eat pizza #1 covers the authors leave from work due to their health, the medication they take, and how they administer it. We’re even treated to diagrams of a samavel injector and the graphic representation of the drug sumatriptan. (I learned something science-y, something… medical!)

It’s called a perzine for a reason!

There’s a section titled sci-fi zine piracy in the 1990s. Before the internet became commonly accessible, before fans of movies, television shows, and cartoons had any shared online spaces to show their fan creations (usually prose or illustration) many dedicated fans made zines covering their favourite media and circulated them in conventions. Today, a lot of fans’ secondary content is shared freely on the internet. What I didn’t expect, was to read that folks pirated the rarer zines back then by photocopying an original copy and selling the bootlegs! To combat cheap, illicit copies, some authors produced zines on a particular coloured paper, or stamped the original run for authenticity.

It’s easy to understand why some zines would be coveted; regardless of the genre, if the content was desirable, but the print run was low in number, the second-hand price would be driven up.

Hungry … man … Hungry-Man …

There’s a whole section dedicated to rotten cat teeth, and one focusing on community college print-making. A real variety here.

JAPAN 2009 is risograph printed in federal blue ink on pink paper. It’s saddle stitch. The size is 5.5″ x 8.5″ and it’s 22 pages long. It’s a collection of photos from a trip to Kobe and Tokyo; all without commentary. It’s interesting to see foreign images without context, though I recognised some landmarks and objects.

The photographs are split between the country’s aforementioned prefectures Kobe and Tokyo, which you could see as ‘chapters’. Despite the name, this photograph collection was first printed in 2014, and the copy seen here is from 2019. This is where small-press collecting can get confusing; there’s no way to tell which printing (edition) the copy I have is other than the point of purchase.

Gachapon (toy vending) machines lined up…

Some photographs take up the entirety of the page. The centrefold shows an image of numerous gachapon machines. Gacha machines take coins, and in return, give up plastic balls with surprise plastic clutter inside (i.e. super-small ‘toys’). The name of the machine comes from the Japanese onomatopoeia for the metal crank turning –  ‘gasha’ (ガシャ) –  and the sound the plastic ball makes as it drops – ‘pon’ (ポン).

Detail from a shopfront. A curled-up tanuki?

Shopfront with what I’m assuming to be a stylised tanuki (racoon dog). Difficult to tell without seeing any of those telltale balls on display!

JAPAN 2009 is a neat concept. To group photographs from a trip that may otherwise get little exposure and bind them without context, leaves more room for a reader’s personal interpretation. Sort of lends some mystique to the collection of images? Equally, a sort of predominately visual travel-diary may make for a fun project to work on in the future.

Have you read or bought any zines lately?

Avertisement – Campaigns & Education

Print media is the form of advertisement that I have the most affinity for; I like looking at pictures. I respect that an idea can be delivered solely with text, with a static image, or a combination of both, and yet speak as loud as a radio or video.

Because all of the advertisements that I have posted thus far are made to sell something, I now want to look at advertisement that takes the form of a campaign. Campaigns can be used to educate and raise awareness of an important issue, not just promote sales of a service or product. Here, we’ll look at a homeless awareness campaign created for DePaul trust.

Bench: “Prostitute Mother. Father Unknown.”

A charity who works with with young homeless and vulnerable people across the UK, DePaul Trust commissioned the agency Publics London to create print advertisements in 2006. “The Root that causes Homelessness” campaign challenges viewers to think carefully about the origins of homelessness. Rather than simply asking potential donors to give money, this campaign helps people to understand why donations should be given, by educating them.

Bag Lady: “Alcoholic Mother. Sexually Abusive Father.”

In these print advertisements, the viewers are given all of the information needed by the visual aid of the “family trees”, while the unfriendly typeface coupled with the honest text asks to be taken seriously.

Dog: “Violent Father. Violent Mother.”

As DePaul explained the needs of the commission, ”For this campaign to have an effect, we wanted viewers to feel the isolation, loneliness and despair of the homeless person in each shot. Location, the type of tree and the light were critical to capturing these emotions. The creative idea required us to shoot wide to capture the entire tree, which indeed makes the person small in the frame. But we found that seeing homeless people in the harshness of their surroundings was more powerful than seeing them up close.”

Bin: “Mother Died. Father Drank”

The photography was by Ernst Fischer. The original intent, was to photograph actual homeless people, but due to UK laws, the people in the photos became models at the last minute.

There are countless campaigns that intend to do good by educating audiences, and I think it is important to consider such advertisements before writing off the advertisement industry as something wholly related to business and profit.