I proactively created this logo for Hotels.com’s content series ‘Perfect 10’, which we internally referred to as “P10”. While most merch ideas remained mainly just that, ideas – the logo was used on the series’ official guest book.

In April 2010, an Icelandic volcano no one outside of Iceland had ever heard of (let alone was able to pronounce) grounded most European air traffic for weeks. As fate would have it, I was working with David McCandless, data-journalist and information designer, on a DHL print campaign during that time. What started as “I wonder if there’s a positive side to all this negative news?” during a coffee break turned into a limited-run poster by the end of the week. Turns out, planes are worse than erupting volcanoes*.

*admittedly, a very oversimplified opinion

Since the 12th century, German journeymen of various guilds chose to travel after completing their apprenticeship – to practice what they had learned, to build upon their knowledge and to, quite literally, broaden their own horizon. Only those who did the “Walz” and took to the road were allowed to become a master craftsman themselves one day.

For my final thesis, I applied this historical idea to my very own craft and took to the road for the “guild of creativity”. For six months and one day, I traveled along the Pan-American Highway – from Canada to Peru – working at various ad agencies and design studios in exchange for a bite to eat and a place to sleep. The published book “Gringografico” documents this epic journey, showcasing the everyday life of two creative journeymen and their stories of work and wanderlust.