DISTANCE AND PROXIMITY 
Recent events have made me realise that distance and proximity, and their interrelationships, could well be the essence of what our design practice is about. Many of the projects we work on are meant to provide an overview. Zooming out and removing visual noise is one way to create a new image, and thus a new understanding of a situation. But filtering is not the only tool we apply. Overview can also result from the contextualisation of a subject, or by deliberately adding noise to highlight its complexity. Within the studio we arrive at such a synopsis through the exchange of ideas and experiences. Being close is especially important for such conversations. Not by looking at each other – whether or not via camera, network and liquid crystals – but by looking together at work that is shaped in dialogue.

It feels contradictory, but to achieve critical distance one has to be close to the subject and the subjects. Especially since we work in an international environment, we have learned that locality and physicality – next to the universal principles of the design field – are essential components for our work to resonate with the different readerships. Any attempt at creating an overview can only succeed when the designs, through their materialisation, the levels of detail in information and visual translation, and their physical presence, make a direct connection with people across the globe.

DISSERTATION
Last April Joost Grootens successfully defended his dissertation ‘Blind Maps and Blue Dots: The blurring of the producer-user divide in the production of visual information’ to obtain the doctoral degree at Leiden University. During a five-year term in the PhDArts programme he investigated what contemporary mapmaking practices can reveal about the ever-evolving field of graphic design. Especially the adoption of digital modes of production has fundamentally altered the practices and the impact of this design discipline, and it changed the relationship between the producers and users of visual information. The project, in which academic and artistic forms of research were combined, discusses and visualizes the consequences of what could well be perceived as a paradigm shift. These fundamental changes resonate throughout the publication ‘Blind Maps and Blue Dots’ as it studies the tools, strategies and output of contemporary mapmaking practices – of both amateurs and technology companies – that have appropriated the technologies to design and publish visual information.

On occasion of the defence, SJG produced a limited-edition print run of the dissertation. One hundred books from this small series are now for sale at €50 per copy (including VAT). Additional costs for postage & packaging amount to €5 (NL), €10 (Europe), or €20 for the rest of the world. If you are interested, please send a mail to pr [​at​] joostgrootens.nl before August 8th. You may only order one book per person.

Ten copies are reserved for students at a reduced price of €25 (plus the aforementioned costs for postage & packaging). Please add the word STUDENT to the subject line of your email. The books will be randomly assigned if demand exceeds the number of copies available.

Later this year Lars Müller Publishers will present a commercial edition of ‘Blind Maps and Blue Dots’. 

RECENT WORK
Formafatasma Cambio
The Italian designers Formafantasma  initiated a long-term investigation into the timber industry: from global commercial forestry to local ecological activism, and from cellulose fibres to the manufacturing and distribution of wood products. Their project Cambio was planned to be exhibited at the Serpentine Galleries, London in the Spring of 2020, and has now been scheduled to reopen 29 September.

The catalogue ‘Formafantasma Cambio’ has already been published. It mirrors Formafantasma’s characteristic mixture of learning and practice, described by Serpentine’s directors Hans Ulrich Obrist and Bettina Korek as bridging ‘research-led projects and the wider design industry, offering insight into how design can be an agent of change and championing ecological responsibility.’

The catalogue contains a collection of essays, interviews, and images in which the main topic is approached from a variety of domains such as (natural) science, technology, nature conservation, policy, and philosophy, linked to role that design(research) can play in contributing to a sustainable, collective response.

The design of the catalogue is inspired by the typology of the botanical guidebook, but also the academic publication and the encyclopaedia. This is reflected in the density of information on the page, the choice of a serif typeface, the off-white paper and the gold-foiled title on a linen cover.

In accordance with the eclectic, inquisitive and highly contemporary contents of Cambio, the book design also questions its own formal components. The grid is flexible, the typeface (Or Lemmen) is fairly recent, and the coated and printed cover adds a certain lightness to the book. A photo series on the closing pages of the catalogue depicts an investigation on the paper chosen for the inside work (EOS 2.0). Microscopic scans were made to ascertain that no rare types of wood were used in the paper production. 

The Academy of the Sublime
Artist Erik Odijk is best known for his large, extremely detailed drawings, often made on site, in which he captures fragments from nature. His photography and spatial installations deal with the same subject. A selection of his works in these three artistic disciplines has been brought together in the book ‘The Academy of the Sublime’. Loose sheets of paper have been folded together to create three separate sections dedicated to each of Odijk’s media, held together in a wrapper of green paper.

