Solid Stuff

Featured in IdN Magazine

Imar — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 09:28:45 +0000

Get hold of a copy of the latest IdN Magazine (v19n1) available mid March. They have a double page spread featuring my design work as well as an interview with me!

– Imar

Catherine & Hugh

Imar — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 08:00:10 +0000

For their wedding invitation card, the brief from Catherine and Hugh was “quaint and elegant”. This is what I came up with, and they really liked it! I drew some elements by hand to add a quirky and personal touch, but the formal elements of the design are anchored by some lovely fonts from Lost Type Co-op. The wedding ceremony took place under a big tree on a beautiful wine farm.

Van Wiegelied Tot Halleluja

Imar — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 08:00:57 +0000

Book design for “Van Wiegelied Tot Halleluja” written by my grandfather André van der Spuy.

Description: 140x205mm softcover weighing in at just over 150 pages.

Voorwoord:

“O, magtig, dokter, my kind is dan gebreklik!” sê Danie terwyl sy mooi vrou, Agnes, met groot, kristalhelder blou Ierse oë hom
angstig dophou.
Dokter Liversage glimlag skalks en vat die pasgebore baba sagkens maar stewig met sy volle hand aan die skof en skud hom liggies
heen en weer. “Nee, Daantjie, dis net vet! Dit is ’n stewige bulletjie wat aan julle geskenk is. Tien en ’n half pond daarvan!”
Dit is 21 November 1931 en Danie en Agnes se tweede seun wat die woelige wêreld rustig betree het. Só rustig dat dit twee stewige rapse op die boudjie geverg het om hom na asem te laat snak, gevolg deur ’n verergde “Wêê!” en daarna weer … slaap.

Tamara & Imar

Imar — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:44:02 +0000

Being a graphic designer by trade, of course I saw my wedding as a magnificent design project. One of the first things I told Tamara is that I would love the whole effort to be very DIY driven. I think she was horrified at the thought at first, but she soon came aboard. We saw it as an opportunity to bond with each other and with loved ones who worked with us.

Many people have asked for me to explain a little about the design of the invitations. I read recently that a powerful aspect of design is projectability. This refers to leaving space for the viewer to invent their own story, so in order to leave you that space I won’t say anything about the symbolism or meaning behind any of the elements.

What I do want to point out is the fact that we wanted every element of our wedding to be one-of-a-kind. We stamped and wrote details on each invitation and thank you tag by hand, cut and tied the ribbon, hand made windmills and made the pocket squares from scratch, starting with rolls of colourful material to name a few things. During this process, it dawned on me that true uniqueness is only achievable through imperfection.

I had suspected this before, but it has proven to be true: there is beauty in imperfection.

Class of 2000 Reunion

Imar — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 12:36:52 +0000

A t-shirt design for my high school reunion. Hermanus is a dual-medium school teaching in English and Afrikaans, so the t-shirt had to be bilingual. The seagull is a reference to the school emblem.

Common Grounds Adventures

Imar — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:30:17 +0000

A single web page for Common Grounds Adventures’ June holiday programme. I kept the palette simple and paid particular attention to the typographic hierarchy and a clean grid-based layout.

Betty’s Bay t-shirts

Imar — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:33:22 +0000

I designed these t-shirts to celebrate my favourite place. We printed a very limited run and gave most of them away to friends and family, but there are a few left.

Lea’s 21st

Imar — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:36:02 +0000

An invitation I designed for Lea’s 21st birthday party.

Tweetsnack

Imar — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:05:53 +0000

Logo for a Twitter app that is still under development at this stage…

Treska Botha

Imar — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:33:14 +0000

I share a love for old-world charm with Treska, so I decided to try and capture a little something of “the good old days” in the design for her logo and business cards.