ImpactFest 2019 was all about making meaningful connections. The purpose was to talk to each other – entrepreneurs, startups, scale-ups, creatives and anybody who’s interested could sign up for over a 100 ‘roundabout sessions’ where they could discuss new business models, (gender) equality in the workspace, ethical fashion, smart cities, circular economy etc. 

Running up to the day of the event, we created an anonymous character that kept trying to get in contact with you through different social media platforms. It would show you a selection of the topics and invite you to meet each other and talk at ImpactFest.

The topics then we’re shown on ImpactFest itself, projected on veil along the sides of the room where everybody was talking. During the day, the projections got ‘interrupted’ by this anonymous character who would tell you what the discussion is about at a certain table, at what time a particular topic starts at which table and to talk more about some topics.

These texts worked as a program, signage and discussion partner.

Alongside we designed a poster concept for which we used 5 basic layouts which we could personalise and fill with all sorts of content that relate to the topics and the program. For this we have laser cut over 300 stencils to spraypaint, with which every single poster was uniquely made.

And finally, as a big overall gesture, we made a spatial typographic installation (5 x 17 meters) of handmade pallets hanging from the high ceiling, showing the most important goal of the event – making meaningful connections.

The online platform RE-source.info is a living archive. It archives the designerly research performed by the designers, categorizes it and breaks it down. You can navigate the growing collection of designs, interventions, reflections and conversations through the use of labels.

RE-source.info is dived into two worlds, a practice oriented part (Practice and Design) and a more theoretical part (Theory & Reflection). On the one side, a collection of moments from the design process is taking shape, visualizations, blogs and video’s. On the other side a theoretical reflection on the project is taking shape. By positioning these worlds next to eachother, theory and practice, they feed into each other; the abstract and the particular. The collections of related moments from the practice side, selections based on overlapping labels, are juxtaposed by theoretical reflections on the left side underneath the heading ‘Artikelen’. The amount of overlapping labels determines the order. RE-source.info inspires and invokes further reflection as unanticipated and unexpected connections show themselves. The platform helps make the multiformity of the design process insightful and experiential.

By selecting your own labels, you can build collections and groupings, making RE-source.info into a research tool. The complexity of the RE-source project is made workable by offering the possibility of selecting and navigating based on type of residual flow and name of the designer. As well as an archival, communicative and research function, the online platform offers possibilities for education.

In June 2019, RE-Source was awarded with a Dutch Design Award in the category Design Research. A few lines from the jury report: “Extensive, high-quality research that has resulted in a layered website, on which a wide variety of design language, moving image, material and experts are skilfully interwoven. RE-source is exactly right and succeeds in approaching a complicated theme with a pleasant playfulness. The project has a richness that does justice to the complexity of the topic, from accessible projects to academic applications.”

After winning the award, the website was complemented with a book and an exhibition at the Dutch Design Week 2019. The book showcases a selected number of practices from the website, as well as theory and reflection, and has its own analog way of navigating by labels.

‘Goed Geld Salon’ (The Proper Money Parlor) in an initiative that organises meetings about the role and purpose of money in our society with theory, practical alternatives, debate and artistic interventions.

We designed the riso printed flyers for these meetings, and what’s a better way to get your mind on the money game than with money!

The green base layer is pre-printed with all practical (static) information and for each meeting we added the specific info accompanied by a fierce predator in a different colored layer.

For the Chair Group Health & Society (HSO) we designed an info brochure. The brochure contains information about their Research and Education program at the Wageningen University.

Since health and society are reflections of one another, we mirrored some of the the images. Other images are somewhat reflections in themselves with the use of fresh fluor green, looking like fragments from a documentary or film, ‘subtitled’ with quotes from their own research projects.

The cover of the brochure is printed with a silver ink, which contrasts nicely with the green.