The object as a whole is big: 27x36 cm. This large format allows viewers to let their eyes wander in the mazes he constructs and appreciate the complexity of keeping things simple. This maxim actually defined the design of the publication. Sometimes the images are large, sometimes small as the work of the artist deals with time, concentration, scale and detail. The way they are loosely placed on the page invigorates this sensation of a hike through uncharted domains that are as aesthetically attractive as they appear to be gloomy.

Erik Odijk describes this dichotomy as follows: ‘The Sublime can help describe the current depression of the human condition, but also contribute to the formulation of a constructive response. The Sublime is about the experience of an individual who dares to confront and to engage with what is beyond their understanding and knowledge, and tries to make sense of it.’ 

The Grand Projet
Over the years, our long-standing collaborations with Kees Christiaanse, his studio KCAP, ETH Zurich and Future Cities Laboratory Singapore have resulted in a range of books on research projects in architecture and urban planning. The latest addition, ‘The Grand Projet. Understanding the Making and Impact of Urban Megaprojects’, couldn’t be more aptly named. Around 1.5 kg of material and 640 pages were needed to present the comparative research conducted by The Future Cities Lab on eight urban megaprojects: four in Asia (Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore) and four in Europe (Hamburg, Paris, Barcelona, London). We custom designed around 200 maps and diagrams for the book that was selected as one of the Best Dutch Book Designs 2019. 

Rijksakademie on the Map
From 1870 onwards a remarkable range of high-ranking artists have been affiliated with the Rijksakademiein Amsterdam. In light of its 150th birthday, a project was initiated around 441 works of art in public space, situated in Amsterdam, all made by artists affiliated with the Rijksakademie. We designed a map that doesn’t just show the locations of art in public space, but also addresses the civic role that artists have played in city development. It tries to activate the works in the context of an important topical debate on monuments, urging all of us to question who or what these artworks represent (and do not represent). 

Route Kunst
The Dutch Research Agenda is meant to provide a positive and structural contribution to the global knowledge society of tomorrow, in which new knowledge flows freely from researcher to user and where new questions from practice and society quickly and automatically find their way into new research. Route Kunst is one of the pathways in this national agenda, concentrating on the contribution that art and research can bring to innovation in the 21ste century. In collaboration with professor Janneke Wesseling(Leiden University), who represents Route Kunst, we worked on the design of a new website. 

OTHER RECENT WORK 

GERMAN AWARD
In ‘Architecture and Argument’ architecture critic Hans Ibelings analyses the work of Amsterdam-based Team V Architecture. The architectural projects particularly stand out due to Team V’s conviction in the intricate relationship between architectural appearance and argument. Form is not the result of free will or determinism, but rather the logical consequence of a complex debate about why and how a certain form can embody a project's values, solutions, and aspirations.

Last month, the book (published by Hatje Cantz Verlag) was chosen as one of 25 Most Beautiful German Books 2020. The jury of the Stiftung Buchkunst was impressed by the meticulous execution of the design, from the materialization of the cover to the subtle distinctions in paper between the critical introduction and the portfolio pages, and the use of a warm grey colour throughout the book. The jury report concludes: ‘Nothing is left to chance. Without causing any disruption, subtle navigational elements are placed right at the edges of the side and bottom margins of the page. The grey thread runs through to become visible in the stitching of the sections – a document of elaborate understatement.’ 

PUBLIC PERFORMANCES
Due to the current regulations around conferences, seminars and other public or educational gatherings, Joost Grootens has been forced to interrupt his lecturing practice. However, several recent lectures can still be viewed online:

The architecture of books
Lecture at The Berlage, Delft University of Technology
13 December, 2019

Complexity and contradiction in designing information
Lecture at Scuola Politecnico di Design, Milan
28 May, 2019

More matter, with less art
Lecture at Visual Knowledge conference, Aalto University, Helsinki
10 May, 2019 

Or read one of these recent interviews:

‘The Doubleness of a Map’, interview by Natassa Pappa, published in:
Desired Landscapes: a magazine reading into cities, issue 03 (2020), 34-51.

‘Designers as Educators’, interview by Belle Phromchanya, published in:
Term Paper 02: Below Sea Level (2019), 8-45.

c-SITE #2 Topic: Sample (2019).

