Syntax and Colours and Lions, Oh My!

A long overdue update from the past few weeks:

My final project is well underway and keeping me busy day and night. I think I should be able to post some images soon. Apart from the project, we've attended a few lectures that, while always educational, aren't always the most riveting of experiences. This was certainly true of a week long workshop given by Miguel Sousa from Adobe. 6 hours a day for 4 days we sat on uncomfortable stools taking in details of type development and production. Miguel did an excellent job and the experience was incredibly valuable, but unless you are someone who gets excited by command line programming (which I am not) you'd have been tired too. Here's proof:



Another exciting event that occurred about a month ago, centered around a trip to the studio of this designer:


For those of you who don't know him, Rick is a very important person in recent graphic design history, namely for being a founding member of this magazine and studio:


If you still aren't sure, maybe you'll recognize this well-known poster:



After a morning visit to his studio in Rotterdam, we had lunch, visited a Modernist architectural relic, then made the short walk over to this place:



That's right ladies and gentlemen: Studio Dumbar! Perhaps one of the most noteworthy studios in the world, they do work ranging from cultural clients like the Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, the Dutch Police, and big time corporate clients like KPN. In my opinion, the diversity in clients and projects they take on is a big reason why they have been so successful. It seems strikingly rare that a studio's mandate is to work with both cultural and corporate clients. Not only that, they insist that each designer on staff MUST work in both sectors. Here is an example of why Dutch design is so highly regarded (sorry for the bad photos):


Keep in mind that these posters are for the Amsterdam Symphony. It's rare to see such vibrant and daring work done for a client that is so deeply rooted in history and tradition. I'm used to seeing the usual stuffy earth tones with some sort of nature motif applied to this kind of work. In my opinion, the need to move beyond conventions and expectations based on the way something has been portrayed in the past is a typically Dutch approach to Design. You don't have to go far to see other examples of this. In fact, the design of the cars and bikes for the Dutch Police (also by Studio Dumbar) are a perfect example of how daring they are with such conservative clients.

For more of their work, including what they did for the Dutch Police visit their website at studiodumbar.com

On a totally different (and considerably more recent) note, those crocuses that Grace documented a few weeks ago have spread like wildfire and now blanket this field in purple.


Since Grace's parents will be visiting in two weeks, I really hope this is a sign of things to come. Maybe that tree in the top right will even have some life on it. Maybe.

A Smiley Face?

You should all be relieved to know a small goal was achieved this afternoon: I've now seen the Bryan Adams space on the Rotterdam Walk of Fame.

R'dam hip.

Yesterday we made the journey to The Netherlands' second city, Rotterdam. For those of you that aren't familiar, Rotterdam is the world's second busiest shipping port, (after Shanghai) and has been for 800 years. Pretty impressive for a city that isn't on the ocean! During WWII, Rotterdam was completely flattened by German bombs, and the city has been forced to rebuild most of itself.

For this reason, it was amazing we were only a 20-minute train ride from Den Haag. Nearly everything is so new, and so, so cool. It's as though the intention of the city was to move forward from it's atrocious past by embracing the future. Everything is very angular, very colourful, and not at all shy. The presence of the water and the barges actually felt a lot like Vancouver, But Rotterdam makes Vancouver's architecture look like week-old bread (but we still love you!)


Balance was major theme in the architecture. Nearly every building broke free from the conventional box in exciting and original ways.



The above image is the headquarters for KPN, the Dutch telephone company. Notice how it appears the building is resting on a pole. We were very impressed, but after seeing it, we realized why it costs so bloody much to make a phone call in this country.

The above photo is one of Rotterdam's obvious highlights, the 2600-foot long Erasmus bridge (nicknamed "De Zwann"/the Swan). It is so elegant.

We were admiring a public square when it was suddenly swarmed with hundreds of 14-year old Dutch skater-punks. There was a steady stream of these kids for a good five minutes. We have a short video that I will try to post, as well.


Rotterdam's beautiful, Het Park.

Tragically, I dropped the camera in Het Park, and it's currently out of commission. You, know, just your average stress fracture. We do have hope that it can be repaired, and in the meantime are using Ross' D-SLR. (FYI: I dropped the camera while I was putting the wrist-strap on. My heart is crushed.)