Appear Offline is the one-man creative outfit playfully deconstructing classic letterforms

Feeling constricted by his professional output, the founder of Appear Offline dedicated himself to typographic exploration.

Date
28 November 2022

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The founder of Appear Offline, a designer who prefers to remain anonymous, set up the pseudonym as a way of “bridging the gap” between the two areas he is most passionate about: “typography and graffiti”. These might seem like natural bedfellows, but inspired by the “visual juxtaposition between analogue and digital”, this one-man creative outfit manages to bring a fresh perspective to the mix. Playful and expressive graffiti-inspired typography sits alongside refined compositions that the designer has learned through years of experience working with various brands and creative agencies.

Appear Offline was set up in 2015, at a time when the founder felt that his professional design work wasn’t fulfilling his “ideas, affinities and aspirations”. Under this new banner, he has since used a “reinterpretation of typographic forms” to create unusual black-and-white graphics, with the aim of “showcasing visual boldness combined with gestural dynamics and visual rhythm”, as he describes it. His portfolio contains striking examples of typographic distortions and glitches, and features work across a number of formats, from posters, magazine covers and prints to rugs, apparel and short looping animations. Creative freedom and exploration: That’s the beauty of being your own boss!

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Appear Offline: N Process Poster (Copyright © Appear Offline, 2022)

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Appear Offline: Ghost Animation (Copyright © Appear Offline, 2022)

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Appear Offline: Framed Stills (Copyright © Appear Offline, 2021)

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Appear Offline: MAD Cover (Copyright © Appear Offline, 2020)

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Appear Offline: Collage Scarf (Copyright © Appear Offline, 2022)

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Appear Offline: GAAS Poster (Copyright © Appear Offline, 2020)

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Appear Offline: 60 Hash Digits (Copyright © Appear Offline, 2022)

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Appear Offline: Chopped & Screwed (Copyright © Appear Offline, 2022)

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Appear Offline: Framed Stills (Copyright © Appear Offline, 2021)

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Appear Offline X Hot Type: Sweet Chaos / Typographic Rug (Copyright © Appear Offline, 2022)

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Appear Offline: X Milieu Grotesque: Boutique Print (Copyright © Appear Offline, 2022)

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About the Author

Roz Jones

Roz (he/him) joined It’s Nice That for three months as an editorial assistant in October 2022 after graduating from Magazine Journalism and Publishing at London College of Communication. He’s particularly interested in publications, archives and multi-media design.

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