Contágio Magazine by Catarina Nunes

POR: €5 UK: £5 US: $10 OTHERS: €8

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CONTENTS

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Spotlight Simplifying Comunicacion Artists 8 23 36

10 Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life 12 Expo Gate

18 Do what you love

Despite a wealth of images available on the Internet, finding a good, copyright-free vector graphic is like looking for a needle in a haystack -- especially if you’re talking about symbols for public services. That’s a problem. “Our demographics are changing rapidly and these kinds of symbols help people communicate across language barriers,”

36 Table Stories

47 Max Wanger

57 Mel Bochner

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Editor's note

catarina nunes

In this issue of ContĂĄgio, i explore what it means to communicate. We write letters, send emails, take a instagram picture, and live our lifes in mix of comunicacion without realy knowing what is happenig. Comunicacion is life, living is comunicating a message to the wold, I comunicate, therefore I exist.

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Spotlight

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Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life Expo Milano 2015 is a non-commercial Universal Exposition with some very unique and innovative features. Not only is it an exhibition but also a process, one of active participation among a large number of players around the theme of Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life. It is sustainable, technological, thematic and focused on its visitors. Open from May 1 to October 31, 2015, the Expo will host over 130 participants. Running for 184 days, this giant exhibition site, covering one million square meters, is expected to welcome over 20 million visitors.

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Having selected Milan as the city to host the Universal Exposition, Italy also chose Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life as its central theme. Expo Milano 2015 will talk about the problems of nutrition and the resources of our planet. The idea is to open up a dialogue between international players to exchange views on these major challenges which are relevant to everyone. Is it possible to guarantee water and food for the entire world population? Is it possible to increase food security? Is it possible to have new solutions that take into account the planetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biodiversity? The aim is not to provide only oneway solutions but to pose questions and offer visitors the tools for finding their own answers. This dialogue between visitors and participants will take place on a daily basis through events, shows, conferences and meetings that explore the themes of Expo Milano 2015. Every aspect of Expo Milano 2015 revolves around the Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life theme: from its exhibition site to its sub-themes, from its Clusters, to its participants and their architecture. The main purpose of this Universal Exposition is to stimulate major debate on nutrition and food, comparing all aspects of the theme. The final outcome of the discussion is that visitors and participants engage in questions on how our actions today will impact the next generation.

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Inaugurated on Saturday, May 11th, Expo Gate features a great open space, a central square between two booth-like pavilions: the gate to EXPO 2015. The central square is conceived as a fascinating void, an empty space which can host different kind of events. This openness represents a vibrant exchange that will be peculiar of the city of Milan before and during EXPO 2015. The new Info point, expression of lightness, will showcase the oncoming events, without becoming the main character itself. The external structures of the pavilions have been expressly designed in order to host different kinds of communications media. Images, banners, flags and lighting graphics can be replaced from time to time, and changed according to the needs. The project has been realized following the principles of lightness, transparency and modularity. These aesthetics evoke impressive areal frameworks such as Eiffelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s structures and other researches on the meaning and power of lightness. The purpose of the project is indeed in the range of these reference points, connected to sustainability and low-impact building strategies. It is a complex combination of simple elements, using basic technologies and fully recyclable materials. Easy to build, easy to reconvert.

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Milan’s gateway to the Expo After a rigorous design and testing process, the trio found Though it is still one year away, Milan got its first taste of hosting the World Expo this past weekend when the city’s Expo Gate officially opened. Conceived as a link between the historic centre and the Universal Exhibition that takes place 20 minutes outside of the city, Expo Gate is a 19m metal structure situated in front of Milan’s imposing 15th century Castello Sforzesco.

