Parallel-Parallel is a gallery of works by graphic designers that
a) have been postponed indefinitely,
b) will never be realized or published,
c) were published for an event that will never take place because of this damn virus.

We believe that graphic design plays with potential realities and with this current crisis we want to see what has been left, on pause, in your hands.

If you are a graphic designer and have been working on a project that fits this description please reach out to us via:
email@parallel-parallel.com

We are looking forward to hearing from you,
your fellow designers,
Dorothee Dähler & Yeliz Secerli

PS: This website is programmed by Quentin Creuzet!

Parallel-Parallel is a gallery of works by graphic designers that
a) have been postponed indefinitely,
b) will never be realized or published,
c) were published for an event that will never take place because of this damn virus.

We believe that graphic design plays with potential realities and with this current crisis we want to see what has been left, on pause, in your hands.

If you are a graphic designer and have been working on a project that fits this description please reach out to us via:
email@parallel-parallel.com

We are looking forward to hearing from you,
your fellow designers,
Dorothee Dähler & Yeliz Secerli

PS: This website is programmed by Quentin Creuzet!

Weltformat Magazine

Weltformat is an annual graphic design festival which takes place in Lucerne (CH). It was one of the rare events that were realized despite the virus in 2020. The newly launched Welformat magazine offers background information, this year’s theme was “Not (Yet) Canceled.” Sound familiar? The essays and projects were manifested, initiated and kick-started because of the pandemic. Read thoroughly, flip slowly, and enjoy a surprise parallel appearance in the end.
Buy it here

Intimations: Six Essays by Zadie Smith

We finally have our reward (thank you COVID19!) with Intimations, a collection of essays that tells us exactly what Zadie Smith has been thinking all this time! She walks us through her personal experience of the pandemic. She writes as a coping mechanism, as a place to hide. She looks into herself, then her people, and the people outside. She writes about the city she lives, loves and leaves (New York), and the rotten roots of the country and its ongoing bad behavior. When you finish it, you feel like you’ve undergone heart surgery; the heart aches but you’ve been given a second chance to live life with a new set of priorities.
Buy it here

What The Great Pandemic Novels Teach Us

In this article, Orhan Pamuk demonstrates the remarkably consistent ways in which humans throughout history have responded to fear. After extensive research for his new novel, Pamuk takes us on a journey through many of the most enjoyable pandemics in history; both fictional and true.
Read it here

What Are Parallel Universes?

In this unusual interview, Fred Alan Wolf, quantum physics specialist explains the concept of parallel universes so that even the interviewer begins to understand it! Wolf says that quantum physics explains many facts of physical life. Yet it is still a mystery to most experts which isn’t very reassuring. Perhaps they have it all figured out in another universe.
Read it here

Parallel Cards by Ryan Gander & Europa

Ryan Gander isn’t just the joker in the pack.
Look behind the poker-faced humor of these parallel cards (playing cards where both sides are the front) and you realize there is more depth to the concept. His perception of playing cards has taken on a journey of its own since he was a child and the aesthetics of their usage within this deck opens up a universe of new possibilities.
Get them here

The Third Policeman

In this essay, Ted Gioia explores (and delights in!) The Third Policeman—a novel by Flann O’Brien (the pen name of Irish author Brian O’Nolan). This surrealist crime novel, now regarded as a literary classic, remained unpublished until 1967, one year after his death (nobody appears to have made a crime novel out of this fact!) “A book that starts out with overtones of Crime and Punishment, says Giola, “soon takes on a flavor more akin to Alice in Wonderland.” Incidentally, you’ll be hard pushed to find a more enjoyable book cover design!
More here

Kuki Shūzō : Parallel Lines

A joy-read on Iki (粋/いき), a Japanese aesthetical concept which translates roughly as chic or stylish, but means so much more. The word was used in 19th-century Japan to define the endless charm of the geisha. Design is crucial for the manifestation of iki. These lines on parallel lines are drawn from the fourth chapter of Kuki Shūzō’s 1930 book Reflections on Japanese Taste —The Structure of iki (Tokyo: IwanamiShoten, 1930), brought to you by the Serving Library.
Download here

