RYAN RIEGNER

I arrived in Melbourne, Australia a couple days ago, and straight from the airport ATM, the first thing that caught my eye was the beauty of the Australian Dollar. I’ve been a kind of currency binge since my Philippines currency re-design, and compared to our horribly designed American currency, Australian money follows a well devised system from the coinage to the bills. Coins are arranged by color and size relative to their amount, providing easier access for internationals like myself, and the paper bills are coded by color and surprisingly size as well, making fumbling through a wallet to find the appropriate denomination easier than staring into a green abyss like in the states. Above this, the imagery on Australian currency is very elegant and beautiful. Next time you open your wallet or catch a stray on the street, take a look at the design of these paper bills, they are simply amazing.

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What would make a 4th of July more complete than an extremely large stockpile of illegal fireworks, placed in the hands of father and son? This is how we celebrated the Independence of our country, and by the way of the American Dream, the bigger the better! I took these pictures with my newish Nikon D40 and I’m overall pleased with how they came out, given my newbie camera cred. Happy 4th Everyone!

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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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Well I finally made it. I purchased a Nikon D40 yesterday through a really nice Iranian woman in Soho. The D40 has by far been my best buy on Craigslist to date, and I was overjoyed when she threw in an extra Nikkor 55-200mm VR zoom lens for free, on top of the standard 18-55mm. I’ll be using it mostly for my travels in Australia and at RMIT for the next several months. The Nikon D40 is a great transitional tool into the dslr family, as it provides many semi-pro features such as the 6-megapixel sensor from the D50 and the same processing engine from the d200.  I know It’s no D700, but it will do fine while I learn. Anybody who has any useful D40 tips I’m all ears. Now about those kids…

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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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Feast your eyes on the Eleflate, a larger than life, but yet lighter than air, full-grown inflatable elephant. First born as a mere plastic bag, this magnificently unique creature was first spotted in New York City in Greenwich Village this past May at the Parsons School of Design. Enjoy the power of plastic! Video filmed by Jacqui Molendyke.

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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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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 typographic series of book cover re-designs created by my proposed publishing company, Melody Press. I kept the covers free of imagery to portray a synopsis of each book through the type of the title. I chose to redesign the books, “The Devil Knows You’re Dead” by Lawrence Block, “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer, and “Nausea” by Jean-Paul Sartre, and I highly recommend all three. All subheadings and block texts are set in Minion Pro.

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One of my more in-depth works on identity design, Gulp is an company created around it’s internet based search engine. Along with the Gulp search homepage and search results page, I also produced the standard corporate identity of logo, business cards, envelopes and letterheads, along with annual report covers, t-shirts, and brand book. All Type is set in Trade Gothic Bold and Medium.

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