magazine for creative humans number 55 oct / nov 2011
R40
TRASH!
IN SEARCH OF THE NEW PULP FICTION
ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011 1
ed's note
Noted In a world in social media overdrive, the hunt is on for viable new modes of print publishing. In our feature article on the resurgence of the photo comic in an African context, Sean O'Toole (who has his own stack of boekies stashed Francois Smit
somewhere) goes in search of the new African pulp fiction. Related to the above, we review a slew of digital publishing software offerings from the usual suspects (as well as a few you may never have heard of). Then, in celebration
E
all things creative, the Loerie Awards for 2011 GREGOR NAUDé - editor
may have been the best one yet – or so says our resident rock star reviewer Sarah Britten. Look out for the full review on page 32. I hope you enjoy the read.
_Gregor
fine print
COVER Image by Hannes Bernard www.junglejim.org
ADVERTISING SALES Tel: 011 640-3322
EDITOR Gregor Naudé gregor@enjin.co.za
PUBLISHER Softmachine Media, PO Box 521435, Saxonwold, 2132 Tel: 011 640-3322. Fax: 0866 896-707
CREATIVE DIRECTOR François Smit, QUBA Design & Motion francois@quba.co.za CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Herman Manson herman@marklives.co.za EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS Sean O'Toole, Herman Manson, Sarah Britten, Eva Csernyanszky, Anette Barnard
2 ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011
PRODUCTION Enjin Magazine is produced with Adobe CS5 DISCLAIMER Neither this publication nor any part thereof may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher or editor
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ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011 3
CONTENTS
INSIDE 55
02 ED'S NOTE
06 RELEASE NOTES RADAR LOVE MY PAL JUST SWELL
10 PLAKBOOK IN THE MIX
12 FEATURE/publish THE NEW PULP FICTION
gaLLery
18 FEATURE/KNOWledge THE TOOLS THAT SHAPE US
24 PLATFORM GABRIELLE GUY JOE PUBLIC
32 REVIEW LOERIES 2011 IT'S ALWAYS MAHALA
40 technology BLACKMAGIC ULTRASTUDIO 3D PRINT IN 3D QUARK APP STUDIO TWIXL PUBLISHER
46 PROCESS ADOBE DIGITAL PUBLISHING EPSON DIGIGRAPHIE DRUPA MARKET TREND REPORT
gaLLery
52 BOOKS ZINE SCENE — stephanie homa
cAKeZine #7 yuletide
the seventh issue of cakezine reflects its creator’s personal rebellion against the tradition of christmas and the mass consumption. produced with a leporello fold, which allows it to be unfolded into a poster, it can also be hung from its black satin ribbon as a wall decoration. — Year 2009 Artist / Publisher Stephanie Homa Edition of 20 Frequency Irregular Format Various Print Technique Inkjet
42
4 ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011
54 directory CREATIVE RESOURCES 43
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ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011 5
release notes
Radar love samson's meteor is a sound little mic
Samson's Meteor Mic is a cute little bugger. Don't let the design fool you, though – this mic is surprisingly stout and looks as if it could survive a lot of abuse. There are three legs that fold down on the Meteor Mic. The legs, also made of metal, are tipped with rubber to prevent the mic from sliding on a surface. Each leg can be adjusted separately in order to point the mic in a specific direction. Behind one of the legs is a mini-B size USB connector for connecting the mic to your Mac, iPad, PC or other device, as well as a 3.5 mm stereo jack for connecting headphones or a studio monitor. The legs stay in the position that you put them – each has a screw and a pair of plastic bearings that hold the leg securely in place, and if a leg becomes loose, it should be a simple matter of tightening the screw to make the leg stay in place. The bottom of the Meteor Mic features a standard 5/8-inch thread mount for attaching it to a microphone stand or arm. On the front of the mic is a control knob for the headphone output that surrounds a button for temporarily muting the input to a computer. Above the knob is a small LED that turns amber when the mic is muted, blue when the mic is powered up and working and red when the input level is clipping. The top of the chrome-plated Meteor Mic consists of a two-stage grille to protect the mic capsule, reduce wind noise and reduce the need for a pop filter. Inside that shiny exterior is a large 1-inch diaphragm microphone capsule with a cardioid polar pattern, meaning that the pickup of the mic is very strong directly in front and 90 degrees to either side, but less sensitive for sounds to the rear of the mic.
operation There's a small, but very well-written user manual that comes with the Meteor Mic containing tips on recording voices, acoustic guitar, piano, a guitar amp or an overhead drum kit. As a portable mic for recording podcasts, the Meteor Mic works very well. You fold out the legs, tilt the mic back a bit as per Samson's instructions, plug the USB cable into the mic and a Mac, and fire up GarageBand. A pair of headphones provides a zero-latency monitor for
6 ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011
recording. The combination of iPad, Garage Band and Meteor Mic is probably the best portable podcasting setup we've encountered.
final word Samson's Meteor Mic is a solid portable USB studio microphone from a company with an established track record. It's small, unobtrusive, well-designed and does an awesome job of recording sound in a lifelike manner. Anyone looking for a good-quality USB microphone for Mac or iPad should put the Meteor Mic on the top of their wish list.
www.audiosure.co.za
release notes
you're my mate everyone needs a pal
Ever wish you could enjoy Tivoli's Model One trademark sound quality and reception outdoors? You can, if you have a PAL. The Henry Kloss Portable Audio Laboratory's treated 2.5-inch magnetically shielded driver and rubberized cabinet are weather resistant, so your PAL can keep you company by the pool or on the patio. And its environmentally friendly rechargeable Nickel Metal Hydride battery pack has no memory and fully charges in about 3 hours, providing many hours of cordless playback. The clever little green LED serves as both a power and battery status indicator. The PAL borrows the same geared-down 5:1 ratio analogue tuning dial as used in the critically acclaimed Model One radio for easy, accurate tuning. Also on tap is an auxiliary input to connect a CD, MP3 player
or other device, and a stereo headphone output for private listening (headphones not included), as a recording output, or to use the PAL as a high-quality outboard tuner. The tuner features Automatic Frequency Control (AFC) which locks on to the center of the station for best reception and lowest distortion, while the adjustable telescoping FM antenna extends and rotates for improved FM reception (there is also a built-in AM antenna). Perhaps most amazing of all is its expansive sound which must be heard to be believed. Your new PAL is sure to be the life of the party, and you don't have to feed him. www.tivoliaudio.com
ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011 7
release notes
Just swell case closed with these nifty ipad covers Swell Bookcases for iPad 2 are designed with a hardcover book casing and a sculptured bamboo tray on the inside. The bookcases have been designed to allow easy access to the volume rocker, the orientation/mute switch, the lock button and headphone jack. The dock connector and speaker grill are not obstructed which means there is no muffled sound. The cases have a series of magnets in the trays which hold the iPad in place, and which also enables the sleep/wake function. The bookcases close with a magnetic catch covered in genuine leather. Swell Bookcases are black on the outside and come with a choice of colours on the inside – black, red, burgundy, navy, apple green and bright blue. The outer material is either synthetic or bonded leather. Custom cases can be made to order, including the ability to emboss company logos onto the covers as well as custom colours. And they're made in SA – which is just swell.
www.swellaccessories.com
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ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011 9
plakbook
no 67:
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MIX
plakbook
ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011 11
12 ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011
feature/publish
PULP! TRASH!
so you want to start a magazine. how far do you think r1 500 will take you? quite far, it seems, as sean o'toole brings you this true tale
good news. “Ja look,” says Hannes, who used to work with designer Jungle Jim is a cheaply printed magazine from Cape Town. Wrapped Peet Pienaar before going solo, “we made a decision early on that in a hand-printed cover, it features mainly words. Original genre there isn’t really a good reason why this should exist. If you look at fiction from Africa. Cop stories. Sci-fi. Mall stories. Underground it from a business or publishing perspective, Jungle Jim doesn’t really stuff. African fiction. Here’s a sentence from issue one: “The imposmake sense as a venture. But we decided we would completely disresibly good-looking Detective Sergeant Chikata, [Detective Inspector gard that, and it wouldn’t be a choice ever whether it makes sense to Darko] Dawson’s junior in rank in the Criminal Investigations Dedo this or not.” “Ja,” agrees Jenna, an AFDA partment, looked up as Dawson approached.” graduate who created a splash with her 2010 And another from issue two: “Tall, broad shoulshort film The Tunnel. “So we just find a way dered men with red, bulging eyes and faces that typically publishing is of doing it.” might have belonged to criminals came wearing an onerous enterprise “We also knew that the second large amounts bullet proof jackets with Special Anti-Robbery it involves convoluted of money became involved, we would just get Squad written on them.” And here are two senbusiness plans advertising discouraged – we’re not good with money. tences from issue three: “I sped out of Spruitview We thought the only way this would work is and through Katlehong like a lunatic. How staff distribution agents if we actually have a small amount to get it many yelping stray dogs and shocked old ladies subscription drives going.” I missed by inches is a tale best left untold.” contributor contracts and “How much did you put into it?” My quesThis is the story about how the magazine that other boring necessaries tion makes Hannes and Jenna laugh. Hannes: published these sentences came about. “We came up with an amount we could both “We were talking about it yesterday,” says filmpay per month. Basically, it was how much maker Jenna Bass. She is seated next to illustrator money we could lose per month.” Jenna: “Which was obviously not and designer Hannes Bernard. We’re on the first floor of a retrofitted very much, because neither of us has money to throw around. It was warehouse space on Hope Street, near the infamous Stags Head Hotel a little, not much.” Hannes: “Very little.” Jenna: “A small amount.” in central Cape Town. It’s a Wednesday. Jenna: “I remember coming Hannes: “Very little.” Jenna: “A really small amount.” Hannes: “Much to the office one day…” Hannes: “That was the start of it, getting this less than you can imagine.” “Like two or three zeroes?” I push. Hannes: office last year.” Jenna: “I came in – I think I had a really frustrating “Our original budget was about R1500 for ten months.” day – and I was just like, ‘Hannes, let’s start a magazine!’ And he said, For their launch issue, the Jungle Jim duo produced 200 handmade ‘Yes.’ That’s how I remember it, but Hannes doesn’t remember this copies of their A5 magazine. The unbound launch issue of the biat all. I think it was just one of those days when I was thinking about weekly featured the work of cartoonist and lyricist Nikhil Singh, something that I wanted to buy but wasn’t out there.” filmmaker Richard Stanley, Somali writer Abdul Adan and Ghanaian novelist Kwei Quartey, whose detective fiction is set in Agbogbloshie onerous enterprise electronic dump in Accra. This “notorious slum”, as Quartey describes it, is also the subject of photographer Pieter Hugo’s most recent photobook, Permanent Typically, publishing is an onerous enterprise. It involves convoluted Error. To announce the new birth, Hannes and Jenna organised a business plans, advertising staff, distribution agents, subscription reading at Book Lounge, Mervyn Sloman’s energetic independent drives, contributor contracts and other boring necessaries. Literary retail store on Roeland Street. publishing, however, is to a degree freed of these imperatives. Not Singh read his pirate story (“Eyes like foglights, calling in all the lost many people are interested in fiction, the literary sort less so than the ships of the soul”) and an actress read a piece by Kola Boof, a former fast-paced pulp variety. model-actress said to be the mistress of Osama Bin Laden. So, print runs of these little magazines (essentially the hothouses for The launch issue was quickly snapped up. “I think a lot of people future talent) are small. Cold calling at two or three favourite bookdidn’t pay for them,” sighs Jenna, admitting to a problem that perstores usually sorts out distribution. And word of mouth, which plexed the publishers of Tessa and Kid Colt a generation before. nowadays includes whisper networks like Facebook, helps spread the
,
,
The opposite page contains the cover image for Jungle Jim #1 Images courtesy of Hannes Bernard/Jungle Jim
,
.
,
,
.
ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011 13
feature/publish
These pages contain opening spreads from Jungle Jim #1 & 2
republican press Founded in the mid-1960s by Hint and Boet Hyman, two Kimberly farmers turned publishers, Republican Press is a name synonymous with South African pulp fiction. At its height this Durban-based independent publisher was releasing 20 photo comics monthly, including the popular titles Tessa, Condor and Kid Colt. Averaging sales of about 30 000 units per issue, the brisk trade in pulp fiction made Republican the “biggest printing organisation in the southern hemisphere,” according to Ron Roderick, a retired executive who started his career at the company as a print apprentice in 1968. “The photo stories were the foundation,” says Roderik, 65, now retired. “They gave Republican the opportunity to go into the magazine market. he Hymans got sufficient wealth to buy into established magazines like Garden & Home.” Perhaps better known as the publisher of Scope magazine, Republican started out as a Kimberly-based publisher. When the workload got “too big” for the Diamond Fields Advertiser, a Kimberley based newspaper and press established in 1878, the Hymans decided to import a used gravure press from Germany. “It was used by the Germans to print propaganda and counterfeit during the war,” says Roderik, who spent ten years obscuring the nipples and pubic fuzz of the naked women showcased in Scope during the years of apartheid censorship. oo large to transport upcountry, the Hymans summarily relocated their business to Durban. Roderik is a fount of knowledge on the production of the photo comics. Tessa, the original bikini-clad blond – there were two, the second less successful – was a woman named Erna van der Westhuisen. “She came from Dirkie Uys Primary School on The Bluff,” says Roderik, referring to the skollie neighbourhood south of Durban harbour where many of the actors came from. Aside from Tessa, Mark Condor, played by Martin Paulse, was one of Republican’s more popular titles. According to Roderik, the male actors were “big, hard chaps who had a certain appeal”. Like the young female actresses, they hoped to use the photo comics as vehicle for a film career. Catering to lower- and middle-income white families, the photo comics functioned as portable, if static soap operas. The stories were uncomplicated. “All you need for a movie is a girl and a gun,” said filmmaker Jean Luc Godard. Republican applied the same philosophy to its photo comics. The sets were improvised and included a Catholic church in Athlone Park and
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factories in Prospecton, the cast sometimes venturing as far south as Warner Beach. The quick uptake and national popularity of the photo comics prompted Republican to professionalise their production, an Italian photographer, Franco Gardini, contracted to handle the shoots. “He joined the company in 1972 and arrived from Italy with his Hasselblads and what-not,” says Roderik. “There was big fanfare. He lasted about 10 or 12 years.” Television, which was introduced to South Africa in the mid-1970s and refined during the 1980s, was death knell of photo comics locally. They are now a byword for white nostalgia for a past that doesn’t exist anymore. It is partly the anachronistic quality of photo comics that prompted Hannes to start Jungle Jim. Instead of the fatal fallback of nostalgia, he wanted something new, something now. Not that he puts it quite as bluntly. It is only hinted at when I quiz the pair about their reason for starting Jungle Jim. “That’s a good question,” laughs Jenna. “I actually dunno,” pitches in Hannes. “I think we were fascinated by the idea of doing pulp fiction in an African context. I think even though we have a vintage appreciation for photobooks and that kind of thing, it is not something that I can directly relate to, culturally. There is like a huge gap between that and me.
