last night we attended the bno spellbound at pakhuis de zwijger - Frédérik Ruys was speaking on designing infographics, specifically those he designed as “visual journalism.” there was a bit of a debate on what makes an infographic an infographic, and not an illustration - when you ask a room full of designers this question, you can be certain there will be arguments.

 
outside pakhuis de zwijger

 
the view across the water from pakhuis de zwijger

 
Frédérik’s visualization of his recent car accident - causing an accident for a man who designs infographics professionally must be very unpleasant

 
Frédérik’s credit crisis visualization led to a discussion of how clearly we need to understand what is actually happening in an infographic or if simply working out the basic concept is enough

it’s always nice to have a visit to robstolk, we love to work with them!

Thursday night we attended a pop quiz evening run by Bart de Baets and Rustan Söderling. It was one of the most difficult quiz nights we’ve ever attended - 100% centered around music, some samples were only a second long!

We had a lot of fun and also discovered a great Portuguese beer, which we can highly recommend.

Linda Cortjens started her internship with mannschaft at the end of march. Linda is 22 and is in her third year of graphic design at AKV St Joost in Den Bosch.

her inspiration comes from different areas: she likes to look around on behance and the work of artist Bas Kosters is a big inspiration for her. she loves the designs of Hollandse Meesters and Roquefort because they are young and fresh.

in her free time, Linda rides horses, goes to concerts (especially those of her favorite band ill nino) and loves to socialize with her friends.

welcome Linda, it’s great to have you working with us!

Update: after a week it was quiet up in the skies and Rob managed to somehow come back safely.

we listen to Wild Beasts all the time in the studio and were lucky enough to see them live at Paradiso on 31 march. a great way to start the Easter holiday!

our new intern Ralph Wu started working with mannschaft in early March. Ralph is originally from Taipei City, Taiwan and after completing his masters in editorial design at HKU, he moved to Amsterdam.

In his free time, Ralph likes to shop for some old gears at flea markets and explore the streets of Amsterdam. He also likes to write prose after his experiences in this crazy town!

his sources of inspiration:
but does it float
aisleone
shimokitazawa-books
french sample room
kuler
warp
Wong Kar-wai

welcome Ralph, it’s great to have you working with us!

Vijzelstraat has become a little more interesting since yesterday we unveiled our winter animation!
If you come from the direction of de Munt and you make your way towards de Pijp, you’ll be greeted by our festive mix of winter words. Come and see for yourself! This animation will be running until December 18.

Martí's infamous Techno-tapas © Martî Guixé

a visit to the small-scale paperfair Grafisch papier hier in Amsterdam’s Pakhuis De Zwijger keeps you up-to-date about the latest papertrends and is a great source of inspiration. last saturday it was time again for the yearly event. mannschaft payed it a visit.

this year’s motto was ‘kookkunst – over eten en ontwerpen’ with a very tasty presentation of Martí Guixé – Catalonya’s creative design export hit. Guixé, who has among others designed interiors for Spanish shoe brand Camper, presented the amused audience his hands-free lollipop, the Olive atomic snack – three-dimensional tapas, in the shape of atomic models – and the Techno-tapas, “a system of eatable tapas that enable you to snack while working with your computer, during parties, aircraft travelling or design openings”. our presentation favorite was the Gat fog party –artificial indoor fog made of gin and tonic as performed in 2004 in Casco Projects, Utrecht. cheers, Martí, you’re delicious!

more specifically dedicated to printed matter is the work of Tony Le Duc and Nej De Doncker. Le Duc as photographer and Doncker as designer have been cooperating on a number of cookbooks (among others on an anniversary book for Kitchen Aid) and have lately realized a number of beautifully designed ‘bookazines’ called Kookze!

with pockets full of exciting paper samples (none of them edible) and a head full of inspiration we left the pakhuis to finally fill our empty stomachs.

see you next year!

our new intern Kay Hooijmans started working with us in early november. Kay is in his third year studying communication and multimedia design at Rotterdam University. he recently moved from Utrecht to Rotterdam where he’s living together with his twin brother.

in his free time, you can find kay boxing at the gym or shopping for some filippa-k or stone island clothing. on saturdays Kay works at a nice butcher shop in rotterdam, the finest meat in town – as he says!

his sources of inspiration:
Edward Hopper
el-p
Dali
Atmosphere
Radiohead
Christopher Hewitt

welcome, Kay, it’s great to have you working with us!