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Designed by Italian architect Alessandro Scandurra of Scandurrastudio, the structure is composed of two booth-like pavilions around a central square. Its modular, transparency-based design was inspired by other areal frameworks such as the Eiffel tower. But unlike that historic structure, the Gate imparts its power with a low-impact building strategy that allows for an easy build and reconversion, as well as a construction composed entirely from recyclable materials. The Expo gate will serve as an info point as well as a stage for multimedia interdisciplinary events connected to Expo 2015 over an 18 month period. The entire program of activity, including this weekend’s inaugural kick off party, has been conceived by artistic curator Caroline Corbetta. The action kicked off on Saturday with a marching band parade that originated in Piazza San Babila, complete with highschool students wearing eyemaks made by the workshop #CheFacciaHaMilano and 2000 balloons designed by Matteo Cibic. The mob made its way to Expo Gate where it was met with a DJ set by Italian songwriter Dente and a video installation by Vanessa Beecroft. Projected onto the gate’s massive walls were Beecroft’s VB52 and VB65, organized in collaboration with Milan’s Lia Rumma Gallery. With the Expo’s theme ‘Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life,’ food was, of course, on the inauguration menu. Top Italian chefs including Davide Oldani, Carlo Cracko and Andrea Berton riffed on the stuffy risotto Milanese by transforming it into casual street food fed to thousands of happy Italians. Entitled Risata Colorata the traditionally yellow rice was shot with shockingly ethnic touches including dates, daikon and curry and offered for 5 euro a plate, the proceeds of which will go to Gustolab Buoni Come il Pane charity.

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Do What You Love

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Catalina Guirado was discovered as a model by Vogue at the age of 15, became a television favourite in the late 1990s after appearing on Channel 4‘s cult hit show TFI Friday, hosted by Chris Evans, and has since appeared on many TV shows. Her exciting career has taken many turns, but most recently she launched design label ‘Guirado Designs’ with her first collection of luxury silk scarves, fabrics and bespoke wallpapers.

1. How are you leading a life ‘doing what you love’? Before I became a model and TV host I actually studied art and textile design. I grew up surrounded by art and attended gallery openings since I was a baby, as my father was an artist. Since his sad death, my life has come full circle and I have returned to what I originally loved and have always wanted to do. I love fashion and design and the creativity of my life. I am extremely grateful that I am able to do this and mean to excel! 2. What did you do before this? I started modelling at 15. I was obsessed by fashion, photography and glamour. I was a working fashion model for years and lived all over the world. Modelling meant I could choose where I wanted to visit and then live there for a while as I was successful enough to always be working. was interested in the music industry too and was about to change direction when I landed the role of Chris Evans’ sidekick ‘Gorgeous Girl’ on the 90s cult TV show TFI Friday. My life changed pretty much overnight with no warning. I suddenly became a ‘celebrity model’ which meant that I didn’t get booked so much for high end fashion shoots but as a ‘personality’. The good news was that my day rate went up to thousands of pounds a day! I then started hosting TV shows and doing guest appearances as well as being one of the first to do reality TV. I was part of the whole ’90′s Cool Britannia’ scene and was

friends with the likes of the Prodigy, Oasis, Republica, All Saints and TV stars like Sara Cox and Donna Air. Fun times! I moved to LA in 2001 and was signed to Universal Music publishing for 5 years. I then got a job in A&R and was one of the founding directors of a music web TV site called LP33.tv that promoted emerging artists very much like MTV and VH1 back when they had music. It was there I learnt to become a businesswoman as I was the head of artists and media development and ran the department as well as writing and presenting some of the music TV shows we produced. That was super fun too as I had the creative freedom to interview the bands I loved, how I wanted. Unfortunately the market crash brought an end to that so I ran my own boutique PR company Brit Chicks PR for a year or so representing photographers, directors and bands and producing events until my father got sick and I had to return to Europe for a while. That’s when I threw myself back into art. 4. Since establishing Guirado Design what is the biggest challenge you have encountered and how did you over come it? We are still so early in the development that I think we are still on a major learning curve! My initial challenge was finding the right scarf production company to work with. It’s really hard to find a good silk HD printing company but on top of that you then have to source cutters etc. I insist on hand-rolled hems as they are a sign of class and quality.

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Do What Y

Kari Chapin is a writer, teacher, mentor, and consultant. She also runs a popular subscription-based community for creative makers, artists, and business owners. Kari writes books about starting and living with a business that you love. She works with creatives of all types, helping them to navigate their dreams that encompass freedom, writing, and building happy companies.

