Category: Internals

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Bitgestalt – Data, Design & Storytelling

Data, Design & Storyelling steht schon lange im Kopf von rafenew.world. Am 1. Juli 2025 ging ich einen Schritt weiter und gründete die Bitgestalt GmbH.

Bitgestalt wurde als Agentur für Datenvisualisierung gegründet, mit dem Ziel, Daten für Unternehmen klar, verständlich und wirksam zu machen. Im Zentrum steht das Visualisieren, Kommunizieren und Navigieren komplexer Datenthemen, damit Organisationen fundierte Entscheidungen treffen können. Bitgestalt verbindet dabei Design, Analyse und Storytelling zu einer ganzheitlichen Herangehensweise.

Das Angebot von Bitgestalt umfasst unter anderem Data Maps, Dashboards sowie die visuelle und konzeptionelle Aufbereitung kritischer Datenthemen. Dabei geht es nicht um Visualisierung als Selbstzweck, sondern um das Transformieren von Informationen in Orientierung, Einsicht und strategische Wirkung. Jede Visualisierung soll einen klaren Nutzen stiften und eine konkrete Handlung unterstützen.

Parallel dazu baue ich mit meinem Substack «Bitgestalt Brief» eine kleine Sammlung von Gedanken, Einsichten und Hintergrundgeschichten rund um Datenvisualisierung, Kommunikation und die Arbeit von Bitgestalt auf. Die Beiträge erscheinen unregelmässig, dafür sorgfältig kuratiert – mal als tiefer Einblick in Konzepte, mal als kurze Notiz aus dem Alltag eines Studios, das Daten sichtbar, verständlich und wirksam machen will. Substack dient dabei weniger als Newsletter im klassischen Sinn, sondern als Erweiterung von Bitgestalt: ein Ort, an dem ich reflektiere, dokumentiere und meine Arbeit weiter einordne.

Now you know. 🙂

2025 – What a year…!
«A couple of interesting years, actually…», he muttered, taking out the lighting equipment.
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Open to work

open to work

+ + + UPDATE + + +

Seit Kurzem bin ich nicht nur wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter an der Zentral- und Hochschulbibliothek Luzern – ich habe am 1. Juli 2025 auch mein eigenes Unternehmen für Datenvisualisierung und Kommunikation gegründet: die Bitgestalt GmbH!

Weil mein Job als Data Manager am Luzerner Kantonsspital leider in absehbarer Zeit nirgendwo hinführen würde, habe ich mich entschlossen, nach neuen Herausforderungen Ausschau zu halten. Aus diesem Grund bin ich ab Februar 2025 für Aufgaben in den Bereichen Daten, Design und Storytelling zu haben:

Mit meiner Expertise in Datenvisualisierung, Analytics und Business Intelligence mache ich komplexe Informationen verständlich und visuell ansprechend. Mein Fokus liegt auf datengetriebenem Information Design und innovativen Visualisierungen, die Mehrwert schaffen, Kommunikation erleichtern und fundierte Entscheidungen ermöglichen. Ich suche spannende Herausforderungen, bei denen ich als Fachverantwortlicher mit meinen Design- und Daten-Skills zum Erfolg des Unternehmens beitragen kann.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafeman/

Hinweise und Tipps in diesem Zusammenhang werden gerne über die Kontaktmöglichkeiten in den rechts (unten) aufgelisteten Social Media Plattformen entgegengenommen.

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Bye-bye Blick

After 15 years as Infographic Designer and Web Developer, it’s time for me to leave Ringier and the Blick Newsroom behind.

April first, 2024, I will start a new chapter in my professional life as a healthcare Data Manager.

But it wouldn’t be much of a sendoff without some sort of visual representation, would it? That’s why I’ve created this faux comic book cover to commemorate the historic transition.

«The Data Manager»

As it turns out, AI did most of the work. Artificial Intelligence, not AL, that is.

The cover is – obviously – a pastiche of the iconic panel in the «Spider-Man, no more» storyline originally published in Amazing Spider-Man Vol 1 #50 in 1967:

Panel from The Amazing Spider-Man #50, Marvel Comics 1967

My gratitude goes to all my colleagues for sharing countless moments of triumph and struggle, tears and excitement, frustration and joy, insight and challenge, and above all, laughter in my far too many years in the newsroom. I wish you all the best.

