
Proud owner: Mr. Ludovic Balland

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Dear Friends!
Beautiful hometown-holiday-madness at the moment! I’m hardly not drinking kölsch or swimming in lakes these days besides worldcup watching and hardcore power-napping … but enough of chilling — it’s time for some Blog action now!
So first thing: the Better Mjstakes magazine is spreaded around the world and we are very proud of our printed baby. If you are not yet an owner of the printed version you have the chance to read every text and all the interviews on the new website. (www.bettermjstakes.com)

Anyway, here are some photos + more of our first issue: (as always: click to enlarge them …)




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Perverse Optimist
I’m making a lot of mistakes. And I’m proud of them. I don’t regret — I embrace them.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
Maybe it is a mistake to publish this magazine. Maybe it can’t be even called a magazine. But it is here. You hold it in your hands. You read what I have written even though we might not know each other. If your are interested you can dig deeper and find out more about me, us — and our vision!
This baby is our very personal thing — but at the same time it is our goal to reach as many minds as possible. I believe in the message of our title, that contains the same paradox: Better Mjstakes. This charming name is based on a philosophy of mine. The philosophy of doing and producing and shipping and showing — no matter what the critic might be, no matter if other people like it or hate it. I want to cultivate the courage of making things, releasing ideas without any fear of making mistakes! So stop hiding your ideas, my friend — neither in your head nor in your closet!
I think one has to forget about embarrassment or what ‘could’ happen or not. Whatever you dream to do — do it. Then you know what will happen. And whatever the outcome, the reaction, the response. May they be ‘good’ or ‘bad’ — in any way you have learned. And that is the most important thing. Because that is the only way to make a progress, to become better, to become the one you really are.
I don’t want to sound too guru-like here, but just tell you about my base and my background. And without some good, big mistakes, and/or acting in spite of them, this magazine would be never alive now.
I left Cologne in summer 2008. Looking for new adventures I travelled to Lausanne for an entrance exam at the ‘École cantonale d’art et design Lausanne’. Only Some weeks before, I’d picked up a big black ECAL book at Buch- handlung Walther König. It smelled, looked and felt like pure freshness — I loved the simplicity, the atmosphere and the force in it. I noticed that the teachers there were people who’s work I had been admiring for a long time. I made up my plan. I wanted to be there. And although I always loved my hometown, I was thrilled by the idea of leaving the ‘nest’ in order to explore and learn and develop. Another country, another language. This was ground zero. I was scared to death but felt more alive than ever. Would that become a big mistake? Am I having a chance anyway? But fuck it, I had to try.



(Nice interview with Sam de Groot — find the whole thing here.)



(In conversation with the ever charming Mr. James Goggin — read the whole interview here.)



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“The typeface in which you are reading all these texts in this magazine in, is called
VUCA Grotesque and is built on the same principle as mentioned in Perfect
Optimist earlier. It is challenging to create a good sans-serif font. But should this
stop you from trying? Stop you from showing your results proudly when finished?
I think it can only get better. Presenting your not-perfect work will bring you
something of high value: critic.
I found out that it is important to search for reaction to the work you are
producing, even if it might be disastrous — because the most unuseful and sad thing
is not hate or critic — it’s indifference.
So keep producing, and stay excited — Never not working. Never not learning!
We will continue our to make Better Mjstakes too, and are already looking forward
to the next issue.”

(We actually designed the whole issue in my new font called VUCA Grotesque—I will provide more details and the finished version soon!)




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Then it was time for a little Better Mjstakes vernissage together with everyone’s Lieblings DJ’s Das Hutwerk at Hydromel & La Ruche in Lausanne with support from Berlin’s Jona — it was so very nice — thank you again everyone!













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M O R E soon — have to go back in the sun now …