other forms I was also really interested in other forms of African DIY publishing. In Nigeria, especially, they have a form of market literature called Onitsha.” Onitsha is a port and market town on the Niger River in
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feature/publish
These pages contain cover images for Jungle Jim
television, which was introduced to south africa in the mid-1970s and refined during the 1980s, was the death knell of photo comics locally. they are now a byword for white nostalgia for a past that doesn't exist anymore. southern Nigeria. A gateway to the north, in the 1950s and 1960s it was the site of a flourishing trade in pulp fiction. Produced by local presses, this 'market literature' – it mostly consisted of pamphlets and novellas – was consumed by taxi drivers, mechanics, white-collar clerks, primary school teachers, small-scale entrepreneurs and traders. Simplistic, moralistic and sentimental, this 'semi-literate' pulp fiction is nonetheless credited with establishing a literary appetite that is reflected in contemporary Nigeria’s vibrant media culture. “Their media industry is much more active than ours,” Pieter Hugo remarked in 2005, shortly after returning from photographing his career-defining work of Hausa men with their hyenas. “There is an active press. They are very big on reading. People debate contemporary issues. It is not an apathetic society.” “There was a link between Onitsha’s bracing moralising stories – about men who treat their women badly, or how to spend your money wisely – and something genuinely African and pulp fiction,” says Hannes. “That was the original interest. We wanted to see what happens when you take extremely westernised ideas of aliens and sci-fi archetypes, and see how that gets applied in an African context.” “What I loved about pulp was that they churned the stuff out,” adds Jenna. “It wasn’t always the best quality, but even if they were recycling things, they were always trying to come up with new ideas and stances. There were always these narrative drives.” I put it to Jenna, whose duties on Jungle Jim are chiefly literary and editorial, that Nollywood, Nigeria’s brazen DIY film industry, is essentially the pulp fiction of now. “Do you really think the written word can compete against it?” “It was definitely a concern,” she says. “It is one of the reason’s Jungle Jim is so cheap.” A R20 note will get you a copy of the magazine plus a silver R5 coin in change. “We don’t want this thing that costs R60 and then your money for the month to entertain yourself is gone. But that isn’t answering your question. I like to think not. I still think there is something special about reading something as opposed to having someone tell it to you or watching it on television.” _Sean O’Toole has no hair and vertically long head. His nose is pointed downward and his mouth resembles that of a fish. To further quote Abdul Adan, “The guy was unlike anyone I have ever seen before."
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banned word Self-publishing is more than just an exercise in self-belief, it also involves concretising your prejudices by manifesting allegiances to definite writers, ideas and, yes, even words. So what words are verboten in Jungle Jim? “I have a little list,” laughs Jenna, “but I don’t know if I can say.” “Come on!” “Okay, here’s one: you can’t use the word deli. Delis should not feature in short stories?” “How about tea rooms and cafes?” “Yes, they can be there. But no trendy coffee shops, places where you can get lattes.” “So no stories about Vida Café?” “We would be unlikely to publish it, I think.”
ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011 17
feature/KNOWLEDGE
you are
we shape our tools. in turn our tools shape us, writes anette barnard
For many people, relaxation means to refrain from engaging in any strenuous activity, whether physical or intellectual. Often people just want to switch off after a hard day’s work, and they will do that by watching television or movies, playing computer games, surfing the internet, Facebooking, etc. Avoiding any effort like the plague, relaxation has come to be equated with mental and physical passivity. Philosopher Theodor Adorno states that leisure time is characterized by the lack of independent thinking. Adorno explains that the culture industry "either promotes the thoughtlessness of the masses or else provides the content of their thought”. Thus Adorno advances his Distraction Thesis, where 'distraction' is a correlate of capitalism. Capitalism itself "engenders fears and anxiety about unemployment, loss of income, war, [and] has its 'non-productive' correlate in entertainment; that is, relaxation which does not involve the effort of concentration at all". A dualism is thus created: one moves between the binary opposites of fear and boredom. One exerts effort at one’s workplace and is transformed into an amoeba during leisure time. The notion of leisure time and, consequently, the notion of boredom itself is a product of industrialization.
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medium and the message Cultural analyst and media guru, Marshall McLuhan, proclaimed that "we shape our tools and, in turn, our tools shape us." He also advanced the now famous axiom "the medium is the message”, which he uses to argue that the very form of technology, rather than its content, is the real message. The content is almost irrelevant, as the interaction with a particular medium dictates how (and not necessarily what) one thinks. He explains the manner in which society moved from an oral to a visual society with the invention of first the alphabet and then the printing press. The advent of the printing press enabled texts to be reproduced and letterforms to be standardized. This standardisation eliminated the individuality and quirkiness associated with handwriting. Print’s real content, if McLuhan is to be believed, is a homogenous, standardized culture. The characteristics of the medium entail that people are isolated from one another, that they are encouraged to form individual opinion and so become accustomed to standardization. These ideas, according
feature/KNOWLEDGE
your tools
to McLuhan "could not precede the advent of Gutenberg's press any more than they can survive the advent of electric circuitry with its power of totally involving all people”. The 'electric circuitry' to which McLuhan refers is the internet. It is already old news that geographical boundaries become less relevant in cyberspace, and that identity becomes hybrid and fluid (and invented) in spaces such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter. Society is indeed returning to a pre-Gutenberg tribalism as predicted by McLuhan in the early 1960s. Just as in a tribal society, news and knowledge become virtually instantaneous as events can be viewed in real time. Mcluhan states, "everything affects everything all the time”. The instantaneous and readily available nature of knowledge (and entertainment) produces an anxiety – it is difficult to disconnect once connected. It is difficult to get up from the couch once planted in front of the television. It is difficult to stop playing computer games if one can just do one more level. The reason for this difficulty is often imbedded in the very structure of the medium. For example, many computer games are cunningly crafted in order to engage the player on this principle. Take an oldie-but-goodie like Diablo 2, for example. Not only is there the lure of completing minor ‘levels’ within various
mazes, but also the need to complete major 'acts' – after which the player is treated to luscious computer animations and whisked away to different scenery. The levels of the game are complemented by the continually rising levels of the character, which the player guides through the fantasy world. Every time the character gains enough experience to gain a level, new skills can be unlocked and old ones bolstered. Finally, there is also the chance of completing rare sets of unique tasks, which grant major increases in abilities. Thus, the player is continually on the verge of completing some or other step, and is kept engrossed in the game almost unintentionally into the small hours of the morning.
pop goes the world According to Adorno, pop music and movies follow a certain formula, which is so ingrained in culture that it is expected. Adorno argues that such formulaic products have the same function as a baby’s pacifier. The absence of mental activity and the lack of responsibility that these cultural phenomena provide are interpreted as pleasur-
ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011 19
feature/KNOWLEDGE
able. Thus, if something is easy, it is mistaken as pleasure. One often think that it is the content (as opposed to the form) of a technology that is interesting, but as philosopher Mark Fisher points out, it is the medium itself, rather than the content, which provides pleasure or displeasure in the user. The mode of interaction with a particular medium is either 'exciting' or 'boring'. Fisher gives the example that "some students want Nietzsche in the same way that they want a hamburger; they fail to grasp – and the logic of the consumer system encourages this misapprehension – that the indigestibility, the difficulty is Nietzsche”. If a medium is not easily digestible, it is abandoned and disliked. He adds that contemporary culture only engages in activities that they deem pleasurable (as opposed to educational, enriching, challenging, etc.)
depressive hedonia Fisher also coins the term 'depressive hedonia', which he defines as the "inability to do anything else except pursue pleasure”. He states that (capitalist) forms of entertainment produce an emptiness – a "sense that something is missing but no appreciation that this mysterious, missing enjoyment can only be accessed beyond the pleasure principle”. The immediate gratification that contemporary technology provides is hindering the attainment of real pleasure. Fisher believes that one
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needs "a willingness to exist in the absence of stimulation.” The constant bombardment with (mostly virtual) stimulation produces subjects who suffer from 'depressive hedonia', which he defines as "the melancholic inability to strive after anything but immediate pleasure." The availability of 'quick fixes' and the absence of mental and physical challenges create an emptiness. Human beings are increasingly characterized by a listlessness, by melancholy, as a direct result of the tedium of being overexposed to media.
tired of doing nothing One gets tired of doing nothing (watching TV) and anxious about not being able to do more (more Facebook, more YouTube...) In the vein of McLuhan, one could argue that the message of certain media then is apathy and depression. In addition to this, Fisher attributes dyslexia to being exposed to media by stating that dyslexia "may in many cases be post-lexia. Teenagers process capital’s image-dense data very effectively without any need to read…" This view has already been advanced by McLuhan who states that the direct consequence of reading is rational and analytical thought processes. The significance of any new technology is not its features or its content, but the effect that it has on human cognition, which in turn shapes human organization. McLuhan finds it no coincidence that the Age of Print coincides with the Age of Reason.
feature/KNOWLEDGE
As McLuhan also points out, the issue at stake is not a moral one – technologies like guns have neither good nor bad intentions. Technology cannot be good or evil because it does not have an intent of its own. However, technology still creates the social patterns and the manner in which we think. We do create tools to make life easier, but then our tools start shaping us in a very definite manner. According to Neuroscientist Susan Greenfield at Oxford University, the notion of human identity is facing an unprecedented crisis – a crisis much more dangerous than the poststructuralist onslaught (Lacan, Derrida, Foucault) in the 1960s. She asserts that in the near future, neuro-chip technology will blur the line between human and machine. An electronic chip that links thoughts with artificial limbs is already being developed, says Greenfield. But this is not the crisis that she refers to. She asserts that "our brains are under the influence of an ever-expanding world of new technology: multi-channel TV, video games, mp3 players, the internet, wireless networks, etc…” These devices, she argues, impacts on and shapes the micro-cellular structure of the brain, as well as on its biochemistry, which influences personality and behaviour. "When I say 'shaped', I'm not talking figuratively or metaphorically; I'm talking literally. At a microcellular level, the infinitely complex network of nerve cells that make up the constituent parts of the brain actually change in response to certain experiences and stimuli," says Greenfield. Screen-based, two-dimensional technology is directly linked with short attention spans and the
[fisher]
argues that "some students want nietzsche in the same way that they want a hamburger; they fail to grasp - and the logic of the consumer system encourages this misapprehension - that the indigestibility, the difficulty is nietzsche." if a medium is not easily digestible, it is abandoned and disliked.
pursuit of pleasure via technology becomes the main purpose of many lives. We could be raising a hedonistic generation, she asserts. The digital age is thus not only threatening notions of identity but, more importantly, moulding our brains as we use technological devices. McLuhan’s axiom, in an unanticipated manner, is now more true than ever: "we shape our tools and, in turn, our tools shape us." _Anette Barnard is a lecturer in Visual Culture at The Open Window
ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011 21
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22 ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011
PLATFORM A CULTURAL REVIEW OF SORTS
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GABRIELLE GUY JOE PUBLIC LOERIE AWARDS 2011 DIGGING UP THE UNDERGROUND
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the people's painter Tretchikoff: The People’s Painter is the first major publication about Vladimir Tretchikoff, one of the most iconic and controversial painters of the 20th century, to appear in several decades. This beautifully illustrated book reproduces all of his best-known work and is accompanied by a series of essays that explore his life, work and legacy. Published to accompany the first major retrospective exhibition of his work at the IZIKO South African National Gallery, it includes well-known and never before seen examples of Tretchikoff’s art as well as rare archival material from the Tretchikoff Archive. Gabrielle Guy designed the general template with a layout artist rolling out the final design. In addition to designing the book cover, she was involved with various elements for the accompanying exhibition – catalogue, posters, banners and more.
By design gabrielle guy and the simple pleasures of book design
Over the last decade or more, and following in the wake of the massive uptake in contemporary art locally, South Africa has seen a boom in art book publishing. Often produced on miniscule budgets, in small print runs and on pernicious deadlines, it is often the imprints (David Krut Publishing, Stevenson, Bell-Roberts Publishing, Jacana, Fernwood) that enjoy prominence over the invisible but committed coterie of designers that give this field its unique identity. After cutting her teeth as an editorial designer for Bell-Roberts Publishing, working on both its book and magazine titles, Gabrielle Guy has established herself as freelance designer specialising in print design. Her design style, while servicing a variety of client briefs, is marked by a delicate, understated flair. Her work epitomises Swiss graphic designer Josef Müller-Brockmann’s mantra, showcasing "a distinct arrangement of typographic and pictorial elements" and "the clear identification of priorities".
www.gabrielleguy.com
Images courtesy of Frank Ellis/Mario Todeschini
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an interview Sean O'Toole: Do you work from a studio, at home, or at the premises of whatever client is commissioning you that month? Gabrielle Guy: At home or at clients. SOT: Who would you most like to share a cup of coffee with and talk about leading, kerning, tracking and justification? GG: Alex Robertson, a designer friend of mine. SOT: Didone or Rockwell? GG: Didone. SOT: Your magazine and book designs show a playful but rigorous commitment to type. What is your favourite typeface and why? GG: Univers (a neo-grotesque sans serif, originally designed by Adrian Frutiger in the 1950s), for its purity, simplicity and perfection. SOT: Peet Pienaar or Frauke Stegmann? GG: Frauke Stegmann. SOT: If you could design a book cover for any book ever published, which one would
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be it? And how would you treat it? GG: The Fountainhead (1943) by Ayn Rand. It should be bold, simple and graphic, typographically driven with an illustrative element, influenced by Le Corbusier and the International Style. SOT: Where do you find inspiration for your print designs? Do you, for instance, go on long walks, trawl the internet, go to Milnerton Market, read a novel? GG: I look at magazines and books, trawl the internet a little, bake some cupcakes and then take an afternoon nap. SOT: Lowercase, mixed case or uppercase?
