Two Dot Oh. November 18, 2008
This shirt is really just a running gag but we decided to put it up anyway. Enjoy! Available in limited colours for our brothers and sisters.
Vote for Postmachina! November 11, 2008
Vote for Postmachina in the Amsterdam, Inc. Award! You can win an Eee PC by voting.
The Next Web 2008 Roundup April 6, 2008
Phew. So these last couple of days have been absolutely amazing for us. As mentioned before, we were invited to present our latest developments around Project E at the PRE expo at the Next Web Conference 2008. So, Paul and I (Arjen was back at the studio, engineering like a madman) joined several UGSA alumni like Berend, Douwe-Sjoerd and Sanneke of My Name is Hare; Edward, Roy and their main man Dagan of DraftFCB and Peter and Ralph of Soco (Multitouch Table). Our exposition space was humble and modest compared to the post-funding startup expo upstairs, but a nice alternative to the neon coloured Web 2.0 potpourri.
Fitna, Papyrus and Highlights. March 27, 2008
Today was a big day for the Netherlands. Right-wing populist politician Geert Wilders published his 15-minute anti-islam rant onto LiveLeak.com. People will be talking about this for weeks. Full-blown media frenzy with worldwide coverage. Prime minister’s statement. Therefore we will not bore you with the things you’ve already seen, read or heard in so many different nuances. Let’s talk about production value. With some special attention to typography.
I didn’t expect Geert Wilders to have any sense of good aesthetics, or him being able to pick a good art director/somebody who finished art school. The guy dyes his hair blonde for crying out loud, ‘to appear less Mediterranean’. He actually walks around with that coupe soleil everywhere for as long as we’ve seen him in public. I think this must have influenced his choice of the typeface… wait for it… Papyrus. Yes, Papyrus. Now I agree that is one of the most obvious options if you want to communicate a middle-eastern look and feel to a design. At least in the west. But come on, Papyrus?! Somehow it screams fresh ground coffee to me. Or diapers. And on the internet there’s a niche for everything: I [heart] Papyrus. Now that everybody’s paying attention to the flick, maybe they should also put out a statement.
Papyrus was designed by Chris Costello, an American graphic designer. ‘a font that would represent what English vernacular would have looked like if written on papyrus 2000 years ago.’ (Wikipedia)
Looking at it for a second time, the art direction of the movie reminded me of Discovery channel documentaries from the 90s. Yes, the production value is that bad. And I’m not just talking Papyrus. Yes, Papyrus. No, I’m talking about the whole thing. Blurred out frame covering snippets. Transitions that were sold next to the cheese in your local supermarket. Hell, I can make a better looking feature in iMovie in less than an hour. Maybe we should ask Gary Hustwit to can his star actor Helvetica and make a typographic sequel and hire Papyrus. Yes, Papyrus. But that would be like casting Rob Schneider for a remake of Casablanca.
Random Round of Inspiration • Berlin March 24, 2008
This week’s RRI got inspired by Berlin, city united yet so visibly divided in aesthetics. With its bombastic, grand architecture (with a dark history) contrasting the massive amounts of Bauhaus and postmodernist architectural masterpieces, Berlin had much more to offer than a rich diversity of culture. Read on for details.
