Remember when the internet felt alive? When websites weren't built for funnels—but for feeling, for mystery, for immersion?
That was Hi-ReS!
From 1999 to 2008, we blurred the lines between art and commerce, code and mischief.
Amantes Sunt Amentes — Lovers Are Lunatics is the monograph that captured that design world.
This book isn’t just a collection of projects. It’s a time capsule.
Back then, “web design” meant something else entirely — interactive storytelling, cinematic chaos, code as canvas. A website could be a film. A ritual. A secret society.
We didn’t build products. We built portals.
Stories Folded into Code
At Hi-ReS!, each project was an invitation to get lost.
We made things that didn’t just inform; they seduced, glitched, and glowed.
Not frictionless. Not perfect. But textured. Tactile. Strange.
We turned simple briefs into mythologies, layered meaning into every interaction, and left space for the unknown.
And somehow, through a screen, we made people feel.
Amantes Sunt Amentes captures that spirit across 192 pages of invention and obsession — including a DVD that once spun its magic on the machines of the time.
Inside, you’ll find work for icons like MTV, Diesel, Sony, Beck, Massive Attack, Donnie Darko, and Requiem for a Dream.
But also: the in-between bits. The jokes, the glitches, the tricks that made people ask, “Who did this?”
We weren’t just making sites for clients.
We were casting spells in code.
Every project was a love letter to what the internet could be — sensual, subversive, a little haunted.
A Glimpse inside the Book
🖤 Soulbath: The banner that broke the brief.
🖤 Requiem for a Dream: A digital relapse. Beauty in freefall. No exit button.
🖤 Donnie Darko: The site that whispered back.
🖤 Massive Attack: Code as theatre, design as dare.
🖤 The Fountain: A non-linear love story, unfolded through interaction.
🖤 The Fountain Book: Not an explanation — an echo.
Print Was the Final Glitch
The real challenge? Bringing our digital magic into print.
Our websites weren’t meant to be looked at — they were meant to be lived through.
Translation was tricky.
Resolution was low. Interaction was high.
It was easier to bring in our print work — like the art books we designed to accompany Darren Aronofsky’s films.
But the web resists capture.
It wants to vanish just as you reach for it.
That’s the irony.
We built things to be experienced online.
Now they live, beautifully ghosted — on paper, or on a DVD made for old machines.
Yes, we included a DVD with the book.
But even that? Just static screen captures.
Snapshots of portals. Echoes of motion.
Pressed flowers from a strange, electric garden.
Some pages fade.
But some still whisper.
🖤 Lovers welcome. 🖤 Lunatics too!
— Alexandra
Dispatches from the Lost Internet
Stories from my Hi-ReS! years: strange, cinematic digital folklore from the 2000s that still echoes into today’s AI age. Behind-the-scenes moments, creative experiments, and the invisible skills behind work that lingers.
Reflections on design, storytelling, and human futures by Alexandra Jugović. © 2025
Credits
Amantes Sunt Amentes: Created at Hi-ReS!
Publisher:
The Gestalten Verlag GmbH & Company KG (dgv), 2007
Hi-ReS! was a groundbreaking, award-winning creative agency founded in 1999 by Alexandra Jugović and Florian Schmitt. With studios in London, New York, Hamburg, and Berlin, we crafted memorable experiences through beauty, otherworldliness, emotional impact, and compelling stories.
Our work spanned diverse industries, such as luxury, fashion and beauty, FMCG, automotive, and entertainment, showcasing our versatility.
We have collaborated with icons such as Darren Aronofsky, Massive Attack, and The Beatles, as well as brands like Chanel, Diesel, and IBM.
At Hi-ReS!, we believed in perpetual novelty, approaching each project with a fresh perspective and never becoming specialists. Our mantra was, "If you know what you're doing, you end up doing only what you know." This philosophy drove us to push creative boundaries and continually challenge ourselves and our clients.
During 17 years, we created everything from books and magazines to websites, campaigns, site-specific installations, immersive experiences, and live performances.
Hi-ReS! stands for 'Handsome Information - Radical Entertainment Systems,' and we are proud of the legacy we leave behind.
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