Gabrielle Guy
able, overpowering or distracting – it should be a quiet framework. You need to judge just how much to design without stealing attention away from the artworks themselves. SOT: Encapsulate your design philosophy in five words or less. GG: Attention to balance, space, detail. SOT: Has the internet changed the way we think about type? GG: Yes. SOT: Which publications do you read for insight and opinion into design?
GG: It depends on so many things…what the words are, if it’s the name of something or a sentence, what the shapes of the letters look like, what font I’m using, how big it’s going to be on a page. I don’t have a preference. It totally depends on the context/ situation.
GG: At the moment I'm reading a book by Bruno Munari called Design as Art.
SOT: What makes art catalogues tricky to design?
GG: I would never have chosen Futura for that.
GG: The artwork and artist that a catalogue/book showcases needs to be the hero. The design shouldn't be too notice-
_Sean O’Toole is a Cape Town-based writer and journalist
SOT: Finish this sentence. "Looking in her rear-view mirror at the huge billboard with its Futura typeface proclamation, designer Gabrielle Guy thought...
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standard bank young artist award Nicholas Hlobo’s first monograph, published on the occasion of the Standard Bank Young Artist Award 2009, traces his work from 2005 to 2009, including the making of his SBYA exhibition. Accompanying essays by Mark Gevisser, Kopano Ratele and Jen Mergel looks at aspects of Hlobo’s life and work in depth. "It was fantastic working on the Nicholas Hlobo book, as we had the opportunity to play a bit more than usual," states Guy. "Most art books require white, coated paper for the best picture reproduction, but seeing as how Nicholas' works aren't paintings or photographs, but rather sculptural-style installations (where he usually uses rubber and leather and ribbons and, when he does use paper it's an off-white Fabriano) I used Munken Pure Cream." Guy asked the binders to use pink and red threads for the threadsewing, and to leave the front covers unglued so that the binding (and threadsewing) are exposed. There were also special editions of the book which featured flexi-covers with black leather spines. "They're all very nice references to Nicholas' work," comments Guy.
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the artist monograph Both the Claudette Schreuders and Nandipha Mntambo books are artist monographs, though they are quite different in approach and feel. Claudette Schreuders 2011 is the first major monograph on the artist (covering 17 years of work), and was published by Prestel in Germany and distributed internationally. It took about four months to produce. The design and layout is quite simple and quiet, the way Claudette's work feels, and uses a combination of only two fonts – a sans serif (Gotham) and a serif (Minion Pro). For the special edition, Claudette painted a flat piece of wood with enamel, like she does her sculptures, which Guy had photographed and then printed digitally onto white canvas to cover the solander box. The book itself had an original drawing by Claudette tipped-in before the title page. The Nandipha Mntambo book was published to accompany the touring Standard Bank Young Artist 2011 exhibition, and it documents the artist's works from 2004 to the present. The format and feel follows other Stevenson publications – always a nearsquare format and using corporate fonts. Guy chose red as an accent colour as this reference's the bullfighter's cape, a major theme in Nandi's work. Throughout the book using the corporate fonts there are little 'flashes' of red, underlining work titles, and when Nandi speaks in the interview. The text pages were printed in two colours, red and black, onto Munken Lynx, while the image sections were printed full colour on Magno Matte. It was decided to produce the book in three versions – a soft cover (more affordable for an average visitor to the exhibition), a hard cover (for someone wanting something a little more special), and a customised artist's edition (aimed at collectors). For the softcover edition, Guy used Plike Red 330gsm, a material she hasn't used before, and the hardcovers were bound with red linen. Guy kept some sheets of this red linen which was then sent to Nandi to paint onto and embroider with cow hair; these were then used to bind round the books – another fun experiment.
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What to do about the why herman manson reports on joe public's journey to purpose
A radical rock star wannabe, Pepe Marais, executive creative director of Joe Public, describes how, in retrospect, he sees himself in the early days of his advertising career. Over the past 5 years he has come to redefine himself, cleaning up his act, in his words, in step with the transformation of the agency he co-founded with business partner Gareth Leck. Marais – and Joe Public – has gone looking for purpose, and he believes he and the Joe Public team has found it, by asking why. Why live life like we do, why do business as we do and, once an answer is found, what to do about the why? Marais (@pepemarias) doesn't give much away as to what initiated his personal quest for transformation – but a drive to find substance in life is a universal need, no matter what the trigger – and this may well have brought Marais to a point of introspection. Once found, of course, that quest for substance will permeate all aspects of life we deem significant. The business you helped found would definitely count in that category.
'take-away'
advertising concept
Leck and Marais initially launched Joe Public in Cape Town off the 'take-away' advertising concept – clients picked and paid standard rates for services from a menu – and, while successful, Marais says it wasn't sustainable over the long run as the agency grew. Joe Public was later bought by FCB which merged it and its 'second-agency brand' sibling Azaguys in 2004. It also closed the Cape Town office. Joe Public finally went independent again in 2009. Marais says the company could not be owned by others if it were really going to flourish. Being a 'second-agency brand' of another business was contradictory to where he and Leck wanted to go with the business, and they needed to lift the heavy hand that comes with being a subsidiary off the tiller to move ahead. Two years of negotiations preceded the buy-out but, ultimately, it was decided by Leck and Marais that they would leave if
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negotiations were not going to succeed. That pretty much decided it. The duo got their wish. And they won't be selling again, asserts Marais, who says they have refused two big networks already. At their recent office-warming, Leck described the process as "taking our destiny into our own hands again" and credits the move for creating "a great sense of possibility again" at the agency.
ask serious questions As they took back control of the business, Team Joe Public started to ask serious questions about the purpose of their business. A series of staff workshops over the course of six months resulted in Joe Public defining three core purposes for the business: to grow the people that work there, the people around them and their clients' brands. So growth in many guises and not just financial. As Leck explains, "Growth to the power of n: where ‘n’ is the leverage; where ‘n’ captures the sense of possibilities we want to promote, not just normal growth, but growth to the power of n; and where ‘n’ ultimately stands for the growth mindset – the mindset that makes you see every opportunity, every single day, and every temporary setback as opportunities to learn and grow. The mindset that is required to create powerful ideas – ideas that will make a meaningful difference to our brands." Today, Joe Public facilitates a process, 'why digging', with every Pepe Marais willing client who looks for the core purpose of that business. It's a process that helps brands step up to define what they really stand for. It is a process that contributed to helping vehicle tracking company Tracker transform from a product company to a service company, with a communication strategy aligned to the new business purpose, says Marais.
seeing the value Marais ascribes Joe Public's recent growth spurt to executives seeing the value of its Growthn strategic business proposition. Over the past three months, the company has added billings of over R90 million to the business after signing up Foodcorp (ATL), Cobra Taps and Incolabs (owners of Lipice and a host of other brands). The three companies own numerous FMCG brands between them. Marais says his own and Leck's hands on-approach and active engagement with clients have helped create the best work they have ever done, citing their work for Clover as an example of this. Their newfound financial responsibility (buying back an agency would do that to you) also translates to how they work with client budgets, says Marais. Joe Public believes in building long-term relationships with clients; Marais says the strategies that Joe Public puts in place takes several years to work through, in any case. He questions the long-term objective of much of the work the industry produces – and clients buy into. Much of the profit growth Joe Public is experiencing comes from work traditionally considered below the line, followed by retail and digital. Leck says it's a business he wants to keep on building; like Marais, he isn't looking to sell again. He's building a business he wants to leave to his kids someday – how many agency execs have you heard admit to that? So Joe Public, and its founders, have asked themselves some tough questions, and found some real answers. For them, the journey to purpose equals Growthn. It's personal, it's business, it's the basis, they hope, for something substantial, of purpose. In adland - how great is that?
_This article first appeared on BizCommunity.com. Manson is an independent media and marketing journalist. He blogs @marklives.com and Tweets @marklives
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hail the rock stars
review
sarah britten brings you the lowdown on what might have been the best loeries yet
Maybe it was just me. Maybe it was the half a glass of Sauvignon Blanc I’d sipped in the VIP area earlier that evening. But towards the end of Sunday night’s Loeries awards show, when The Hoff walked down the stairs dressed in his Baywatch gear, singing 'Hooked on a feeling' while surrounded by skipping, stiletto-clad, catsuit-wearing women, there was a palpable mania in the auditorium. With this we had reached the apotheosis of coolness. There was no possibility of bettering this, ever. “For a moment, we believe, we are convinced, that the ad industry is the coolest place to work, that nobody parties like we do, that all the pizza and Red Bull and client says no is worth it.” I wrote in my piece for the Sunday Times, which was aimed at people who, like 702 host John Robbie, refer to ad people as “ponytails”. “We don’t want to hate. We just want to create.” Was this the best Loeries ever? I encountered plenty of comment, online and in person, officially and anecdotally, to suggest that, yes, it was. Perhaps not the best year in terms of creative work, but if you’re talking organization, entertainment and awards shows that had the country’s toughest audiences screaming like Justin Bieber groupies for an ageing SABC news anchor and then a tanned and Botoxed Hollywood TV star who’s long since become a parody of himself, then, yes, it was a superb achievement.
creative mojo regained It’s been tough. Globally, the industry has been going through a protracted existential crisis thanks to the shift to digital and social media. The recession has seen budgets slashed with all the finesse of a Rolux Magnum. A celebration of our collective fabulousness – our genius, our creative mojo – was what we needed, and that’s what we got. Let me rewind to the workshop in Randburg where every single Loerie statue is polished to shining perfection before being put in a box to be driven to Cape Town by Loeries CEO Andrew Human. “This year’s Loeries are the best yet,” John Wiffen tells me. He’s the man who’s been making them since 1998, when he reworked the design. Human is, of course, an especially exacting client because his PhD in materials science gives him the kind of insight into the manufacturing process that few others could possess. This year, the statues were produced slightly differently: hand poured to reduce imperfections before being polished and electroplated. The Grands
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Prix are especially challenging to make, Wiffen explains, because the base is such an unusual shape. Those birds weigh 6.5kg. I can imagine one being used as a murder weapon in an Agatha Christie mystery: Hercule Poirot works out that the intern wacked the ECD over the head for taking credit for his idea.
not just the awards evenings The Loeries begin online well before the actual festivities start. One young woman announces she’s blown all her money on Loeries dresses; others bubble with anticipation at the prospect of the mother of all after parties. “FUCK!! The Loeries trip is ruined,” tweets one young copywriter, using the one word that nobody in the ad industry (yes, that includes me) can live without. “Looks like Cape Town might not happen. FUCK!! FUCK!!” His distress is movingly palpable. My own Loeries starts a week early, with a 3am Sunday wakeup call and a drive down to Cape Town in convoy with Andrew as part of a social media campaign for Land Rover, which has come on board as the official vehicle partner to the awards. His bright blue Freelander is packed to the brim with birds, the Grands Prix resting on the passenger seat beside him. The drive with the statues is part of the ritual of the Loeries for him, as is the post-Loeries drive back. One year, he was hijacked the night before the drive to Margate. Fortunately, car, statues and his beloved Basset hound Jaques (who was in the car with him) were soon recovered. No such dramas this year, luckily. During our stop over in Beaufort West, Andrew hauls out his MacBook and shows us the Riaan Cruywagen Loeries ad, which has just been uploaded onto YouTube. The hits are building nicely. Nobody knows yet that Cruywagen is going to be a host on Saturday night; I can’t wait to see the response. During the week, Andrew and his team get busy with final preparations, while I go off to do my own thing, delivering a seminar on digital identity at a conference and a talk on the Land Rover Loeries campaign to a Master’s class at UCT. Over dinner at the Mount Nelson, I talk about advertising to Professor Ian Glenn, who’s head of the university’s Centre for Film and Media Studies. It’s always interesting to get the perspective of academics on our industry. I bring up the subject of hipsters. “Is that a type of trouser?” he asks, in all seriousness. When I’m not lecturing, I’m up half the night uploading content, then not sleeping, then getting up early to carry on. My car is full of empty Red Bull cans.
At some point, I come close to collapsing from exhaustion; it occurs to me that this is something you’re supposed to do after the Loeries, not before.
event horizon On the first day of registration, I arrive at the Grand Daddy Hotel to see a YouTube crew striding along Long Street and Riaan Cruywagen crossing the road. It must be a sign. Inside, I collect my media badge as well the tickets and wristbands that will gain me access to the awards shows and various parties. A creative director type walks into the media centre, looking confused. He’s perplexed by the dress code for the awards shows. Black tie? “This is my suit,” he says, tugging at his T-shirt. Reading my work emails, it emerges that one of Y&R’s art directors stars in the Loeries ad with Riaan Cruywagen. “I’m the only one in advertising confident enough to appear in a bikini,” she tells me later. Cruywagen works very hard, and enjoys gardening and being with his grandchildren, she reports.
all paths have landmarks "Some are easier to see than others. But let us concede that the Loeries is one of them,” de Lille tells the audience. “It is the expression of an industry we want to foster…a symbol of what we want to be and a reassuring marker along the road that lets us know we are going the right way.” An economics professor has recently calculated that the Loeries is worth up to R100 million to the local economy; no wonder Cape Town is so keen to win the Loeries for the next three years. The next morning, I take a walk to the slave church next to the Grand Daddy Hotel to retrieve my goodie bag and examine its contents. There’s a box of Milo cereal, a vial of energy drink, a copy of Luercher’s Archive, amongst other things. Also a brochure on sports bras, which strikes me as rather strange given the topless women handing out shooters to arrivals at registration, but there you go. I chat to a previous winner of the Creative Future Scholarship – Zwelisha Giampetri (how’s that for a glorious mashup of culture) will later stand on stage with Andrew to announce that this year’s winner is Ayesha Daniels from Gardens Commercial in Cape Town.
