A collection of printed materials, including magazines and booklets. One white cover features a charcoal sketch of a circle and the handwritten text “Itivnera 1977”.

A bike-happy, tasty reindeer of a Things feature - with some stickers thrown in for good measure

Words: Catherine Gaffney
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Date: 8 July 2012; Things
Work
Product Design

It’s been another mighty week for Things – we’ve been getting all manner of delightful post arriving each morning at the It’s Nice That headquarters. This week we’ve been indulging in 1990’s stickerbook nostalgia, a bit of bike-spotting, a freaking awesome piece of self-promo, a beautiful publication on food aaaaand a very nice illustrated book involving reindeer and the Greenland landscape.

A booklet lies diagonally on a blue background. The cover features a charcoal sketch of a circular shape surrounding the handwritten text “Itivnera 1977”. — Above
Emilie Aastrup: Itivnera 1977

An open sketchbook on a blue background. One page features a purple-toned illustration of jagged mountains and a handwritten note, while the opposite page contains small drawings of pots and the handwritten question “Am I staying sane?”. — Above
Emilie Aastrup: Itivnera 1977

An open zine on a blue background. One page features a black and white sketch of a figure and a bright orange object, while the opposite page shows a textured drawing of grass with two small footprints. — Above
Emilie Aastrup: Itivnera 1977

Emilie Aastrup: Itivnera 1977

Here we have Itivnera 1077, by London-based Danish illustrator Emilie Aastrup. The title comes from the name of a small village of seven reindeer-herders in West Greenland, where her father spent a six-month research stint in 1977 (at the age of 24). The book is a representation of his time spent there, and juxtaposes fragments of handwritten text from his letters home, with Aastrup’s illustrations of the landscapes, buildings, cooking utensils, and equipment of the immediate and surrounding environment. The non-linear sequence lends itself to a truthful evocation of memory, while the pen-lined, textural qualities of the images convey a strong sense of atmosphere and a time that is both drawn-out and compressed. Very cool indeed.
www.emilieaastrup.com

A magazine cover titled “TASTE” features a close-up of a sheep lying down. A block of text is laid over the sheep’s wool, with a list of article titles running along the bottom. — Above
ICO Design: Taste

An open magazine spread titled “The Perfect Loaf” shows two large, circular arrangements of different bread slices. Each slice is labelled with its variety, such as “pumpernickel rye” and “light rye sourdough”. — Above
ICO Design: Taste

An open magazine spread featuring a layout about tea and Swedish food. The left page has a headline that reads “TIME FOR TEA?” above several columns of text. The right page features a bold headline reading “SMÖRGÅS BOARD” alongside a grid of photos showing street scenes and signage. — Above
ICO Design: Taste

ICO DESIGN: Taste

Food, glorious food! It’s a universal topic – though if we reflect more broadly on this as a statement, we know that it can be discussed, interpreted, and debated in any number of ways and contexts. Likewise, a publication on the subject can go many ways, but here Taste presents a delicious smörgåsbord of articles, commentary, and interviews that we can dig into at our leisure.

Designed by ICO, it’s beautifully laid-out; the text has pale highlights in significant areas, while each piece of content is presented in a way that consistently engages. There are interesting cultural investigations, like how tea-swigging Londoners fell for coffee, and comments on flavour-forecasting and sustainability. There are also some beautiful and playful photographs – The Perfect Loaf, for example, presents various cross-sections of different types of bread, labeled and arranged together to form the shape of a perfect slice. YUM.
www.icodesign.com

An illustration of a stylised figure wearing a black top hat and a blue bow tie. The hat features the word “KLEBSTOFF” in bold, colourful letters, while the figure’s mouth is filled with square, adhesive-like patches. — Above
Klebstoff: Issue 4

A collection of illustrated prints and rolled posters laid across a blue surface. The works feature bold colours, cartoon figures, and typographic phrases including “LIVE EVERY DAY LIKE LAST” and “LOVE YOU”. — Above
Klebstoff: Issue 4

