For me Grenzerfahrungen means to find out where your mental and physical limits are and to experience them. The book is about those experienced limits from the international students.

writing

Notieren als inneres Fragen

Was eine Grenzerfahrung ist
Ein unangenehmes Gefühl
Beengend, gefährlich,
Wie ein langer Tunnel ohne Tür.
Ein Regenschirm, der im Sturm davonfliegt.
Eine kaputte Brücke ohne Geländer.
Ein Windhauch, der zu einem Sturm wird.
Eine Bombe, die explodieren könnte.
Oder einfach
Das Leben.
Das Leben selbst ist eine Grenzerfahrung.

With the help of Saskia Nitsche I did several writing tasks about the topic Grenzerfahrungen. It helped me to get a deeper understanding of it.

For my next step I wanted to focus on emotions, which are connected to Grenzerfahrungen. The reader should become more aware of the situation of the international students and to have more empathy forwards them. Reading the book is an entertaining experience and you can feel a wide range of emotions.
I designed 16 questions, which are focused on those emotions.

interviews

I interviewed 10 Master students from 7 nation. The interviews took place in different coffee shops, in their homes or via Zoom.

concept

„Lovely used grumpy coldness“ combines lovely, designed graphics and illustrations with the cold and distanced social behaviour of Germans, which every student experienced according to their stories.

illustrations

After the interviews I used the informations from the interviews to develop an individual style for every student. In the book every student gets at least 4 pages to tell his/her stories. For the analogue illustrations I used different kinds of media, such as black ink, watercolour, and acrylic.
I worked with my graphic tablet and the programs Photoshop & Illustrator on the digital illustrations.

cover_mockup

layout_mockups

printing

book size_ 18,3 x 24,6 cm

cover_ softcover

type_ Schweizer Broschur

pages_ 96

paper_120 g Design Offset, 140g Design Offset (cover)

bookbinding_ Kreuzstich, Fadenheftung

learnings

During the process of making the book I realized that I have to work on my social behaviour and tolerance. You should not ignore people which grew up in different cultures and you should actively listen to their personal experiences in Dessau and in Germany. The book gives them a space
to tell their stories. I understood how important it is to be aware of those stories to challenge my own “grumpy coldness” German mentality.

The biggest learning for me was: It is possible to make a book within one semester. But you need a lot of patience, discipline, motivation, and a bit of extra money too.