Simplicity is...  Mar 18 2013

There are a zillion definitions of simplicity. Here is Christoph Niemann's, which he applied in building his new iOS app, Petting Zoo.

Simplicity is not about making something without ornament, but rather about making something very complex, then slicing elements away, until you reveal the very essence.

(via @djacobs)

Petting Zoo, a fun picture book app for iPad  Mar 05 2013

Christoph Niemann of Abstract City and I Lego NY fame has released an iPad app for kids called Petting Zoo.

Christoph Niemann's first interactive picture book. Swipe and tap the 21 animals and be surprised at how they react. This app combines the charm of hand made animations and Niemann's wry humor with state of the art technology. What would an elephant in your bathroom do? Can a dog breakdance?

Four little thumbs-up in my household for this one.

The best rejected New Yorker covers  May 11 2012

Blown Covers is a new book that details the illustrations that never made it to the front cover of the New Yorker. At Imprint, Michael Silverberg interviews Françoise Mouly, the book's author and the New Yorker's art editor since 1993, and shares some of best rejected covers. I like this one by Christoph Niemann showing the attempted return of the Statue of Liberty to France:

"Think of me as your priest," she told one of them. Mouly, who cofounded the avant-garde comics anthology RAW with her husband, Art Spiegelman, asks the artists she works with -- Barry Blitt, Christoph Niemann, Ana Juan, R. Crumb -- not to hold back anything in their cover sketches. If that means the occasional pedophilia gag or Holocaust joke finds its way to her desk, she's fine with that. Tasteless humor and failed setups are an essential part of the process. "Sometimes something is too provocative or too sexist or too racist," Mouly says, "but it will inspire a line of thinking that will help develop an image that is publishable."

Japan's Dark Spring  Mar 21 2011

Lovely Japan-themed New Yorker cover this week by Christoph Niemann.

(via stellar)

In the beginning, there was dough  Dec 17 2010

In another of a series of wonderfully fanciful posts for the NY Times, Christoph Niemann has some fun with creation and cookie dough.

The physics of everyday life  Oct 26 2010

Christoph Niemann hits another one out of the park with an illustrated look at the how physics governs everything we do in life.

I loved his idea for calorie-neutral foods:

All you need is to freeze a pint of ice cream to -3706 F. The energy it will take your system to bring the ice cream up to a digestible temperature is roughly 1,000 calories, neatly burning away all those carbohydrates from the fat and sugar. The only snag is the Third Law of Thermodynamics, which says it's impossible to go below -459 F. Bummer.

Transatlantic  Aug 18 2010

For his excellent NY Times blog, Christoph Niemann visually documents his flight from New York to Berlin.

I am ashamed to admit just how many hours of my life I have spent "contemplating the little hole in [the] airplane window". And that's not even a euphemism! Seriously, what is that thing for?!

Maps as metaphor  Mar 11 2010

What a great way to start off this morning: a new series of map-based illustrations by Christoph Niemann. Reserve Battery Park is a favorite. So is this omelet recipe:

I Lego N.Y. book  Feb 18 2010

Remember Christoph Niemann's excellent I Lego N.Y.? He's coming out with a book based on that post:

There's a short trailer for the book on YouTube. (via @h_fj)

All kinds of leaves  Nov 19 2009

In his excellent NY Times blog, Christoph Niemann uses leaves to illustrate a forest of ideas.

I Lego N.Y.  Feb 03 2009

Christoph Niemann makes New York things out of Legos. Fresh pepper and Greenpoint are my faves.

Quirky maps and charts for NYC wayfinding  Oct 14 2008

Christoph Niemann shares a series of his New York City cheatsheets, including tips for getting on and off the subway at the proper points, muffin poking (you know, for checking freshness), and a door opening maneuver called "The Northside Eagle".

Whenever I rode the subway with my two older boys, I tried to hold on to their hands at all times. In the process, I developed a special move. I think anyone who saw it must have been impressed.

I would hold the boys' hands as we briskly made our way out of the station, then, just as we reached the turnstiles, I would let go. We would pass through the turnstiles simultaneously, and so smoothly that the boys' hands would still be up in the air when we got to the other side, where I would grab their little fingers again in one fluid motion. (Requires practice.)

These are great fun.

Arty bathroom tiles  Aug 25 2008

Christoph Niemann has used some unusual image sources to tile his bathrooms. For the shower, an appropriation of Warhol's Brillo box. For the kids bathroom, a NYC subway map.