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In early November, artist Helmut Smits launched his latest project: Screen Time – and no, that's not your next app to track the time you spend in front of your display.     Helmut describes the project as a community clock. Participants are invited to take part by making a screenshot of their mobile device lock screen and submitting it to the allocated time slot on the projects website.     The result is an online clock that displays another screen every minute. This way users get a glimpse into someone else's life. And the screen backrounds are diverse: from best friends to lovers, from cute pets to picturesque wildlife, from funny snaps to artsy photographs.     The idea behind it is to bring strangers a little bit closer and to connect them through their screens. By looking through the screenshots you might also realize how intimate the look on a personalized background can be.     Helmut Smits is a multidisciplinary visual artist based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Straightforward, critical and witty, Smits is a ceaseless producer of ideas that comment on society and situations in a frank and often humorous way.     Do you want to be part of Screen Time? Then upload your screenshot here.  

Can you put a price on identity? Well, if you sell it on eBay, yes.   These days, it is hard to define where one’s identity starts and where it ends. We all have multiple facades to ourselves, different social roles and - on top of that - several social media accounts. Self-expression is one of the key topics of our time and, without noticing, we put plenty of time and effort into creating and taking care of our online personas. We tweak our bios, perfect our visual language and make sure our digital ego gets the attention needed.   That being said, this is true for any person. As an artist though, you may have a personal account as well as a professional account for your work. Maybe you even have several ones for different disciplines or projects.   But what happens once you get bored of yourself? When you don’t seem to connect anymore with a part of your own identity; when you grow? You either let it rot, you kill it or - you sell it.     This is what Giuseppe Palmisano did. His Instagram account, @iosonopipo counted 100k followers and he sold it along with its Facebook page, internet domains, eBay account, and the entire photographic archive.   "Therefore, on November 4th, 2019, I leave you Iosonopipo: 123 photos, 1615 certificates, the website, the e-mail, the social accounts. (...) I feel I have a thousand forms and for this reason, I had the courage to put at risk one, the most focused, that supported me in all the senses. There won’t be only one Giuseppe Palmisano, as today there have been several profiles – on instagram for example, one for each project. Some of these will continue and others will surely be born. Everything I have in mind needs a different medium, there will be performances, installations and probably still a little photography.”   Read the full statement here and check out the remaining parts of Giuseppe Palmisano’s identity      

Let us introduce you to the most elegant creatures to ever float in pools: The floating Afghans.     After gifting us with the most lovable calendar since the invention of calendars: "Better Living with Alpacas", the Daniel Gebhart de Koekkoek found some new animals to cheer us up every month. Willie, Kimmie, Sierra and Noodles are all rescue dogs. The photographer captured them living their best life floating in the most picturesque swimming pools of California.     At first, Daniel tried to shoot with Dachshunds, but unfortunately they didn't float as well as Afghan greyhounds. "Afghan greyhounds are particularly suitable for this kind of project thanks to their aerodynamic shape and elegance", he told us.     But this elegance also comes with its downsides. The models were quite demanding on set. Just like the alpacas, the afghans couldn't be told anything. Daniel had to adapt his way of working and wait for them to be comfortable to get in position.     Not only us, but also the photographer himself was quite surprised to find such graceful creatures at the animal shelter – but after the shooting when he got to know them and their diva-like allures he knew why! Still the Afghans radiate a certain peace, grandeur and serenity on him.     The calendar is now up for pre-order here. But hurry up, Last year's edition sold out very quickly!  

Celebrating the release of the new Album by Austrian cloud rapper Yung Hurn, we are taking a closer look at the associated campaign for the upcoming tour.     The German designer Tim Lindacher created Posters, Visuals and Merchandise all fitting to the tour's name: Airline.     For this project, Tim drew his inspiration from rather unusual places like suitcases or air like balloons, but also famous logos of national and international airlines.     If you didn't order your t-shirt or stickers already – too bad: everything is sold out.     When Tim isn't redesigning airline logos, he also designs posters. One of his creations is currently exhibited at MAK Vienna at the show 100 beste Plakate 18.     If you want to see more of his artworks full of zeitgeist you best follow him on instagram.

