Falva is an inn located in Blons, a mountain village in a valley known as the Großes Walsertal. This deeply incised valley is characterized by precipitous mountain slopes on both sides. Ultimately, it was this image that provided the inspiration for the visual design. The letter “l” was inclined at a slight angle and, together with the letter “v” that follows it, suggests the shape of a mountain peak.

»Konstruktive Provokation« (Constructive Provocation) attempts to explain the density of contemporary architecture in Vorarlberg (clearly evident in the immediate surroundings) within the framework of an exhibition and explores frequently asked questions such as »how is that possible?« It describes architecture not as an extract but as a part of a living culture of building in its technical, design-related, social, ecological, hand-craft and personal aspects. Instead of emphasising the works of individual architects and explaining single buildings by means of models and plans, the exhibition tells about the roots and the growth of a broad-based movement that allowed architecture of a high quality to develop. »From rumour to myth: That’s how you could describe the last decades of Vorarlberg architecture.« Dietmar Steiner The exhibition consists of a series of theme-related introductory portals. Various levels of reading allow the visitor to proceed from a general insight to in-depth immersion in the theme. The first level shows photographs by Ignacio Martínez on the fronts of the cubes; short texts augment and explain what is shown. In a second level drawers that can be pulled open and wall elements offer insight into further details and architectures relating to the respective materials.

“überholz” is the name of a new course in timber building at the University of Art and Design in Linz Names such as “the art of timber building” or “timber construction”, or poetic terms such as “Dickicht” (thicket) or “Stirnholz” (end grain wood) were some more obvious choices. The reduction to simple familiar words is surprising; the problems with the umlaut become the characteristic. The word “über” (about, through) suggests the transfer of knowledge and “holz” (wood) is simply called by its name. Aspects of architecture and planning are communicated by the typographical implementation. Here we are familiar with the word “Holz”, but what does it say to an Italian public? The Italian partners assured us that the target group in Italy is also familiar with the term “Holz”. It is hard to pronounce – a tongue-twister and a foreign word – but precisely on this account is suitable for the “corsi” (timber building seminars) of the Italian proHolz subsidiary organisation, “promo legno”.

A monochrome logotype: the word “Lehm” is set in the Grotesque font, Trade Gothic bold condensed, whereas the “o” is in an Antiqua (font type: New York). The Antiqua makes the “o” resonate and creates exciting contrasts between traditional and modern, filigree and stable. Reinhard Gassner

The former “Architekturforum Tirol” opened its new rooms in 2005 in the renovated brewhouse of the old Adambräu brewery in Innsbruck. This was linked with a call for a contemporary appearance. In a workshop together with Walter Bohatsch a name was arrived at. The new name for this association was “aut“ and was intended to hover freely, almost experimentally, in space without any associations such as institute, gallery or forum – on the contrary it was to be provocative and agitative and not an abbreviation with just three letters. In the initial phase the name was supported by a claim. The most interesting thing happens in-between, as it were, between the familiar term “out”, which of course starts not with an “a” but an “o”, and the simple way in which the sequence of letters can be explained by three words. Lettering + subline »architektur und tirol«.

The task was to design a name and appearance for a software company. The company’s dual track character is programmatic: on the one hand it offers high-tech content management systems and on the other creative, but standardised, software solutions. In a workshop with the client it was decided to use a freely invented onomatopoeic name. The solution consisted of two letters, actually just one form of letter that stands alternately on its feet or on its head – nu – n and u, not u and n, which would have had a far more negative connotation; the dynamics and the combined effect of the letters harbours numerous meanings, nu functions like a kind of acoustic pictogram, which is due to the familiar and yet at the same time unfamiliar quality of this name. It is too short to be abbreviated, it awakens curiosity and relates to the number two. This association is played with visually with by swivelling the letters in the logotype and in other applications – 2 colours with 2 x 2 letters that, when overlaid, produce new forms and colours.

The name zuschnitt stands for a magazine about wood as a material and works made of wood. It is aimed primarily at architects, people interested in building and those who make decisions about building in Austria and neighbouring countries. The title avoids words such as “wood”, “building” or “architecture”. Nevertheless it reports about wood, processing, series, the made-to-measure form. The language elements are the acceleration of the word at the beginning due to the “Z”, and the two terminating consonants at the end of the word. Consequently the middle part works as a resonance space for the two vowels, “u” and “i”.