Addendum

Probably my last entry on the Blick homepage in my last week: The tried and tested Lottery-Winnings-Calculator:

Screenshot blick.ch (2024-02-28)
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Moogerly

Exploring the movie universe through graphs

After more than a year of planning, research, and development, I’m excited to share my newest app: Moogerly.com.

The Moogerly platform is aimed at fans of cinema, data, and visualization, allowing them to explore the movie universe through interactive graphs. It provides a unique way to visualize your favorite titles, cast, and crew, and shows how they fit into the interconnected world of film, TV shows, and trivia.

With its continually evolving features, Moogerly is an exciting platform for movie enthusiasts to dive into the world of cinema and TV. The website offers a growing range of predefined sets to browse through. You can also create your own sets by selecting movies and persons of your choice.

Moogerly is a personal project created by the maker of rafenew.world, who aims to bring together data, design, and storytelling while learning new things and improving his skills.

The website’s user-friendly interface allows you to navigate through various predefined sets or create your own visualizations. Whether you’re interested in exploring the filmography of your favorite actor or tracing the connections between different movies, Moogerly provides an engaging experience for movie lovers.

Moogerly utilizes data and technology from «The Movie Database» (TMDB). This ensures that you have access to accurate and up-to-date information about movies, cast members, crew details, and more. The website is continually being developed to enhance its features and provide an immersive experience for users.

Join Moogerly‘s growing community of movie enthusiasts and embark on a journey through the fascinating world of cinema. Start exploring today at www.moogerly.com.

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We are live!

The new version of rafenew.world is now online!

I’m still working on some minor last-minute issues, but I’m happy to say I’m rather pleased with myself: With Next.js and some of the latest web technologies combined with tried and tested WordPress as headless CMS in the background the new site is faster, better, stronger featuring:

  • improved page loading speeds
  • better performance
  • enhanced UX for better User Experience
  • optimized Search Engine Optimization for Search Engines
  • a new sitemap
  • a better search
  • and much, much more…

delivering all the quality content you only find on rafenew.world.

Probably the best thing in Cyber Space right now.

John W.
Johnny Mnemonic approves this message (Columbia/Tristar, 1995)

Check it out on www.rafenew.world (beware of recursion)

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rafenew.world – The Book Episode IV Part One

The wait is over! All my full movie reviews are now available in print:

Not the book you need. But the book you deserve!

rafenew.world – The Book Episode IV Part One (Cover)

Order your copy now! (Printed on demand)

Or get it in a Book shop of your chosing via ISBN: 978-3-7519-9952-6

About the Book

This defining movie guide and blog companion contains a plethora of equally passionate and subjective movie reviews published by the title-giving nerd on his blog rafenew.world between 2015 and 2020.
The second chapter gathers even more (German) pieces written for his former website nidwirkli.ch between 2003 and 2006. Some of the older texts may not have aged too well. But they bear not only witness to the coming of age of the author’s writing style, taste and character – they document two decades worth of evolution in cinema, pop-culture and society itself.
Each one of the more than 160 articles comes with its own QR Code, providing an interactive experience including free videos, graphics and even more digital content available on rafenew.world.
Being first and foremost a vanity project, this title delivers hours and hours of reading material, opinions, trivia, callbacks and, most important, fun for everyone lucky enough to have been a child in the eighties.

About the Author

Raphael Röthlin – designer and software engineer by trade, nerd at heart – was born and raised in a small Swiss farming village. Today he works and lives in the city, in a nice apartment – without a cat, but making the best of the situation.

Ordner now and enjoy!

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Daniel Craig confirms «Bond 25»

In an interview with Stephen Colbert Craig confirms his return as 007.

Reason enough to push my own old content once again:

CraigIsBond revisited

My website CraigIsBond (then available on craigIsBond.net) was my spontaneous reaction to the 2006 online campaign against Craig taking over.

Celebrating the launch of «Spectre» in 2015 I was reviving the site to let you revisit and enjoy all the support and comments that had been posted between the years 2006 and 2009.

craigisbond.rafeman.com

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Best of rafenew.world

Best of rafenew.world

Am I too humble to boast about a simple new addition to the layout of my blog? Of course not! I give you a brand new feature called «Best of rafenew.world». In this newly added navigation point you’ll find all of rafenew.world’s highlights and evergreens you never even where looking for. Check it out on rafenew.world!

Best of rafenew.world
Best of rafenew.world