In June, 2004, "Das Buch" was published on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Karlsruhe, Germany's "Das Fest", the largest free outdoor concert festival in Europe. Special Machine Media created this photo-ladened coffee table book to commemorate the event. Our goal was to create a book appealing to all age groups given the festival's family orientation.

We portrayed the three day event and its multiple performances with 150 photographs. The logo for "Das Buch" was a modification of the official logo. This, of course, was to aid in the recognition of the product by extending the brand of this well known event.

The book itself was produced with high-value craftsmanship in off-set printing with high density ink and FM screen. The book spine itself is thread stitched. 3500 copies were produced of this 100 plus page book. You can buy and find more information about this book at www.festbuch.de.

July, 2004

The task was to design a typographical magazine about forgery. Our first thought was why are certain things forged while others are not? We came to the conclusion that the difference between the material value of the object and the real value of an object must differ. The whole magazine orbits around the theme of value and where value is born. 

A simple piece of canvas adorned with the face of Mona Lisa is valued in the millions of dollars; an ordinary audio tape that once belonged to John Lennon was auctioned for thousands; a piece of paper with numbers written on: money.  Almost random objects are assigned value by the unpredictable way of desire. These are the things which are imitated and forged.

Instead of one magazine, we created two, although they differed slightly. Both have 7 chapters loosely based on the biblical story of creation. The title we chose was "Wertschöpfung" ("the creation of value", in English). The magazines are packaged in bank issued money bags, each chapter marked with a price tag. Some chapter titles: "Where does value come from?"; "Marx's valuation of human life"; "What does a bird cost?"; "How does one forge?" One third of the pages that comprise these magazines are printed on handmade paper. To achieve this, we took old shredded money from the bank and made new paper. Once valuable money became valueless shreds, we again created a product of value.

May, 2005

Special Machine Media designed the 10th issue of the art and design magazine, "Munitionsfabrik" (Munitions Factory), for the Staadtliche Hochschule für Gestaltung, Karlsruhe. The set theme for this particular issue was luxury.

As a nod to "Shabby Chic", we printed the magazine on newspaper paper using black and gold colors prominently. We played around with the theme of luxury and its opposite, shabbiness. In the pompous title, the printer marks are a bit off; on some pages you see ghost pictures: all a sign of poor quality - but in grand design.

The result is this experimental newspaper with controversial content and controversial design. Instead of the usual print run of 400, we printed 2000 and gave them away for free which helped the newspaper to find more readers especially outside the school's proximity.

August, 2002

Flugpoint, a travel agency in Karlsruhe, Germany, asked us to design a new image brochure for their business clients. Losing business to the Internet has become a real problem for not only Flugpoint, but all travel agencies. Our goal was to create a brochure that would communicate a high level of service and support for Flugpoint's business travelers.

With vibrant and fresh photography, slightly irreverent, but maintaining a structured layout grid, we positioned the Flugpoint as a travel agency in tune with the times and modern business traveler. On 16 pages we extended the existing corporate identity of Flugpoint and updated their look.

Flugpoint has used this brochure to attract new business clients which has positively affected their bottom line. The brochure is very helpful as a first contact to small and mid-sized businesses to get a good overview of the advantages Flugpoint has to offer and how they can be of service.

March, 2006

In 2002, Special Machine Media was asked to redesign the legendary German literature magazine "Transatlantik", founded in 1982 by Hans-Magnus Enzensberger. The task was both an honor and a great challenge. A serious and reputable publication such as the Transatlantik needed to be treated with great dignity and respect. The target audience are largely being the upper echelons of society's intellectual elite.

Our first move was to abandon the traditional portrait format observed by most magazines in favor of landscape, which is wider than it is tall. The format even extended with flaps on either side. We took the name "transatlantik" quite literally and used it in our design as a reference.

Sales targets for this particular run were met almost immediately. Now in its third printing, copies can be purchased online at http://www.info-verlag.de for EUR 8,-.

October, 2002