Weltformat Magazine

Weltformat is an annual graphic design festival which takes place in Lucerne (CH). It was one of the rare events that were realized despite the virus in 2020. The newly launched Welformat magazine offers background information, this year’s theme was “Not (Yet) Canceled.” Sound familiar? The essays and projects were manifested, initiated and kick-started because of the pandemic. Read thoroughly, flip slowly, and enjoy a surprise parallel appearance in the end.
Buy it here

Intimations: Six Essays by Zadie Smith

We finally have our reward (thank you COVID19!) with Intimations, a collection of essays that tells us exactly what Zadie Smith has been thinking all this time! She walks us through her personal experience of the pandemic. She writes as a coping mechanism, as a place to hide. She looks into herself, then her people, and the people outside. She writes about the city she lives, loves and leaves (New York), and the rotten roots of the country and its ongoing bad behavior. When you finish it, you feel like you’ve undergone heart surgery; the heart aches but you’ve been given a second chance to live life with a new set of priorities.
Buy it here

What The Great Pandemic Novels Teach Us

In this article, Orhan Pamuk demonstrates the remarkably consistent ways in which humans throughout history have responded to fear. After extensive research for his new novel, Pamuk takes us on a journey through many of the most enjoyable pandemics in history; both fictional and true.
Read it here

What Are Parallel Universes?

In this unusual interview, Fred Alan Wolf, quantum physics specialist explains the concept of parallel universes so that even the interviewer begins to understand it! Wolf says that quantum physics explains many facts of physical life. Yet it is still a mystery to most experts which isn’t very reassuring. Perhaps they have it all figured out in another universe.
Read it here

Parallel Cards by Ryan Gander & Europa

Ryan Gander isn’t just the joker in the pack.
Look behind the poker-faced humor of these parallel cards (playing cards where both sides are the front) and you realize there is more depth to the concept. His perception of playing cards has taken on a journey of its own since he was a child and the aesthetics of their usage within this deck opens up a universe of new possibilities.
Get them here

The Third Policeman

In this essay, Ted Gioia explores (and delights in!) The Third Policeman—a novel by Flann O’Brien (the pen name of Irish author Brian O’Nolan). This surrealist crime novel, now regarded as a literary classic, remained unpublished until 1967, one year after his death (nobody appears to have made a crime novel out of this fact!) “A book that starts out with overtones of Crime and Punishment, says Giola, “soon takes on a flavor more akin to Alice in Wonderland.” Incidentally, you’ll be hard pushed to find a more enjoyable book cover design!
More here

Kuki Shūzō : Parallel Lines

A joy-read on Iki (粋/いき), a Japanese aesthetical concept which translates roughly as chic or stylish, but means so much more. The word was used in 19th-century Japan to define the endless charm of the geisha. Design is crucial for the manifestation of iki. These lines on parallel lines are drawn from the fourth chapter of Kuki Shūzō’s 1930 book Reflections on Japanese Taste —The Structure of iki (Tokyo: IwanamiShoten, 1930), brought to you by the Serving Library.
Download here

Parallel-Parallel
Opening : June 3rd, 18:30pm at The ÖFF (St. Jakobstrasse 54)
Lecture: June 4th, 16:00
OffShore Studio’s Isabel Seiffert, Turbo’s Mothanna Hussein and Stoecklin & Wilson’s Melina Wilson will be giving presentations about their ‘ghost’ works. The lectures will be presented in English.
Ortolan: June 11th,16:00
Kaj Lehmann and Nicolas Schaltegger will run «Ortolan», a pop-up bar with special cocktails

After two years of collecting projects, and showcasing them online, Parallel-Parallel became an in person exhibition. By showing a selection of works from the website, some produced and some not (drawn directly on the wall) we aimed to examine the different states of the graphic design practice, in other words, the process of materialization of the design object. How do we talk about and present the ‘ghost’ works that never left our computers or that remained in our minds?

