Julius Wiedemann was born and raised in Brazil. After studying graphic design and marketing, he left the country to live in Japan for almost 4 years, where he worked in Tokyo as art editor for digital and design magazines. He subsequently joined TASCHEN as the editor in charge of digital titles and is currently based at the company´s headquarters in Cologne. In 2001, he edited the book Digital Beauties and since then has been building up TASCHEN´s newest digital collection.

In the not-too-distant past, the “internet” was a military communication device virtually unknown to civilians. Then in the 1990s came an explosion, a sort of digital big bang, and suddenly everyone began communicating via the world wide web. The web’s evolution has proceeded at lightning speed, meaning that today’s websites are infinitely more sophisticated and well-designed than their predecessors. When a website gets updated, the previous version generally evaporates into the digital beyond, so it’s up to us to preserve and record this fascinating medium.

1000 Favorite Websites brings together - you guessed it - 1000 of today’s very best websites in the areas of advertising, architecture, art design, digital, erotic, illustration, movies, fashion, photography, and more; each website is presented via screenshots annotated with icons indicating the features of the site (e.g. animation, sound, downloadable material, etc). Serving as a vital reference for web enthusiasts, this book is also a place marker in the history of the internet and a vibrant catalog of cutting-edge global web design.

A brief questionaire with Julius Wiedemann.

Name: Julius Wiedemann
Date of birth: 23rd February 1974
Nationality: Brazilian/German... I have both, luckly!
Profession: Editor and Designer
Sins: Working long hours too much sometimes.
Addictions: Work! I think about work 24 hours a day and traveling.
Passions: For getting my projects done. I just love to see them when they are ready! Meeting people
Food: Mediterranean
Color: Blue
Politics: I always vite for the benefit of people
Next project: the best book ever done about animation
Got popular with: the book Digital Beauties. It is a cult one now!

When did you start to work for Taschen?
In 2001, when I was commissioned to edit the book Digital Beauties.

How did you get to start a division such as the digital collection?
We started editing books in this direction first, and then, after the 4th title we created a section in the catalogue just for the titles in the digital collection.

While working on the book “Taschen’s 1000 favorite websites” what difficulties did you have to face?
The most challenging thing on the web is to keep yourself updated. If you are editing a book on the subject, this should be a must. Even though not all the sites are new, it was hard to keep the big picture in mind, without forgetting the specifics of the subjects we have chosen.

What were your criteria for choosing the best of the Web?
It was a mixture of what works in practical terms, innovation, design and interface proposal. The other criterion was to have people from all around the world. One thing we established since the beginning was to feature sites in areas such as art, architecture, photography, etc. In my view, this was important to keep creativity in the core of the selection.

How big was your research team?
I did most of the research on my own, but also receiving recommendations from all around, from designers, creative professionals, editors, etc.

Design versus usability?
I think the answer is “the objective”. Every site should function towards its objective, and should be always developed to achieve it at its best. Defending both sides, “usability” doesn’t mean being ugly and “design” doesn’t mean being slow because of an overload of flash and shockwave. The combination of resources is what I like best. I do not believe the web is about technology, at least not for common people. It is about being able to achieve something. Doesn’t matter if you are buying a pizza or showcasing your portfolio.

Print versus digital? Do we still need print publications?
People still want it. The consumer generation today is seeing the transition from analogue to digital, but are mostly comfortable using analogue media. It still belongs to our world. It is changing of course; as we use computers, mobiles, satellite TV, MP3 players, etc. But I agree that many of the things we still do using analogue media are technologically outdated.

One example: I am from Brazil and read all the news from there (and many times from Germany too) from Brazilian sites which I subscribe. Just the necessity made me change my habit. I think we still need some time to go total digital. The generation born after 2000 will have a completely different relationship with hardware and software, not only at work, but also in school, at home, for entertainment, etc.