On the way to the media lunch in Camps Bay, I take a ride with Andrew, ididthatad’s Julie Maunder and two journalists from Shots magazine here to do a special on Cape Town. We find ourselves behind an old Range Rover, the original Sloane Ranger-mobile, with a worried-looking German Shepherd in the back, trying to keep its balance. The sky is blue, the sea bluer. At the lunch, Mike Schalit talks about the new Oude Meester ad with Jamie Foxx. A week later, I’ll read in the Saturday Star’s social column that Therese Owen thinks ad people are a happy bunch, willing to celebrate the industry. None of the egos she finds at the SAMAs. Riaan Cruywagen has been spotted, and the rumours about him and The Hoff are flying thick and fast on Twitter. When he appears on stage, he’s greeted like a rock god. And he’s a revelation: funny, selfdeprecating, willing to play up to his image. “I will never be gone,” he says ominously, in a reference to his creepily ageless appearance. He’s been reading the news to us for 35 years, but he will never earn as much respect as he did for spending all those hours in a wet suit in a hot tub.
don't hate, create
Two Grands Prix are handed out, one for Network BBDO and their accident avoidance radio campaign for Mercedes-Benz, the other for Ogilvy Cape Town’s silent marching band live activation for Volkswagen. Car brands are doing well this year. “This is the best radio team in the world,” Network’s Rob McLennan tells the media contingent at the conference after the show. “Don’t be a ha-a-a-ter,” Kwesta raps at the sound check for the MTV after party on Sunday morning. The beat is hypnotic; the mitochondria in my cells want to march straight back to the Pleistocene and get down on the dancefloor. It’s a song he’s adapted especially for the Loeries, based on the campaign developed by DraftFBC: don’t hate, create. Ah, the haters. While all of this is going on, the spirit of John Farquhar rises from the ooze to roar at the indifferent universe. They’re all forgotten at Sunday night’s show. The crowd, softened by Riaan Cruywagen, are in an expansive mood, and they’re cheering for everyone, even the politicians. “Ordinary is getting expensive” says Loeries chairperson Boniswa Pesiza, to rapturous applause. When the Knight Rider theme tune starts, it’s what we’ve been hoping for, and we scream with delight.
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The Hoff bounds onto stage in sparkly jacket and from then on it’s collective mania. Up go the phones, ready to photograph and tweet every single moment of this to everyone who isn’t lucky enough to be in that auditorium with us. The Hoff is looking pretty good, a lot better than Jan-Michael Vincent, the star of Airwolf. I think: I could be sitting at home enacting my usual ritual of Sunday ennui, watching Carte Blanche and then wanting to slit my wrists after watching Carte Blanche. This is much better. The Hoff is great. He sings, he dances, he makes bad puns. “I feel ‘Hoffle’ that I can’t stay in Cape Town,” he tells the audience. He even has a sense of humour about himself. “Cheeseburger!” someone calls out. “11 million hits, baby” he shoots back. “Don’t knock it.” After singing “Hooked on a feeling”, he shakes hands with Patricia de Lille, who arrives on stage to present the third and final Grand Prix to HelloComputer. It’s a wonderfully surreal moment. When you think about it, Cruywagen and The Hoff have filled the spaces between the ad breaks for years, and it was entirely apt that the ad industry should acknowledge them. But bringing one of South Africa’s most idiosyncratic political icons together with a magnificently tanned and Botoxed global TV star was the ultimate irony, the kind of brainstorming-onRed Bull genius that only the Loeries could pull off.
hail the media At the media conference after the awards, I marvel at the sight of the two of them together. “Any questions for The Hoff?” tweets one member of the media contingent. “Is he willing to take Winnie Mandela on a date?” responds a social media strategist. “I was in love with you when I was 6 years old,” I tell him. “Jan-Michael Vincent came along, but you’ve aged a lot better than Jan-Michael Vincent.” He loves it. “Why thank you,” he says. “We’ve had two standing ovations for MCs from the toughest audience in the country,” Andrew points out later. (I wasn’t in Margate in 2006, when Nick Rabinowitz was booed off stage, but I’d love to have seen it.) The Hoff was chosen, he explains, “because of his ironic appeal and also his crossover success – he is known and liked by three generations and has mainstream appeal as well as in the creative industry, which is difficult to find.” The strategist in me is impressed: they could not have made a more perfect choice if they had tried. I’m sorry to
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miss The Hoff at the after party. I spot him purring off in one of the Range Rovers I helped arrange – LDCT 1 – as I arrive, and there’s a certain comfort in knowing that his VIP transport needs have been well taken care of. Trinity is heaving with people; the Loeries have taken over the club itself and also the bus depot next door. I find the bar in the marquee and ask for Vitaminwater with a shot of vodka. In the melee I find Paige Nick, the top ranked writer at the 2010 Loeries. Together we gaze at the women on stilts dressed as dogs who stalk through the crowd. Is this kind of Bacchanal, this carnivalesque celebration of the outre, a hangover from the past, as one guest suggested to me earlier? “It’s the only way,” she smiles. I head over to the VIP section in the club, flashing my Rock Star Pass at the door. “It’s flippen crazy here,” one woman yells into her companion’s ear. I photograph the dancers on stage with Goldfish with the 3D LG camera phone I’ve brought with me. They’re dressed as Star Wars storm troopers and they’re doing interesting things with light sabers. When I look at them later, in the sober light of day, the images dance on the screen: blue, surreal. From another world. My feet are killing me, so I hobble around the corner to my hotel room, where I fetch a pair of comfortable shoes, bright pink ones. I reckon I’m the only woman at that party wearing Crocs. A man not much more than half my age starts dancing with me, stroking my arm, asking what I do (he can’t possibly have seen the shoes). I hand him my business card – I must have Japanese blood in me somewhere – and flee to the sanctuary of the salon privé. There I find Andrew, schmoozing the movers and shakers. In his dark suit, Paul Smith shirt and hipster spectacles he looks like he’s wandered off the set of Mad Men. He’s all bonhomie, as he should be: this year’s Loeries have been a triumph. Superbly organized, fantastically entertaining and genuinely celebratory. The follow-up coverage reflects as much. It takes me three days before I have the heart to cut off my Rock Star Pass. If only I could wear one in every aspect of my life, I think. Confession time: I may have a weakness for that kind of badge. Also a weakness for Crocs, white wine and alliteration, so I decide to sum up the 33rd annual Loerie Awards in three words: exhilarating, exhausting and remarkably enlightening. Somebody should give them a Grand Prix. _Sarah Britten is Strategic Planning Director at Y&R Johannesburg
DIGGING UP THE UNDERGROUND it's always free with mahala
Andy Davis's name may forever be associated with the defunct student magazine SL. It really shouldn't be. The not terribly rebellious and long-dead youth magazine, which he used to edit in the early part of the previous decade, has been properly usurped by the creation of Davis's own publication – the youth-orientated Mahala magazine and website. Launched in April 2009, the website was supposed to be followed by a print magazine in August of the same year, but the Great Recession delayed the printed version's launch until August 2010, when the first print edition of Mahala (which means 'for free') finally went out to subscribers. After Davis left SL, he started his own content marketing outfit called Jingo. He worked on projects for FNB, Levi's and Red Bull,
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in-between surfing and freelance gigs for Sunday Times Travel, the Mail & Guardian and ZigZag magazine. It all went very well – so well, in fact – that Mahala, which was conceptualised in 2003, stayed nothing more than an item on Davis's to do list. As his contract clients cut budgets and killed the projects he was working on, Davis finally had the time to launch his 'life's work' in Mahala – which he did using his savings of around R300 000. The core Mahala team consists of Davis, deputy editor Roger Young, Brandon Edmonds, Montle Moorosi and a team of new young writers out of Jozi, including Lindokuhle Nkosi. Around 40 per cent of the contributions to Mahala are unsolicited, and Davis and Young spend a lot of time coaching new writers on polishing their writing.
review
Davis says the cultural space in South Africa has definitely been under-reported while local underground culture stayed off the mainstream media's radar. Mahala aims to be a critical voice of SA youth culture – its content moves beyond the 'local is lekker' mantra to something much more authentic, critical and entertaining. Mahala offers cultural reporting with brains and balls – the last time I read anything like that was in the mid-90s in the M&G (thanks to Shaun de Waal). Have you seen its take on MK – that barometer of Afrikaans youth culture? Asks Davis, "Will the music channel eventually descend into some kind of alt-rock laager around Die Taal or will it be able to embrace the new paradigm of a more inclusive SA youth culture? The question those who run the channel need to ask themselves: is MK a SA youth music channel or is it a commercial entity that makes its living off Afrikaans culture fetishists?"
doesn't bow at the altar
And Mahala doesn't bow at the altar of SA's biggest zef export, Die
Antwoord, either. "By most accounts Waddy Jones was always a bit of c*nt. And now Ninja, with the fame rushing to his head, is starting to display the same paranoid cuntish tendencies," starts one review. Everybody has tendencies these days, and while Mahala does sometimes stretch theirs a little past breaking point, as with one ode to wanking and surfing ("Surfing is Wanking", Mahala issue 2), it's incredible to read simply because you know you won't read it anywhere else on the SA web. Or on anything. Davis describes the magazine as post-racial and its readers as the first generation representing a truly integrated segment of our population. While fully aware of their race, says Davis, the kids are no longer hung up on it, and are treating it in an increasingly irrelevant tone. It definitely positions the magazine at the forefront of what Davis describes as "progressive and fearless SA youth". When Davis talks about youth, he isn't talking tweens. The readership extends from 18- to 35-year-olds, with the bulk comprising 25-35-year-olds. Brands such as Puma, Red Bull, 8ta and Billabong have all signed with Mahala, proving, says Davis, that Mahala really does deliver its market segment.
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ring-fence editorial content Even so, Davis is considering initiatives to ring-fence editorial content. He believes the current publishing model is broken: publishers should be creating content for readers – not advertisers. Their dependence on advertising money for survival means marketer's needs often influence what gets into a magazine and what does not. His contract with his audience is something he cherishes and funding from foundations and through crowdsourcing are several options currently being investigated by the Mahala team. The site has around 25 000 unique monthly users but it's a figure Davis believes can be built out to 50 000 or even 80 000 in time. The magazine's print run stands at 10 000. While he took a financial knock on the first issue, the last two both managed to cover cost. Currently quarterly, the aim is to ultimately produce six issues a year. Davis is keen to create residency programmes in other African countries. Culture, and underground youth culture, is everywhere, of course, and nobody is really digging around for relevant content on the rest of the continent. Davis sees a gap here, especially as global interest rises in the continent and its people, and he believes an international audience can be found for more Africa-themed Mahala-style content. This in turn, says Davis, will allow him to build a network with the young creative scenes in countries outside SA.
close eye on the tablet market Mahala is also keeping a close eye on the tablet market – Davis says he thinks a tablet product will be available from Mahala within the next two years unless it gets fasttracked with outside financing. The multiple platforms he works on makes the business scalable – he goes where his audience is – a belief he shares with the mavericks over at the Daily Maverick and the newly-launched tablet newspaper iMaverick. Mahala is a brave, independent magazine, a product of passion and guts and editorially far beyond any youth culture magazine SA has seen before. Its channel-neutral format will stand it in good stead, and its passion for and success with its audience serves as a reminder to publishers about their own priorities, and is as much a measure of its success as its ability to survive in spite of the Great Recession. _This article first appeared on BizCommunity.com. Manson is an independent media and marketing journalist. He blogs @marklives.com and Tweets @marklives
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the same but new the same but new the same but new
Introducing 4 new shimmer colours Introducing 4 4new shimmer colours Introducing new shimmer colours natural Blue natural natural Blue Blue shimmer grey shi m mer whi t eshi m mer Shimmer shimmer shimmer whiwhiteshiteshimmer mmer greygreyshimshimermmer Shimmer Shimmer
With the qualities you have come to expect fromleading this leading With all theall qualities you have come to to expect from this With all the qualities you have come expect from this leading business paper, Opale’s latest range of papers now also offers business paper, Opale’s latest range of of papers now also offers business paper, Opale’s latest range papers now also offers striking new characteristics including a recycled FSC option as well striking new characteristics including a recycled FSC option as as well striking new characteristics including a recycled FSC option well as the famous environmental accreditation FSC. as as thethe famous environmental accreditation FSC. famous environmental accreditation FSC. If you have not yet received your brochure please call your If you have notnot yetyet received your brochure please call your If you have received your brochure please call your Antalis Sales Representative. For further information, contact us on: Antalis Sales Representative. ForFor further information, contact us us on:on: Antalis Sales Representative. further information, contact marketing.print@antalis.co.za or +27 11 688 6000 marketing.print@antalis.co.za or or +27 11 11 688688 6000 marketing.print@antalis.co.za +27 6000
Work produced on this paper is eligible for Art of Design 2010. Work produced on on thisthis paper is eligible for Art of Design 2010. Work produced paper is eligible for Art of Design 2010.
ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011 39
technology
Performance redefined canon unlocks new possibilities for professional photographers with the eos-1d x
Canon has announced its new EOS-1D X digital SLR camera. The new model launches as the flagship in Canon’s DSLR lineup and marks the 10th generation of Canon’s professional system. The culmination of 40 years’ experience in developing professional cameras, the EOS-1D X represents a new era for the EOS system and supersedes both the EOS-1D Mark IV and the EOS-1Ds Mark III. Combining a new 18.1MP full-frame sensor, a redesigned autofocus (AF) system and powerful new metering technology with new dual DIGIC 5+ processors, the camera has been designed to offer unparalleled usability and image quality, according to Canon. "The EOS-1D X is the ultimate camera for all types of photographer," says Roger Machin, Photo Video Product Manager at Canon South Africa. "Professionals often shoot in fast-paced, high pressure situations, and the EOS-1D X provides the features and performance they need. We’ve carefully listened to the needs of professionals and created a versatile, powerful camera that will meet the requirements of more photographers than ever before."
new standards The EOS-1D X offers a comprehensively-upgraded specification that’s packed with new technologies. A newly-developed full-frame 18.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor offers exceptional flexibility, allowing photographers to shoot a wider range of scenes and subjects in high resolution. The redesigned architecture offers an incredible ISO range of 10051200, expandable up to 204800, while dual DIGIC 5+ processors offer a 2-stop improvement in noise performance – making it easier to capture outstanding quality, low noise images, even in extreme low-light conditions.
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The new 61-point wide-area autofocus system offers even greater sensitivity, delivering increased precision and speed. With 41 crosstype points, including five dual cross-type points, the camera’s AF system offers unsurpassed accuracy across the frame, while new AF pre-sets are specifically designed for shooting common challenging subjects – providing exceptional reliability in notoriously difficult shooting situations, according to Canon. The EOS-1D X also features a newly-designed RGB metering system, providing incredible levels of accuracy. A 100 000 pixel RGB metering sensor is linked to the AF system and powered by its own dedicated processor, detecting faces and colour to ensure correct exposure levels and improved AF tracking, even when shooting the most challenging of scenes.
raw power Powered by next-generation processing technology, the EOS-1D X is the first-ever camera to feature dual DIGIC 5+ processors. Offering performance up to three times faster than standard DIGIC 5, each processor is designed to manage huge levels of image data while simultaneously reducing image noise. In combination with the sensor’s 16-channel read-out, the dual processors enable full-resolution continuous shooting up to 12fps with 14-bit A/D conversion and full camera operation – the fastest of any DSLR currently available . A super high-speed mode extends the shooting speed to 14fps , while a new shutter and mirror mechanism reduces shutter lag and mirror bounce, delivering consistently high performance when shooting at high speed.
technology
"the eos-1d x represents the re-invention of the eos-1ds and eos-1d series"
the filmmaker's dslr The EOS-1D X is ideal for all professionals who want to exploit the EOS system’s extensive selection of lenses and accessories – whether shooting stills or HD movies. Users can record Full HD (1920x1080p) movies from the full-frame sensor with a full range of manual settings to control exposure, focus and frame rate, while sound levels can also be displayed and adjusted on the LCD screen. Thanks to DIGIC 5+ moiré artefacts are reduced, while EOS Movie now offers longer recording options, automatically creating a new file once the 4GB file limit has been reached. A new intra frame video codec also maintains the highest possible video quality, limiting compression of image data so users retain increased levels of information for post-production editing.
designed for pros The EOS-1D X offers a carefully revised version of the classic EOS-1 series design, with larger, more tactile buttons that make it easier for users to control settings – even in extreme conditions where gloves are required. Two multi-controllers and a touch-sensitive control wheel, for use in movie mode, make it easier to change settings, while a range of customisable function buttons allow users to set-up the camera to suit their individual needs by allowing shortcuts to the features and pre-sets they use most. A 100% viewfinder makes framing each scene easy, while intelligent viewfinder functionality instantly adds a grid display when required. A large 8.11cm (3.2”) Clear View II LCD screen offers a 1040K-dot resolution, and the anti-reflective structure prevents light reflections
or glare when viewing images in bright conditions. A hardened glass cover also provides resistance to knocks and scratches commonly picked up while shooting on the move. The menu system also features a comprehensively redesigned user interface, incorporating Help functions to make camera operation faster, clearer and easier. Additionally, a new dedicated AF tab allows photographers to access and customise AF pre-sets for common shooting situations or subjects, allowing users to concentrate on capturing the moment without the need to constantly adjust camera settings. An integrated gigabit Ethernet port provides a fast, reliable way to transfer images from on-location events or in a studio, without the need for an adaptor.
accessories Launching alongside the EOS-1D X is the new WFT-E6 – a compact WiFi transmitter designed for transferring images when a wired connection isn’t available. Supporting the 802.11n WiFi standard and offering Bluetooth support for connectivity to external GPS devices, the WFT-E6 offers secure transfer of images and video to an FTP server, or the ability to display content on a compatible screen over a DLNA connection. The EOS-1D X will also be compatible with a new GPS receiver – the GP-E1. Enabling users to add location information to EXIF data and geographically track the progress of a travelling shoot, the GP-E1 is particularly useful for wildlife or location-based photographers who may need to record the location of a scene for future reference. The EOS-1D X is scheduled to ship in March 2012. www.canon.co.za
ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011 41
technology
Media express
blackmagic ships world's first thunderbolt video product
Blackmagic Design's new UltraStudio 3D uses Apple's Thunderbolt high-speed interface to support as much as dual-stream 3D video, 2K 2D video and 1080p, 60FPS 2D over SDI. UltraStudio 3D is a compact and portable solution that uses the new interface for balanced analogue and AES/EBU digital audio capture and playback, according to Blackmagic. This makes UltraStudio 3D perfect for 3D workflows as it features interleaved, side by side, frame packed and dual stream capture and playback. Dual stream 3D allows customers to use the UltraStudio 3D dual link SDI connections to capture and play back two streams – one for the left eye and one for the right eye. The two streams are recorded into two separate media files.
media express Dual stream 3D is higher quality because each eye is full resolution video, but dual stream is less compatible with current editing software. To solve this problem, Blackmagic's Media Express 3 has been upgraded to handle both interleaved and dual stream 3D for capture and playback of 3D media for a complete 3D solution, according to the company. With SDI, HDMI and analogue video capture and playback, com-
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bined with balanced analogue and AES/EBU digital audio, UltraStudio 3D lets customers connect to all decks, cameras and monitors. UltraStudio 3D instantly switches between SD, HD and 2K, so is the ideal solution for all post production and broadcast users when working on design, editing, paint and effects tasks. UltraStudio 3D is also based on a new internal hardware design with support for 10-bit SDI video and full support for video rates up to 1080p60 via SDI, HDMI and analogue component. Thunderbolt technology easily handles this quality, and allows high-end post production quality and features in a portable design.
final word To use UltraStudio 3D you need a Mac with a Thunderbolt port as well as an editing suite that recognises it, such as Final Cut Studio, Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro, Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve and a few others. Integrating dual-stream 3D needs the bundled Media Express 3 application since most can only show 3D in a single feed. Blackmagic Design UltraStudio 3D retails for US$995.
www.blackmagic-design.com
technology
3d
Print in 3D printing could just be the technology to reshape the world
Many people are amazed when they first hear about 3D printing. They often believe it’s like the fictional Star Trek replicator, which was able to reproduce virtually any object within a few seconds. Miraculous, but we’re not quite there – yet. Unlike Star Trek, real 3D printing is much more understandable and actually quite similar to technologies people already understand, such as inkjet printing. The key concept is that 3D printing is 'additive', meaning the object is constructed by gradually adding more material until the desired shape is achieved. Typically, material is added in vertically stacked layers, one by one, from bottom to top. But that’s where it gets a little bit complicated. It turns out there are many different ways to perform 'additive manufacturing'. It all depends on the form of the print media. Yes, there’s media, just like 2D printers have ink. Some printers use powdered media, which could be as complex as an exotic proprietary plastic or just plain table sugar. Usually the powder is spread thinly over the floor of the 'build chamber' and then a mechanical arm moves over the powder to fuse/glue/ melt specific portions of the powder into the shape of that layer. More powder is spread over top and the sequence repeats until the final top layer is constructed. The object must then be extracted from a tub full of unfused powder and cleaned up. Other printers use a more direct approach, similar to inkjet printers. A print head moves about the build chamber, depositing the media on specific areas. The build chamber’s floor then lowers a very small distance and the process repeats for the second and subsequent layers until the final top layer is produced. A third common approach is to use sheet media, such as plastic sheets or even common paper. Sheets are inserted into the build chamber one at a time, where they are cut and fused to the layer below. This eventually builds up into the final object. Paper printers are among the least expensive to operate due to their widely available print media. Once built, objects may have to be polished or painted. All of the above technologies exist today, but they are gradually improving in capability as each month passes. Even better, pricing for printers and print media continue to fall.
bits from bytes UK-based Bits from Bytes recently announced the availability of a new desktop printer designed to help architects and design professionals present their ideas in a corporeal style. According to local distributor Studio X, the Bits from Bytes 3000 3D printer gives these professionals a new dimension to impress clients when pitching new concepts.
Comments Ivan Shamley of Studio X, "By taking designs created on a 3D CAD program, the 3000 is able to build models from both rapid prototyping and rapid manufacturing." This, he asserts, will help clients understand a structural design better by presenting them with a scaled model they can touch and see from multiple angles. Bits from Bytes 3D printers are based on additive layer manufacturing methods. Using thermoplastics, a BFB 3D printer heats the material through the extruder (or print head). The extruder then pushes out a very fine plastic thread which is applied layer by layer according to x and y co-ordinates, building a solid 3D object. Priced at around R30 000, Bits from Bytes sales director Andy McLaren said the company wanted to create a 3D printer that was affordable. "The cost-prohibitive nature of 3D printers means that many practices were unable to output three-dimensional models and prototypes," McLaren said. As the price of 3D printing decreases and its availability increases, the technology will become more prevalent in homes and across several industries. According to Shamley, the biggest advantage of the Bits from Bytes printer is the low purchase price and running costs of R1 per gram of material. www.studiox.co.za; www.3d-printer.co.za
ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011 43
technology
App factory
easy publishing to ipad with quarkxpress and app studio
Earlier this year, when QuarkXPress 9 came out, most people remarked that it was missing its headline new feature: App Studio. Now, with the release of the 9.1 update, Quark has remedied this Essentially, the App Studio allows you to create native apps for the iPad using all the design tools familiar to QuarkXPress users, and without the need for any complex coding work. As such, it gives publishers a fairly quick and cheap method for creating book and magazine apps which, coupled with the App Store market place, makes for a fairly compelling business model. There are three stages to publishing via the App Studio: first you have to create an issue; then you have to build the app which customers can use to read the issue; finally, you have to get the issue into the App Store.
create an issue When you create a new document there’s a new App Studio layout option. This gives you the iPad screen size, though you can set the margins. Quark has said that it will add support for other devices, and even web apps. This then creates two blank layouts side by side, for vertical and horizontal layouts. The two layouts are synchronised together as a single Layout Family, so adding or deleting a page from one layout will automatically have the same effect on the other. You can also export existing print layouts into tablet-friendly editions but they can only be viewed in one orientation. As well as the standard design tools, there’s also an extra App Studio window, which lets you add some interactivity. So, for example, you can set up pictures which expand to full screen when double-clicked, and you can pan and zoom within those pictures. You can also add captions with extra information, and can set up slide shows to expand on a particular topic. You can also include movies and audio tracks, with options to embed those in the app or link to an external site to keep file sizes down. Other options include buttons, links to websites and adding scroll bars to windows.
build an app Once you’ve created the issue, the next stage is to build the app. For this Quark supplies a standalone program, App Studio Factory, which you can find in the App Studio folder. It’s easy to use – just pick a template from the selection and then customise it to suit the products you want to publish. This could be a title, for example, or the App
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could cover a collection of loosely related issues or books. Or you could simply embed the issue within the app and then sell it as a oneoff event. You have to get a template licence from Quark before you can go any further. You then have to register your iPad with it in order to test your apps with that iPad before submitting the finished product to Apple.
what it costs To publish to the iPad with App Studio, designers and publishers need to purchase an app template licence and an issue licence pack from Quark, which are one-off costs required for each app created and each issue published to the app. Other than these two costs, the Apple developer account required by Apple and the cost of hosting the content, there are no ongoing fees.
previewing your app You can test your app using Quark’s App Studio Issue Previewer, available for free from the App Store. In theory you can run this through the iOS Simulator on a Mac, but it works very nicely on an iPad too. Simply use the Previewer app to generate a URL, then type this into a web browser on your Mac to bring up the Upload page. Choose the .zave file, created when you export the issue and, providing your iPad’s WiFi is turned on, the file appears in the Previewer app on the iPad. You can also upload the file through iTunes when you synch your iPad, but the WiFi option is a very neat way of checking how your app looks. QuarkXPress 9.1 is available now for Mac OS X and Windows.
www.qmedia.co.za
technology
Work those apps twixl media introduces digital publishing solution
Twixl Publisher from Twixl media is a publishing solution that takes projects from InDesign to iPad. Specifically, it is a combination of a stand-alone (Mac OS X) application and a plug-in for Adobe InDesign CS5. It converts and exports traditionally created documents into interactive reader applications by integrating content such as photo slide shows, audio, video and more into a seamless iPad blend. The company is targeting designers, marketeers and publishers with the solution. "The iPad is the fastest growing consumer product ever,” says Luk Dhondt, product manager at Twixl media. "With its ongoing sales records, the demand and market potential for interactive reader applications on the iPad or similar devices is tremendous – people are looking for cleverly devised interactive content.” Twixl Publisher offers an alternative for the publishing solutions currently available on the market,” Dhondt continues, "as we are able to meet the need for affordable solutions that are simpler to use, simpler to deploy and simpler to maintain."
game changer "The iPad is rapidly changing the game of publishing, e-commerce and advertising," says local distributor Theunis de Bruin. Twixl Publisher offers designers, marketers and publishers a host of unlimited creative applications and business opportunities. Reader applications for the iPad bring additional solutions and services to a growing number of clients and end-users. "Users are waiting and prepared to pay for new, creatively designed content on their favourite reading device. Ultimately, it turns the traditional reader experience into a far more exciting, powerful and interactive experience," says de Bruin. Twixl Publisher can create iPad applications for a great variety of
sectors and applications. Magazines are one obvious application, but Twixl Publisher can also be used for sales presentations, annual reports, newsletters, manuals, brochures, datasheets and more. "Applications for Twixl Publisher are endless as it offers tremendous opportunities to share any interactive content that is available at any time and at any location,” de Bruin concludes.
www.twixlmedia.com
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process
It's still
publishing eva csernyanszky explains how publishers may make the leap into digital publishing Eva Csernyanszky
Print design often follows a complex design and editorial workflow process – with the end goal of generating compelling and informative magazines, newspapers, catalogues and product guides. With the rising popularity of mobile devices and tablets, designers are now challenged with creating both print and digital reading experiences. To do this, designers frequently hand off design assets to an online team, which results in an online experience that fails to convey the same aesthetic and brand qualities inherent in the original print design. All too often, the brand experience is lost in translation.
step up As digital publications appeal more to younger, techno-savvy consumers, what this means for print designers is that they have to adapt to the times – or risk dying out. Print designers, especially those who have been in the industry for more than a decade, and who perhaps were reluctant to go the web route because of coding, will find the transition to digital publishing quite easy as emerging tools automate the process to a large degree. While solutions from vendors such as Twixl media and Aquafadas offer seemingly more attractive initial pricing structures, in my experience the reporting services and hosted online tools offered by Adobe's Digital Publishing Suite cannot be beaten – especially for larger publishing houses. Adobe’s cutting-edge software opens up a brand new communications medium to South African advertisers and publishers, enabling them to publish digital content with an interactive dimension on tablet devices such as the Apple iPad, Blackberry PlayBook, Samsung Galaxy Tab and Motorola Xoom.