An open booklet on a blue background. The left page features a large number “1” inside a laurel wreath, with text below reading “Winner of the International Stickeraward 2011” and “Romibello, Pirna, Germany”. The right page displays a collection of colourful stickers, including a tree that says “i make oxygen what do you do?” and a figure with a headband that reads “DOPING SUCKS EAT BANANAS!”. — Above
Klebstoff: Issue 4

Klebstoff – Issue 4

Do you remember stickerbooks? I had one… but the quality of the glossy paper wasn’t good, which meant that once stuck, I could never transfer the stickers without tearing them, so it sort of defeated the purpose. But the near-hysteria surrounding the buying and swapping of stickers of different textures, colours, cartoon-characters and glitter-levels was something else. And I guess it provided nice layout exercises to those who were destined to become graphic designers.

Well, the people at Klebstoff have certainly been influenced by all this; apparently it’s the first type of magazine to be entirely composed of stickers, and in this fourth issue, there are all sorts of stickers designed by all sorts of artists. Most sticker-pages are accompanied by the profile of the artist on the opposite page, and, content-wise, there’s basically everything under the sun. We have great plans for these…
www.stickermag.com

A graphic design layout featuring blue geometric shapes, including a large circle and a square, over a pale background. Orange text is scattered across the page, including the words “verleden”, “een”, “toekomst” and “het”. — Above
Rejane dal Bello: Promo Work

An open magazine on a blue background features bold, colourful graphics. Two pages curl upwards to reveal stylised figures in orange and black, while the flat pages show green and orange geometric patterns and the words “ma Salu”. — Above
Rejane dal Bello: Promo Work

An open magazine with pages curling upwards against a blue background. Bold, oversized typography in red and blue reads “TRANSAT” and “CULTUUR”, with a page featuring a dense pattern of small red and black circles. — Above
Rejane dal Bello: Promo Work

Rejane dal Bello: Promo Work

Wow. When Rejane dal Bello’s work came through our letterbox we thought it was a super-cool magazine of some kind, but in actual fact… it’s a sample or promo piece of her work. And it is amazing. Originally from Rio de Janeiro, she has studied under Milton Glaser at the School of Visual Arts in New York and at the Post St Joost Academy in the Netherlands – where she has been based for the past eight years – and is about to move to London to work at Wolff Olins. Featuring beautifully riso-printed geometric shapes, linear forms, and illustrations in blues, greens, blacks, and vibrant oranges, her work is a clear indication of her already super-accomplished career. Awesome.
www.rejanedalbello.com

A book cover on a blue background features an illustration of five people riding bicycles in a line. A yellow circle at the top contains the title “Bike Watching” and the subtitle “An Explorer’s Journal”. — Above
David Sparshott: Bike Watching – An Explorer’s Journal

An illustration of a red bicycle on the left page of an open notebook. The opposite page is lined and blank, set against a bright blue background. — Above
David Sparshott: Bike Watching – An Explorer’s Journal

An illustration of people riding bicycles is printed across several folded pages of a sketchbook. The drawings are rendered in a loose, colourful style on off-white paper. — Above
David Sparshott: Bike Watching – An Explorer’s Journal

David Sparshott: Bike Watching – An Explorer’s Journal

A couple of years ago I had a lovely bright red bike named Flann. We’d navigate extremely dense student bike-traffic together, and you’d see all sorts of stuff out there on the bike-lanes – there was one guy rode a circus-height unicycle to class. No joke. Anyway, nowadays I’m bike-less, but am often sidetracked (not to say tempted!) by the sight of a beautiful bike locked to a lamppost or leaning against a wall. Which is why the illustrations in Bike Watching – An Explorer’s Journal are so captivating. There are beautifully drawn illustrations by David Sparshott of specific bike-models with a label next to each and a table on the facing page where you can jot down your sightings – as well as sections for accessories, components, and day-to-day observations. Haven’t spotted Flann just yet (he was a beach cruiser), but will keep an eye out! (Also, if you’ve never read it and like bikes, The Third Policeman, written by Flann’s namesake, is an absolute must-read)
www.laurenceking.com/bike-watching
www.davidsparshott.com