Moiré Index creates what is perhaps the first visual lexicon of moire patterns.

Carsten Nicolai is a visual and sound artist who’s new book Moiré Index from Die Gestalten creates what is perhaps the first visual lexicon of moire patterns.

A moiré pattern is an interference pattern created when two grids are overlaid at slightly different angles or when they have slightly different mesh sizes. Moiré patterns are often an undesired artifact of images produced by various digital imaging and computer graphics techniques, for example when scanning a halftone picture or ray tracing a checkered plane.

In graphic arts and prepress, the usual technology for printing full-color images involves the superimposition of halftone screens. These are regular rectangular dot patterns—often four of them, printed in cyan, yellow, magenta, and black. Some kind of moiré pattern is inevitable, but in favorable circumstances the pattern is “tight;” that is, the spatial frequency of the moiré is so high that it is not noticeable. In the graphic arts, the term moiré means an excessively visible moiré pattern. Part of the prepress art consists of selecting screen angles and halftone frequencies which minimize moiré. The visibility of moiré is not entirely predictable. The same set of screens may produce good results with some images, but visible moiré with others.

Nicolai’s body of music engages the blips, bleeps, and static of data being visualized, sometimes through automation. He carried this interest into a series of published work categorizing the artifacts of visual data representation. Moiré Index methodically —and obsessively— sorts through the variety of moires patterns to deliver a comprehensive reference point for the patterns.

Moiré Index — gestalten.com

Comics aren't just books anymore.

While the experience of reading comics online can never replace the joy of holding a freshly printed book in your hands, web comics have existed just about as long as the technology has been available to make them possible. They are particularly relevant for those of us whose jobs place us in front of computers for most of the day, bringing a little light to the systematic and repetitive existence entailed by such work.

While originally consisting primarily of shorts and daily funnies, you can now read a wide variety of comics online in different formats. Beyond the classics like Penny Arcade, the late Perry Bible Fellowship, and Slow Wave created by local Jesse Recklaw, here’s a sampling of some of my favorite sites to browse.

Top Shelf 2.0
This collection of comics includes many artists actually published by Top Shelf as well as many using the site as a platform for releasing sections of larger stories or more experimental works. If you like something, check and see if they have some books for sale as well! There are a lot of names, but be sure to check out Jed McGowan, Jessica McLeod, Scott Smith, Dunja Jakovic, and Nate Powell.

Vice Comics
Vice hosts funny, crude, and fresh comics by such greats as Johnny Ryan, Lisa Hanawalt, and Zach Hazard. How could you not?

Arthur Comics
Edited by Jason Levian, this sampling of comics comes in a very interesting new format called Greener Mags. It makes a new experience out of reading online and is similar to apps on phones these days. It takes away the typical online strip or scroll style and offers a format more akin to pages. Originally designed for the growing production of online-specific magazines, it lends itself well to this new usage. Levian, as always, has great taste and is on his game getting up new and exciting artists.

What Things Do

What Things Do
This site is clean and simple and presents work from established and respected artists. What Things Do was brought to life by Jordan Crane.

There has been an interesting discussion about the presence of the internet in the comic world. It’s something I think about quite a bit. Seeing as how comics are not a mainstream market and “indie” comics even less so, it’s hard to find the means to spread one’s work or fund production and circulation. Anyone, on the other hand, can start a blog and post their work, maintaining control over the way in which it will be viewed. Those living in smaller cities also may not have the luxury of having comic and art book shops in their town that would carry what they’re interested in.

Publishing comics on the internet opens up an unrestricted territory which many artists are taking advantage of. Probably the most interesting example of this is Dash Shaw’s Body World. Divided into twelve chapters that were originally published online on a week-to-week basis, it is presented in a series of extremely long scrolls, fitted for how one best reads on the web. When Pantheon came around to print the 384 page book, they actually mimicked that format.

Dash Shaw's BodyWorld online

I’m typically most in favor of printing everything. I love well-designed books and zines and being able to carry them around. However, I’ve come to gain a new found respect for the medium of web comics. There have been exhibits devoted to them (the Infinite Canvas show at MoCCA in 2007), and the Eisner, Ignazt, and Harvey Awards all have web comic categories. Web comics are not solely produced by artists who can’t afford or find a printer. I don’t necessarily see them as a threat to the printed comic, but I do see them being much more intertwined in the future presentation of comics.