‘Interview Joost Grootens’, interview by Nadine Botha,
published on website Design Academy Eindhoven, 2020. 

SECOND BASE: SJG BIEL/BIENNE
 

From its home-base in Amsterdam, SJG has developed a portfolio of book designs, maps, exhibition designs, research projects and graphic tools. The studio, founded by Joost Grootens in 1995, works for international publishers such as Lars Müller Publishers, nai010 publishers, Park Books, and Phaidon Press, and collaborates with ETH Zurich, FCL Singapore, KADK Copenhagen, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven and other renowned research institutions. Many of these clients have become long-term partners.

Now, in the summer of 2019, SJG branches out to Switzerland, which marks the start of a new phase in the life of the studio, and possibly a further broadening of our field of operations. Our second base in the bilingual city of Biel/Bienne will further explore how new practices in graphic design can be shaped by a local presence combined with international exchange. SJG Biel/Bienne is bound to revive the contact between two strongly linked modernist design cultures: the Swiss and the Dutch ‘school’. Coincidentally, on the 20th of June Joost Grootens – Dutch jury member of the Most Beautiful Swiss Books – will deliver a eulogy in honour of Jonas Voegeli, winner of the Jan Tschichold Award 2019 at the exhibition opening in Zurich. Yet another sign of the strong bonds between the two countries.

In accordance with our modus operandi, we see this presence in Switzerland as a logical continuation of our practice, not as some major strategic operation. An international outlook has always characterized SJG’s position in (graphic) design, much as it is reflected in the international portfolios of our peers. Strengthening the links therefore feels natural, especially since Swiss-born Dimitri Jeannottat has taken responsibility for setting up the Biel/Bienne studio. Dimitri is a senior designer at SJG since 2013. Next to his work within SJG he continued to develop individual projects and took on a teaching position in his home country (École d’arts appliqués de La Chaux-de-Fonds). From Biel/Bienne he will develop this further, but he will also keep adding his ‘voice’ to the work of SJG.

Through the years a group of mainly young designers joined SJG from countries like Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Taiwan, the United States, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. This international mix is guaranteed to bring new perspectives to the discussion about our work. Biel/Bienne adds an extremely versatile feeding ground as it literally represents two cultures: French and German.

Collaboration is also the essential notion for SJG Biel/Bienne. As Dimitri Jeannottat explains: “I came to Amsterdam to familiarize myself with the approach developed by Joost. Over the years I managed to internalize the work process in the studio. Our collaborative approach is also expressed by the start of the Swiss studio. People will always come to us because of Joost and his reputation, but today I dare say that I know how I can add to it. I don’t like to think of it as an expansion of the business though… For me the opening of the Swiss studio is much more about expanding our horizon.”

This newsletter is published in tandem with the launch of our new studio website. Both platforms allow Studio Joost Grootens (SJG) to show how the work we do is connected to larger themes we develop within the studio, and explore in graphic products, lectures, research activities and educational projects.

NOT FROM SCRATCH
Brick. An exacting material presents the outcome of extensive academic research into many different aspects of this building material. The book on contemporary Dutch brick architecture originated at the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture. Edited by Jan Peter Wingender it contains photographs, drawings and texts on the interface of education, theory and practice. For SJG it was important to acknowledge that any new book on such a subject is part of a legacy. There are shelves full of books on brick architecture that provided vital references to the authors. As designers we feel a similar obligation to the design history of architectural publishing: we do not work from scratch. The choice for a pre-modern typography exemplifies this awareness. The book’s physical characteristics express its contemporary position. As an object Brick is everything but a brick. Despite its substance it is a lightweight book, the spine is deliberately rounded whereas the corners are straight, and to help avoid any likeness with the real deal the colour red has not been used in the cover.

GRAPHIC RELAY
From the outset PARS dedicates its efforts to orchestrating a meeting of minds between scientists and artists. Its main vehicle is a series of publications: Findings on…, (Lars Müller Publishers). Each issue deals with a single core theme that bears relevance to a multitude of creative (research) practices. Recently Findings on Light was presented as the third volume in PARS’ Atlas of Creative Thinking. Because the contributions come from such different fields of expertise (from cognitive science and textile conservation to neurology and contemporary composing) it is important that each entry is designed to bring out its own specific graphic context. An article written by a theoretical physicist demands a graphic treatment that reflects the typology of scientific publishing, whereas the contribution of a poet should be immediately recognised and thus appreciated as a work of art. The confrontation of disciplines is clearly expressed in the way the contributions have been organised on the page. They literally meet halfway. Graphic formats engage in a similar kind of ‘relay run’ as the articles.

