I cannot believe that I had not seen this purely genius music video for Alex Gopher’s, “The Child” until now. Always been a fan of this song which features the sampled vocals of Billie Holiday. Antoine Bardou-Jacquet is the creator of this impressive animated video that is composed entirely of typographic elements. Set in New York City, the video follows a young couple rushing through the city to reach the hospital to have their baby delivered. Graphic designers and typography lovers will surely cream for this one.

I hope all you graphic designers will get as much of a kick out of this sketch as I did. Silly, yet so true.

And this one should make all the freelancers smile…

As a graphic designer who has been working freelance since graduating in 2003, I have been through all the trials and tribulations that come with working for myself. For the first 2 years I was literally selling my soul, hellbent over backwards trying to get jobs and clients to add work to my portfolio. Craigslist was one of the sites I used to check on a daily basis for work, and although it helped me land a great long-term position with Yahoo!, most of the job postings were absolutely insulting to qualified graphic designers. And yes there were times I swallowed my pride and took these measly paying jobs, with clients from hell, because I was a newbie and felt like I needed the experience, but mostly because I was broke. I learned my lessons the hard way, realizing I was underestimating my own potential, but I soon learned that most designers experience this nonsense and agony when first starting out.

It’s not that I still don’t get the clients who try and haggle me after I give them an estimate, it’s that now I’ve learned the art of negotiation and I also don’t have a problem turning down work, especially if I get the feeling early on that this will be a difficult client to work with. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned and word of advice for freelancers: Let go of the cheap clients who cause you nothing but stress and headache and instead concentrate more on the ones who are easy to get along with, appreciate and respect what you do and are willing to pay you what you’re worth.

The Serif, a graphic design blog, asked visitors to redesign London’s Tube ticket and received some really creative and quite clever submissions. My favorite is the one above, designed by Adam Rix, which even got a mention in the British newspaper, the Guardian.

When I came across the very first Apple (Mac) logo this evening, I was quite surprised to find out that it was created by Ronald Wayne, the often forgotten “third founder” of Apple Computer. This old logo depicts Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree. Almost immediately, though, this was replaced by the “rainbow Apple,” logo, created by Rob Janoff.

But, what was even more interesting and rather painful was to learn how Ronald Wayne, early on, made the most stupid decision to let go of his partnership and stake with the company, not knowing that Apple would become one of the biggest corporations in the world. Wayne worked with Steve Jobs at Atari before co-founding Apple Computer on April 1, 1976. He was given a 10% stake in Apple, but relinquished his stock for $800 only two weeks later because legally all members of a partnership are personally responsible for any debts incurred by any of the other partners.

We’re laying low for the rest of our trip here in northern Germany, just enjoying the warm weather, hanging out with family and doing lots of shopping. I can definitely say I won’t be needing to go clothes shopping for a awhile as we’ve been spoiling ourselves plenty.

Thanks to Lars’ profession, we’ve spent a lot of time in different nightclubs in the US and around the world during our travels. T-O 12 is a nightclub that was recently built in Stuttgart, Germany’s notorious “party mile, Theodor Heuss-Strasse. I’d love to visit this club on a future trip simply for the thought, detail and style that went into the sleek design.

Like the street, the club is also named after the late Theodor Heuss, a fun-loving, dashing man and the first person elected for a full term as the President of the Federal Republic of Germany. Clubbers call the joint either Theo (T O sounds just like Theo in German) or Theo Zwölf (=Theo 12 in German).

To create the three-story club, the owners hired two Stuttgart-based firms: Architecture and communications firm Ippolito Fleiz Group, and graphic designers i-d buero. The result is a sleekly mysterious, pitch-dark space with white furnishings and massive black-and-white murals. The all-black walls, ceilings and floors together with the huge mirrors and tiny light spots produce an effect that is vertigo–inducing and fun.

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Lastly, for your listening pleasure, the latest mix for download by Lars Behrenroth from his show Deeper Shades of House. This mix is one of my personal favorites.

download DSOH #203

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