The last week in Vienna was all about the country's biggest tennis event: the ERSTE Bank Open 2019. Besides the triumphant win of the Austrian superstar Dominic Thiem, once again the trophies came into the limelight.     For last year's tournament the Swiss watch manufacturer RADO had the trophy completely redesigned by the Austrian designer Rainer Mutsch, who is known for his highly practical yet playful designs. He attaches great importance to user-friendliness without sacrificing playful elements. This enables him to achieve the full potential of a design piece.     Of course a trophy has no practical requirements compared to the homeware Rainer usually designs, therefore the playful aspect and the aesthetic component are all the more important.     For the trophy's shape, Rainer got inspired by the octagonal handle of a tennis racket which unfolds on the upper side.     But what we like most about the trophy: In order to strengthen the personal relationship to the venue and the tournament, the winning ball is positioned and fixed as a unique memento in the award after the final.     This way the ball mirrors on the inside of the trophy to reflect the dynamic character of the game.  

Graffiti artist Banksy says he has been forced to open his own homeware store following a legal dispute involving a greeting cards company. The new store, called Gross Domestic Product sells art, homewares and disappointment to randomly selected buyers who must answer the question: “Why does art matter?”.     Banksy aims to make people think not only with his artworks. Here, he just asks 1 simple question and gets millions of not that simple answers.     We have collected some answers from our office and friends.   “Because it doesn’t intend to matter.“   „Art is like a therapy, healing and helping but unlike real therapy, it is easier, faster and less stressful. Imagine seeing your therapist and imagine going to the gallery. I choose the therapist but the gallery can be cool for some people.“     “It helps a half decent human beings to understand the world.“   “Art opens the door into the world where we as people can feel freedom. Art develops our thinking, therefore we can create bigger things. Makes our lives better, not that tedious, full of joy.“     “Because the art has no limits and neither do we.“   “Because it’s simply a way to express yourself and at the same time to understand the others.“     Why does art matter? Because it’s limitless, healing, joyful but mainly because it means something different to each one of us. Let Banksy know what you’re thinking on his online shop.     The responses will be judged by English comedian Adam Bloom, who wants customers to make their answer as amusing, informative or enlightening as possible. “We can’t ever weed out all the people who just want to flip for profit, but we can weed out the unfunny ones,” wrote Banksy.  

Since its foundation in 2016, the Vienna-based design studio HFA made itself a name with bold illustrations and multifaceted lettering. For their latest project they created multiple GIFs for the Viennese museum of art history KHM celebrating the baroque masterpieces of their recent exhibition "Caravaggio & Bernini".     "To promote our graphic and design studio we wanted to show how to use graphics and illustrations digitally nowadays. The goal was to generate as much attention and interaction as possible with our graphics." – and it worked! The KHM, short for Kunsthistorisches Museum, became aware of HFA Studio because of their own collection of GIFs which can be found via giphy on Instagram.     "So basically it can be said, that KHM approached us because they saw our bong-smoking dogs and vampires", Charlie of HFA says.     KHM wants to implement more and more interactive elements and digital media into their exhibitions. Thus, for their latest exhibition "Caravaggio & Bernini", they wanted to give the visitors the possibility to integrate the masterpieces into their digital live.     [embed]https://gcs-vimeo.akamaized.net/exp=1570629126~acl=%2A%2F1489915924.mp4%2A~hmac=24a73bb418f12e8ca64389208dc6dabb9ee9fd6655798b6439203740da14cbdb/vimeo-prod-skyfire-std-us/01/1461/14/357306593/1489915924.mp4[/embed]   Symbols have always played a huge role in the human communication, from ancient egypt with their hieroglyphics to modern pictograms. The use of emojis has become part of our everyday digital life and is considered part of the standard repertoire of social media channels. When you talk about feelings in 2019, you have to do it through emojis!     The idea was to create one gif for every main piece of the exhibition and to make them easy to use for the visitors by using the hashtag #barockstars. Each gif was created on basis of a classic emoji and one masterpiece.   [caption id="attachment_12502" align="alignleft" width="1000"] Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Medusa 1638-40[/caption]   The visitors of KHM are encouraged to use the gifs when visiting the exhibition or documenting everyday stories in order to express their feelings.     Now it's your turn to get inspired and share your stories including the #barockstars – find them by searching the hashtag! Find all of the HFA Studio gifs here or by looking for "hfastudio" directly on Instagram.