1 How are you leading a life ‘doing what you love’? I am constantly learning, which I love. I am always discovering more about myself, which enhances all areas of my life. I can make sure that I love my life and all the details of it by staying in good touch with how I’m feeling. I also did a lot of self-study, beginning about five years ago, (and am still in process of doing so – I don’t believe this kind of work ever ends!) and came to realise what my main emotional motivators are. For me, I need to feel that I have a lot of freedom and that I’m making a positive impact on others’ lives. I also need to really like what I’m doing. Staying connected to these core feelings helps me to make decisions, both personal and work related, and to choose the best people for me to work with and for. And honestly, viewing the choices I need to make through these filters of what feels best to me helps to ensure that I am happy almost all of the time. 2 What did you do before this? I have had more jobs than I can count! When I look back, I see a lot of the professional jobs I had before I owned my own business had some basic qualities in common. I was a publicist and marketer, a long time volunteer for arts organisations, a special events planner, a buyer for a boutique store, and for a while I was a working artist. Along the way I’ve also had my fair share of nanny gigs, coffee shop work, and I spent many years (when I was an artist) supplementing my art income with waitress and bartending jobs. All of these various jobs allowed

me to work directly with people, share news and information, and be in creative spaces. In some ways I was always helping others – even if I was just serving them dinner and a cocktail. 3 Why do you do what you do? I do what I do because it makes me the happiest. I really want to support and lift people up. I love watching people’s faces light up when they have confidence or feel supported. I am in my element when I am teaching and guiding people, but being a school teacher was not the right path for me. I had to look at the core of what I do best, which is what makes me feel best, and then reframe that into a business model that would work for me. So for me to be a teacher that guides and inspires, I need to reach people through my writing and that leads them to other opportunities to work with me. I do this work because I cannot imagine spending one day of my life intentionally unhappy, and I would be unhappy doing anything else. 4 You have helped thousands of people create a handmade business through your bestselling books. Why do you think this has become such a popular way for women to generate income? This is a really great and deep question. I think there are lots of surface reasons why making money through creativity has become more popular. For starters, it’s easier than ever. A woman wouldn’t need to know a lick of code or anything about websites really to have a shop online, thanks to the many online marketplaces. So it’s easier to do now.

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“I paint and write stories, and most of them are true. I believe in helping people excavate their own buried stories. I like to picture one red string connecting all of our narratives.”

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You Love

UNIVERSAL EFFICIENT ABSTRACTED ADAPTABLE AESTHETIC ACCESSIBLE

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increasingly diverse, people of different languages, cultures and religions will need to quickly and easily access public resources. One in five Americans don’t speak English at home, which may disadvantage them when it comes to finding things like public transportation and good, low-cost food. Symbols and graphics can help, but as with the urban farm/agribusiness example, not everyone sees symbols the same way — which is why these 3-inch by 3-inch drawings are taking trained professionals hours to produce. To help with the graphics part, Code for America teamed up with the Noun Project, an open-source icon repository, and solicited the help of activists and designers in major cities across the country. Having started in August in San Francisco, Iconathon will be going through September, visiting Chicago, Boston, New York and other cities along the way.

It's harder than it sounds

“This marries the two things I love most – food and design,” said Orange County architectural designer Christine Geronaga. “Architecture is a service profession, and you need to make sure people can interact well with their physical environments.” Though it may initially seem like a bit of a hipster craft-show, the project’s purpose stems from a desperate need. L.A. has the highest number of people who regularly go without food than any other county in the nation. More than a third of the people here are not food secure – meaning they can’t afford enough food without assistance programs, stealing or charity. What’s more, high-income areas have three times as many supermarkets as low-income areas, food

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With a black Sharpie poised over a blue Post-it note, Amanda Shaffer puzzled over how to draw “compost.” After a few failed attempts, she produced a mound shape dotted with the outlines of pears and fish bones. “How do you make it look like compost and not just garbage?” she wondered aloud.At a nearby table, a group of graphic designers was flummoxed by how to draw the concept “urban farming.”The challenge was part of Iconathon, a nationwide series of day-long workshops during which policy experts and graphic designers create abstract symbols that represent concepts in food, transportation and other public goods. If everything goes as planned, the symbols will later be displayed publicly in communities across America, helping people who can’t read English (or can’t read, period) find their way around urban environments. On Saturday at a hip workspace called Atwater Crossing in Los Angeles, teams of graphic designers and food-policy wonks sat at picnic tables, doodling their way through terms like “pesticide-free,” “organic,” and “food bank.” The goal was to come up with images that are so foolproof, they could easily become shorthand for cheap, healthy fare — and eventually be as ubiquitous as gas-station signs are on highways. Lesson of the day: It’s harder than it sounds. “How about a farmer with a briefcase?” asked one man in the “urban farm” group.“That to me says, ‘agribusiness,’” said his team-mate, a graphic designer.“This is harder than we thought it was going to be,” said Chacha Sikes, a fellow with Code for America, the nonprofit group of civic-minded Web geeks who dreamed up with Iconathon. “But if we weren’t all doing it together, it would be even harder.” Iconathon sprung from the idea that as America becomes