REPRESENTING COLLECTIONS
Recent commissions by several Dutch museums provided us with a chance to experiment with the visual representation of a collection. Our interest was triggered when we started work on the Collection book for Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam (published in 2012). The book design demonstrates a work process in which the physical collection is perceived as a data set on which an almost infinite number of filters can be applied. Every filter reveals another reading of the collection. If a certain set of measurements is used as the filter, the outcome will be completely different from a search based on – for instance – dates of acquisition or gender of the artist.

The long-term collaboration with the Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven) that started in 2013 is centred round the Museum Index: a graphic system that allows visitors to oversee the collection and to keep track of possible changes (f.i. loans, new acquisitions). The Museum Index is printed on the wall in a central gallery. It is not meant as an artwork, but solely as a representation of data. Again, certain filters add meaning. The use of red in an otherwise black-an-white installation indicates the insurance value of the works, which marks the relation between value development and time of purchase. Such ‘political’ aspects play an important role because the politics of collecting is such a crucial topic for the Van Abbemuseum. 

For the exhibition The 1980s that is currently on show in the Van Abbemuseum, SJG made a timeline showing artworks the museum acquired from 1980 until today. Only the works created in the 1980s are visible, works from other periods are left blank.

For the Municipal Museum in Schiedam SJG made earlier this year a series of spatial infographics in the museum galleries that show how the collection has expanded over the last fifteen years.

CHANGE OF SCALE
The recently opened group exhibition Dream Out Loud (Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, until 1 January 2017) presents recent design projects that ‘figure out ways to solve today’s complex societal issues’. SJG has collaborated with Bart Guldemond who designed the spatial installation of Dream Out Loud. A shared point of departure for both the interior and the graphic design was the recognition that a presentation of so much design didn’t need another newly designed layer. Guldemond therefore worked with extrapolations of existing plinths, floors, ceilings and walls in the museum, and SJG based its graphic contributions on the existing identity of the museum, designed by Mevis & Van Deursen. A change of scale is the most important adjustment. Captions are printed in a larger typesize on 1 × 1,5 metre, light grey posters and distributed along the outer walls of the galleries. The larger typesize makes it possible for visitors to read the information without approaching the walls. Illustrations of the objects add visual references. Some of the posters are almost empty: they only show a horizontal black line on eye height. The line defines the boundaries of the exhibition. 

PRIZES
SJG was awarded three times during this year’s Best Dutch Books Designs (exhibition in Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam until 30 October) for the monograph on artist Jan Schoonhoven, the Van Dale Dictionary of the Dutch language, and Brick. An exacting material (see above). The latter won a silver medal at the Best Book Design from all over the World competition (Schönste Bücher aus aller Welt) in Leipzig earlier this year. The Van Dale dictionary is nominated for the Designs of the Year award, organised by the Design Museum in London (UK) and for the Dutch Design Award, Eindhoven. Earlier this year the project won a Golden Laus Award in Barcelona (ES) and a Graphite Pencil at D&AD in London (UK).

LECTURES
Next to his regular teaching activities at Design Academy Eindhoven, where Joost Grootens heads the MA Information Design department, he lectured at several art and design institutions in the Netherlands and abroad, such as the Jan Van Eyck Academy in Maastricht and the National Design Center in Singapore. Especially the lectures at several schools and research institutes for architecture have again resulted in valuable exchanges with students, tutors and scholars at TU Munich, the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore and the KADK in Copenhagen.

NEW WEBSITE
Today our new website will be launched: www.joostgrootens.nl
Seven important domains – from monographs and atlases to the design of tools – are presented by means of a photo essay and a short introduction text. The website also contains an archive of 176 projects. It was designed in-house and built in collaboration with Systemantics.

This is the first issue of a half-yearly newsletter documenting not just the projects for clients that have recently been produced by Studio Joost Grootens (SJG), but also the independent research work, the publications and educational activities informed by the studio's work practice.

DICTIONARY IN THE DIGITAL AGE
After five years of intensive R&D the redesign of the leading Dutch language dictionary Dikke Van Dale was launched this fall. SJG worked on a new design concept both for the traditional printed edition – a set of three volumes with nearly 5,000 pages – as for the dictionary’s online publications: a desktop version that functions as a writing aid and a mobile one aimed at offering quick definitions.