Item: Scout Book three-pack w/ belly band
Printer: Pinball Publishing
Illustrator: Noah Smith
Paper: Chipboard 20pt Kraft (exterior), Quinault 70# Text White (interior)
Inks: Pantone soy-based inks
Binding: Saddle-stitch

Portland's Independent Press Emporium

Much more than a simple dispensary of books, Reading Frenzy is a call to action. This modestly-sized storefront simultaneously functions as an art gallery, event space, literary watering hole, zine distribution point, indie publisher, friend to free speech, and an inspiration to many. Defying the odds, it has persevered for nearly sixteen years. No doubt this can be credited to a large degree to the intelligence and tenacity of its owner Chloe Eudaly. As the store kicked off its 500 friends of Reading Frenzy Kickstarter campaign this summer, I had the pleasure of learning more from Chloe about the past, present, and future of this Portland icon.

Read on! Get inspired! And please get involved! It just takes a few clicks to support an important cultural establishment and pillar of the independent publishing community.

Reading Frenzy celebrated its 15 year anniversary this past year. Wow! This milestone is extremely impressive for so many reason, especially given the changing nature of print media and challenges faced by the publishing and bookselling industry. Can you tell us why you started Reading Frenzy in the first place, and what your goals were with setting up shop? Do you think there are another 15 years ahead?

After dropping out of high school and working a series of interesting but low-paying jobs with various small businesses, I decided that if I was going to spend half my waking hours working for a pittance that I might as well work for myself and that it had better be something that felt really worthwhile to me. Factsheet 5and High Weirdness by Mail had provided me with an introduction to the burgeoning zine community (c. 1988) and I had become immersed as a zine reader and sometimes contributor. At that time there weren’t many local outlets for alternative media and most of what I was reading was obtained via mail order or on my travels.

One night in 1992, outside of the X-Ray cafe, it occurred to me that I could hitch a cart to my bicycle, fill it with zines and ride around town to shows, demonstrations, and other public gatherings. I was accumulating masses of zines and comics, and it just seemed like a lot of work to go to in order for one person to read them. The idea went through various stages – street kiosk, zinemobile – but finally turned into a regular old storefront when publisher Adam Parfrey pointed me in the direction of David Morrison (a local rare book dealer) who had a tiny and cheap space for rent on SE 37th Ave. a few doors off Hawthorne.

We’re actually coming up on 16 years now. 15 was a tough anniversary for me. The last couple of years have been really financially challenging and my 40th birthday was on the horizon. Although I believe Reading Frenzy is a special place and serves a purpose in our community, and there are aspects of it that I still love – discovering new titles, authors and artists and sharing them with our customers – I remember thinking, “If I’m still doing this in 10 years, please kill me.” That doesn’t mean someone else couldn’t pick up the torch, but 15 more years of Reading Frenzy and me? No. Hell no.

I’m actually going to school this fall to get a degree in community development. This is essentially what I’ve been doing through my business and disability advocacy, which I consider my other calling, but I’ve been doing it out of pocket and on a shoe string. I envision myself doing similar work but on a bigger scale, but getting paid to do it. That’s the dream – to get to put my knowledge and skills to good use in service of others and be duly compensated.

Come on in!

When I read through the history section of your website, I get a little misty-eyed. So many amazing events, so many lovely people have passed through your doors, and so many creative partnerships have been forged. For example, Kevin Sampsell was there from the very first year, Nikki McClure exhibited in 1997, and Top Shelf launched that same year. Can you share a good tale from the early days of running your small press emporium?

It’s so hard to pick just one! Some of my favorite people in the world have walked through this door a stranger and left a lifelong friend (why, that’s how we met!). I like the big stories – so and so launched their art career here, met their wife, or was inspired to start their own business – but I also like to think about the cumulative effect of small gestures. The impact of simply opening our doors every day, of giving an unknown, first time self-publisher a place to show off their work, connecting adventurous readers with satisfying literature.

I remember you telling me about being called a “pioneer” at a previous Portland Zine Symposium and chuckling about the moniker, but it does fit, since you are absolutely in the vanguard for promoting independent publishers and zine-makers. Do you still find this part of your work satisfying? Tell us about your role with founding the Independent Publishing Resource Center (IPRC) and fostering the zine community.