Dashboard: Adobe Digital Publishing Suite
Folio Producer: Adobe Digital Publishing Suite
suite life Using Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite, layout designers can add interactive elements to a client’s message. Traditionally, the consumer’s experience of an advertisement would be a static image with a tag line, but digital publishing provides an opportunity to draw the user into a product by bringing the ad or entire publication to life, allowing him to navigate through the content and choose his own experience. This offers advertisers, in particular, the chance to break through the advertising
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Analytics: Adobe Digital Publishing Suite
process
clutter currently bombarding consumers on a daily basis, and even keep readers coming back for the experience. The immersive nature of the experience makes the user feel more connected to a brand, which in turn creates more brand loyalty. This has been corroborated by studies carried out at the University of Connecticut in Stamford, USA, which have shown that those who engage with a brand in this way have a heightened awareness of that brand afterwards.
it's still layout
Simply told, the process starts with Adobe InDesign CS5 or CS5.5. Extensions and plug-ins, which are free to download from the Adobe website, provide designers with the tools to create, preview and bundle digital documents for mobile devices and tablets. The key components are the Overlay Creator panel, the Content Viewer for Desktop, the Folio Bundler and the Folio Producer, which is an online tool available for Digital Publishing Suite (DPS) account holders only. The Overlay Creator enables designers to directly insert interactivity into layouts destined for tablets. Interactivity includes panning and zooming of images, panoramic views, 360-degree rotation of objects and the integration of HTML5 content and more. The Content Viewer for Desktop, an Adobe AIR-based application, enables designers to preview layouts and interactivity before outputting them for publication, while the Folio Producer panel provides DPS account holders with access to the full range of online hosted services of the Digital Publishing Suite.
choose a version Making the choice between the Professional and the more comprehensive Enterprise Digital Publishing Suite account will depend entirely on the scope of a publication’s distribution – and whether or not the online services for managing, selling and distributing a digital publication to online market places such as the Android Market, BlackBerry App World and Apple iStore are required. Subscribing to a DPS account can be a tough decision, especially for smaller organizations, as the upfront costs seem extravagant at first, due to the fact that account fees must be paid a year in advance before a single online publication is sold. However, one only has to examine costs of printing and transportation of the printed product (and consider the additional advantages of distributing the content digitally) to realize that these may far exceed the the initial investment. While there are significant differences between print and digital publications, choosing a digital medium has definite advantages, not only to the bottom line. Digital magazines consume no paper, ink or chemicals, nor do they end up in landfills. Today, only a small percentage of printed publications are recycled from home, according to the Magazine Publishers Association. Contemplate that a magazine of 68 pages, offering a small circulation of 20 000 copies, for example, would consume around 12 tons of paper, with transportation adding to the environmental burden.
Furthermore, digital magazines can be indexed by leading search engines, providing an additional way in which to draw new readers to the publication. Digital magazines are simple to update, can be viewed online, downloaded for off-line reading or archived and retrieved for future enjoyment. Long leads times are a thing of the past, too, as digital magazines can deliver breaking news faster than most print publications. (At the time of going to press, Adobe had announced the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite Single Edition which, according to the company, allows freelance designers and small design firms to publish interactive content on the Apple iPad. With a fee of US$395 per application, Single Edition offers an affordable and flexible end-toend workflow for the publication of brochures, highly-visual books, annual reports or personal design portfolios as an application for the iPad. – Ed)
folio producer service The Folio Producer Service facilitates the upload of the .folio publication file to the online account to assemble and reorder content, add .folio article metadata and refine the final .folio file as it will appear in published form on tablet devices. An Enterprise account offers the Viewer Builder Service to create the branded lookand-feel of a distinct publication, and the Distribution Service stores and hosts the digital content and distributes it across tablet devices and desktops, as well as seamlessly notifying readers within the branded Content Viewer when a update or new content is available for purchase or download. The E-commerce service, also for Enterprise account holders, facilitates the sale and distribution of content from the publisher’s website or through online marketplaces. The final offering, by no means the least, is the Analytics Service, a tool highly valued by advertisers in that key data reports, including total ad views and customer engagement with interactive content, can be viewed at any time to measure the effectiveness of ads and reach of the publication.
tough choices You also have to consider that online market places will charge for every download in addition to paying for the bundles of downloads bought from Adobe, and Apple retaining a significant 30% of revenue from sales – but global reach should make that lighter to bear. With local magazines already signed and many more in the pipeline, all that remains is to take the creative leap by getting in touch with your regional Adobe partner and ensuring that your content remains innovative and accessible.
_Eva Csernyanszky heads up Friends of Design Academy of Digital Arts in Cape Town
ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011 47
process
Seal of approval
epson has introduced its digigraphie certification in south africa, enabling artists to certify limited-edition prints of their work
Digigraphie is the result of many years of research by Epson, one of the aims of which is to achieve the highest technical performance from Epson printers and UltraChrome pigment inks. Artists and photographers can take digital images of their work to Digigraphie labs (of which there are currently five in the country) and have them printed as limited editions utilising certain Epson printers, media and inks, and embossed with the official Digigraphie stamp – a technical label that enables the production or reproduction of a work of art in a limited series, and which customers are proud to own. Every creation can have its own unique digital replica, as each reproduction is numbered, referenced and signed by the artist. Digigraphie is a label of excellence based on precise criteria and strict rules of use, allowing you to add value to your digital reproductions by achieving and applying the Digigraphie Collection seal of approval.
not another label Although the creation of the Digigraphie label is relatively recent, its existence is much older. Digigraphie was officially launched on 13 November 2003, at the centenary of the Autumn Exhibition in Paris,
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France. For several years photographers, sculptors, painters as well as photo labs and lithographic studios have been using Epson print technology to produce high-quality prints. This gradually evolved into a new discipline: the digital art print.
search for a name But what should a digital art print created with an Epson printer be called? The question arose as long ago as 1991 in the USA. Jack Duganne, head printer at Nash Editions, needed a generic term to describe the works of the artist Diane Bartz, produced using inkjet technology. He used the French term 'jet d’encre' (inkjet) which he refined to 'gicleur' (jet/sprayer) and then 'Giclée' (sprayed). French artists were also faced with the same dilemma as Duganne. They immediately chose to discard the expression 'inkjet print', which they found to be inappropriate for an artistic print. Some artists therefore decided to create their own label. This was the case for Philip Plisson, the maritime artist who created 'Pixographie' or Jean-Noël l’Harmeroult, the fashion photographer, who called his works 'Hyperchromes'. These two image professionals used a person-
process
al label to describe their limited-edition artistic prints created using Epson professional photo printers. It was apparent that there was a need for an industry standard. Following extensive research with artists and customers alike, Epson France registered the name 'Digigraphie' in 2003.
sealed, delivered
Thanks to the technology used in Epson printers and the quality of its UltraChrome inks, Epson has stimulated the art market by offering new opportunities to artists, galleries and museums. Achieving Digigraphie status is dependant on the materials used. Epson has therefore selected a range of high-quality art papers that are dedicated to Digigraphie: Ultrasmooth and Textured Fine Art Paper, Canvas, Traditional Photo Paper and also Matte Paper with Diasec finish. All of these materials have been tested by independent laboratories to guarantee the stability of prints over time. Epson has also created a review committee that unites photographers, sculptors and painters. Its role: to define the strict criteria and rules of use for the label, ensuring their harmonisations across the different artistic disciplines now and as technologies evolve. The committee is dedicated to advising artists on the adaption of Epson technology to their specific requirements.
myriad applications n The world of arts – It’s not only artists and museums that desire more freedom, more visibility and more control over reproductions, but also customers that want to be sure of the quality and durability of their favourite work. The photographer is not just capturing content with a photograph, but he also produces the print and gives the image the layout he prefers. The possibilities are immense n More visibility – By definition an original work is unique. Digigraphie offers every artist the opportunity to increase the distribution of their work by offering high-quality limited-edition prints n Controlled production – Epson printing technology enables artists to control the quality and quantity of their production. Digigraphie prevents any plagiarism, as each piece of work is numbered, stamped and signed. Each print is part of a limited-edition. Artists are free to print their works, when they wish, without the risk of tarnishing their creation. Digigraphie by Epson guarantees perfect reproduction of colours and nuances that will not change over time. Artists can, therefore, produce their works based on demand n For life – Using Digigraphie means extending the life of a work. With Digigraphie artists have a new form of expression and a new support for renewing their heritage. It is a valuable alternative to either single work or large print-runs. Each artist can register and present their portfolio in an online gallery of their certified Digigraphie artwork n Galleries – Digigraphie by Epson also offers good prospects for galleries. One advantage Digigraphie offers is original works. Every
visible on prints as an embossment, the digigraphie seal describes a print that has been created following a specific digital process, and assures customers that their art is a genuine limited-edition reproduction of an original piece of art or photograph.
print produced by a Digigraphie artist is, in effect, an original creation, numbered and signed. Galleries can therefore have a multiple offer and can sell a limited-edition series of unique work n Digigraphies Collection – Another advantage is the sale of Digigraphies Collection. This specific label relates to the works of deceased artists. The heirs of a deceased artist can produce Digigraphies of his/ her works and exhibit them in a gallery. This is, therefore, a means of re-valuing the artistic heritage of an artist. Currently, five major photographic labs offer Digigraphie certification for limited edition prints, including Foto First Cresta Mall, Fuji Image Fourways Mall, Foto First Clearwater Mall, Foto First Midlands Mall and Photo World Musgrave Centre. However, Epson South Africa anticipates a number of new announcements to be forthcoming as more labs and printing shops are certified. Digigraphie artists now have their own dedicated website. The complete list of art papers can also be found here. www.digigraphie.com
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process
the changing nature of print once viewed as a marketing savvy way to win business and create a unique selling point, an environmentally responsible approach to print production is now an essential business tool, writes catherine carter in this drupa market trend report
Ultimately the aim of environmental sustainability is to minimise the impact of any action on the environment, while taking into account employment, income, society and local economy. For the energy intensive printing industry – which also relies on utilising wood pulp – producing pulp and paper in a way that minimizes negative environmental impact must take into account the overall production process emissions, water consumption, solid waste production, energy consumption and their related emissions and air pollution. Companies should also ensure that a comprehensive waste management chain effectively handles and disposes of any waste that cannot be reused or recycled.
compounds (non-methane VOC) are the printing industry’s main impacts. The key drivers to embracing sustainable practices to address these impacts are: legislation, end-user and economic, as well as dedicated business owners. There are a myriad of international agreements, commitments and legislation that effect operations in the industry such as the Kyoto Protocol, the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), Carbon Reduction Commitment, Hazardous Waste Regulations, Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC), Local Air Pollution Prevention and Control (LAPPC), REACH and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).
simple steps
standard compliance
For printers, steps towards a more positive environmental impact could be as simple as recycling paper in-house, making the right paper, ink and glue choice to aid recyclability, reviewing transportation measures and educating staff to ensure lights and computers are turned off at the end of shifts. Or they can be more complex such as attaining environmental accreditation schemes like the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), a management tool for companies and other organisations to evaluate, report and improve their environmental performance or ISO14001, that addresses various aspects of environmental management, analyzing energy consumption of pressroom and post-press equipment before purchasing or investing in ways to harvest energy from renewable sources.