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in low-income areas costs more, and L.A. has a dramatically low food-stamp participation rate. The Iconathon attendees hope universal symbols can help guide Angelenos to their nearest WIC-friendly farm stands, for example. “Having an icon that showed people where healthy food locations are can help normalize the use of food assistance and show people without English skills that they can use those forms of payment there,” said Shaffer, who is with the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College. She came to Iconathon to give a talk about food insecurity in Los Angeles, and she stayed for the icon-drawing session afterward. “Icons can also to help them use food stamps at farmers markets, which benefits farmers too.” Of course, in order to do that, store owners would have to agree to put the pictographs next to their produce – something not all big grocery chains will agree to right away. Shaffer said she’s already had some luck in getting grocery stores to use better signage, however. “They’re generally happy to promote their products, and there’s a community buy-in if people feel like the signs relate to them,” she said.

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25 | CONTÁGIO Outside of grocery stores and markets, Shaffer points out countless other applications for the icons. For one, they could help indicate safe spots for urban gleaning – a term that basically means foraging for edible food in public places. (Shaffer made an example of her mechanic, who collects fallen olives from neighborhood trees, bottles them, and gives them as Christmas gifts.) They can also help people figure out what’s in the packaged food they buy. “As a rule, nutrition labels stink,” she added. “Better icons could help customers understand where their food comes from and what’s in it.” So what makes a good public icon? Good proportions, clarity at a small scale and a certain indescribable universality, said Noun Project co-founder Edward Boatman, as he clicked through a presentation of some previously-prepared medical icons. Iconathon’s collaborative work sessions mean the attendees have more opportunities to find faults with one another’s drawings, which is a blessing when you’re searching for a symbol everyone can understand. Otherwise, it would all just be an exercise in artsy self-satisfaction.As an example of what not to do, Boatman put up a slide of a rejected icon showing a stethoscope-bearing doctor embracing his patient under a beaming sun — it was supposed to mean “mental health.”

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Pictographic / Illustrative concept design about social media & internet communication. For sale as stock imagery on the gettyimages network.

Sodafish was founded by Belgian designer Tom Nulens and has a focus on iconography and pictographic design. In a world increasingly defined by diversity and complexity we need a simple and direct form of communication. Icons and pictograms speak a universal language that has the power to transform your environment into an efficient communicative interface. They build bridges between objects and users, environments and inhabitants, signs and ideas, brands and consumers. From functional or abstract to pictographic and illustrative approaches, all with the unmistakable fingerprint of your unique brand identity.

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Self initiated concept illustration. Inspired by oil disasters polluting our oceans and sealife.

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We are a design muscle for positive brands. We lead visual strategies so that our clients reach their customersÂ´ hearts. We believe in process, research, experiments, curiosity and positive thinking. Tata&Friends is a place to grow, to collaborate, to learn and to share knowledge.

SPRING ISSUE 2014 After doing some research on icons design we decided to make this tribute to the bands we love. Literal Rock Band Icons.

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Graphic designer from Sweden with a soft spot for pictograms and other simple shapes and objects. I make icons, posters, logos and I am also working on lots of personal projects, often inspired by pop art culture in general. I currently live in, and work from, Stockholm, Sweden.

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31 | CONTÁGIO Pictograms for IKEA, to be used in their headquarters in Shanghai and in their Swedish headquarters in Älmhult. The signs were created for various rooms and different recycling items.

