Category Archives: Zesty Gal

Science Museum

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I finally finished uploading all the pictures for the gallery, that’s why I didn’t publish this post earlier, so here it is… [the link to see the gallery is all the way at the bottom of this post]
We met up with S. and M. and their girls last Sunday at the Science Museum. We went sailing with them in Croatia last summer and ended up fighting serious gales, hail of 3 cm and we went aground one night because of another serious storm and a dodgy buoy, they had to come back after finding their own safe spot to pull us out. We had some hectic nights like that but it was an absolutely cool and fantastic experience. The girls never woke up during these events, they slept through everything while we were shouting and running around to save our boats… Kids… [See old post and pix here –>]
Anyway they came over from Hampshire [New Forest, to London to go to the Science Museum and invited us to come along. We met up at 10.30 had a coffee at the restaurant and had a look around. I saw the very first Apple Mac and the very first computer, “Pegasus” which used punched-tape to read data. I saw really cool fifties stuff, I just love the design. There was the old Vespa scooter [used to be the proud owner of a blue Vespa Si 1980] and the 1957 BMW Isetta 300. Old dentist equipment and a MRI scanner or CAT scan [think it’s the latter actually]. It’s such a cool museum I wouldn’t mind going back again some day!

I think this picture is so funny


Apple


Apple’s first computer


Apple Monitor


Pegasus [isn’t it HUGE?]


Fifties Design [Just Brilliant!]


Vespa [What a beauty]


BMW [Cute!]


Dentist Equipment [Scary!]


MRI or CAT scanner

[If you’d like to see more pictures of the Science Museum please send me an email]

The Letter

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I’ve received a really cool letter from the Lowlands yesterday! Awesome! It came from my ex colleague [Gerrit Rietveld Academy] and friend Christiaan. I can’t explain what it means to me because some of you out there reading these lines probably won’t have a clue what I’m talking about but let me give it a try and let me explain my sentiment… If you still don’t understand then leave a comment for me to answer…
I’m a graphic designer [and multimedia designer] for 18 years already. When I started to learn how to produce camera ready artwork at some advertising agency 18 years ago, there was no such thing as a computer for design, print work or digital printing etc. I had to produce each and every brochure, leaflet, business card, poster, annual report-layout [etc.] manually: spending time in the darkroom producing raster images and at the drawing board, waxing and cutting text on paper output, placing all the elements on the layout, using registration and crop marks. Office automation had only just started and I was the first to learn at that advertising agency, on one of the first Apple Macs…
Typesetting [presentation of textual material in graphic form on paper or some other medium] was still a proper profession at print shops. This was all, way before desktop publishing became more popular for publishing than typesetting and the olden days things started to vanish… Anyway, the envelope that I got from Christiaan is one that he printed himself in 1976. 1976! I was still a girl drawing pictures and gazing out of windows catching a glimpse of some bug flying about. Living in my own little world not knowing what I would become later… [I actually wanted to become a nurse *I hear you think*]
So it has value to me because it’s old, it’s Christiaan’s and he designed and printed it himself, typesetting and not using some fancy CPU. Getting his fingers dirty with ink, the real deal! It’s only a vague memory to me since I found myself on the edge of transformation back then when I started my career. I have done the manual stuff but for two years or so before agencies slowly started to convert to computers. But the smell of ink and the sound of a Heidelberg is something you’ll never forget!
Thanks Christiaan for sending me something truly special!!! What a lovely surprise… emoticons/biggrin.gif