It seems that for my generation religion is no longer relevant. It is curious, however, that, by taking various detours, the world of religious images appears to return to us in the areas of commerce and consumption. This is an interesting phenomenon. For me the quintessence of a religious conceptual world is paradise. In paradise things happen that we cannot see or prove and a considerable amount of pathos is attached to everything paradisiacal. This pathos is also found in ritual, in the architecture of religion and in the image of God. The priest’s vestments, the politician’s clothing, the chambers of bishops and presidents, the palaces of popes and bosses are always exaggeratedly beautiful and always symbolize the same: glitter and glory. I am interested in the kinds of visual means and values that are used to convey ownership, wealth, power and glory. The signs and the symbols of the church have a real effect on us; they direct our feelings and move us towards devotion or rejection. I often experience a feeling of awe or reverence when I enter a church. A beautiful cultural building or a proud government building also convey something sublime. Looked at more closely both of these are visual languages, one is the language of religion, the other of capital; they are similar to each other and yet different. They influence us in a way that we generally do not consciously grasp. In my research I discovered many similarities in the way the divine and wealth are represented. The church and capital often work with the same means – the holy is commercialised and the market is deified. Christ’s efforts to drive the money-changers out of the table were in vain. Religion employs the means of marketing and advertising. And vice-versa: advertising makes use of religious images and also promises salvation and ecstasy. My work led me to reflect further about the theme of religion and money. Religion gives my life a transcendental dimension – a kind of dream world which is in an open relationship to the idea of God. I discovered a number of differences between the conceptual world of the divine that exists here in Holland and the one I am familiar with. Exploring these in depth is work for an academic, not for a visual designer. For my theme the following aspect seems important: the idea of God here in Holland is shaped by the Reformation and Calvinism and produces a more rational, flatter and more text oriented image – as a result the aspect of mystery is reduced or even eliminated. In contrast the Austrian conceptual world of the divine is influenced by the Counter-Reformation and the Baroque. This produced an absolute world, a sublime image of God – God is above everything. The goal of the project Using a number of short illustrated stories my aim is to show a number of relationships between religious and material values. The intention is to question the self-evident nature of certain visual values, schemes and concepts. Separation and connection of two languages Otl Aicher writes about the connection of religious and profane images: because Latin, the international language of the church, could not be understood by lay Europeans, religious truths were explained to them through iconographically standardised images. However, a radical increase in density and a simplification of the iconographic depictions that made them into pictograms emerged only at the start of the 20th century. At that time religious visual language communicated the global language of the Christian world; today it is pictograms, signs and symbols that direct and shape us. In my visual work I attempt to relate these two languages to each other. The aim is to bring about a direct encounter between images of religion and images of the present-day world. One characteristic of religions is their strongly spiritual conceptual world made up of ideas, images and regulations on the ways in which these should be used. I wish to connect these images with the pictogram language of today. This is an encounter between very different but equally striking signs and symbols. I began my research playfully and semiotically. I transformed various symbols and their values with regard to the themes of money and religion. I tried to contrast the visual worlds of religion and of money with each other. I visited two casinos and two churches, interviewed representatives of each and compared the impressions and statements in the context of my theme. After this I looked for a place where both worlds are connected. I visited an exhibition where you could admire and buy all imaginable kinds of religious products. I felt there how strongly commercialized religion is. This experience and my research work on religious catalogues in the Internet led me to reflect on the values of religion and ultimately brought me to the contents of my graduation thesis. Conclusion God is dead, the glitter and glory continue, but other showplaces. The “corporate design” of God changes its medium and is now used to clothe a commercial, materialistic world. Consumption does not fill the gaps and the emptiness. Personal details · motivation I grew up in a family of designers in Vorarlberg in western Austria. Today I know that living in a beautiful green setting surrounded by mountains strongly influenced me. As a child fantasy and dreams played an important role. My father often took me with him to his graphic design studio where I spent the time painting. At the age of fifteen I decided to attend the Schule für Gestaltung in St. Gallen (CH). During the five years of study I became familiar with the “Swiss Style” of design. Design in Switzerland is reduced and precise. I found Dutch design in contrast somewhat more open and free. This contrast also gave me a reason to further develop my design work and thinking in Holland. I sought a certain distance from my family so that I could develop and foster my own identity. Here in Holland I changed the way I looked at my home. © Andrea Redolfi

