A People’s History of Coffee

Vitra goes to Africa, the Indienet, a people's history of coffee and more in our look at the web this week

Though many of us enjoy a cup of Joe every morning, the history of coffee is a nebulous one. Few of us know the rich history of how an Ethiopian goat herder stumbled upon what would become one of the world’s most beloved beverages. In Dark Rye’s “People’s History of Coffee,” the full tale is told tongue-in-cheek through storybook graphics and a timeline that even …

Ghostly GIFs

Vitra goes to Africa, the Indienet, a people's history of coffee and more in our look at the web this week

The dead come alive again, thanks to New York-based designer Kevin Weir’s artistic prowess (and hours and hours on Photoshop). Through his project The Flux Machine, he transforms old photos found in the Library of Congress into animated GIFs with a dark twist. These “shortest of stories” have careful pauses for a suspenseful effect—which isn’t commonly found among this medium.

The New Yorker Embraces the GIF

Vitra goes to Africa, the Indienet, a people's history of coffee and more in our look at the web this week

No matter how you prefer to pronounce it, there’s big news in the GIF world right now. One of the most respected publications for arts and culture, The New Yorker, has done the unexpected and released a digital GIF cover. It might be simple, but the work by animator Christoph Niemann is also beautiful and done with the same class, care and pointed nature as …