If you’ve made it this far through the post, I should add that these animations in no way represent all German Christmas markets. These images were taken at a particularly tacky market that concerns itself more with drinking and rides (vs. those focused on drinking, eating, and shopping). You can find this crazy light show behind the Alexa shopping center for basically all of December (and maybe a bit into January) each year. For a considerably nicer/calmer/quieter experience simply walk a few hundred meters to the Fernsehturm/Alexanderplatz and check out the market in front of the Berlin Rathaus.

Fröhliche Weihnachten!

Just a few more images from Berlin’s ultra-cool Museum of Things!
 
You can also see more great objects from the museum in this previous post.
 
 
[UPDATE]
 
You can also help out the museum by becoming a Dingpfleger (a caretaker/sponsor of a thing). For a small donation you can adopt one of their objects! For more information and to learn about becoming a Dingpfleger(in) have a look here (German).
 
Check out what we are sponsoring for 2010!
(And thanks to Dan Reynolds for the quote!)
(Even if it maybe, possibly, came with the tiniest bit of sarcasm.)
 

 
The “Vesper” Bahlsen Keksdose from 1923 over at the Museum der Dinge’s website

Oh my god Becky, seriously the Museum of Things (Museum der Dinge) is like totally the most raddest place in Berlin. If you thought the DDR Museum had some cool old stuff, then you will be blown away by all the junk at this place. It is a cross between a natural history museum, the Smithsonian, your grandma’s house, a garage sale, and a dump. It has an extensive collection of “things” from the 1800s through today – roughly sorted chronologically and also a bit categorically.


Its stockpile of ephemeral, everyday objects is amazing. Typoholics will find hours of pleasure simply staring at all the old logos and packaging. I ended up taking about 150 photos while managing to convince my friends I am nuts because of how overly excited I was.


For those of you who are maybe not impressed with *just* nice old type and objects, the museum has more attractions. There are also some big, powerful, loud, Mythbusteresque machines that smash, chop, stomp, and roll/crush/flatten. Visitors are invited to use the hydraulic beasts to annihilate some miscellaneous bric-a-brac. Mechanical thumps, shattering, screaming, and laughing can be heard echoing throughout the museum.


It is a great place. Plus there is a gift shop with some nice designer objects and some other old crap you can buy too!

Full Title: TYPO Berlin 09 Reminiscent of TYPO Berlin 08

There is already quite a number of posts and comments surrounding 2009′s TYPO Berlin, so I will keep this one short. You can catch up on most of the posts/images/videos highlights directly from the TYPO Berlin Blog.

Being the second TYPO Berlin I have visited, I can say it is indeed a special event with a different vibe from most other design-related conferences. This year, again, had a great atmosphere and decent selection of speakers. However, being there this time felt a lot like déjà vu (except for not working at the Linotype booth). These feelings have been echoed by several peers who have attended many more TYPOs than I… that every year is about the same. Maybe this is a natural side effect of being held in the same building each year, but maybe there is a deeper issue.

Jan Middendorp has some very constructive thoughts in his post and comments over at the Eye Blog. Quoted here is his overall conclusion of the event:

All in all, I found this edition of TypoBerlin satisfactory, and instructive at times. But to me – and, I think, to many colleagues in Berlin and elsewhere – the event has out­grown its role as a meeting place for people involved in typographic communication. People find it expensive (yes, Jürgen, it’s reasonable to seminar standards, but a lot of money for strugg­ling Berlin designers) or simply too big or not inter­esting enough. There have been vague proposals to set up a more intimate counter-event (Cheapo Berlin?) but there might be better options. This years’ meeting of the German graphic design world showed that TypoBerlin would like to play a role here; and yet it doesn’t. As such, it’s a victim of its own success. If the event wants to avoid getting stuck in its own formula, some serious rethinking will have to be done.

Well said Jan. Be sure to read his full review and check out the heated comments.

One other note: if going to the TYPO Night party next year, don’t bother showing up before 1am, but plan to stay really really late.

Commonly referred to as East Germany, the former German Democratic Republic existed from 1949-1990. During that period, a significant portion of Germany was virtually cut off from the rest of the world (at least from Capitalist societies). So what exactly was it like for those living behind the infamous wall?
 
Anyone interested in learning more about the GDR needs simply to check out the fascinating DDR Museum in Berlin. Visitors can interactively experience aspects of what life was like during that time through multi-media displays and many hands-on items. They illustrate everything from the education system to the Stasi to how people spent vacations. There are numerous samples of everyday items such as food and toiletry goods, clothes, and toys. The major headliners of the museum are the fully reconstructed kitchen & living room from a quintessential apartment and one of the famous Trabant cars. Both of those exhibits you can explore and play in.
 
However, of primary interest for all of us here are some superb typographic specimens! These typical* East German household objects have often been adorned with gorgeous lettering. The museum has much more to see and admire, these here are just a taste.
 
Next time you are in Berlin consider an excursion to check out a bit of former East German (life)style.
 
*Not all of these are necessarily “typical” items but could still be found (somewhere) in the GDR.

Last night the city of Berlin offered another special event: their 24th Museum Night – Lange Nacht der Museen. For one small price you get admission to most of the city’s museums from 6pm to 2am. This is a great opportunity to get out and see some of the remarkable collections and galleries here in Berlin.

One of the highlights, and certainly the most anticipated museum I wanted to visit, was the Buchstaben Museum. They are only open sporadically, so it is normally difficult to get an opportunity to stop by.

I was a bit surprised by the small space, but the up side to this was how every square meter was covered with old letters from signs. Large dimensional letters were standing, laying, leaning, hanging, and stacked throughout the two showrooms. The haphazard, jumbled arrangements made it a bit difficult to fully appreciate the signs and the lettering, but they are none-the-less beautiful and interesting. Personally, I am mostly into the nice letters, and less actually the history behind them; but whenever possible, the letters/signs have tags indicating where they came from, the typeface in use, and a little extra info. If you are more interested in some finer details of what is in this collection, Dan Reynolds has some images and font IDs up at his flickr and blog. That guy is crazy, he visited the museum, got home, and blogged about it before I was even there!

On a side note, the Buchstaben Museum reminds me quite a bit of the boneyard in Las Vegas Neon Museum – albeit a smaller, climate controlled, more sanitary version. Someday, we should all make the trek there because it looks incredible. Paul Hunt visited in 2008 and has some great photos in flickr.

 
Update:
 
Core 77 has many more great photos of the museum here

The packaging of these fireworks are definitely as bright, loud, and scary as the pyrotechnics that they spit out. Exploded cases like these could be found all over Berlin on Jan 1st. Depending on how nice your neighborhood you live in determines how long you can enjoy this typographic litter confetting your street. Lucky for us, these hung around for several weeks!

Part 2 of a collection of nice typographic examples in Berlin.

Berlin is full of typographic treats: grafitti, posters, shop signs, logos… Here is the first installment of some great local sights…