Rebecca Gilbert of Stumptown Printers was one of our first volunteers and followed the shop from Southeast to downtown. We were routinely giving one-on-one impromptu self-publishing workshops to random people who walked in and got excited about self-publishing. She was graduating from art school and I was outgrowing the space. I remember a conversation that went something like this – Me: “Becca, you need a studio space and I need an office space. How about we share one upstairs, put all our equipment and materials in it and invite people to come work on their projects.” Rebecca: “I was just thinking the exact same thing!”

We rented a space upstairs and did just that. At some point we gathered a founding board with about six people and hammered out the mission and vision. We applied for non-profit status (a maddening but ultimately successful experience). We got a Literary Arts grant (which blew our anti-establishment minds). We had monthly zine potlucks, started offering workshops, and accumulating zines for the library. Really skilled, talented people stepped forward to fill various roles – teachers, librarians, designers.

I stepped down from the board in 2001 and have served on the advisory committee since then. It’s amazing to see something that you’ve conceived and created from scratch take on a life of its own. Both Reading Frenzy and the IPRC have inspired other events and projects that have made Portland a zine epicenter. It’s hard to measure the impact, but it’s rewarding to know we were a significant contributing part of it.

You are also a publisher now, with the development of Show & Tell Press, and the ongoing (and awesome) Crap Hound releases. What was the impetus for this project? Are you planning to expand the type of content you publish?

Publishing just seemed like the logical next step. Our main project is Crap Hound, although, we did put out a one-off zine called Alien Boy about James Chasse a couple years ago (edited by Erin Yanke and Icky A.). We haven’t had the time or resources to do much else, but eventually we’ll release other titles. A Reading Frenzy anthology has been batted around for awhile, as well as reprints and new issues of some of our favorite zines and comics. Zines are really ephemeral and so much amazing work has come and gone in the form of a photocopied publication that may have only reached a few hundred people. I love the idea of rescuing this work from near-obscurity and giving it a more lasting presence.

What are your gut instincts about the shifts happening in communication from printed matter (books, magazines, letters, etc) to digital and online tools? We’d love for you to shed some light on the role print will play in the next 5 years.

I’ve actually just started thinking about this issue. I’ve been asked this question so many times over the years and have steadfastly refused to participate in the conversation. I just didn’t care, and strange as it may sound coming from a bookseller, I didn’t find it very relevant. However, a recent talk I gave at a University of Oregon zine publishing class has forced to me to confront the fact that the way people experience culture, access information and connect with each other has dramatically changed. As I was describing to a group of 18-22 year-olds the vital role that zines played in connecting like-minded individuals and building community – and how that led me to open Reading Frenzy – I realized that they very possibly could not relate to or even understand, having grown up online, where everything is seemingly at your finger tips. I’m at the very beginning of wrapping my mind around this subject – I’ll have to get back to you on that!

And lastly, I know it’s so much work. What keeps you fighting the good fight, Chloe?

Well, although it’s never been an easy way to earn a living, it’s been really satisfying in other regards. I still love the hunt – searching down new writers, artists and publishers. I love connecting readers with something they may not have even known they were looking for, and especially seeing people get so inspired that they become self-publishers themselves. There’s a feeling that although we’ve carried thousands of titles and have been operating for nearly 16 years that I’ve only scratched the surface of what’s out there, and that keeps me motivated. I would love to see the day when I can sit back and say, “Everything that should be here is here, this place has become everything it can be, and is serving its purpose to the utmost.” Maybe then I could move on!

Because of the harsh financial reality of the past two years we’ve had to take a hard look at what’s working and not working at the shop. Surprisingly to me the thing that’s sucking up the most resources and giving the least return is our events programming. You want to think that these events build community and goodwill and recognition, but the fact is that people just don’t buy printed matter the way they used to and the events can no longer pay for themselves. This is where the 500 Friends of Reading Frenzy Kickstarter project comes in – we’re pre-selling memberships, prints, t-shirts, totes and other goodies to raise funds to support our events. We don’t want to stop booking authors and art shows, so we’re attempting to create an alternate funding stream. We’re nearly 80% funded with just under a week to go. Our minimum goal is $5000, but just between you and me (and your readers) I’d really like to see 500 people come forward and make a small commitment ($25 and up) to sustaining the purpose driven work we do.

Thank you Chloe!