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to [introduce]

Universal Symbols For Verbs

We are a group of designers, artists, and geeks known as The Artificial. We love icons. Particularly the ones that are subjective and hard to define. We take pride in being hands on. We like doing things and we think verbs are vital. With your support we aim to create a place for verb iconography to have a home. Together we can finally champion the somewhat neglected, all-elusive verb icon.

We want to [icon] to play a part in increasing the number of beautifully designed icons available for everyone to use, for free.

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to [build] First things first, we will need to build the to [icon] site. Your hard earned cash will go towards designing the pages, writing the code, and pushing the pixels on our initial icon sets. Our goal is to launch with 6 sets of very special verb icons. Each will include 100 or more meticulously styled icons, available for download in EPS format ready for you to use. Every one of these 600+ icons will be pixel-fitted for sharp rendering even in 32px squares. Even the sharpest vectors end up as pixels someday, and ours will be prepared for their moment. Over time we hope to expand the number of sets and verbs available. Each icon will always live in a set with plenty of friends and family to coordinate with. Just like us, our icons will have personality and come in a variety of styles. Some will be playful, and all perfectly detailed. While you can always modify them for your own use, our priority will be solid design for use as-is without the need for unnecessary fiddling. Over time we hope to expand the number of sets and verbs available. Each icon will always live in a set with plenty of friends and family to coordinate with. Just like us, our icons will have personality and come in a variety of styles. Some will be playful, and all perfectly detailed. While you can always modify them for your own use, our priority will be solid design for use as-is without the need for unnecessary fiddling.

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From Headbanging To Hallucinating The Artificial, an Amsterdam-based collective of designers, artists, and self-confessed geeks, is trying to increase the verb population in the icon world. With their new project, “To [Icon],” currently being funded on Kickstarter, they’re attempting to create a place for verb iconography to have a home. They’re designing more than 600 cleverly simple, flat icons for verbs from “to submerge” (a submarine) and “to hallucinate” (a pair of shrooms) to “to be” (a bumblebee) and “to grow” (a mustache). Their Kickstarter is raising funds for building the To [Icon] website, on which six sets of 100 icons each will be available for download and ready to use. The project was born out of The Artificial’s own needs in designing user interfaces. “We often need icons that represent action, that work well together, and that render well at toolbar size,” Gerwitz tells Co.Design. “We found ourselves producing icon sets and including a few whimsical ones to keep things interesting.” The icons are fun for non-designers, but they have a practical application, too--Gerwitz hopes they’ll be useful to UI designers for regular product and app design work. “Since we can’t help ourselves but to include some fun ones, we also hope people will invent fun ways to use small graphics that work together,” Gerwitz says. “Perhaps in infographics, or on buttons, or maybe they’ll make cookies and share them with us.” Or, maybe they’ll be entered into the Emoji library, making it even easier to tell elaborate stories using little pictograms.

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The world of icons is suffering from a shortage of verbs. Nouns tend to be easy to represent as tiny graphic illustrations--there are icons symbolizing everything from Star Wars characters to diamonds and microphones. But it’s harder to use just one image to convey the movement inherent in a verb’s meaning.

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Alexander Khokhlov and Veronica Ershova

Mona Listens

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Coffee Break

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No Smoking

They may seem more appropriate for English majors and copywriters, but metaphors can be powerful solutions for visual problems, as well. Here’s why—and how—to use them effectively in all of your design projects. As consumers, we like to think we choose products based on what we can see, hear, feel, taste and touch about them. Is this a good hamburger? Let’s taste it. Is this a good car? Let’s drive it. In other words, we make our judgments via tangible distinctions. But the reality of the situation—and we know this as designers—is that there’s a lot more to the equation than just our five senses. There are the subconscious elements, the deeper meanings, the other intangible benefits that products offer, which factor into the formula and influence our decisions to buy or not to buy. For instance, even though that car can be seen and felt and driven, there are other aspects that determine how we relate to the vehicle, such as feelings of power or freedom or security. Even though they aren’t part of the actual structure of the car, they’re still part of what draws us to the vehicle, so they ought to be part of how the automaker markets and sells it. And that’s where metaphor comes into play. Whether you’re designing a brochure for an insurance company or you’re creating packaging for a new product, you can use a metaphor to give the product new life and meaning. As marketing professor Theodore Levitt notes, “Metaphors and similes become surrogates for the tangibility that cannot be provided or experienced in advance.” How Metaphors Work A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a comparison is