The next greatest influencer is the end user. After all, firms that do not meet the tendering criteria will not win the work. Paper sourced responsibility is one area that features highly on tender documents with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Program for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) grades frequently requested. In fact, in Italy the number of printers certified doubled from 2009 to 2010 – a trend that looks set to continue. FSC certification now covers more than 125 million hectares in over 80 countries. Over 226 million hectares have been PEFC audited in 30 countries. End user demands are driving companies towards adopting new purchasing policies and management states. The knock-on effect of the higher-profiled FSC and PEFC grades is the increased demand for recycled options. As a result the range of choice has expanded, too, so now printers can virtually pick the amount of virgin or recycled fibre they would like to match the requirements for the job or customer.
understanding the drivers Research by Trucost, an organization that helps clients understand the true cost of business, in order to use resources more efficiently across operations, supply chains and investment portfolios, reported the world’s top firms cause $2.2tn of environmental damage via pollution with greenhouse gas emissions one of the top contributors. HGs along with quantities of waste (disposed to landfill, incinerated or reused and recycled) and the release of volatile organic
50 ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011
carbon considerations Interest in carbon neutral grades is increasing too, whereby manufacturers offset the carbon dioxide emissions created when making their paper. CO2 is made when burning fuels to produce the steam used to dry paper on a paper machine and generate the electric-
process
ity required. It can be offset by purchasing the equivalent amount of carbon credits from projects that have saved carbon dioxide. If a company wants to mitigate the effect of manufacturing they can subsidise renewable energy/environmental projects at other sites through the purchase of carbon offset credits creating a carbon neutral status. It should be noted, though, that this is a de-regulated market and it is not always clear that the offsetting will reduce the overall impact. Also, it is better to reduce emissions in the first place rather than simply paying for those created. There are many companies that sell credits while buyers and sellers can also use an exchange platform to trade, such as the Carbon Trade Exchange. The largest spot market for carbon credits is the European Climate Exchange (ECX), followed by the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) in the US.
assessing carbon impact Currently there is no international standard for printers on carbon impact reduction, but the forthcoming ISO 16759 should address this. It pulls together the various carbon calculators used throughout the world in the printing industry to provide international accountability and transparency. Many printers are ISO 14001 certified, but this management standard is designed to help any business, not just those in the printing industry, reduce their environmental impact, not measure the carbon footprint of individual products. The formal framework of 16759, against which print media products can be measured and the results certified, will enable printers to confirm to their customers that the carbon footprint for the print they produce complies with an international standard.
pressing initiatives Sustainable measures can be adopted as part of day-to-day operations such as installing an energy efficient press. The latter is where many press manufacturers are focusing research and development. KBA has developed presses that can use up to 40% less energy than similar sized counterparts, while its VariDry Blue drying technology cuts power consumption by up to 50%. For Japanese printers this issue has been brought sharply into focus by the March 2011 earthquake. Toshiyuki Namba, an Editor-in-Chief of Insatsu Joho at Printing & Publishing Institute, says large operations in Tokoyo are legally required to cut electricity consumption by 15% while small and medium size printers are trying to do so voluntarily.
the digital effect The sustainable argument is one that digital print is very much the centre of with its ability to produce personalised and short runs, with no extra copies required, ensuring only what is required is produced. It can also be produced close to its point of use.
This is where manufacturers such as HP, Ricoh, Xerox, Canon and Kodak are committed to reducing raw materials used and improving recyclability and the life cycle of its components. They also have comprehensive recycling/reuse initiatives. Litho and digital press manufacturers are looking at how software development can improve job planning to gang complimentary jobs as well. This optimises scheduling, so the most efficient speeds and performance can be achieved, reduces costly slack and ensures ink and paper use is more effective. Softproofing can also save time and transportation costs – reducing a job’s carbon footprint in the process while increasingly complex Management Information Systems (MIS) can analyse every stage of production to identify ways to better manage waste and energy.
emissions in the red With high VOC content it is unsurprising inks are placed under the sustainable spotlight. Happily now with forecasts to 2016 predicting the continued introduction of less environmentally harmful formulations and chemicals, the emphasis will be on eco-solvent and water-based versions of liquid inks replacing more active solvent systems (those responsible for VOCs). Predicted too is a significant rise in the use of radiation-cured ink systems with electron beam (EB) joining UV. There is an increasing trend for wide format printers to adopt eco-solvent printers while another major change is from traditional light sources to more energy efficient LEDs.
implementing the three rs Sustainability is a vital element in any successful business’s growth development plans because taking steps to reduce, reuse and recycle are fundamental to cutting waste, improving working practices, legal compliance, gaining accreditations, winning new business, keeping shareholders happy and even engaging and retaining staff. Plus, it is part of every business’s responsibility to its market. The true cost of waste alone can be as much as 25 times the cost of disposal, according to The Carbon Trust, an independent not-forprofit company set up by the UK Government, and potentially as much as 4% of a company’s turnover. With so much effort from all aspects of the print production chain focussing on addressing these issues it is clear that sustainability is extremely high on everyone’s agendas. As a result of a lot of hard work and positive action the industry has a very strong positive message to send and it is important that everyone is vocal about presenting it.
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books
Zine scene a new book explores the culture of self-publishing expressed in the zine
archiVe
archiVe
1
2
3
— 4478zine.com / erik Van der weijde
foTo.Zine nr.3 SerieS
found images from photographer erik van der weijde’s working archive are the basis for this series of five “foto.zines.” each issue contains a different visual theme: diseased palm trees, rephotographed images of handguns, an internet model’s rear end, Volkswagen beetle accidents from a 1950s dutch newspaper, and mercedes and porsches in Amsterdam. 1 2 3 4
Hand Guns the pink issue palm Trees Accidents
4
— Year 2009 Designer / Artist Erik van der Weijde Publisher 4478zine.com Edition of 300 Format 15 × 21 cm Print Technique Offset
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Behind the Zines Published by Gestalten 128 pages $60 Twenty-volume folios will never make a revolution. It’s the little pocket pamphlets that are to be feared. —Voltaire Social networks are dominating today‘s headlines, but they are not the only platforms that are radically changing the way we communicate. Creatives such as designers, photographers, artists, researchers and poets are disseminating information about themselves and their favourite subjects not via predefined media such as Twitter or blogs, but through printed or other self-published projects – so-called zines. Those who publish zines are mostly interested in sole authorship, namely that all components including text, images, layout, typography, production and distribution are firmly in the hands of one person or a small group. At their best, the results convey a compelling and consistent atmosphere and push against the established creative grain in just the right way. They provoke with surprising 52 ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011
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and non-linear food for thought. With a cutting-edge selection of international examples, Behind the Zines introduces the broad range of zines that exists today. These include zines that function as a new kind of project-oriented portfolio to showcase a self-profile or document an exhibit. While some act as (pseudo) scientific treatises to call the reader‘s attention to a specific topic, others serve as playrooms for creatives to run riot and express themselves and communicate with each other in a space that is free from editorial restrictions. The book examines the key factors that distinguish various zines. It introduces projects in which the printing process significantly influences aesthetics or in which limited distribution to a small, clearly defined target audience becomes part of the overall concept. Behind the Zines not only documents outstanding work, but also shows how the self-image of those who make zines impacts the scene as a whole. Through interviews with people involved in zine production and distribution, the book sheds light on various strategies for this evolving media form. www.gestalten.com
books
gaLLery
gaLLery
— stephanie homa
cAKeZine #7 yuletide
the seventh issue of cakezine reflects its creator’s personal rebellion against the tradition of christmas and the mass consumption. produced with a leporello fold, which allows it to be unfolded into a poster, it can also be hung from its black satin ribbon as a wall decoration. — Year 2009 Artist / Publisher Stephanie Homa Edition of 20 Frequency Irregular Format Various Print Technique Inkjet
42
43
Laboratory
Laboratory
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Körner union and tatiana rihs created Alphabet, a children’s book, with the assistance of muriel issard. it was published by mini spielzeug in zürich, switzerland.
“mAKing A mAgAzine on your own is
A lAbor of loVe
2
— dirk könig 1
gaLLery
ALpHABeT rollo nr. 09
pAGeS 134 –139
1
gaLLery — roLLo press
200% thierry somers
— Year 2009 / Zürich Artist Körner Union & Tatiana Rihs, with the assistance of Muriel Issard Editor Körner Union Publisher Mini Spielzeug & Rollo Press Edition of 100 Frequency First Edition Format 21 × 29.7 cm Print Technique Stencil Print
85 ZeicHnunGen rollo nr. 14 85 Zeichnungen, a book by the german artist stefan marx, contains written contributions from Valérie Knoll and hannes loichinger. — Year 2009 / Hamburg
stefano conzatti & christina heLfenstein
Artist Stefan Marx
mAKinG-of “erreicHe noTWendiGeS diLemmA– dAS mAnifeST ALS WerKZeuG”
Editor Urs Lehni Publisher Rollo Press Edition of 170 Frequency First Edition Format 21 × 28 cm Print Technique Stencil Print
THe LouSy AnimALS & friendS rollo nr. 01 A coloring book by stefan mark, The Lousy Animals & friends, was published by mini spielzeug in zürich, switzerland. — Year 2010 / Hamburg Artist Stefan Marx Publisher Mini Spielzeug + Rollo Press Edition of 200 Frequency Irregular
GeoZid About the end of the World
2
science, philosophy, text, and art. About the end of the World divides the destruction of the world into four easy-to-handle parts: how the earth was made; why you should destroy it; how you can destroy it; and the destruction of earth in movies, such as Star Wars and dr. Strangelove.
the principles of computational randomness have been harnessed to create a zine whose illustrations and text are randomly generated, ensuring that each copy has its own unique title and content.
—
Designer / Publisher Dirk König & Franz Thues
— Year 2010
Year 2008
Edition of 100
Designer / Publisher Dirk König
Format 16 × 22 cm
Edition of 50
Print Technique Laser
Format 21 × 29.7 cm
thAt requires A lot of discipline, perseVerAnce, And unconditionAl deVotion. it cAn be frustrAting — And it cAn Also be A lonely process.”
die monTe cArLo meTHode
Print Technique Stencil Print
Format 19 × 27 cm Print Technique Laser & Silkscreen
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— ramon coronado
Business up front, party in the back. The Mullet.
International Hair Culture Magazine | Bubba Johnson
muff mAGAZine
A magazine devoted to all things hair, muff can be funny, revolting, or intriguing, and has been known to touch on such topics as the mullet, whether or not men should shave, and david bowie’s bright orange ‘do. — Year 2008 Designer / Publisher Ramon Coronado Format 9 × 13 cm
The mullet became popular in the 1970s, due in part to the influence of glam rock artist David Bowie, who wore the haircut during his Ziggy Stardust and Diamond Dogs phases. Women also wore the style, Florence Henderson, a star of the sitcom The Brady Bunch, has a mullet in the opening sequence from the show’s 1973 –1974 season. The hairstyle achieved further popularity in the late 1970s and 1980s among entertainers with receding hairlines such as Anthony Geary of “Luke and Laura” fame from the soap opera General Hospital, and the pop performers Michael Bolton and Phil Collins.
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MUFF CITIZEN
Stylistic variations of The Mullet.
PEOPLE IN THE HAIR COMMUNITY WHO HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY
The famous bright red-orange mane Central to the famous Ziggy Stardust haircut was Suzy Fussey, a hairdresser who worked opposite the Three Tuns in the Evelyn Paget hair salon on Beckenham High Street and who gave Bowie his trademark Ziggy hair-style - the famous bright red-orange mane. Fussey became Bowie and the group’s full-time hairdresser and wardrobe assistant on the Ziggy Stardust Tours. She then became Mick Ronson’s personal assistant and later married him. During the early Seventies Bowie’s hair was long and blonde as seen on the album covers of “The Man Who Sold The World” (1970) and “Hunky Dory” (1971). The transformation came in January 1972 when it was cut and styled into the famous Ziggy mane and dyed red. According to Angie Bowie - David suggested cutting his hair short and dyeing it red one morning during the recording of the Ziggy Stardust. The inspiration apparently came from a red spikyhaired mannequin that Bowie saw in a 1971 “Honey” magazine photographed by Masayoshi Sukita. On another occasion Bowie has stated that the haircut was based on the winged creatures in the film Jason and The Argonauts. David says: “The Ziggy hair came lock, stock and curler, from the cover of a magazine and was sported by a model doing a shoot for Kansai Yamamoto’s first London show. I couldn’t afford the clothes but I could get the hair. Suzi did a straight forward copy. The cut and colour were both Kansai’s - Schwartzkopf red was the colour. “I had her cut my hair short in early January 1972. No dye. Layed flatish. I believe that it went red and stood up between the 20th and 25th of January 1972, therefore that’s when the Kansai show must have been given maximum press.”
There are a number of stylistic variations on the mullet as well as a large number of whimsical, alternative terminology describing the hairstyle: Most every family especially in the midwest will have some sort of mullet in there family tree, there are even multiple websites that dedicate and worship the mullet, the mullet can be found nation wide with multiple variations and colors.
Thomas Petty, a 15 year old victim of the Frullet.
RON JOHN DICKSWORTH
≤
MUFF REPORTER:
MEN SHAVING BODY HAIR. IS THAT OK?
Skullet A skullet is defined by a shaved or bald head with long hair on the sides and in the back. Prominent wearers of skullets include Michael Bolton, Dennis Franz, Hulk Hogan, Ron Jeremy, Mick Fleetwood, David Crosby, and Klaus Meine from Scorpions. Frullet A reversed variation of the hairstyle is the frullet, where by the back of the head is shaved, leaving a long fringe hanging over the face in front. The haircut is also known as the “emo mullet” due to its supposed popularity among emo music scenesters. A frullet can also mean a very curly mullet, such as that worn by A.C. Slater on the television show Saved by the Bell. Tropical Mullet The tropical mullet, also referred to as a dreadmullet, is a hybrid of dreadlocks and a mullet. This hairstyle is seen throughout the world, especially among youth.
FUCK NO! MEN ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO SHAVE ANYTHING BUT THEIR FACE! FUCKEN PANZIES! RON JOHN DICKSWORTH
Cullet A mullet sported by usually a middle aged person who is bald on the top of the skull with a full trunk of hair flowing in the back from temple to temple, this type of person will usually comb over their hair from the sides of the hairline, this will give the appearance of a full head of hair. The definition of a Cullet is bald on top with a comb-over, and party in the back.