The 15th edition of the dictionary required serious reinterpretation of the existing format. Several remnants of a long history had to disappear. To improve the dictionary’s functionality a primarily typographic design commission needed to be turned into a graphic design approach. This is reflected in the introduction of new navigational elements like colour and illustration and in the design of a special typeface that includes symbols. Knowing how search routines have changed in the digital age, it became a major challenge to strengthen the cultural significance of the printed book. Its pearly white book cover presents a major break with the familiar dark hues of red and grey traditionally used by Van Dale publishers. This signals the current association between the pursuit of knowledge and our use of white and silver digital devices as the portals to information. Less visible but just as important for an efficient production process of the dictionary was the design of a script that automatically typesets the pages from an xml-coded database in which the editors worked.

CEREMONY, A NEW TYPOGRAPHIC TOOL
Ceremony is a typeface drawn for use in small sizes, it combines a full extended latin character set with 178 pictograms, all encapsulated in 77 different positive and negative geometric shapes.The typeface resulted from a gradual process of development, starting around 2008. Work on an atlas required an indexing system of single and double digit numbers for which existing fonts did not provide a satisfactory answer. The studio started drawing its own solution. From there on Ceremony grew organically to include letters and in the final stage – while the studio was working on new projects – a library of pictograms was added. SJG investigated how a set of 21st century icons can represent contemporary concepts such as same-sex couples and smart devices. Since 2015 Ceremony is published by the Optimo Type Foundry in Switzerland and has now become a typographic tool for all.

RESEARCHING THE LANDSCAPE OF MAPPING
As part of the Doctoral Programme in Visual Art and Design (a collaboration between the Leiden University Academy of Creative and Performing Arts and the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, NL) Joost Grootens has started a 4-year PhDArts research project. Building on the pioneering work of SJG as designers of maps, the combination of academic and experimental research needs to develop a new understanding of the tools of mapmaking and the role of the map designer, now that Google Maps and all kinds of other digital navigation devices have redefined our sense of location and space. 

 

THE NEXT GENERATION OF INFORMATION DESIGNERS
Since 2011 Joost Grootens heads the Master Information Design at Design Academy Eindhoven, NL. The two-year course equips young professionals with an understanding of fast changing technologies and their impact on the production, representation and use of information. Designing news and designing knowledge are essential themes within the programme that stimulates students to experiment and find their own approach while they create their own tools, systems and work methods. In October 2015 the third batch of graduates presented their projects as part of the Dutch Design Week.

 
 
 

DAM ARCHITECTURAL BOOK AWARD
In his book Young–Old. Urban Utopias of an Aging Society architect and researcher Deane Simpson examines architectural and urban transformations that are related to aging populations in the US, Japan and Spain. The book features an array of specially designed graphs, maps and drawings that supplement Simpsons highly evocative essays and photographic material. This October Young–Old, published by Lars Müller Publishers, received the prestigious DAM Architectural Book Award, in which the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) collaborate. Two more titles designed by SJG were shortlisted: Infomal Market Worlds Atlas (by Peter Mörtenböck, Helge Mooshammer; nai010 publishers) and Atlas of the Functional City (by Evelien van Es, Gregor Harbusch, Bruno Maurer, Muriel Pérez, Kees Somer, Daniel Weiss; THOTH Publishers & gta Verlag).

 
 
 

THE STUDIO ON STAGE
The entire studio (except Dimitri Jeannottat who had teaching obligations in Switzerland) came to the stage at the 15th Integrated conference in Antwerp, BE this November. Joost Grootens lectured about the work process in the studio and he demonstrated how all recent projects have necessarily been collective creations. The strength of the team allows SJG to shape its own language and tools and to integrate in-house research in its commissioned projects.
Other lectures in 2015 took Joost Grootens to AGI Open, Biel/Bienne, CH; KADK, Copenhagen, DK; ETH Zürich, CH, HEAD, Geneva, CH and Weissraum, Innsbruck, AT.

 

FRESH ARRIVAL
For the new book on Zero artist Jan Schoonhoven (nai010 Publishers) SJG decided to print all texts in PMS Cool Gray 5, as not to interfere with the monochrome whites of the art pieces. The design approach reflects the urgency of Schoonhovens minimalist work, made during the second half of the 20th century.