Read more
We are grateful for everyone who came to visit, who gave us their incredible space (Matthias Wyler and André Rothfuchs from Studio Sirup), who helped us install and draw (Coline Houtot), who wrote our introduction text (Andrea Salerno), who made ghost stickers for us (Experimental Jetset), who recorded our voice labels (Rhona Mühlebach), who shared so candidly and gracefully their ghost projects (Isabel Seifert, Melina Wilson), who made fantastic cocktails for our Finissage (Kaj Lehmann, Nicolas Schaltegger), while (@_thisislookah, @alpha_mi_, Flo Olomski) played the best music, who hosted us in their flat (Raphael Schoen), and of course all the designers who have been part of Parallel-Parallel. Looking forward to the parallel futures. 👻
Charlotte Rhode
Charlotte Rhode
Charlotte Rhode
Charlotte Rhode
Charlotte Rhode
Charlotte Rhode
Charlotte Rhode

defrag_zine points out speculative and diverse perspectives on (pop-)culture and identity. defrag is a selfpublished magazine that connects artistic and scientific positions with an intersectional feminist ideology. Illustrations, essays and photographs go hand in hand with cultural analysis. The zine offers a platform to marginalised voices. Due to Covid-19, we had to postpone the printing date and we never had a launch :( but the quarantine also gave us more time to treat the project in dept. We are going to work on a second issue soon!

Designer(s):
Studio Charlotte Rohde, Amsterdam (NL)
Client:
defrag, Düsseldorf (DE)
Unfair 20
Unfair 20
Unfair 20
Unfair 20
Unfair 20

Unfair is an art fair/event that was meant to be held in April this year. This edition was cancelled and later this summer we revamped the fair in a totally different way. The campaign evolved around the idea of unfolding. Like a present or a folder you have a vague idea of what is inside, but you cannot fully enjoy it before it is completely unfolded. This campaign was never really released. One poster was on the street in Amsterdam and everything was printed. But the event never happened as intended.

Designer(s):
Studio Bas Koopmans, Amsterdam (NL)
Client:
Unfair Amsterdam, Amsterdam (NL)
Gamut

Chosen Family X—Édition Ghost is the final poster for the first season of events at La Station Gare des Mines in Aubervilliers, Paris. Chosen Family is the music and nocturnal initiative by fashion collective GAMUT who we’ve been working closely with since 2018. The poster acts as a phantom of the event which never took place due to the pandemic.

Designer(s):
Europium, Paris (FR)
Client:
GAMUT, Paris (FR)
Korifej
Korifej
Korifej
Korifej

This is a visual identity for the 7th edition of Korifej, an alternative theatre festival held every summer in Kolašin, a small town in the north of Montenegro. The title and the theme of this edition was “Summer Under Masks.” Organizers gave up on international guests, and focused on Montenegrin theatre production. Unfortunately, despite all the measures, this edition was cancelled. Maybe it will happen in autumn or winter. Maybe it won’t happen at all. One thing is certain: It will never be “Summer Under Masks.”

Designer(s):
Srdja Dragovic, Podgorica (ME)
Client:
Korifej, Kolašin (ME)
Central Saint Martins
Central Saint Martins
Central Saint Martins

This visual identity is designed for Central Saint Martins Degree Show 2020, which should be a three-exhibition celebration for graduating students at CSM in this summer. It is a progressing imitation of ongoing energy and resilience of everyone at the building; with graduation being that shifting moment where everyone comes together to bring unknown possibilities into existence and the beautiful chaos of students clears around the void. Originally, all the physical print-outs from last event, from brochures to window vinyls, will be ‘overprinted’ for the next event which was something we were quite excited to do. Most creations were adapted to digital format and the best one, the overprinting machine we created, was still sleeping somewhere. Everything was released online and online only, so we decide to archive our mistakes and corrections made in the shifting process and you can access via here.

