RYAN RIEGNER

I finally reached a long awaited milestone this past weekend, one that I’ve been been dying to learn for a while now: the seemingly simple common knowledge art of screen printing. Yes I know, I call myself a graphic artist? How dare you Ryan, why don’t you get back to the Adobe hobble where all graphic designers belong? But to defend myself, I have always been fascinated by the printmaking arts, and after dabbling in mono-printing and lithography, I convinced a good friend to show me the ropes. A special shout goes out to the amazingly talented Gelsey Maslanka for taking the time to show me the process. I would have been a dazed and confused mess without your whip cracking, not to mention you answered all of my questions flawlessly.

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Today in Jan Wilker’s Topic studio we explored different possibilities on the use of typography in Graphic Design. We covered a lot of ground,  including the experimental pop-grunge of M/M (Paris), a rather embarrasing documentary by Erik Spiekermann on Typomania, and (most importantly for me) a Design Matters episode featuring International renown Graphic Artist Marian Bantjes, which I have embedded below.

Frankly have always been floored by Marian’s experimental typographic works, and spent the better part of my Wednesday night exploring her personal website and articles. Her massive body of work is simply outstanding, and her obsessive perfectionist influence is obvious in her masterful visuals of typography and image. I hope to one day produce work comparable to the caliber of hers, and to maintain her wonderful outlook on life found in her bio page. I took some time to pull together the most inspirational images from her website to share with you all.

On a side not, if you enjoy her work, she has an insightful Q & A on her website which I found very helpful by leaps and bounds. Also, check the bottom of the post for a little bonus snip it of some of my favorite type foundries (I just had to do it). Alright, let those creative juices flow!

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Today at my internship at Zago, we finally received the D’apostrophe portfolio book project from the printers with a lot of anticipation. The offset printed final copies had only marginal errors, which was not only exhilarating, but highly uncommon. This limited edition print run of 50 copies was completed for our client, Francis D’heane, a New York based Interior Designer originally from Belgium. It serves as the firm’s collective portfolio with projects ranging from apartments to offices and commercial stores. I find his work to be a marvelous fresh breath of color, material and composition. He has also has an expectational ability to integrate original artwork from artists such as Takashi Murakami and Matthew Barney into his conceptual layouts, accentuating them rather than overpowering them with MoMA friendly bells and whistles. Unfortunately, this book will only be available for client promotions, so low res, web safe jpg that I took today will have to do unless we can convince him to send it off to publishers.

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In the beginning of the new year, myself and Alex Levin, a good friend and savy business partner will be opening a design studio in New York City. We’ve rightly named the company ALBINO RHINO by combining the first syllables of each of our first names, and the resulting logo is a reflection of the metaphor of our partnership. We’re currently in the process of turning this new identity into a corporate brand, and have been brainstorming promotions and organizing legal documentation before the launch in January. With that said, we’re both extremely excited and ready for a massive learning curve of experiencing first hand what it means to run and operate a design firm within New York City. I’m expecting a lot of hard lessons and long nights, but I am also looking forward to pushing my limits as a designer and businessman in terms of honesty and innovation within the wonderful sphere of graphic design. Here’s the guts of our identity system that we’ve been developing.

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Write it, Buy it, Eat it, Enjoy it is a handy (possibly even tasty) book loaded with fifty blank grocery lists for every smart shopper. Album bound with twisty ties and hand transferred onto recycled paper. Pen not included.

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The WaterBlock Type Specimen book, my first designed font, is the prime example of the possibilities of even the simplest of printmaking and bookbinding processes. Created by watercolor mono printing onto Arches Rives BFK in a snake book format with Ochre hardback covers, I have decided upon the snake format to be the most useful for displaying a typeface, both as individual elemntal characters, and as a set.

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Welcome to Carpet Art, Venango Pennsylvania. My father purchased this once majestic, three story roller mill, built in the 1800’s, and began a renovation of the building like no other. Appropriately dubbed Carpet Art, his carpet installation focused business takes up the entire 1st floor, and his home has been constructed, by him alone, on the 2nd. At some point I plan to take this signage and create a typeface for it. This building has truly been an inspiration for my work, as a showcase of my father’s greatest masterpiece. It has become one of the most unique forms of preserved but personalized architecture that I’ve ever seen. Frank Lloyd Wright would be so proud.
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Paper currency, regardless of it’s technical beauty, elegant craftsmanship and saturation into everyday life, it is one of the most commonly overlooked aspects of remarkable design… so I chose to redesign some. I decided to go with the Philippine peso, as I will be traveling to Australia and Southeast Asia this winter. I chose to focus primarily on applying governmental requirements, specific imagery, color, and form relative to the Philippines that showcased both internal and external associations with this island nation, and I am more than pleased with the result. I plan to distribute them to locals, possibly as trade if and when I arrive.

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These are a couple of fun paper projects that I’ve been working on, “Explode” and “Erode,” I tried to use the possible dimension of paper to simulate action with typography. I custom made the typeface and used only Fabriano Tiziano 40% acid free pastel paper and white map tacks and of course Mr. Handy Exacto.

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Snellen eye charts are traditionally comprised of unique optotypes for determining visual acuity, but in this project, they offered me an easily recognizable typographic format in which to play with type. These are three type specimen posters showcasing Helvetica Bold, Adobe Garamond, and Trajan Pro Bold. Although they cannot replace the Snellen eye chart at an optometrist’s office, they would still make a great installation in the home of any witty type designer with an extremely long hallway!

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