Appear Offline is the one-man creative outfit playfully deconstructing classic letterforms

The founder of Appear Offline, a designer who prefers to remain anonymous, set up the pseudonym as a way of “bridging the gap” between the two areas he is most passionate about: “typography and graffiti”. These might seem like natural bedfellows, but inspired by the “visual juxtaposition between analogue and digital”, this one-man creative outfit manages to bring a fresh perspective to the mix. Playful and expressive graffiti-inspired typography sits alongside refined compositions that the designer has learned through years of experience working with various brands and creative agencies.

Appear Offline was set up in 2015, at a time when the founder felt that his professional design work wasn’t fulfilling his “ideas, affinities and aspirations”. Under this new banner, he has since used a “reinterpretation of typographic forms” to create unusual black-and-white graphics, with the aim of “showcasing visual boldness combined with gestural dynamics and visual rhythm”, as he describes it. His portfolio contains striking examples of typographic distortions and glitches, and features work across a number of formats, from posters, magazine covers and prints to rugs, apparel and short looping animations. Creative freedom and exploration: That’s the beauty of being your own boss!