NIELS TIMMERMANS PORTFOLIO about me Hello there! My name is Niels Timmermans, and I’m a graphic designer. This is my portfolio, more about that later. I was born in 1988 and raised with a craving for knowledge. I studied Graphic Design at Sint-Lucas school of arts in Antwerp. Before that, I was always out and about with stencil graphics and typography. My higher education was influenced by that kind of design, and it’s still a part of my style today. I’m attracted to tpygraphic design with vibrant colour schemes, bold silhouettes and margins. The idea, however, takes the center stage — everything flows that source. I believe that a great idea -preferably a postive one — isn’t just a starting point, but a breeding ground for creative solutions to any and all obstacles a brief can throw at me. I like to act on these strong ideas, and am constantly at work refining and balancing my concept to reach a coherent and complete image.
ABOUt this portfolio The following pages will show you a grab of my work, a small slice which I think demonstrate the previously mentioned qualities best. Where possible, I’ve tried to explain the design choices made and briefly reflect on the story behind the colours. Where necessary, I’ll give a translation to the dutch text featured in some of the designs.
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Curriculum vitae House of the sleeping beauties SLADag jij en ik td valentijn gala american woman bush calamartes 2011
NIELS TIMMERMANS CURRICULUM VITAE CONTACT SMEDERIJSTRAAT 15 2960 SINT-JOB-IN-’T-GOOR NIELS2400@GMAIL.COM GSM: 0473 93 54 25
2002-TODAY 2006-TODAY
NV-JL 2010
2010-2011 2007-2010 2006-2007 2004-2006 2000-2004
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WORK EXPERIENCE SUMMER JOB IN THE FAMILY COMPANY (TRADE) DESIGN, PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY, DTP FREELANCE POSTER DESIGN & IDENTITY INTERNSHIP GRAMMA N.V. CORPORATE IDENTITY & BRANDING EDUCATION MASTER OF GRAPHIC DESIGN SINT-LUCAS ANTWERP GRAPHIC DESIGN BACHELOR SINT-LUCAS ANTWERP HISTORY UNIVERSITy of ANTWERPEN VISUAL ARTS SINT-LUCAS ART HIGHSCHOOL SCIENCE & MATH SINT-MICHIELS COLLEGE SCHOTEN 15 20 II SKILLS PHOTOSHOP ILLUSTRATOR INDESIGN DREAMWEAVER + FIREWORKS FONTLAB STUDIO CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT teamwork: leading, cooperating, discussing DUTCH ENGLISH FRENCH
I am awake. 私は目がさめている。
た。 彼は彼の表面背部を持って 、穏やかに舐めた。 彼の唇によって、人は女性のボディのほとんどあらゆる党から血を引くことができる。
The scent of a baby comes to him. The milky scent of a nursing baby, sweeter and richer than the scent of a girl. He has not forgotten how he had held his own daughters as nursing babies. Was this milky smell of his own flesh and blood emerging to reproach him? Or was it the smell of his own heart that feels compassion for the sleeping girl. Or was it perhaps a melancholy comfort for an old man to be sunk in memories of women from
an irretrievable past. ... And old love came back to him. A passing spectre? Probably, it had come through the opening left by a sudden emptiness in his heart. In his memory, he withdrew his face and saw that her breast was lightly stained with blood. He brought his face back and gently licked it away. With his lips, a man could draw blood from almost any party of a woman’s body.
女性のボディは悪魔の王国を入れるために人を誘惑できる。 目覚めることのチャンス無しで、丸裸女の子は悲しい老人のためにそこにいる。 老人は露出した美をそこに握る、老人は彼らの冷たい破損を取除く、老人は彼らの悲しみに堤出し、叫ぶ。
Are you awake? 目がさめているか。 I’m certainly not a trustworthy guest. In this house, where old men are insulted and humiliated, I could easily overstep the rules. I still possess such masculine stubborness that I can get her to wake up. In this, my sixty-seventh year, how deeply have I penetrated the depths of my sexual desire? And to think that all around the old men, a continuous stream of young women’s bodies, a continuous stream of beautiful girls is born. Aren’t their endless dreams and desires all tied up in the sins of this secret house? Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Are you awake? ... She lives even in her sleep. Her body awakens to womanhood, even while her spirit slumbers. No longer a human spirit, merely the body of a woman. Even in her sleep, she seems to speak the language of love with her toes. ... Have you been awake all this time? Are you awake? Have you been awake all this time? Are you awake? ... What’s this? Is this stiffness of her body due to her virginity? What for despair will I bring to her tomorrow if I deflower her now? Which direction will life take her? How little a girl’s body is capable of resisting the sudden fiery passion of a man. ... My youngest daughter... Her skin glowed like the morning dew, as if she were being washed clean from the inside out. She was as ripe as a bud to flower. Are there men who cherish the secret desire to sleep forever beside a sleeping beauty such as this? ... Eternal sleep. To sleep forever.