Publication »ART AND DESIGN« Magazine China, 096 2007/12 »I think, we derive the coining information for our perception from the meaning and the significance of things. Visually we derive them from the visible, from the surfaces – I mean surfaces in the broadest sense. By this I mean views, shapes, perspectives, types, visual relations, colours, sharp and unsharp. We cannot look at things without asking and searching for semantics. This is an essential difference between our perception and artificial intelligence. Already Kant said ‘We create the world by looking at it’. A more abstract surface is the image of a company. Visually, it is coined by the corporate design, audibly by the verbal communication, especially by the company name. For my work the narrative has proved to be the most important criterion – both visually and verbally. With this I mean not the open statements but the hidden effects of words and images. This effect was well described by Elias Canetti as the ‘acoustic mask of the word’. It means exactly the interaction of sound and image. And we can use this in our work by creating typography, posters, books, logotypes or whatever you want.« Reinhard Gassner Trained as reprophotographer Reinhard Gassner continued his professional education and graphic art training at the studio of his brother, Franz Gassner, MA. He attended various design seminars and began his professional career working for different advertising agencies. With his wife Ruth, he established his own studio in 1976. Since 1988 he has taken part in various international exhibitions. Gassner was awarded several prizes not only for his poster design but also for his corporate and book designs. His main interest is in the semiotics of visual and verbal communication. From 1996 to 1999 Reinhard Gassner was external consultant and design head of the degree programme InterMedia at Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences. text – for some years he has practiced phonographic phenomena with the simple word. »The t at the beginning is pronounced differently from the t at the end of the word. At first it speeds up even borrows an aspirated h and then it stops with a rather dry final sound. Between the x and the t there is a sharp voiceless s. The e in itself is a letter with many sound hues. The typefaces, which arise from the different fonts, tell us a lot of different stories: for example the loud laughing e, the shyly smiling e or a sneering, or a grinning e.« Reinhard Gassner Visual narrative in Corporate Design european wood initiative – The aim of this new co-operation is the common wood promotion in Asia. Gassner concentrate on the generally understandable word wood and the metamorphosis of the double o into the infinity symbol; from this the logotype derives its semiotic and characteristic meanings. The infinity symbol, also lemniscate (Greek for ribbon) - algebraic curve - horizontal figure-of-eight. According to tradition the lemniscate is the sign for the cycle of being; The lemniscate is symbolically the cycle from matter to space und back to matter - a dignified symbol of living beings such as plants, forest, wood and everything that can be created from them. Looked at the logo in motion or in small sizes, the lemniscate again turns into the letters double o. nu – task was to create a name and a corporate design for a software company. The idea behind it was the double strategy of the company – on the one hand the high technology Content Management System and on the other hand creative but standardised software solutions. In a workshop with the customer Gassner agreed on a freely invented onomatopoetic name. The solution was only two letters, actually only one letter shape, once in the standard position and once upside down. nu – n and u certainly not u and n – namely the prefix »un-« – which would have a much more negative connotation. »... in the dynamics and the synergy of letters, there are many meanings« RG; nu is something like an acoustic pictogram. This has something to do with the fact that the name is at the same time familiar and unfamiliar. It is so short that it can hardly be an abbreviation, but thematizes the aspect of two. In the logotype Gassner has characterized this aspect by turning the letters – and by composing two different colours. Jazz - a Logo, it arose from a poster, which Gassner designed for a jazz club in 1978. It‘s a transformation from a mustard tube to a saxophone and tells us a story of jazz sounds, which are pressed, breathed or roared out of a saxophone, whatever you see or hear in this image. Today this image is used as a key visual and a logo of this club and for many applications, like this poster. 2©©© – Together with other designers Gassner was invited to design a poster on the turn of the millennium for the Goethe-Institut in Santiago de Chile. His image idea is derived from a statement by Jan Tschichold. Among other things he said on the typographic subject of centred line: »Imagine Jesus without a centre parting, a middle parting«. When saints or holy things are presented we meet the circle in the form of a halo and the emphasis on the centred mode as a sign of uniqueness and credibility. The basis for Gassners design was a well known Russian icon with the holy face of Jesus. He modified this picture by changing the centre parting and the direction of the eyes. The number 2000 was visualised via the Roman figure hidden in copyright signs (The c contains the Roman figure for one hundred) and he wanted to show the new century without a halo, without a circle. »I‘m not really opposed to the centred line but I think we have to interrupt it. Centred modes without any interruptions, without any interventions are a little bit bombastic and at the same time boring. And by the way I don‘t always want to be fixed by the looks of Jesus.« RG Mohammed Jesus – a printing collage, which Gassner edited at Easter of 2003 on the occasion of the beginning of the war in Iraq. The two names Mohammed and Jesus stand for the first name and the surname of one and the same person. These are the names for well-known icons of creeds with imperial claims. The war and the evil are already contained in the belief that only their own prophet can be the true one. The conflict it visualised typographically in the Latin and Arabic scripts in the two opposite directions. The four poster motives printed one over the other result in a condensed image synergy with broad connotation: the back of the wasp for aggression, the sleeping face for passivity, the baroque angel for bombast and complacent God-consciousness, Star of David, Cross and Crescent for the marketing of confessions by means of brands. Over this 8-colour offset print Gassner used silk screen print for the two names Mohammed and Jesus. The finished poster has some explosive power and visually tells us about chaos and fights. »Posters are especially good for visual narratives and for interaction with the viewer. They are small stages with a very short playtime, but very interesting actors.