Michael Durst

Visual Communication

I'm a dreamer...

... and a maker.

Half a craftsman, ...

... half a thinker.

Grateful learner, ...

... humble teacher.

I'm a servant, ...

... I'm a leader.

Work

»All play means something.«

Pioneers

From 2018 to 2020 I was Art Director at Pioneers in Mainz. I contributed to retail marketing camapaigns for customers like Nike, The North Face or Levi's. Follow the links below for a quick peek on a few projects. Feel free to hit me up about my specific role in them.

(All pictures and products depicted in this section are intellectual property of either Pioneers or the respective client.)

Women's Worldcup for Nike, pre-press stage. See footage.

Grail Tour for Jordan, interior design. See footage.

Showroom for Samsung/Cheil, design drawings. See footage.

Jacquard for Levi's, pre-press stage. See footage.

Futurelight Launch for The Northface, pre-press stage. See footage.

Super Ape Kid

In summer of 2020, I discovered my passion for challenging platforming games and speedruns. Inspired by respective content creators and encouraged by friends, I started my own channel on Youtube.

Figure And Sound

About the logic behind music and the beauty of mathematics.

Transponder Snail

Twitter accounts with no followers, mined from the field and bound to small books. The most bizarre thing I've ever made! (Co-Op-Project with my friend Bastian Hansl.)

Democratica

I wanted to balance the appearance of ascenders and descenders in german texts and therefore designed the experimental typeface »Democratica«.

Newfinalfinal

In 2016 I’ve been asked to be supervisor for New Final Final, that years’ edition of our bachelor and master graduates’ exhibition.

Good Morning, Paper!

A daily project. Over the course of a year, the first thing I did when I woke up in the morning was writing down an idea, a small concept or even just a rough thought on a game.

Of Songs And Salt

Of Songs And Salt is the plainest, most intuitive Pen & Paper Roleplaying Game in the world.

1320 – Losing Ground

I renounced electricity for 13 days and 20 hours. Everything I felt, thought and survived is in this book.

Biography

»And miles to go before I sleep.«
Chapter I

Somewhere I Belong

One of my oldest, most vivid and beautiful memories starts with me being ill. I was seven years old and woke up in fever. Our mom used to rub our breast with menthol cream when one of us got sick. I can almost feel the rough texture of my old pyjama when I think about it. While my siblings were at school and my parents at work, I curled myself up in annual rings of blankets on the arm chair. I guess it resembled a kangaroo cub in a cloth pouch. Until noon, the whole house would be mine. However, I would not leave my cozy throne — for all I would do was kickin’ around koopas and saving the kingdom of Hyrule from Ganon’s greedy clutch.

I grew up in the pedestrian zone of Düren, a small town in Western Germany. My parents ran a bakery on the ground floor of our house, separated from the living areas through a heavy, spring-loaded iron door. My father’s bureau lay just behind that door, at the end of a narrow hallway. Whenever he entered or left the shop, the chaotic sound of laughing guests, rattling bread boards and begging children dubbed the backdrop of distinct chatter and motor growls. Every breath was enriched by flavours of warm bread, dark chocolate, flaked almonds and sugar icing.

Whenever I came home, I would try to run up the stairs before the iron door click shut. Quests were everywhere. It took so little time to get back from school, yet so many worlds did I visit even in Düren’s short canyons of cold-looking clinker and hot-smelling tar. I have been yellin’ at bold-faced packs of pirates, hiding in the hunting grounds of stalking dragon flocks and whizzing over the town’s roofs to help those in need, always on the brink of getting caught by villains and monsters. I explored ancient ruins, crooked caves and abandoned shores, with nothing but Lego bricks, video games and audio plays. Imagination carried me away the moment I woke up in the morning and I would not return until sleep overcame me in the evening. Back then, reality and fiction were one. They simultaneously occupied the same space, like a body and its soul.

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