It would be a good thing for me to confess my sins and failures. Her tongue is curled up inside her mought. A sweet hollow place is in the middle of that very delicate tongue. Would that sweet tongue move if I were to squeeze her throat? ... You just don’t wake up. Probably, it would be a simple matter to press a hand over her nose and mouth till she suffocates. ... You just won’t wake up. You just won’t wake up. A woman’s body can seduce a man to enter the realm of the devil. The girl, stark naked, with no possiblity of waking up, is there for pathetic old men. Old men seize there naked beauties, old men shed their cold tears, old men submit to their grief and cry out.
この家は死ぬ貴重な場所ではないか。 それは2人の若い女性間の彼の睡眠で死ぬあらゆる壊れた老人の欲求ではないか。 死は若者のため老人、愛のためであるである。 死は一度
I can’t sleep after this. 私はこれの後で眠ることができない。
る。 どの位の割りで愛は着くか。
One girl lies facing away from him. The other lies on her back, her arms relaxed, legs spread wide. She appears to be tall, with thick, coppery hair, the skin white from her fleshy ear to her chubby neck, the nipples large and purple. Her skin smells faintly of sweat. Long fingers, long nails. That skin. Those lips. Her body is tense, the skin so smooth you’d like to stroke it with your tongue. ... The warmth does not penetrate the old man’s body, but settles around him like a veil. ... Even the most inhumane world becomes human by the force of habit. And all that is evil lies hidden in the dark womb of that world. Is this house not a priceless place to die? Is it not the desire of every broken old man to die in his sleep between two young women? Death is for
old men, love is for the young. Death comes but once. How often does love arrive? The red curtains on the wall of the secret chamber are the colour of blood. A blood red colour that will not fade. ... Have I unknowingly strangled her in my sleep? ... Is there something wrong? That child is dead! Dead? Impossible! Really, she’s dead. She’s no longer breathing. And she has no pulse. Don’t you see she’s dead? Have you done something to her? No, not a thing. She’s not dead. There’s no need to worry. She’s dead. Quick, call a doctor. What did you give to her? She might be allergic? Don’t get so upset. This won’t cause you any unpleasantness. Your name will stay out of it... But she is dead, can’t you see that? Not at all. She’s not going to die.
What time is it? After four. Let me help you. There’s no need, but thank you. I have male help downstairs... Is she not heavy? Don’t worry yourself too much and just go to sleep. Isn’t there still another girl? Do you think I can sleep now? I’d better be going. I would advise against that. If you leave now, you’ll expose yourself to suspicion. I can’t sleep after this. I’ll bring you some more sleeping pills. And tomorrow morning sleep as long as you wish. And?
2009
THIS WORK GIVES ME A DIRECTION WHEN I’VE LOST IT
House of the sleeping beauties Shadow assignment focused around a play by a famous Antwerp theatre. Based on a short story by Yusanari Kawabata. The final poster design was based on a triptych — each of the separate works depicting one of the chapters of the story. Originally, this assignment was to be accompanied by a research booklet. I preferred to deal with this brief in the style of the original ukio-é artists: recording and reflecting on visual stimuli internally and coming to one conclusive
これを読むことができればお祝い。 私はオンライン訳者によってこれを翻訳した、従ってすべてのためにそれが完全なナンセンスであることができることを
I am awake. 私は目がさめている。
She is lying on her left side. Her face turned towards him. The body remains invisible. Her neck and shoulders are very young. The white skin looks soft. The right hand alongside the sleeping face on the pillow. The fingertips lost to sleep. Cute dimples in her hand. The warm blood glimmering under the skin is pinker towards the fingertips. Her eyebrows are not made up. The lashes lie long and close together. The skin of the hand is so fine, you can not see the tissue. Behind the ears, the skin beneath the hair is white. The little earlobe as pink as the finger, the fingertips. The girl has long lank fragrant hair. A delicate line across her fresh slender neck. The scent of her breath is stronger from her mouth than from her nose.