« Reinhard Gassner Visual narrative in Book Design Constructive Provocation – an exhibition about the contemporary architecture in Vorarlberg, organized at the French Architecture Institute in Paris. The task was to create the exhibition catalogue. The title shows a scribble by the author concerning the interwoven relations of the scene. Inside the cover Gassner tell this story more exactly with the tools of information design, actually with a synchronopsis – a time line with several developments. Besides some short texts Gassner wanted to make the pictures tell something about the development of our little country and so we have selected three image levels for that purpose. First – a visual essay about the country and its inhabitants in black and white photography. Second – the presentation of contemporary architecture in Vorarlberg with pictures, that tell us something about architectural neighbourhoods and relations. Third – information design with narrative and sometimes also ironic contents. Here you can see the country where Gassner lives. Vorarlberg is practically in the centre of Europe in the west of Austria bordering on Germany, Switzerland and Italy. In his graphic design he show for example the altitude line from Paris to Vienna – from the Eifel Tower via the Alps to the St. Stephan‘s Cathedral – the settlement densities of Paris and Vorarlberg – aspects of traffic and public transport, and for example the fact that in Vorarlberg there are almost as many cows as guest beds. Architecture Guide – This book is part of a series of architecture guides, which we made for different Austrian federal provinces (Vorarlberg, Tyrol, Carinthia so far). The contents are splitted in regions. The beginning of the individual chapters shows bird’s-eye views with photos and special cartography. With only two numbers, one for the region and one for the respective object, we achieve a good user guidance. The object pages have a compact design. The small handy format needs exact typography and print quality. Just now, a new volume is being presented. It is about the eastern most province of Austria, the Burgenland; ..[westungarn]... in this case with three languages – German, Hungarian, Croatian. The Mute Eye – an exhibition catalogue for the architectural photographer Ignacio Martínez. He wanted to show pictures without any text. The title shows a very much enlarged shadow of his father on the Spanish earth. When you open the book you first see black and white pages. Only after unfolding the pages the contents are disclosed. They are picture combinations with 3 photos each. The relations of shape and form of the picture combinations are important, not the objects themselves. The 3 pictures, called tryptichons, remain without any texts. The required information can be found in the visual narrative illustrations at the end of the book. In these illustrations is shown the most important photographic lines of the tryptichons and in this way Gassner told something about the formal aspects and at the same time he made the connections with the individual items of picture information. Zuschnitt – a magazine with wood as material and architecture with wood. In the visual design of the magazine Gassner has developed a communicative almost bibliophile style. The message is information and not promotion. As an example the issue »wood in the language« – one of the 28 editions so far. In this case an architecture magazine without any pictures. It is just the other way round, the images are in the contents and in the typography: Pinocchio‘s nose, a wood-grain consisting of hundreds of different wood names, and so on. Also in the title Gassner avoid pictures and use a wooden printing block for a simple red square surface printed in analogue letter press printing – you should really feel the structure. Holzspektrum – Bookdesign (2006) for a wood pattern book in nearly perfect facsimile technology for different kinds of wood surfaces. Consistently, the book presents the respective woods on double spread pages. On the right side a holohedral depiction of the wood species without any text, on the left side there are interesting descriptions and deliberately coy illustrations of the silhouette of the trees, the leaves and the form of the fruits. In 2007, the book was awarded as one of the most beautiful books in the world. A narrative, witty, chatting, and a tell-tale typography. anagram – a work for large glass surfaces in a community building. Gassner suggested puns with anagrams. The word anagram comes from Greek anagraphein and means something like describe or re-write. A short text – say with 3 words – forms the letter basis for new word creations and combinations. Of course, the plays on words are nonsense, but it is fun to follow the transformations and find new and surprising types of contents. Totally there are more than 3500 transformations in more than 100 text columns with almost 80000 letters. Kiel – International competition for the corporate design of the world’s biggest sailing event. As one of five designer teams Gassner was invited to take part in this competition. The idea is: The »i« of »Kiel« becomes »KIEL« (which is German for keel) and dives below the water surface together with a part of the word. In the bilge the ship’s energy is accumulated; in Gassners design the leading part of the communicative scenario has been assigned to this point. »We also have to trust the silence effects in graphic design and the slowness in communication. We do not always need noise and visual fast food as a viewer or consumer of information.« Reinhard Gassner The work of the Studio Gassner is characterised through both, its professional breadth and depth. The work orients itself consistently on the requirements of the customers. Besides Reinhard Gassner, the team consists of five more employees and and temporarily hired professionals for specific tasks within the field of visual and verbal communications. Significant for Gassners design work are the semiotic and semantic aspects. »These aspects are in the small and big things, in micro and macro typography, in pictures and words, in colours and materials and they influence our perception. Think, as graphic designers we have to be sure that communication is our aim, our product. We have to design dialogues not monologues. We have to create interactions not one-way streets. If I speak about interaction between the viewer and our work we have to take him as an emancipated partner not as – let‘s say – a stupid consumer. And you can involve the audience with good visual narratives, also with mysteries and omissions like blank spaces. A good way to do that is to tell stories with pictures and create pictures in typography.« Reinhard Gassner