Get involved with Reading Frenzy, on the web and beyond! Follow them on Twitter, read their online Ledger, and add all of your Reading Frenzy-related images to their Flickr pool. First Thursday art openings are frequent, and all upcoming events can be found  on their website.

So blue.

These Scout Books were created for Southland Christian Church, located in Central Kentucky. Southland holds a special worship service at 6:08 (hence the name) for College agers and 20-somethings. These books served as an invite to this year’s 608 afterparty that welcomed students back into the area after summer vay-cay. Why the Vs.? They are also incorporating a “large tournament” this year and since 608 averages over 2000 students every week I can imagine that “large” is, indeed, fairly large.

Printer: Pinball Publishing
Item: Scout Book
Paper: Chipboard 20pt Kraft
Inks: Pantone soy-based inks
Designer: Kyle Key

"Using new tools to erase media's old limits."

Tomorrow at noon, the fine folks at Long Shot Magazine will announce the theme for their second experimental publication – and then you’ll have 24 hours to submit your work. Long Shot’s creative team will then have 24 hours to curate, edit, design and produce a publication. Sound crazy? Well, maybe. Maybe not.

Long Shot released Issue Zero (then called 48-hour Mag) back in May after a whirlwind 48 hours and a lot of hard work. The result was a finished publication that exceeded expectations – Long Shot took home a Knight-Batten Award for Innovation in Journalism and received attention from web and print media alike. The team behind Long Shot is top-notch, but not just because the project is spearheaded by leaders in the communication, publishing and technology worlds. The high caliber of Long Shot’s content will come from YOU, and the thousands of other contributors who together create a living network of creative collaboration.

This project is most compelling because of its seamless pairing of new approaches and traditional publishing. Creating a printed publication could be seen as an archaic approach to communication in our digital age, but Long Shot balances the traditional end-format of their project with contemporary methods of sourcing content and production. While you may be able to hold the end result in your hands (just like the old days!), the content will have reached your hands through an intricate process of crowd sourcing, social networking, emails and the print-on-demand revolution that is most certainly the future of publishing.

So, get ready to work fast! Sign up here to be notified when the theme launches tomorrow at noon. Read more about the process here. See you in 48 hours.

Steppin' into letterpress in St. Paul.

Dude and Chick Letterpress is a pair of creative folks making beautiful things in St. Paul, Minnesota. Katie Wilson and John Gurtin are the brains and creative power behind Dude and Chick, and have a serious selection of vintage-inspired greeting cards and prints available in their Etsy shop.

Item name: Greeting Cards
Dimensions: A2, 4.25 x 5.5 inches
Method of printing: Letterpress
Press: Heidelberg Windmill
Designer/Printer: Dude and Chick (John Gurtin and Katie Wilson)
Ink used: Van Son soy and rubber
Paper: Mohawk Superfine
Available online in Dude and Chick’s Etsy shop

Three-pack of awesome.

You may not realize it yet, but that belly band holds a world of wonders. The Industrial Design Society of America went all out with a three-pack of custom interior Scout Books, complete with a pull out section!  They were created by Ziba for an IDSA “cross-craft” discussion about DIY design held right here in Portland, Oregon. The three-pack consists of one part sweet Portland city guide, one part informative conference/symposium particulars, and one part handy, blank sketchbook. I highly suggest you check out the other photos of this gem right after the jump!

Item: Scout Book three-pack w/ belly band
Printer: Pinball Publishing
Design: Ziba
Paper: Chipboard 20pt Kraft (exterior), Quinault 70# Text White (interior)
Inks: Pantone soy-based inks
Binding: Saddle-stitch

Collateral Matters opens this week.

Brace yourself for blatant self-promotion:

This week marks the opening of Collateral Matters: Selections form the Museum of Contemporary Craft Archives with Kate Bingaman-Burt and Clifton Burt.

Using printed materials and ephemera from the Museum archive, the exhibition reveals stories about the history of printing and design in Portland, and communicates how such printed materials construct institutional identity.

Focusing primarily on the 1940s through the 1970s, the collateral materials on view provide a simple study of both intentionally and unintentionally designed pieces in the pre-desktop publishing era. The critical role of printshops is revealed through designed print pieces, such as invitations, posters and letterhead, and then contrasted alongside office paperwork – handwritten artist statements, pastel-toned invoices and receipts speckled with red “sale” dots, for example. In an installation designed to show the visual impact of printed materials, the guest curators engage typography from the mundane to the meticulously designed, showing how graphic language functions in a range of types of printed collateral.