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Jheri Curl Mullet The jheri curl mullet applies to people with natural curly hair. Jheri curl solution is applied to make the curls bigger and to fix them in place. Musician Lionel Richie arguably had the most famous jheri curl mullet. Mulhawk This is a different take on the mullet, where the sides of the head are shaven with short hair on the front and long in the back much like a classic mullet. The mohawk mullet is also as “The Dream Hawk.” Mulldina The mulldina, also known as the pseudo-mullet, is longer on the sides than a standard mullet, but with the sides notably swept feathered back to give the illusion of a standard mullet on casual inspection. Fem-Mullet A mullet sported by a female. In the UK, this lady version is more generally referred to as a Fillet, She-Mullet or a Fullet. Bus-Mullet A mullet that is particularly neatly cut in the front, giving the appearance from the front of a clean cut business person, but is ready for any type of occasion from coporate business to keg parties.
His Music; His Life; His Hairstyles.
Urs Lehni
What prompted you to start your own publishing outlet?
mono.KuLTur #24 cyprien Gaillard: dust Lines
Year 2010 Designer Bureau Mario Lombardo Editor Joel Alas, Urs Bellermann, Mareike Dittmer, Elodie Evers, Eva M. Gonçalves,
The new look was a combination of three styles chosen from large number of Vogue magazines purchased and brought back to Haddon Hall. The pointy front was taken from a French Vogue, the side and back from two German Vogues. A decision was made to dye it red for greater effect. However, the next morning the creation had collapsed and Fussey was urgently summoned back to Haddon Hall for repairs. Further work by Fussey involved the use of a German hair dye (Red Hot Red) and peroxide to make it an orange/ hot colour and a setting lotion to shape it. While Angie and Suzi were delighted with the result - Bowie remained wary until he received similar enthusiastic responses from friends and so the famous Ziggy haircut was born.
Hickery Dan looking to cool for school. Dished class to drive across town for Monster Truck Invasion 2007. ≤
Bubba Johnson posing for his myspace.com profile. Rock The Mullet!
The Grand Royal article apparently initiated a trend of anti-mullet sentiment. In the late 1990s, musician Wesley Willis followed this trend with his popular novelty song, Cut the Mullet. On their 1998 album Hitler Bad, Vandals Good, southern California punk band the Vandals released one of their most popular songs, I’ve Got an Ape Drape. Ape Drape is a regional term for a mullet. At the end of the song, they go down a list of other names including Hockey Hair, Forbidden Hair, Achy-Breaky Hair, Norco Neck Warmer, and eventually Mullet.
Caroline Heuer, Renko Heuer, Ute Kühn,
In August 2006, the mullet was involved in a charged political debate when the ridiculous George Allen, Republican Senator from Virginia and Presidential hopeful, referred to an arguably mulleted worker from his opponent’s campaign as “macaca,” a type of monkey and potentially offensive slur. Allen claimed he had meant to say Mohawk, referring to the worker’s mullet-like hairstyle, but had mispronounced the word.
Magdalena Magiera, Florian Rehn, Anna Saulwick, & Tina Wessel Publisher Kai von Rabenau
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n the 2000s, a number of web sites sprung up with photographs of people with mullets, often accompanied by mocking comments based on stereotypes of mullet-wearers. Jeff Tremaine had his hair mulletted Billy Ray Cyrus in a black barber shop during the first season of Jackass. The mullet and its associated lifestyle were central themes in movies such as FUBAR: The Movie and Joe Dirt, and television shows such as The Mullets. Other notables with mullets include former talk show host Rosie O’Donnell and adult movie performer Justin Dragon.
Edition of 10,000 Frequency Quarterly Format 15 × 20 cm Print Technique Offset
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raphic fiend Urs Lehni is no stranger to these parts and pages. And Rollo Press, his overdue outlet for creative steam beyond everyday commissions, has become a fertile and welcome fount of homespun projects and artists editions. With willing collaborators ranging from the ubiquitous Stefan Marx and Dutch collector of ephemera Erik van der Weijde to Japanese character-ist Akinori Oishi or fellow Swiss artists Körner Union and Tatiana Rihs, Rollo Press leaves no stylistic stone unturned. It adds its own stamp of smeared approval with the studio’s crude, yet effective means of production, a machine reminiscent of the ubiquitous school room mimeograph of old: the Risograph GR 3770.
in the beginning, rollo press was more of a self-prescribed therapy. back then, i found myself embroiled in several somewhat unsatisfactory institutional collaborations and art catalogue projects where politics played too big a role and the client had a rather modest appreciation of proper design work. As a result, i was looking for a means of production that would let me produce printed matter fast, without enormous upfront investments, and allow me to control all steps of the production process. while i was on this quest, i came across riso printers more or less by accident: i had started out looking for a Xerox machine and, on ebay, risographs share a category with photocopiers. At the same time, issue 15 of dot dot dot* turned up in my letterbox. when i found out that the whole issue had been stencil-printed, i opted for the risograph and dumped the Xerox. soon after, i decided to start a publishing house based entirely on the potential and limitations of this machine. naturally, rollo press is all about restrictions. the device itself is limited to a certain format, color, aesthetic etc. i try to sound out — the possibilities within these roLLo press given limitations. mAKinG-of “Tu m’AS
Complementing this rich content, the small, beautifully compact magazine is designed by a changing roster of invitees who spice up the thematic mono.kultur with their own aesthetic interpretation.
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Angela bought hairdresser Suzi Fussey (later to marry Mick Ronson) from the Beckenham High Street Evelyn Paget salon to Haddon Hall on the pretext of cutting her own hair. Fussey was not impressed with Bowie’s crop (just cut for the Ziggy Stardust album cover photos) believing it to be “too Rod Stewart”.
G
— roLLo press
Incidentally, many of mono.kultur’s chosen protagonists are surprised and delighted by the scope and space of the chosen format. For once, they are encouraged to speak out about topics, interests and ideas usually glossed over in, targeted lifestyle features, half-hour promo interviews, or narrow specialist publications. Norwegian odor explorer Sissel Tolaas, for example, ended up with a scented issue impregnated with 12 smells.
cyprien gaillard is concerned with contemporary landscapes. his varied body of work, which includes film, sculpture, collage, and large scale interventions, celebrates the complexities and unresolved contradictions of the modern world. in mono.kultur #24, cyprien gaillard talks about the failure of modernism, land art as a form of vandalism, and why cancún has never been as beautiful as it is now.
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Rock The Mullet!
Ziggy Stardust
mAKinG-of “Tu m’AS VoLé mon VéLo”
From actress extraordinaire Tilda Swinton to Ai Wei Wei, Dries van Noten, or GZA of the Wutang Clan, mono.kultur subjects come in all shapes and guises. Their uniting factor — all of them are purveyors of taste — and ready tell a story of their own.
EU €18.00 USA $18.00
gaLLe — roLLo press
Occasionally obsessive in their pursuit of preferred candidates and secret favorites, the shifting, Berlin-based collective extends their “one protagonist, plenty of space” invitation to cultural icons from a variety of disciplines — film, music, fine art, fashion etc.
The Oxford English Dictionary first included the word mullet in 2001 and cited that 1995 article as the first published use of the term; the entry also included the lyrics to Mullet Head. The OED says that the term was “apparently coined, and certainly popularized, by U.S. hip hop group the Beastie Boys.” Yet, others have also speculated that the origin of the term Mullet comes directly from the 1967 prison film Cool Hand Luke, starring Paul Newman and George Kennedy, in which Kennedy’s character refers to Southern men with long hair as mullet heads. This term is also used in Mark Twain’s 1884 novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn when Tom Sawyer says of his aunt and uncle: They’re so confiding and mulletheaded they don’t take notice of nothing at all. It seems unlikely that he’s referring to the hairstyle; rather, it sounds like it is intended to connote stupidity, and is a reference to the fish of the same name.
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The simplest of ideas, the richest of outcomes. Quarterly interview magazine mono.kultur has one basic rule: one issue, one person, one conversation.
In the 1980s, the mullet became big and bouffant, and bemulleted men often indulged in other 1980s hair crazes such as spiked hair and blonde highlights. A wide range of mullets can be seen in the 1984 video of “Do They Know It’s Christmas”, featuring many of the biggest British pop stars of the time. An exemplary popular mullet-man was Richard Dean Anderson in the ‘80s TV series MacGyver. In the early 1990s, country singer Billy Ray Cyrus’s “Achy Breaky” mullet fostered both imitation and ridicule.
Written by: Nassar Sagass Photomontage by: Ramon Coronado
MUFF No. 12 Summer 2008
According to urban legend, the mullet dates back to the 19th century, when fishermen wore their hair long in the back to keep warm, hence the term mullet. The Notes section of the Viking edition of Lydia Davis’s translation of Swann’s Way by Proust states “Jean Baptiste Prosper Bressant was a well-known actor who introduced a new hairstyle, which consisted of wearing the hair in a crew cut in front and longer in the back.
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mono.KuLTur
A mullet is a hairstyle that is short in the front, top, and sides, but long in the back. It is also described as “business in the front, party in the back.” The hairstyle was popular during the late 20th Century, from the early 1970s to the early 1990s. Mullets have been worn by males and females of all ages. The mullet is distinct from the rattail, which consists of a long, narrow “tail” of hair growing from the back of the head.
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— kai Von rabenau
Beginning of the end. Tommy Rhinestone, 7 year old victim of The Mullet.
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Well, that was more than two years ago. So, did the homebrew therapy work?
Very much so. most of the time, i use rollo for my private fun; so it’s through close collaborations with friends that i produce most of my books. And these artist collaborations and se initiated book projects have taught me a lot and led to places in the design world i most likely wouldn’t h explored otherwise. At the same time, the greater invol ment with self-publishing per se has made me more skep cal of the scene in general. while it’s very comforting t self-publishing, small publishing, independent publishing whatever you want to call it is experiencing a healthy bo right now, it brings back memories of a certain phase in mid to late nineties when everyone became a dJ for a yea two — and swapped their mK2 for a skateboard once th lost interest.
so, at a time when big art fairs invite small publishers sell their wares and big publishers do books on small p lishers, we are obviously experiencing the peak of a tre well, every peak is followed by a trough, so we are likely see a decrease in production and projects, or, according sam de groot in an e-mail exchange on the pros and c of participating in aforesaid art fair**: “i predict we’ll l our all-star status in the great self-publishing bubble bu of 2012.” but, well, after all we were part of it. So what is behind this trend and development?
first of all, there is always great potential when you (i in my case, a graphic designer) own and thereby cont the means of production. to paraphrase william mor owning the means of production is a way to gain back pl sure in work, and this, in return, serves as a prerequisite the production of (applied) art and beauty. this has alw been the case in graphic design, and history holds many amples. for the past 10 or 15 years, however, issues arou production processes have become increasingly focused technology, complexity, and professionalism. so, this m towards older technologies — which might not prod perfect copies, but at least print what you want — could construed as a reaction to this trend.
VoLé mon VéLo”
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ENJIN 55 OCT/NOV 2011 53
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Vega School of Brand Communications Vega offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in creative brand communications and in brand management and leadership. The degree programmes aim to produce a new breed of thinkers that provide creative and innovative approaches to building brands. In addition, specialist full-time photography qualifications are available for students wanting to pursue careers in the field of photography. The education and training at Vega is outcomes based and highly interactive, making for a great learning environment and real experience. All programmes are taught within a brand context. t: 011 521-4600/012 342-4770 t: 031 266-2595/021 425-7491 www.facebook.com/vegaschool
Vega Orbit Vega Orbit is the Continuing Professional Development division of Vega. Specialists in Strategy, Branding, Marketing, Creative Communications and Innovation, Vega Orbit offers innovative parttime qualifications and short learning programmes. Orbit provides you with new levels of awareness, creativity and skill, preparing you for a future when great ideas will be the only global currency. t: 011 521-4600/012 342-4770 t: 031 266-2595/021 425-7491 www.facebook.com/vegaschool
The Training School Learn2 Learn2 Digital Media Academy can help you to transform your artistry into a rewarding and profitable career in animation, visualisation or visual effects when you earn your Autodesk certification. Autodesk Authorised Training Centre Full-time courses Part-time courses
The Training School offers creative training solutions to enable you to master the skills needed to get the most out of your Adobe software. Their mission is to empower you. Adobe Authorised Training Centre Adobe Photoshop Adobe Illustrator Adobe InDesign
t: 021 421-5501 info@learn2.co.za www.learn2.co.za
t: 011 442-5136 pam@thetrainingschool.co.za www.thetrainingschool.co.za
Friends of Design
Concept Interactive
Friends of Design offers full time certificate, part time evening and customised digital courses in Print, Web and Motion Graphic design. Recognised as a trendsetter in the industry, students immerse themselves in a unique blend of art and digital, where technology and creativity come together under one roof and ultimately prepare themselves for a fulfilling career in digital graphics through practical, live projects and exposure to international trainers. Adobe Authorised Training Centre Apple Authorised Training Centre MAPPP-SETA accredited Provisionally recognised by the Department of Education as a centre of Higher Education (until 2013).
Concept Interactive is a leading digital design school situated in Cape Town. We have been providing internationally accredited training since 1992 in areas such as print and web design and, more recently, new media and programming for design. Our students receive expert, personalised attention from industry professional lecturers within a creative and stimulating environment. This means that they're highly skilled when they graduate. And highly employable. Provisionally registered with the Department of Education as a Private Higher Education Institution and as a Private FET College. SAQA Registered 3-year Diploma SAQA registered 1-year National Certificate
t: 21 461-0971 info@friendsofdesign.net friendsofdesign.net
Adobe Authorised Training Center MAPPP-SETA Accredited t: 021 461 3371 info@conceptinteractive.net/www.conceptinteractive.net
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Digigraphie® by Paul Gallagher
EXCLUSIVE ART MADE ACCESSIBLE HIGH-QUALITY LIMITED-EDITIONS WITH DIGIGRAPHIE® AND THE EPSON STYLUS PRO 4900 Digigraphie gives artists the freedom and control to produce exclusive high-quality, long-lasting prints that will become pieces of art for generations. This technical label ensures each piece of work is signed, numbered, stamped and certified, adding extra value to limited-edition runs. What’s more, with our online gallery artists can upload their work, increasing the visibility and distribution of their work. For further information visit www.digigraphie.com
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