Put quite simply: a poster is an oversized piece of print material that is fixed or “posted” at several different places in public space and carries a specific client’s message. A good poster is not overly assertive – in the sense of superficial or with an offensive primitiveness that knocks you flat, even when you only look at it briefly. A good poster is one that doesn’t get on your nerves but delights you, makes you want to have more; something that attracts you to look at it one more time. A good poster allows you enter it, creates space for imagination through deliberate visual irritations and through a balance between visual wit and content. A good poster is, therefore, precisely the opposite of over-assertive; it is differentiated, comprehensive and complex. A poster is not a rigid, static image but a scene that happens in a flash. The passers-by on the street are the auditorium, the stage is the surface of the poster, and the actors are the colours, forms, images and text. The most frequent mistake is to attempt to make everything visible all at once. Good posters derive their strength from concentrating on a strong basic effect and then gradually conveying other messages. And they live from the fact that, through good design, a special visual tone is achieved that appears attractive, not repulsive, striking and narrative, not annoying. The end of the poster as a medium has often been announced. Yet today it is, once more, experiencing a revival among young people. This may be due to the new flexibility of economical digital printing techniques or through its presence and analogous existence in times of digital obfuscation and virtual placelessness. And, you cannot simply switch off a poster – it remains there until it is removed or something else is pasted over it. Reinhard Gassner