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Coffee Break

made between dissimilar things. If you compare Ohio State to Penn State or the Cleveland Browns to the Chicago Bears, you aren’t making metaphors; you’re making literal comparisons between similar things. But if you say that a football team is like a harnessed set of horses, then you’ve made a metaphor. Think of metaphors as coming in two varieties: Pure metaphor. Sometimes you can just show us something that isn’t your product at all and tell us it is. You’re using a pure metaphor: something that stands in for your product (or its benefit or the feeling we get from it) that helps clarify and convince. This is a good idea when your product is intangible, but also when it’s boring to look at or complicated or obscure or unknown. Or when everybody else in your category does one thing (show the car, for example), and you want to do something different. I once saw a poster in the public library: a big photo of a hiker with a backpack pausing on a glorious solo trek through the Grand Canyon, the awesome spectacle looming over his shoulder. This poster could have been advertising Timberland gear or Arizona tourism, but when I read the small headline, “Knowledge is free. Visit your library,” I saw how well the visual worked. Going to the library is like an odyssey through immense, spectacular country; just think of what’s there. The pure metaphor required me to leap from the Grand Canyon to the library, but I could, and I felt invigorated by doing so. Another pure metaphor that invites me to leap—this time from color to music—is Stefan Sagmeister’s packaging for a Pat Metheny Trio CD. The package is uniformly gray, but each side has a round cut-out revealing a portion of

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Be cool

the multicolored disc inside. Different colors are randomly shown, which metaphorically evokes the improvisation-within-precision nature of Metheny’s jazz. The package, then, looks how he sounds. Fused metaphor. Pure metaphors, though, are rare. Why? Because it’s easier to create a fused metaphor. With a fused metaphor, you take the product (or something associated with it, the way a toothbrush is associated with toothpaste or the highway with cars) and fuse it with something else. Objects that are modified in some way are more attractive to us. Unmodified images are really just cliches. For example, one of advertiser David Ogilvy’s famous ideas was “The Man in the Hathaway Shirt,” who wore an eye patch and was thereby more interesting than a man who didn’t. He wasn’t just the cliche of your typical hunk; he was a wounded, brave, singular fellow with a story to tell. Absolut Vodka has been reinventing its bottle in various amusing ways for years: turning it into a swimming pool for “Absolut L.A.,” fogging it in for “Absolut San Francisco,” blowing off its letters for “Absolut Chicago” and so on. Many other ads

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Facepalm

gain some of their visual strength from a “what’s wrong here?” approach. Unlike pure metaphor, fused images help contextualize the selling argument for us; we don’t have to leap quite as far when part of what we’re looking at is what’s for sale. You catch our attention and demonstrate your selling argument by morphing your product into something new that expresses your selling idea. How to Fuse Get in the habit of looking for pairs in whatever design

problem you’re working on; push two things together into one image. For example, if you’re selling a home-security system, you could begin with the image of a lock or barbed wire or an armed guard and combine it with a house. The power of graphic fusion comes from combining two cliches, symbols or aspects of a situation into one new image. Think in terms of either addition (adding something to an image) or substitution (replacing part of an image with something else).

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Smells Like Summer

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Have you heard of Max Wanger? He’s a photographer based Los Angeles whom I first heard about through Bri over at Design Love Fest and was reminded of him again last week, so I visited his online portfolio. A few minutes into the rabbit hole, I was swept away by his fashion photography and knew I had to feature a few favorite shots because they inspired me so much but even more, that I had to contact him for a little interview. These photos just feel like summer to me but even more, they’re so fresh and invigorating and I just love the color palettes that I can pull from these for projects – like a party or redecorating project. With summer in its final hours, I couldn’t think of a better time to share Max with all of you. Would you like to sit in on our little conversation? piness reached it’s peak those last couple of years. Ultimately, the drive to do something I love landed me in the position I’m in today. I’ve been shooting professionally now for about 6 years. Is photography your day job or do you do something else on the side? If so, what? Max: Well, my wife and I both work from home and taking care of our 5 month old baby has quickly become our new full-time job. Aside from that, yes, photography is my day job. Although I also have a print shop on the side where I sell some of my work and that’s been taking up quite a bit of my time lately. What do you shoot with mostly? Do you shoot tethered, wireless, or? Max: Canon 5D Mark III, 35mm 1.4 & 50mm 1.2. For studio work, both, depending on the type of shoot. What are you favorite types