Designer(s):
(link: https://byscene.com/ text: Scene Peng
Julia Luckmann, London (GB)
Client:
Central Saint Martins, London (GB)
Diagonale 20
Diagonale 20
Diagonale 20
Diagonale 20
Diagonale 20
Diagonale 20
Diagonale 20
Diagonale 20
Diagonale 20

In this year’s D’20 Festival Identity we transformed moving pictures into moving shapes. Most of the printed matter was already produced and delivered just before the nation-wide lockdown was issued. Adapting to the crisis some of the program’s highlights were made available online.

Video:
Diagonale20

Designer(s):
Studio Es, Vienna (AU)
Client:
Diagonale, Graz (AU)
Birsong Mainframe
Birsong Mainframe

Birsong Mainframe: This poster for an exhibition at Plan B Projects has never got printed because—due to circumstances—the event happened in a different form: it was reduced to a screen in a window which could be viewed from the street. Because of this change of plans and because all the places where Plan B posters are usually displayed were closed, the design never left the computer. It was posted online, but ‘the event of the printed poster’ never happened. For us, in this particular case, the work doesn’t exist.

Designer(s):
Our Polite Society, Amsterdam (NL), Stockholm (SE)
Client:
Plan B Projects, Amsterdam (NL)
Jazz Festival
Jazz Festival
Jazz Festival

This visual identity was designed for the Jazz Festival Willisau 2020. The poster is printed in rose, black and chrome that is reflecting in silkscreen. The identity includes also the design of the stage. It used to be a one day music festival with international musicians, but this year it was planned with mostly Swiss musicians, because of Covid-19. Unfortunately the festival will not take place. The music of the clip is by Gregor Hilbe.

Designer(s):
Annik Troxler, Riehen (CH)
Client:
Jazz Festival Willisau, Willisau (CH)
Parallel-Parallel
Opening : June 3rd, 18:30pm at The ÖFF (St. Jakobstrasse 54)
Lecture: June 4th, 16:00
OffShore Studio’s Isabel Seiffert, Turbo’s Mothanna Hussein and Stoecklin & Wilson’s Melina Wilson will be giving presentations about their ‘ghost’ works. The lectures will be presented in English.
Ortolan: June 11th,16:00
Kaj Lehmann and Nicolas Schaltegger will run «Ortolan», a pop-up bar with special cocktails

After two years of collecting projects, and showcasing them online, Parallel-Parallel became an in person exhibition. By showing a selection of works from the website, some produced and some not (drawn directly on the wall) we aimed to examine the different states of the graphic design practice, in other words, the process of materialization of the design object. How do we talk about and present the ‘ghost’ works that never left our computers or that remained in our minds?

Read more
We are grateful for everyone who came to visit, who gave us their incredible space (Matthias Wyler and André Rothfuchs from Studio Sirup), who helped us install and draw (Coline Houtot), who wrote our introduction text (Andrea Salerno), who made ghost stickers for us (Experimental Jetset), who recorded our voice labels (Rhona Mühlebach), who shared so candidly and gracefully their ghost projects (Isabel Seifert, Melina Wilson), who made fantastic cocktails for our Finissage (Kaj Lehmann, Nicolas Schaltegger), while (@_thisislookah, @alpha_mi_, Flo Olomski) played the best music, who hosted us in their flat (Raphael Schoen), and of course all the designers who have been part of Parallel-Parallel. Looking forward to the parallel futures. 👻
Charlotte Rhode
Charlotte Rhode
Charlotte Rhode
Charlotte Rhode
Charlotte Rhode
Charlotte Rhode
Charlotte Rhode

defrag_zine points out speculative and diverse perspectives on (pop-)culture and identity. defrag is a selfpublished magazine that connects artistic and scientific positions with an intersectional feminist ideology. Illustrations, essays and photographs go hand in hand with cultural analysis. The zine offers a platform to marginalised voices. Due to Covid-19, we had to postpone the printing date and we never had a launch :( but the quarantine also gave us more time to treat the project in dept. We are going to work on a second issue soon!