In the fifth edition of our collaboration with Sodabooks, we present you four new books and magazines for late summer - we will not call it autumn yet! The perfect read for this season – so grab your best pillow or blanket, make yourself comfortable with coffee or tea, and enjoy the last sunrays. It's wonderful because you don't need to wear sunscreen anymore - or sad? Not sure about it.

Whether it be cats hurling through the air, the impact alpacas could have on our private life or the world’s most useless inventions: Viennese photographer Daniel Gebhart de Koekkoek has a special knack for all things odd and we love it!     Gebhart de Koekkoekk shares with Forward Magazine exclusively: "Even if I did try very hard to become a premium wedding photographer, I failed badly and ended up somewhere in between the art and commercial world of photography. But I'm very thankful to Hornbach and Heimat for giving me another chance."   In his latest commissioned work, he focuses his lens on a strange but very true love that every real DIYer knows: The love between a human and his tool. Together with Berlin-based agency HEIMAT, Daniel shot three portraits in the true bizarre fashion of off-beat wedding photographers. It’s no wonder then that the photos show quirky objects seemingly placed arbitrarily in the photos’ backgrounds. But pillars, palms and plastic animals in unison with wedding outfits that are usually only found in boxes stored in the attic create a tasteful tastelessness that drives the photos’ main objective home: These DIYers’ love is real. “It is every photographer’s dream to capture real love on the lens. I think this was the closest I ever came.” comments Daniel. Daniel’s portraits are part of the campaign “Every project brings you closer.” by HEIMAT for European DIY superstore HORNBACH. The campaign embraces the emotional relationships between passionate DIYers and their tools. A longevity and loyalty that is truly special and seldom surpassed. And in its sustainability more important than ever before – especially in our day and age.     Facts Campaign: “Every project brings you closer.” Client: HORNBACH Baumarkt AG Agency: HEIMAT Werbeagentur GmbH Photographer: Daniel Gebhart de Koekkoek Campaign start: social commercial premiere for HORNBACH fans from 02.10. onwards, on TV and online in Germany from 04.10 onwards. Media (international): TV, digital (video, display, social media), DOOH, radio.     Check out more of his stuff in his articles about useless tools, cats flying through the air or alpacas. For more check out Daniel's website.

AR is becoming constantly more available through face filters on Social Media. What happens when you let people enhance their own reality?   When Augmented Reality arrived, it seemed like some futuristic technology, that was not going to have an impact on everyday life anytime soon. While it still requires technical skills, it is getting more and more accessible to the public. People are starting to play with it on Social Media and explore its possibilities, not only for research but as a way to create for the sole purpose of creating.   Interactive AR filters for everyone Facebook’s tool for building augmented reality effects, Spark AR, now allows anyone to create custom face filters and other effects for Instagram Stories. The platform was previously limited to approved creators, but by now anyone can create and upload their own AR filters to Instagram. Of course, there is more potential to Instagram filters than simply pure fun. Some creators see it as goal  to give companies an advantage by allowing their users to engage with their products in new and interesting ways.   YACHT - Chain Tripping : AR in music [caption id="attachment_12251" align="alignnone" width="1500"] YACHT 2019 Landscape[/caption]   Indie Rock Group YACHT have always been curious about AI and the ways it could be used the music industry. So when AR filters were huge on Snapchat, the band seized the opportunity to test a potential application of AR in music. They have spent the last three years working on their new album Chain Tripping, describing their work “a machine-learning generated composition process.” The results shows that AR is not limited to visuals: The group filtered their entire back catalogue of 82 songs through machine learning software and used the midi-data that was fed back to them to produce the album’s tracks. "AI seemed like an almost impossible thing, it was so much more advanced than anything we had dealt with… And we wanted to use this to not just technically achieve the goal of making music—so we can say, ‘Hey an AI wrote this pop song’—rather we wanted to use this tech to make YACHT music, to make music we identify with and we feel comes from us.” Find out more about Chain Tripping   The 1975 - People Another band interested in AR is the 1975, who created a whole campaign featuring a music video, a website and Instagram filters using AR. The group worked with a creative director and a set of digital artists and coders in order to create a sequence of "utopian serene scenes being destroyed and subverted using technology". The scenery was created by training a neural network – a sort of machine learning following the structure of the human brain – using stock images and pictures of destroyed landscapes. The idea was to address "environmental collapse, surveillance culture and the contemporary nihilism that is present on Social Media".   Read more about People     Article by Iris Writze.  

