December 2009 - win for an unusual commission

Digital Media (Advanced) tutor Klaus Kramer, who has won a Bronze BeST Design Award from the Designers Institute of New Zealand (DINZ) for his graphic design work on a pair of skis.

It was an unusual commission and an unlikely canvas, but Klaus rose to the challenge when ski manufacturer Kingswood asked him to come up with a design for their limited edition designer topsheets. He says he enjoyed the restrictions of working on a 200cm x 10cm canvas and his passion for typography became the foundation for the work. ‘I’m really into geometric shapes and patterns especially if they contain impossible figures or optical illusions ... I always wondered why type always needed to be horizontal,’ he says. Klaus patiently and painstakingly designed a unique font for the project that can be written in three different directions.

You can see the finished product on the Kingswood Skis website or maybe even whizzing down the slopes at a ski field next year.