Designer(s):
Studio Charlotte Rohde, Amsterdam (NL)
Client:
defrag, Düsseldorf (DE)
Unfair 20
Unfair 20
Unfair 20
Unfair 20
Unfair 20

Unfair is an art fair/event that was meant to be held in April this year. This edition was cancelled and later this summer we revamped the fair in a totally different way. The campaign evolved around the idea of unfolding. Like a present or a folder you have a vague idea of what is inside, but you cannot fully enjoy it before it is completely unfolded. This campaign was never really released. One poster was on the street in Amsterdam and everything was printed. But the event never happened as intended.

Designer(s):
Studio Bas Koopmans, Amsterdam (NL)
Client:
Unfair Amsterdam, Amsterdam (NL)
Gamut

Chosen Family X—Édition Ghost is the final poster for the first season of events at La Station Gare des Mines in Aubervilliers, Paris. Chosen Family is the music and nocturnal initiative by fashion collective GAMUT who we’ve been working closely with since 2018. The poster acts as a phantom of the event which never took place due to the pandemic.

Designer(s):
Europium, Paris (FR)
Client:
GAMUT, Paris (FR)
Korifej
Korifej
Korifej
Korifej

This is a visual identity for the 7th edition of Korifej, an alternative theatre festival held every summer in Kolašin, a small town in the north of Montenegro. The title and the theme of this edition was “Summer Under Masks.” Organizers gave up on international guests, and focused on Montenegrin theatre production. Unfortunately, despite all the measures, this edition was cancelled. Maybe it will happen in autumn or winter. Maybe it won’t happen at all. One thing is certain: It will never be “Summer Under Masks.”

Designer(s):
Srdja Dragovic, Podgorica (ME)
Client:
Korifej, Kolašin (ME)
Central Saint Martins
Central Saint Martins
Central Saint Martins

This visual identity is designed for Central Saint Martins Degree Show 2020, which should be a three-exhibition celebration for graduating students at CSM in this summer. It is a progressing imitation of ongoing energy and resilience of everyone at the building; with graduation being that shifting moment where everyone comes together to bring unknown possibilities into existence and the beautiful chaos of students clears around the void. Originally, all the physical print-outs from last event, from brochures to window vinyls, will be ‘overprinted’ for the next event which was something we were quite excited to do. Most creations were adapted to digital format and the best one, the overprinting machine we created, was still sleeping somewhere. Everything was released online and online only, so we decide to archive our mistakes and corrections made in the shifting process and you can access via here.

Designer(s):
(link: https://byscene.com/ text: Scene Peng
Julia Luckmann, London (GB)
Client:
Central Saint Martins, London (GB)
Diagonale 20
Diagonale 20
Diagonale 20
Diagonale 20
Diagonale 20
Diagonale 20
Diagonale 20
Diagonale 20
Diagonale 20

In this year’s D’20 Festival Identity we transformed moving pictures into moving shapes. Most of the printed matter was already produced and delivered just before the nation-wide lockdown was issued. Adapting to the crisis some of the program’s highlights were made available online.

Video:
Diagonale20

Designer(s):
Studio Es, Vienna (AU)
Client:
Diagonale, Graz (AU)
Birsong Mainframe
Birsong Mainframe

Birsong Mainframe: This poster for an exhibition at Plan B Projects has never got printed because—due to circumstances—the event happened in a different form: it was reduced to a screen in a window which could be viewed from the street. Because of this change of plans and because all the places where Plan B posters are usually displayed were closed, the design never left the computer. It was posted online, but ‘the event of the printed poster’ never happened. For us, in this particular case, the work doesn’t exist.

Designer(s):
Our Polite Society, Amsterdam (NL), Stockholm (SE)
Client:
Plan B Projects, Amsterdam (NL)
Jazz Festival
Jazz Festival
Jazz Festival

This visual identity was designed for the Jazz Festival Willisau 2020. The poster is printed in rose, black and chrome that is reflecting in silkscreen. The identity includes also the design of the stage. It used to be a one day music festival with international musicians, but this year it was planned with mostly Swiss musicians, because of Covid-19. Unfortunately the festival will not take place. The music of the clip is by Gregor Hilbe.

Designer(s):
Annik Troxler, Riehen (CH)
Client:
Jazz Festival Willisau, Willisau (CH)