maryam rettelbach
aus drucks kunst is the craft of expression, its manifestation in conjunction with printing. That’s my credo as graphic designer and it is my goal to live up to it with a little bit of wittiness.
Living currently in Duessldorf, Peshawar, Rotterdam and studying Communication and Media Graphic Design at the Erasmus University Willem de Kooning Academy. My phone number is or mail me
Witte de With
visual identity, poster, flyer
2017
My visual identity for the contemporary art center Witte de With is inspired by the importance of context and connectivity. The center recently was under fire for carrying the name of the colonial war hero/criminal Witte Corneliszoon de With. However when the name was chosen over 25 years ago it was to stand with the same-titled street it is on, which had a bad reputation at its time. In my design I wanted to capture this idea of the hidden things, which can reveal more or create a bigger picture, and make the Witte de With more approachable. The “With” is utilised as a connector and an icon is created for each exhibition to give a more direct idea of what the mostly conceptual artwork is about. The colours are also changing with the exhibitions and are based on them.
'Ik vraag u iets mer lef te tonen.'
editorial, print, website
2017
The journalistic novel was written by graphic designer Renate Boer on how to initiate projects, realise them, but also about failing during the process. Other designers are getting a look behind the scenes in this book. It uses this backstage feeling by being built up like a script for graphic designers. Visible print marks as well as open glue binding and a print paper box as the hard cover show what usually only the designer sees.
Swept Under The (Riso)Rug
riso, data design, publication 2017
This is the presentation of my data collection about the casualties in the Afghanistan/USA conflict. Dead American soldiers are celebrated as heroes, but the murdered civilians in Afghanistan are often just swept under the rug. So I took inspiration in the tradition of Afghan war rugs, which originates from the Soviet occupation in the seventies. These rugs often depicted terrible events or political conflicts, but would not be noticed if an enemy would check the house, since so regular normal rugs would lay around. It could be seen as a sort of silent rebellion. This print shows only a small scale Riso print of the rug, which is in the making.
Along side is a little publication with my research on Afghan art and culture throughout history starting from the buddhist carvings to Afghan rap.
North Sea Jazz Festival Poster 20173D, poster, print 2017
The annual North Sea Jazz festival in Rotterdam is world renowned and active since 1976. What makes the festival special is that it doesn’t forget that its roots lay in always renewing itself. Artists like Thundercat or Flying Lotus performed at the festival and represent this new generation. They thrive visually in the 80s inspired vapour wave style reflecting on their childhood and their roots. My art poster contribution is an homage to this play between nostalgia and the experimental future.
Technowvisual identity, print, website, sound design 2016
This collaborative project was based on forcing design students to make music and perform. Since we couldn't play any instruments we chose to utilise the sounds around us and turn it into music through repetition. We wanted to pay homage to the techno genre and the nine-to-five mentality of the 90's office world. We managed to learn how to make techno music and combine the repetitive nature of this genre with the repetitiveness of the everyday life. We performed our single "9 to 5" and sold our CDs, which had unique faxed copies of the “instruments” we used in the song.
beyondprint, poster 2016
A poster designed for a local exhibition organised by students to showcase their work. There was no consistency in topic or media, just a unbureaucratic event giving aspiring artist a platform. I kept it miscellaneous and hinted the idea of a frame, but also broke it a little.
upgradevisual identity, print, website, poster, product design 2016
This little exhibition and intervention was created with the idea of making Blue Economy more accessible. In this group work we understood that these dry, but important topics can be fun and made approachable this way. The Blue Economy advocates a waste free society, so we utilised the DIY culture to make our own trash into ”priceless” design objects. We took inspiration in Scandinavian furniture retailers and made a catalogue expelling how it is done. On the Open Day 2016 at the Willem de Kooning Academy we presented our design objects in a little room and threw a housewarming party to create a platform for open conversation with the prospective students. Every item used in this project was “upgraded” like the sketching paper, which was applied as pages for the catalogue using Japanese binging.
keep on rollinkmanual, print 2015
A manual for a little paint roller for the smaller joins in life like creating margins. Like a paint roller applies only one colour at the time I chose to work only with one colour for this design as well.