result at the end, a processed result of my internal feelings about the subject. The research booklet was repurposed into an explanatory text about my work process — detailing my focus on composition and asiatic typography. I asked myself, how can every element of a picture carry a greater meaning? How can nothing become something?
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IV 2009 & 2010
METICULOUSLY DESIGNED BY YOURS TRULY HORRIBLY PRINTED DUE TO BUDGET CUTS.
SlaDAG Comission by the student council at my school, for their annual student music festival. I got the brief two years in a row. The event is known for it’s chameleon identity: bands, dj’s, performance and theatre share a stage, as long as it’s the students performing. To reflect this tenacious DIY attitude i decided to create my own rowdy fonts, and mixed these with existing typefaces. Drawing my own fonts by hand, playing with silhouettes and manually picking colours gave
this poster just the right balance of clean and fresh it needed to attract visitors. The first year I focused on hard lines, the second on a more flowing and “dangerous” look (and a wolfheaded naked woman — at the client’s request). The final compositions were influenced by the earth’s layered structure, reflecting the way the student’s face changes every year.
This all starts out with a map. A map about a breakup, with commentaries and directions, with ups and downs, forwards and backwards. It calls itself generic, and describes recurring trends in an anonimous form. This, for me, did not translate well into book form. Too much of a whole to fragment into pages, too personal to put into words; what had worked fine in two dimensions was not easily converted to four. So the chosen approach is one of unclarity. Open to interpretation. Only the actors are for certain. There is the boy, the girl, the acquaintance, the friend, the family. There is the past, the other, and then, finally, there is the future. In between there is only distance.
V 2009
unfathomable designs are okay, BUT ONLY ON THE OUTSIDE.
jij en ik: afstand (YOu & Me: distance) A booklet about the end of a relationship — solely expressed through distance. Originally this assignment was a poster, but I was soon dissatisfied by that medium’s ability to reflect time. The poser was already two-dimensional, and I needed both to portray distance and direction. Time needed a third, and so I selected a booklet as my canvas — a medium where time literally goes by. During that period, I was experimenting with sleek concentric shapes, and they soon proved flexible
enough to serve as hyperabstract infographics. The legend to these diagrams was added to the foreword (above). Some questions going through my mind as I designed this: Isn’t it too personal to work around such a painful subject? Will anyone understand? Should they?
VI 2009
I myself preferred a superminimal version of this design: just the circles and squares.
TD (a sort of party) Freelance brief for a fraternity club. This kind of assignment ends up being the most relaxing activity of the week for me, so I’ve always feel drawn to this kind of work. For these people, the “party” factor was extremely important, they couldn’t stress that enough. I understood their need to earn money with these parties, and so I drew heavily on the I Love Techno design language to invoke those feelings immediately. This look remains familiar to the partygoer, leaving me free to exert
myself with geometric compositions and typography. My first designs were very busy and pattern-oriented; I quickly started wondering wether less was more for this brief. Of course it was. I challenged myself to design with as few elements as possible.
VII 2008
A SUCCESFUL BLEND OF INTIMACY AND COLD CUTS, when it comes to colour.
valentijn (Valentine) This school assignment consisted of a single tattoo design. Later, a publication to show them was devised: each student would get two spreads to talk about the design. I turned the table on this idea fairly rapidly: I used the spreads as inspiration for the tattoo itself. In agreement with the rest of the class, a square aspect was chosen. I saw no reason not to follow this choice in my design. Two spreads provided plenty of space for a short instructional image series. I soon realised something
critical, however: not every couple likes to get a tattoo on valentine’s day. Some couples are only dating for a couple of weeks - a tattoo’s a big step. For these people, I reasoned, my tattoo could provide a suitable alternative. It isn’t permanent, and very intimate. The message is one of optimism, yet realistic. It says: “Next year, on valentine’s day when we’re together for just over a year, I’m going to gift you a tattoo right here.”