of jobs? Max: I love shooting travel stories and look books — I love anything that involves working/ collaborating with friends. What are 5 things that you enjoy about being a photographer? Max: The people, the travel, the discovery, the independence, the adventure. Who is your DREAM client/ job? Max: I have to say, shooting for Conde Nast Traveler was a dream job come true. I always wondered how you got to be that photographer who got to travel to amazing places and take photographs. It was surreal when they commissioned me to shoot a story for them. As for a client that I’d love to shoot for in the future? Nike. Do you also art direct/style your shoots? If so, tell us how you plan things out. If not, tell us some of your favorite stylists with whom

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Hi Max! So excited to have you and your work on decor8 today! So tell us, I know you live in LA but where do you work and what is your background? Max: I mostly work in LA but accept jobs worldwide. I was born and raised by reformed hippies. Educated in Los Angeles, Honolulu and the here and there of Tokyo. I’m a lover of lazy Sundays, mismatched socks, negative space, NYC, soba, green tea, and last but almost certainly first, my wife Margaux & our little boy, Dash. What landed you in photography? Max: I’ve loved photography since I was 7 years old. That’s when my interest started and it’s grown from a hobby, to freelance, to now, full-time. After college, I actually spent almost 8 years working in a completely different field, in a very corporate environment. It wasn’t for me and my unhap-

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you’ve worked. Max: For personal work, I’ll sketch out and storyboard ideas. Most times I’ll art direct, but sometimes I’ll bring a crew on board and work with them to bring an idea to life. For commercial and editorial work, I’ve had the honor of working with so many talented stylists. But I particularly love collaborating with Jen Gotch. She’s an amazing stylist and creative mind. Who are some of the best clients you’ve worked for? Max: Vans, Banana Republic, Martha Stewart, Conde Nast Traveler. What is the wildest shoot you’ve ever had to do? Max: I’m not sure I would classify it as wild, but shooting for Vans in Berlin was definitely one of the most exciting shoots. Among the many highlights: Getting to photograph Mos Def who was a part of the trip. There was also that time I fell into a pool while shooting a wedding, but that’s a different, not-soawesome, kind of wild.At et ped eturis alit aut voloribus eum fugiam volorum quod quae consed molorpor atescia spelige ndebitas mincta pore verum re laut dolores trunt, consecto quidusam quam, cus pore dempore, coreriati iuntia archit aliquat ut omnis utatque numquam que renesti ssuntiusa dolupti ostiumendel illes eicae sequosament facimus anduciet late aci reium, ne qui te ratquidem volestio. Nem int et haritas pisinisim nulpa prore, officaborro volores antis unt et occullo recatior a por sincias sequia dolorer spidelessime suntisi iunturitatus intibus andipsu nduciur, aliquat iistiam voluptur alit explab im quam

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What’s the top secret formula to your signature photos with lots of negative space? A good wide angle lens and an eye for composition. What is the dynamic when shooting photos with your wife Margaux? Do you both focus on shooting different things, like one person shoots details, the other overall interaction or do you mix things up? We’ve learned to feed off each other really well. We kind of stay out of each other’s way and just by eye contact we can pretty much communicate where to be or what to do. We shoot the same things primarily but with different lenses and perspectives. It’s nice to have a variety of images to deliver. How did you get into photography? What sparked your interest in becoming a wedding photographer? I’ve been taking photographs since I was 7 years old. It’s something I’ve always loved doing. I don’t necessarily

think of myself as a wedding photographer, rather, a photographer who happens to shoot weddings. When I first started shooting, I saw that there were only a handful of photographers who were doing things differently, who were thinking outside the box. I thought if I could photograph weddings the way I saw them in my head and take more of an editorial approach, it might be worth doing. The most important thing was attracting the right clientele, people who shared a similar point of view. What do you love the most about your job? The part I love the most about this job is being able to travel around the world and getting to meet so many amazing people. How would you describe your photography style? Has it changed much over the years? Whimsical, off-beat, romantic. I’ve tried to keep it mostly the same over the years, if anything, my approach to processing has become simpler and cleaner.