Since the spring, my wife Kate and I have been sifting through thousands of materials in the Museum’s files. From those we pulled a few hundred pieces that stood out from the rest. In many cases, a selected piece might have perfectly encapsulated the design-thinking of its day. In other cases, a piece might have been carefully hand-written notes showcasing the lost art of penmanship. But most exiting has been witnessing how organizations’ logos and visual identities evolved through the decades; notable in these archives were MoMA, Cranbrook, local Portland businesses, and of course the Museum of Contemporary Craft’s own identity shifts —including its name.

Viewing so many of the exhibition materials in the same room with the ephemera of bringing those exhibitions to life is like hearing the meetings, conversations, and ideas of the organization played back for us. It provides a window not only into the collective memory of the MoCC but into how things got done before the advent of email, mobile phones, and the internet.

Collateral Matters teaser from Clifton Burt on Vimeo.

The Collateral Matters exhibition begins opens on August 26th and runs through January 11. I hope that you’ll stop into the museum and see it, participate in some of the show’s programming, or enjoy its material online.

Collateral Matters: Selections by Kate Bingaman-Burt and Clifton Burt — Museum of Contemporary Craft

The Los Angeles-based creative duo walks us through the process of creating a screen printed poster.

DKNG is Dan Kuhlken and Nathan Goldman, a pair of creative dudes whose projects range from screen printed posters to web design to giant wooden installations. We met them at the Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco and were immediately drawn to their bright, bold work. As part of their diverse and expansive portfolio of client work, Dan and Nathan have been resident poster artists at Hollywood’s famous Troubadour since 2007.

Dan was kind enough to share the duo’s process of a poster they recently completed for the band Phish. Read on for a step-by-step walk through what it takes to create a fabulous screen printed poster.

Item name: Phish 2010 Tour Poster
Dimensions: 17″ x 22″
Method of printing: Four-color screen print
Designer: DKNG Studios (Dan Kuhlken & Nathan Goldman)
Printer: Monolith Press
Inked used: SpeedBall Acrylic
Paper: 80# Classic Crest Welsh Blue
Run Size: 1000, signed and numbered
Available: $50 online

The idea behind the poster was to incorporate elements of Phish’s positive musical vibe and the venue/location of their show (The Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin). We decided that a bottle of milk containing the venue’s scenery (in a more fantastical style) would represent both nicely. The venue itself has very iconic architecture which helped us in deciding on a style, which ended up being a series of very simple shapes. The venue’s location is known for its rolling hills and reminiscent quality of the Swiss Alps. So we decided to include in our scenery both rolling hills with flowers and pine trees along with a towering snowy mountain in the background. Above is a rough sketch of the scenery.

This is our initial composition. It was a bit too simple for the final poster so we decided to add a bit more dimension to the bottle itself to give the foreground more depth without taking away from the iconic style.

After adding some variation to the glass of the bottle we also decided to make the cap red to help the name “Phish” stand out. The original idea was to have the sun’s rays of the bottle’s interior blasting out of the top of the bottle. However…

We decided that bubbles/milk releasing out of the top had a more kinetic aesthetic and would make more sense to the viewer in the long run. Above is the final artwork.

Once the design was completed we sent the file to our good friends at Monolith Press. Above is a snap shot of their office/studio.

Another shot of the Monolith Press studio.

…and another.

Nathan in the studio next to Monolith’s ink selection.

Here is pic of me getting ready (stretching) to sign and number 1000 posters. This is the most posters we have ever had to sign. So, to help us with the process we decided to include the number 1000 in each print along with a blank area for the number within the edition to reduce the amount of time and labor.

The poster is a four-color screen print, but with the color of paper and the use of overprinting we achieved seven total colors in the poster!

We managed to create two shades of green by having the under print of the green either be yellow and white or just the paper itself. The darkest color was a combination of the yellow, red and green printed directly on the paper color. And in order to keep the vibrance in the yellow and red we printed those over the initial layer of white ink.

So all in all the order of inks printed on the blue paper went as follows: white, yellow, red then green.

Ta-da! These fabulous posters are available in the DKNG online shop. Nice work, guys!