Pim Rakers

Quiet place

Pim — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:47:46 +0000

Last week was a blast. I started my new job as an art director over at Milk. Very different from where I worked in the Netherlands before. First of all I don’t have to remember 75 names of my colleagues, 15 will do for now and I can finally ride my bike to work again! If that wasn’t enough I went for a nice 75 kilometer long ride last weekend as Sunday turned out to be dry ánd sunny. It was a bit cold and I got some comments on the fact that I was wearing shorts, but “they are just a bit cold the first 3 kilometers”. This time I didn’t forget my camera and took some nice pictures in Staatsforst Ville near Hackenbroich.

Typogeek Game

Pim — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:38:48 +0000

Just stumbled upon this funny typography game for typo geeks Kern Type, a kerning game. You have to move the inner letters (kerning) untill the whole word is perfectly kerned. Use your mouse or the arrow keys or your fingers on the iPad. I reached an overall score of 97, and you?

PS: You know what’s the result of bad kerning? It’s called keming ;)

New workhorse: Pedaleur Criterium

Pim — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:22:42 +0000

Since yesterday there has been a new bike in my posession. It’s a really weird meltinpot of all kind of brands and ages. The frame is probably from 1975 (since 75 is stamped in the head tube) and most of the parts are also from that period. Except for the back wheel: it has a Fiamme rim from the 50′s and an old french Pelissier Model Plume hub. I think the bike has been costum made by a bikeshop in Doetinchem called ‘Pedaleur’. Worht mentioning is the bottom bracket lug, I think that is a Nervex Pro lug, allthough the other lugs aren’t.

I’ll post up a nice list of all the parts later, for now you’ll just have to do with this gallery.

I am currently bussy disassembling the whole bike and all its parts, make a list of all the parts brands, models and year of manufacturing. After that they get cleaned, polished and the whole bike will be put back together!

An e-mail from Berlin

Pim — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:36:57 +0000

Rember the ’78 Koga Miyata Gent’s Luxe I sold at the end of 2010? Well, yesterday I received a very nice e-mail from the buyer who lives in Berlin. Turns out he is using it with pleasure and by the looks of it, also takes really good care of it (just look at that garage for god sake!). Always nice to get some feedback from buyers and it pleases me to know that bike is taken care of and is being used too. Also, the other two wheeler doesn’t look bad neither. This man has taste I tell you!

PS: Dutch readers may notice the reference in the title to the Dutch 1999 National Song Festival entry, for everyone who doesn’t: Double Date – An e-mail to Berlin.

A Remix Manifesto

Pim — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 12:33:04 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M8KAC3eh-U

Great documentary about intellectual property, remixing and what happens when you put those two together… Sit back and enjoy!

The Official 1978 Gent’s Touring Specifications

Pim — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 19:55:31 +0000

Everyone who owns (or thinks he owns) a Koga Miyata bike from 1978 will have run into the fact that the specifications sheet for that year isn’t online on the Koga website. All the other years are represented with a brochure showing all the different bikes and their spec sheets except 1978. For that year only the folder with the pictures of the bikes can be found.

Untill I received a comment from Mr. Dekker. He told me he was just starting to take his Gent’s Touring (GT) from 1978 apart and asked me if I was interested in the spec sheet. Of course I was! He mailed me some scans that I put together in 1 PDF-document. It can be downloaded below (and also shows the Road Mixed and the Silver Ace):

1978 Koga Miyata Gent’s Touring Specifications Sheet

I also asked him to mail me scans from the complete booklet so that it can be added to the Koga website, but I haven’t heard from him since. Mr. Dekker in case you read this would you be so kind to mail me those scans? Thanks a lot!

It’s Better In The Wind

Pim — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:45:50 +0000

Picture this: you’re a great photographer and you live in Los Angeles. You have a passion for motorcycles and everything that surrounds them. Mix that all together, set it on fire, put it online and you end up with Scott G. Toepfer‘s website called “It’s Better In The Wind”. I really like the name, but I like the photo’s even more… Seeing all that steel and gasoline galore makes me want to get my motorcycle license as fast as possible too. Untill then I will have to with my three human powered cycles.

Click the picture below to go to www.itsbetterinthewind.com.

“The” Project

Pim — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 19:22:46 +0000

One of the things I really like in the field of graphic design is typografy. What is even better, is handmade typografy! I came across this beautiful project via Little Paper Planes (on Facebook) called “‘The’ Project”. Robb Ogle from houndofthe.com already has some impressive font designs in his portfolio, but he used wordmarks from a private stock of predigital lettering scoured from low resolution archives and turn it into clean, straigh bezier curves. He only extracted the word ‘the’, hence the name of the project for use by today’s graphic designers who appreciate the wonky shapes of yesteryear. That’s me!

Make sure you go have a look over at the special website he created for this project www.thetheproject.com!

Pro-crastination

Pim — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 20:45:47 +0000

Damn. Getting a new job is tougher than I anticipated… Just wanted to keep this blog alive so I’ll just show off the result of my procrastination.

Ow, and big news; I added my portfolio to the About-page. You can go there now or you can just download it here directly. It’s just a simple PDF (2,6 MB) with some of my works and a resumé. It is in German, allthough this blog is in English. I tend to write easier in English than in German, but on the other hand, when applying for jobs in the Cologne area I can’t send out a resumé in English, now can I? ;)

Gute Nacht Freunde

Pim — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 20:35:02 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQzZmIi2dyw

Well, that’s it! Today was my last day at TriMM interactive media. After finishing my Bachelor study Art&Communication Design at the ArtEZ here in Enschede in the Netherlands I started working there and in the last three years I learned a lot. About webdesign, about design in general, about people, aboute clients, about myself, about my colleagues, about software… And so on, and so on.

I will not bother you with details and long stories, but expect some reminiscing in the nex few weeks, haha. For all you none German readers, the above song was originally written by Reinhard Mey and performed by the duo Inga & Wolf at the Eurovision Song Contest back in 1972. The first sentance (and title) read: “Good night my friends, it’s time for me to leave.”