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SPRING ISSUE 2014 What is one thing you are still learning to do? I learn something every time I pick up a camera. That’s the beauty of photography, it’s a constant learning experience. Do you have any current favorite photographers or artists who may have influenced you to become the artist that you are? There are many people who have influenced me and continue to influence me, but here are a few off the top of my head: Tim Walker, Rodney Smith, Paolo Pellegrin, Anna Wolf. Is there anybody or anything you would love to photograph that you haven’t yet? Bill Murray, Zooey Deschanel, Adele. Where are your favorite locations to shoot and why? Hawaii is hard to beat. I also love shooting in Tokyo and New York. The energy and vibrancy in those cities is unmatched. What was it about Love vs Design that made you decide to collaborate with us? The look, the feel, the fact that you were trying to do stand out and do your own thing.

Do you have anything exciting coming up? Lots of travel, a new wedding brand and hopefully a little bit of sleep (an exciting prospect!)Entia vitiamenem am qui doles quis alit vendaepeliae modio derum sam est, coreper cienihit explibust volupti conectia voluptibust pa quas sam es nam a quiae dendiant rem quo te non prat. Ut pernata tendiatia quosam dolupta prerchi ciusand iatur, volorpor maxim qui ut est, inihicipit, que eos et maxim ea quibus, to estibus re veribusant oditem autem qui torunt eaque etur mo blam, qui nobit ad eaque voluptate volor sant vel most moluptaerae apidellestia porem illoreped quis mi, optiaesto mod qui autempo rrovidellaut et odictotature sim sam aperum iur aut dis nestiam, consecte consedit autempos rehent amus peris restior santemo ssitia verum, cullecum sinciasite re doloruptus maioris ciatiam, nobit as pliquidit et et ipiet ommodis iminciunt, officabo. Iquatia quis magnis commossit hici doluptae si ute porum et lantibus. Apidern atetus, aborit, vellend aepudant et excea incti re labore est as voloribusda plant eos dempore caborpossed mod elit ped quatemos doles doloreicat quiscia seque et pra dolestio. Nus am, aborpora et alia pro bearum latet eraes a dolut inciis nobit fuga. Itae core magnis adis neturiam

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You’ve been involved in many weddings. As a photographer, do you have any advice to future brides and grooms? Let go -- specifically on the day of your wedding. Try to take everything in and enjoy it. Forget about all the little details. It goes by so fast, you want to make sure you soak it all in. And don’t lose track of each other over the course of the night. The last thing you want to do is spend your wedding night separated and apart.

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Until September 21, 2014 organized by Norman L. Kleeblatt, Susan and Elihu Rose Tsao & McKown Architects

The Jewish Museum

staging of 1109 5th Avenue at 92nd Street New York

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Among the personalities of the founders of conceptual art movement of the sixties, its Working Drawings and Other Visible Things on Paper Not Necessarily Meant to be Viewed as Art is the first exhibition of conceptual art. Mel Bochner (b. 1940), has emerged in a time when young artists painting considered exhausted. A pioneer in the integration of language in visual art, Bochner has returned to interest the expressiveness of painting over the past two decades. "Mel Bochner: Strong Language" reveals the artist's long standing commitment to discover the possibilities of language as a picture, medium and content.

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Mel Bochner, Amazing , 2011, oil and acrylic on two canvases, 254 x 190.5 cm. Private collection.

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Mel Bochner, Hash Exclamation Dollar Plus , 2011, oil and charcoal on canvas, 45 x 60 ins. (114.3 x 152.4 cm). Courtesy of Peter Freeman. © Mel Bochner.

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Mel Bochner, Self / Portrait , 1966 ink on graph paper, 13 x 11.4 cm.

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Mel Bochner, Silence , 2007 oil on velvet, 160 x 119.4 cm. Private

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Mel Bochner, Voiceover , 2006-2012, oil on canvas, 91.4 x 71.1 cm. Pergamont Collection.

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Mel Bochner, Going Out Of Business , 2012, oil on velvet, 237. 5 x 178.4 cm

SPRING ISSUE 2014 Simpliflying comunicacion VISIT US AT CONTAGIO.COM