Dear Backers,

The "Typographic Wall Calendar" won a prize at the "International Gregor Calendar Award" in Stuttgart! The Gregor Award is the biggest Calendar show world wide with an exhibition displaying over 1.000 international calendars. 

I posted this 'Report' with images and video of the event some days ago in an update for the 2012 Kickstarter Campaign; just now it came to my mind that you as backers of the 2011 Version might be interested in that too.

Well, I had a good time in Stuttgart and I wanted to share that with you. I hope you enjoy the update.

(for more info on the Award and how the project got invited, you might want to read →this.)

Report:

When I entered the König-Karl-Halle (Hall of King Karl) in the Haus der Wirtschaft, I was quite surprised by the amount of people that actually showed up on an event purely to honor calendars. And the setting itself was very impressive. I expected something more "improvised". 

The sixhoundred seats were filled by over 70%. A band was playing in the background some all time favorites like "Killling me softly with his songs" and "I can see clearly now". Played in a way that give you the relaxed feeling of riding an escalator. I almost wanted to ask if they would play a version of "Heart of Gold", but the evening started.

…started with another surprise, the moderator(yes→ they had a locally famous radio chat show host) introduced a video message by the minister of Baden Württemberg. I think it wasn't the minister himself but the minister of finance. Next to me sat a guy in a red hoodie, reading comics throughout the whole event (see video.)

Then everybody involved in the organisation got introduced…ffwd… and I got really  excited and even a little gold rush when the jury was introduced by Friedrich Müller (he initially invited me to enter the contest). Mr. Müller introduced the jury with a picture in which two of the jury members were holding the "Typographic Wall Calendar" in the first row! While every other member of the jury would just hold one Calendar, I had every reason to be excited and imagined that maybe there would be a platinum prize!

The next minutes were a torture to my nerves. Beginning with 20 bronze followed by 10 silver and 5 gold prizes the nomination procedure would end with the super prize. Every winner would have to get up out of the audience on stage - followed by a few words about your project and a photo taken with a person on stage while you're holding a document in the camera.  

Well every prize is great, but the reverse order kind of messed me up and I had a hard time sitting in the audience wishing to not be the next one. Well bottom line: the "Typographic Wall Calendar" was the last one to get called on silver.

I was so overexcited I can't remember anything that happened on stage. A few days later I got the official press picture of me on stage. I am holding a huge piece of paper with an elderly man next to me and the collar of my shirt sticks out. I don't know what that person was there for, but I think he could have told me about that.

The rest of the show went by very quickly and ended with a "Where is Waldo?" -like- group picture. Can you find me in the picture? Post your finds in the comments - the first right answer gets a free Typographic Wall Calendar 2013 :)

Wow - what a show - all about calendars. The calendar with the red circle next to the "Typographic Wall Calendar" on the jury picture won the grand prize (smitten with surprize after the show the creator of that one approached me and ordered a print :)

What about the buffet?

Well Stuttgart is known for Mercedes and being "economic". The buffet was more on the economic side, but I have to say in a charming way. Good wine, nice sparkling wine and very good pretzels in two variations: with or without butter. A very sure, charming and economic way to get the audience drunk. I had about ten pretzels.

Unfortunately the band didn't continue after the show, otherwise I'm sure the snack would have turned into a rocking party. 

After the show also the exhibition was opened displaying over 1200 calendars… of course the "Typographic Wall Calendar" had a great position and soon found two new admirers:

Franziska Strantz on the left and Jule Schubert on the right were so nice to help me to reconstructed the event of handing out the documents on stage (see 3rd photo). Unfortunatly the collar of my shirt still sticks out. Both do not only look but also talk in the warm and charming tone of Stuttgart. Franziska I think has such a Stuttgarty smile, she totally would fit into a movie about the life of Albert Einstein or Heidegger (both were from Baden Würtemberg). Half a decade ago I studied with Jule a semester typography in Offenbach. She just returned to her birth town to found the design studio WEandME with Franziska. Have a look at their website: http://www.weandme.com. (I love their Studio portrait - Very nice hair - I would totally not fit in that studio-picture.)

