I Make Visual Collections of Things People Care About
I’m Jasper van de Ree, the designer behind Breen. I make printed visual collections: researched posters that organize symbols, logos, flags, crests, and other visual histories into one clear frame.
When I was ten, I cut up video game magazines and sorted the beat 'em up characters by height, weight, and where they came from. I glued them onto paper, one game per sheet, and kept the folder under my bed. Nobody asked me to do this. I just needed to see them lined up.
I still work from that same impulse. I studied graphic design, and for the past thirteen years I’ve run Breen, creating printed data art posters and visual archives. I studied graphic design, and for thirteen years I've run Breen, making printed data art posters - full visual collections of things people care about. Batman symbols from 1939 to today. Every national flag in the world. Football club crests. Car emblems. If a subject has a deep visual history and nobody has mapped it properly, I want to map it.
TAlong the way, the work has led to collaborations with the KNVB, the Dutch National Football Association, and features in design publication Brand New.
How I Make the Posters
Each poster takes time to research, verify dates, and redraw symbols when existing versions aren't good enough. Each print is produced on museum-grade paper with archive-quality ink that absorbs deep into the fibers. I personally verify the color accuracy, check for any imperfections, and ensure the print meets the same standard I'd want hanging in my own home.
What I’m after is completion: the whole history, the whole collection, in one frame. On the wall, it says something simple: you care about the subject enough to want the whole story.