SS TT UUU
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, EK A
& S O C I O - E CO N O M I C A P R
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L AURENS DIERICK
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18 maart 2011 STU OOR DD STUURB URB OOR LAURENS DIERICKX QUINTET
LaCie Mouse
VERMILLION
ft.
Wonder Boys MOMBASTA
CAVA
€
15
VOORVERKOOP: € 10 (Nie t-Leden: € 12 ) A AN DE DEUR: € 12 (Nie t-Leden: € 14) DEU REN: 22:00u OPENING SDANS: 22:30u
e s u o M LaCie Wonder VIII
2011
IMMEDIATELY COPIED BY A RIVAL FRATERNITY (TO MY AMUSEMENT)
Gala
A comission by three fraternities for the poster and look for their annual ball. The emphasis was on atmosphere and class. Contrary to the TD poster I chose a lucious feel, warm and soft. Personally, I was completely sick of this type of event’s stereotypes (the moon, a rose, a glass of champagne, a beautiful girl). It became my mission to defy these paradigms and be truly original. For starters, I chose flags as a central motif, to mimic the liking fraternities have towards them.
Thinking it weird that they weren’t used at all in their iconography, I felt the choice was justified. The flags were combined with a textile pattern — inspired by a piece of furniture in my room — and a clever contrast of fonts. A luxurious colour scheme topped it off, giving the impression of gold and velours. The final design was repurposed for a six metre long banner.
MOMBAST
IX 2007
I LIKE THe feet best — is that weird at all?
American Woman A duotone image, with a focus on an dark overlap. The teacher giving me the assignment desired a certain conceptual depth, but not to the point that it became boring or overtly complecated. A song — and my choice of song, American Woman — was perfectly suited as a backstory. Using silhouettes and images of American origin, the design was executed at near life size. This was done to turn the image into an actual woman, and to literally magnify the detail.
Core thoughts for this work: collage, colour overlap, Gestalt recognition, the image of America in the public eye at the time. Why should the woman “stay away from me”? Does it have anything to do with the United States’ foreign policy?
X 2010
A Collaboration with my “colleague”, Michael tritsmans
bush A brief for our fictional design firm, MAN’S. The self-given assignment was simple: design the look & style of a new and trendy lager beer. We soon decided to choose an existing brand (increasing our credibility) without a lager version of their beer. After extensive — but entertaining — market research we ended up with the Bush brand. After analysing their stylistic trademarks we proceeded to the task of designing a bottle for the new lager. We were fascinated by the possibility
of screenpriting on bottles - or more to the point, by the impossibility. They said it couldn’t be done (with conventional equipment). This was a challenge. We combined the Bush v shape with clear typography, striving for a self-assured and bold look. By removing the redundant elements, this was achieved. In the end, we even managed to fabricate a dozen prototypes using our own modification of the screenprinting process.
UR CULTUIVAL FEST
CAFÉ CON LECHE MATTHIEU & GUILLAUME HAN SOLO FAMILIE SEGERS DYNAMO ZJOSSS
XI 2011
A Collaboration with my EVER PATIENT FRIEND, Michael tritsmans
Calamartes 2011 A comission by the eponymous annual culture festival, organised by the University of Antwerp. I took this assignment with my best friend. Our mission was clear: a deep styling of the event, with a broad range of possible applications. The focus was youthfulness, but in this third edition the organising team wanted to profile Calamartes as a true festival with a clear professional look. Using the shown type logo, which was selected out of a range of possibilities by the organistaio, we
sonicangel
found an inspiration with the video game GTA Vice City. The colour scheme was based on this game’s fresh colours. The bold type stacks, combined with the colour and font gave the designs a backbone which allowed us to go in several directions. After going through endless corrections with the client (a committee of volunteers — difficult!), the eventual applications included, among others, t-shirts, a website, drink coupons, a magazine, buttons and banners, posters and backstage material.