I'm constantly looking to be inspired and experiment with styles from the "nookiest" crannies of the internet and books. Recently I've been digging the mid-century modern-minimalist styles, by legends like Herb Lubalin, Cipe Pineles, and Willy Fleckhaus. To experiment with this style, I needed a theme / subject.

I recently came across Otto Lilienthal. Prior to this I had never had heard of him. Otto basically changed the aviation game. He took his love (border line obsession) for flight and aerodynamics to levels the contemporaries of his time could only dream of. Many people don’t know this, but his research, presented in his 1889 work, pretty much helped humans decipher flight. His discoveries brought to light a whole new dimension that had been practically unexplored. And the dude was relentless. He didn't just stick to theories and sketches, he built and tested gliders himself and unfortunately during one of his glider tests in 1896 he was killed. He was only 48. His research and glider designs basically went on to inspire the Wright Brothers to explore aviation and do their thing. Today, his tombstone carries a fitting epitaph: "Opfer müssen gebracht werden" ("Sacrifices must be made").

Hope you enjoy "An Ode to Otto", my poster design experiment to explore a unique mid-century style dedicated to this rockstar, this elusive footnote in the grand narrative of our modern society.