Can design save our planet? As the Amazon rainforests are still burning and other ugly things are happening on earth, designers may ask themselves: how can we have a positive impact through design? By choosing your clients wisely, designing smart disposable packaging and environmental or political campaigns, and thus generally promoting a healthier and happier Earth through design - there are thousands of ways. And more importantly: don't let your head down because of the disappearance of Banksy's Brexit mural in London. In times like these, designers should have ecological and sustainable principles in mind during the whole design process. Such as recycling, the use of renewable energy in production, material, durability, function, and cost. The shape of a product should follow sustainable design principles to effectively reduce waste and carbon emissions in order to save natural resources.   We collected some beautiful design inspirations that are aiming to save our world:   Amazon is still on fire. The other one. A group of anonymous activist creatives created a video for Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to buy the Amazon rainforest. "Now is the chance to give something back that gave you a name and so much more." https://twitter.com/antonandirene/status/1169676293903978496?s=20 More info: https://www.adweek.com/creativity/climate-change-activists-ask-jeff-bezos-to-buy-the-amazon-rainforest/   No Planet No Fun Project in Barcelona   This project was initiated by two close friends, with the goal to communicate ugly truths in a beautiful manner.  They both have something they call "eco-anxiety" which led them to this project, as well as initiating an exhibition in December 2019 in Barcelona to raise funds for our beloved planet. On their Instagram channel, they share illustrations to make people aware of our dying planet and to show them how easy it actually is to change everyday habits and take small steps towards an eco-friendly lifestyle. More info: www.noplanetno.fun   Custom Letterings for Greenpeace in Vienna   Greenpeace's advertising campaign deliberately plays with fake news to draw attention to unrealistic best-before dates. It aims to point out that foods often have a much longer shelf life than indicated. There is a call-to-action as well motivating people to sign the petition against food waste. Agency: Merlicek & Grossebner Text: Lukas Grossebner, Michael Wittmann Grafik: Peter Mayer, HFA Studio Illustration & Lettering: HFA Studio / Product Photography: Bernhard Angerer / Retouch: Blaupapier More info: http://hfa-studio.com/greenpeace     Sustainable chairs that last from Pennsylvania Emeco is a brand, who design chairs and tables mostly from recycled stuff like aluminum and sustainable materials like cork and say:  "The point is to make really good chairs. Good means more than just for sitting." Their environmental policy is focused on sustainability in the form of recycled materials and longevity. Since 1944, they have been building chairs from at least 80 percent recycled aluminum and continue to do so. More info: www.emeco.info   Sustainable LED lighting bulbs from London Tala is a British lighting brand based in London. Founded in 2013, the company specializes in low-energy LED lighting products that recreate the warm glow of traditional bulbs. The founders weren't happy with the LED brands on the market, so they founded their own company on the premise that good design can help mitigate climate change. From their London-based studio, they explore the tension between sustainability, technology, and design. They also support reforestation programs around the world. More info: www.tala.co.uk   From starting your own project to helping other brands spread their message through your beautiful design - there are literally millions of ways you can help the planet by being a designer.

Every month we collaborate with wemakeit, in order to show you successful projects and behind-the-scene knowledge from the projects' initiators. It's amazing to see what the combination of creative ideas and the power of people can create.