Well I hope that somehow with my report, pictures and video could share that joyful event with you :)

Enjoy,

Harald

PS.: If you're now too into pretzels you'll sure enjoy to compare the picture in the beginning with this video for "golden" pretzels. (although the background music is indeed very Stuttgart)

(Photocredits for me on stage with Michael Hüffner, CEO Verband Druck und Medien in Baden-Württemberg and the group photo: Udo W. Beier.)

Dear Backers,
Happy Thanksgiving! I'm giving thanks to you!
Today I started to work on the calendar by preparing the studio for the layout and setting up the camera. I'll continue to post updates every couple of days about the layout, photographing, printing and shipping.

Stay tuned,
Harald

Shortly before the campaign ends (3 hours to go), I would like to thank everybody who supported the campaign by writing about the Typographic Wall Calendar Project.

The following is a summary of the posts that showed up on my radar.
(For those I forgot or overlooked, your welcome to add a comment or drop me a line to update this post)

Enjoy:

"…one-of-a-kind…"
Armin Vit, Quipsologies (former Speak Up) Vol.47 No.60, Austin TX http://www.underconsideration.com/quipsologies/archives/november_2010/arminvit_60.php

"…der minutiöse Wahnsinn, …(der) eher an J. Johns oder einen sehr disziplinierten J. Pollock erinnert als an deinen normalen Wandkalender."
Hans Schumacher, slanted.de / projektgrafik.de, Berlin (Germany) http://www.slanted.de/eintrag/2011-typographic-wall-calendar-harald-geisler

"…staggering image…"
Erik Brandt, geotypografika.com, Minneapolis (US) http://geotypografika.com/2010/11/02/harald-geisler-typo-calendar/
((btw. Prof. Erik Brandt is a Type Educator at MCAD and did a type-calendar project with his Students: http://geotypografika.com/2010/10/19/grd_3020_f10_p002/))

"It’s a completely unique project, and both an expensive and huge undertaking…"
Jamie Homer, flush-left.co.uk, UK http://www.flush-left.co.uk/typography/harald-geislers-typographic-wall-calendar/

"…thought intrigued…"
Idealog Weekly, New Zealand
http://idealog.co.nz/weekly/2010/11/surprise-success

"…amazing…"
Andrew Dobrow, Geektoplasm http://geektoplasm.com/wall-calendar-made-out-of-old-keyboard-keys/

"…unique DIY…"
Abby Jenkins, Apartment Tharapy Unpluggd, US
http://www.unplggd.com/unplggd/look/typographic-wall-calendar-made-from-old-keyboard-keys-131309

"…This is calendar ART. This is art that is a CALENDAR…"
Clerkenunwell, Chicago (US)
http://clerkenunwell.blogspot.com/2010/11/via-louispotok.html

…and yesterday on the Kickstarter frontpage:
"…stunning reinterpretation of a calendar is a masterful example of how a designer can completely flip a genre signifier on its head. Geisler reimagines calendars in order to change the way we visualize time, and in turn, redefines what it means to save the date."

Further Blog entries
November
18th - http://dreams.neonspice.net/...
20th - http://www.raketentim.de/blog/index.php/2010/11/20/the-typographic-calendar/
02nd - http://www.manmadecreation.com/2011-typographic-wall-calendar/ (Lisbon Portugal)
02nd - http://cpluv.com/generic/mainitem/36200

October
29th http://sid05.tumblr.com/post/1432429396/2011-typographic-wall-calendar-by-harald-geisler
27th http://lmc.tumblr.com/post/1421578048/2011-typographic-wall-calendar-by-harald-geisler

Some of the over a hundred tweets:

"Loved Harald Geisler’s 2010 wall calendar…"
Maria Popova | brainpickings.org | L.A. (US)

"…quite unusual…Not sure how practical it is though."
@smashingmag | smashingmagazine.com | Freiburg, Germany

"…pretty weird…"
@smashingmag | smashingmagazine.com | Freiburg, Germany

"…meticulously…"
@cassieksr | NYC

"…I love finding stuff like this. Especially on a Friday!…"
@jamesbisch

"Labor of love."
@CreativeBacon

"Fancy"
@kenmcguire

"Is it too early to start planning 2011? Not with this…"
@overheardatmoo