Author: hazemtagiuri

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inspiration

Computational Architecture: Cardboard Columns

 

Another gem which has been featured on www.fastcodesign.com, and something my brain is still trying to recover from. Created by Michael Hansmeyer, and constructed from 2700 laser cut sheets of cardboard with wooden cores, these columns were spawned by an algorithm fed into a computer, forming “computational architecture”, with up to 16 MILLION facets. It’s absolutely staggering. After being cut out, the sheets left behind form a negative, empty-space column. The image of this is unreal; it looks like the hallucinatory imaginings of an alien spacecraft, mechanical yet almost organic, something that wouldn’t be out of place from the trippy sequences in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Blow your mind here.

 

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events

Observational sketches – Field report

The other week I mentioned an impromptu City As Material expedition with Mandy and Radhika, to Victoria and Waterloo stations. Despite it being FREEZING, we captured some interesting moments (fingers glove-bound) from the trip. I found just being still and observing whilst people whizzed about, quite relaxing, and it inspired a completely different way of seeing and thinking that is neglected when we’re commuting. It also a chance to watch people who were waiting for trains, their quirky mannerisms and subtle interactions with others becoming more apparent as time went by.

In the studio the day after, I assembled a quick eBook from Mandy’s sketches, Radhika’s photographs, and my writing. Designed to showcase a selection of the material created on the day, it’ll be hosted on Diffusion soon with our other efforts.

Tomorrow we’re journeying to the British Museum for more observations, comparing the contrasting locations and further developing what form these trips will take. I’ll probably be Tweeting some snippets of stuff as we’re doing it, so follow bookleteer on Twitter for a peek.

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inspiration

Diffusion Archive Highlight: Icons of Rijeka

During research visits to Riejka, Croatia, Andrew Hunter of Dodolab took the photographs of signs and graffiti that adorn this set of four double sided Storycubes. Accompanying the Icons Of Rijeka eBooks, they display some peculiar and amusing images, and are given a bold physicality by the three dimensional form of the cubes – almost as if someone has excavated a chunk of wall! I particularly like the sign which shows several figures appearing to clamber over a car, but what it denotes I have NO idea.

Download, make and decipher them for yourselves here.

 

Categories
inspiration

Hours Zine

The first issue of Hours, a monthly photography Zine is available now, and apparently issue 2 launches tomorrow. Convenient of me to have just seen it now, eh? Each month, someone is chosen to take 24 photographs in 24 hours, using only a manual camera. Hours then develop the photos and publish the results. It’s a nifty concept, costing only a quid, plus the cover and minimalist design looks great as well. It could be a good idea to do something similar, combined with the spirit of our recent Pitch In & Publish series – each person takes an eBook’s worth of photos and makes their own document of the trip.

It’s available here.

Categories
events

Guerilla City As Material

Tomorrow, myself and some of my fellow Probsocis team, Mandy and Radhika, will be venturing on a mini City As Material expedition, hopefully the first of many. We’re aiming to draw sketches and write observations of people and interactions in a variety of public places – places that shape, and are in turn shaped, by the people in them – almost People As Material, if you will. Rather than having a theme or any set ambitions, we’re just going to try and capture the essence of random people and actions, perhaps inventing some fictional narratives and backstories along the way, and see how this format might inspire future City As Material events. Tomorrow we’ll be scouting out a few busy rail stations – places that reveal an interesting insight of the human character when bored or stressed, which should be prime fodder for some amusing drawings and writing. We’ll probably create some eBooks with the results, once we’ve done a few of these, so keep posted.

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inspiration

Diffusion Archive Highlight: Passivhaus eNotebook

Rob Annable, an architect at Axis Design Architects, used bookleteer to create this eNotebook whilst visiting Germany to study Passivhaus design principles. Using a blank eBook complete with trip itineraries and QR code web links, he wrote down observations, and placed in photographs taken and printed on site with a Polaroid PoGo printer. It was then scanned and uploaded it for anyone to view and use. This custom notebook, combining essential trip information and a means to record data in a single artifact, avoids carrying excess documents, and allows for easier cross reference.

Download his notes here.

Categories
inspiration

“Look after your spines, book designers”

Courtesy of the Creative Review blog, I’ve just been reading about how book spines are often neglected when designing covers, and the importance of their appearance when on bookshelves (after all, that’s the portion potential buyers or aesthetically conscious owners often see first). We’re currently in the process of designing a slipcase template for series of eBooks, which will lend a much needed physicality – transforming them int0 stable, store-able artifacts, rather than handfuls of booklets. The studio is overrun with vast quantities of eBooks produced over the years, and these will provide a handy organisation system, as well as looking swish. As for the spines, we’re bound by certain template constraints, but they’ll surely surpass some of the clangers featured here.

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inspiration

Diffusion Archive Highlight: Graffito Scrapbook

In August last year, I lent a hand to the Graffito crew whilst they were running an installation at the Vintage at Goodwood festival. Whilst festival-goers doodled on the iPhone app, their drawings were displayed on a huge L.E.D screen, along with everyone else using it. Giles prepared a blank eBook with the Graffito emblem, and lent us a portable pogo printer, so that we could instantly print screenshots onto stickers and place them in the scrapbook. It was later scanned and published on Diffusion, so anyone who played with Graffito at Vintage can therefore own a tangible souvenir of the event. Something so digital and temporary is saved from dissipating, and recorded somewhere other than the imagination.

Download and make it here.

Categories
inspiration

Pop-up Book Film Projection?

Rather than a Zine Highlight, I thought I’d share with you an astounding book/film/theatre piece that I’ve just spied (courtesy of www.fastcodesign.com – which features some brilliant stuff), which Karen Martin will surely love, after her exploration of Pop – up books and book / technology hybrids. “The Ice Book” , by Davy and Kristin McGuire, is a book of miniature stages made from pop-up cut outs. It seems innocuous enough, until combined with interactive light projection, and it transforms into a magical, ghostly tale that plays with shadows and optical illusions. I was performing a constant double-take whilst watching the video – its amazing to think such a vivid and cinematic effect can be produced with the materials used. The Ice Book website is currently down, due to massive interest it seems, but you can watch the video and read more about it here.

Categories
news

Pitch In & Publish: City As Material – Overview eBook

We’re currently creating an eBook documenting our Pitch In & Publish: City As Material series of collaborative publishing events, detailing the inspirations for the series and the creative process, as well as accounts of each event and our overall thoughts on how it turned out. We’ll also feature participant feedback and what to look out for in future events. Designed to be a part of the limited edition City As Material set of 10 eBooks (which will be printed soon), this overview will provide an accompaniment to each themed publication, and the eBooks created by our special guests. I’ve sent an e-mail to everyone who took part to get feedback / pester them, so that we can hopefully be finished by the end of this week. Look out for it soon.