From briefing to the final poster. How do you proceed?
It always depends on the project and the the client. We normally use the Munari Process, from questioning the basic problems, evaluating research, experimentation and prototyping. Sometimes we have wired ideas and the process gets more sophisticated, especially with experimental and research elements.

Is there a recurring approach that runs through your poster design?
Yes, we are interested in two fields: typography and printing processes. As we have the opportunity, we try to push and develop the techniques further. One example is the development of our technique WROP™ – Water Random Offset Printing – in which we interfere with water droplets within the printing machine, generating random and unique visuals in an analog manner.

Explain briefly the concept of the poster, which you created for this exhibition.
We conceived an homage to the swiss and japanese cultures. We have always admired « haiku » poems, a very short form of japanese poetry. We found a poem written by Kobayashi Issa in 1811 talking about the chaos of contemporary society, which swallows also the tiniest creature. As our culture gets more busy and interconnected, we find it has a great message that still resonates in our times. We composed this poem with a typeface designed by a famous group of swiss designers based in Bern, Büro Destruct. The « Eject » font was originally designed for a european usage, before it was sent to Tokyo by post using a SyQuest, 44 mega rigid case floppy disc. There, Cyclone Graphix did a remix of the font in a japanese version, exported it and sent it back to Bern by post. All of that happened 1998 before Internet was part of our daily habits. We think it’s a nice story about exchange and relationship between our two countries.

Please send us some images of the designing process of this particular poster. (f.e. different stages and/or reference material)
Our design process, like the original of Büro Destruct and Cyclone Graphix, is based on a mail exchange.
Indeed we sent the haiku to a Japanese friend living in Lausanne, Key Portilla-Kawamura; he sent it to his mum (in Japan), who did the translation from kanji to katakana. Key then sent back the translation and we produced two versions of the poster. Once again we used email to select, along with our friends’ input, the most suitable version. Lastly, we asked one of the main characters of this process, Lopetz from Büro Destruct who said:

“wow! nice usage of the eject remix!
hard to decide. probably i like the red white version more.
Lopetz – Büro Destruct”

89,5 x 128 cm
1 color
screen printed
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