How many pillows...?

I´m going to Formland tomorrow to catch up on the latest trends in home accessories, design and gifts. I know for a fact that after a whole day spent there I´ll be overloaded with impressions and also the thought of "how many pillows does the world actually need??" But then again -pillows are such a great and cheap way to refresh a room - and I´m already in love with these darlings above designed by the Norvegian design duo Darling Clementine for Ferm Living.

Daily Drop Cap

id you see the Daily Drop Cap blog yet? It´s an amazing project by typographer and illustrator Jessica Hische. Each day she posts a new hand-crafted decorative initial cap for your enjoyment and for the beautification of blog posts everywhere. To use a Daily Drop Cap on your site or blog - like I just did here, just follow the instructions under each post - and remember to check out her great portfolio too.
Have a happy weekend.!

Trends 2010 by bora.herke stilbüro

Last year I went to the Ambiente fair in Frankfurt and really enjoyed the trendzones and the trendtalk by bora.herke stilbüro. I will not be going this year - so I was happy to find 4 new 2010 trend interpretations by them. They are titled.

1. present + everlasting
2. crafted + original
3. progressive + sensitive
4. genuine + sincere

- and you can read more about each trend here at Ambientes website.

The one that appeals to me and my scandinavian roots the most is off course number 4. genuine + sincere.

What type are you?

I went to see a psychiatrist today via Pentagram. You, too, can drop by his office to learn What type are you?.  Answer 4 simple questions and find out your "type," complete with a history lesson on that font. I was diagnosed as Cooper Black Italic - The password is "character." Have fun!

Learn something new everyday

I just came across Learn Something New Everyday - a self initiated daily project by UK based design studio Young. I love all the fun facts and the simple drawings. And if your New Year resolution is to learn something new everyday - here´s the perfect answer!

Cop15 - from a graphic point of view

Untill the 18th of December COP15 is taking place in Copenhagen - so let us hope The United Nations Climate Conference will result in a global agreement to protect the Earth.

Looking at it all through my graphic design eyes - I like the blue COP15 logo - eventhough the one to the right was my favorite when I first saw the other winners last year. But I have no idea why a professional jury selected the last 2.prize logo - since it´s everything a logo shouldn´t be - maybe they just wanted an icebear! Anyway I always like to see the runner ups in such logo competitions.

My small contribution to COP15 was to design this magazine about Danish and Greenlandic climate research for a client - I always end up reading the articles while I design because I like science and love Greenland - and if you wish to read about The Melting Ice you can do it here and in Danish here, Isen smelter.

And if you are confused and don´t know what to think about the whole climate debate here´s a wonderful Climate Change visualization from Informationisbeautiful.

Vidunderlivet T-shirt

I designed this t-shirt some months ago for The Danish Cancer Society as part of their campaign, Vidunderlivet, which aims to inform young girls about the HPN vaccine against cervial cancer.
And now that the t-shirts have been printed - I hope to see a lot of young girls and mothers wearing it!

Here´s some of my thoughts about the design in danish.
"Motivet til den nye kampagne-T-shirt er en collage, hvor det blå logo-hjerte 'invaderes' af symboler og motiver fra de unge pigers univers. Collage-stilen understreger, at der er mange ting, der spirer og vokser i pigernes liv i netop den periode. Og symbolerne i collagen antyder nogle af de emner og den udvikling, som er på banen.

Det kribler og krabler, der drømmes, tænkes og tales. Der kigges ud i verden og ind i sig selv. En skitse på fremtiden tegnes - og det feminine blandes med rå power i tidens (rock-chick) stil. Motivet signalerer til omverden, at der foregår meget både udenpå og indeni."

Kampagne-T-shirten koster 129 kr. og kan købes her i Vidunderlivets webshop.
Med dit køb støtter du kampen mod livmoderhalskræft.

Apple shaped stickers

These fruit shaped sticky notes are so delicious. Yummy paperdesign at it´s best - you can find them here at Etsy.

An apple a day...

I´ve just spent 3 days in bed with the flu so my body needs some care now - and this cool letterpress poster might do the trick! It´s called An apple a Day - Just peel the little variety sticker from every apple you eat and affix it to a square on the poster. By Etsy seller Vik design.

I love clever graphic design like this - the only downpoint is that the organic apples I buy don´t have variety stickers - but right now I wish they had.

more paper love

Here´s another lovely idea on how to make your books or paper look better - these invitations created by Studio Lin  - were air brushed by hand around the edges of each invitation with gradient colors. Amazing!
via Oh Joy!

pretty book covers

I saw these amazing bookcovers by design student Michael Kosmicki at Poppytalk yesterday. And I immediately wanted to make something similar for all our books at home. Well maybe not all of them - but for those we keep around like our huge collection of Lonely Planet guidebooks.

I´m always in doubt when it comes to storing books - I´m both drawn to having a big library wall at home - but also to the Feng-shui concept of letting go of books that you´ve already read and won´t read again - so that they don´t take up "space" for new books and new knowledge.

Well here´s a blog dedicated to bookshelves, bookcases and things that look like them.

Pimp my Time - workshop

I recently made this illustration with a confused and stressed out little bird for a clients secret project about time management. My client is an expert on this subject - and Line and I felt we could learn a lot from her. So we have invited her to come and teach a workshop at our studio here in Århus in October - you can read all about the Pimp My Time workshop on our studio blog. We hope to see you -there´s 4 places left!

pop-up book

I´m a sucker for great Pop-Up books and just came across this little wonder by illustrator Owen Gatley via the Tiny Showcase. Enjoy!

in the paper...

My contribution to the local Festuge this year - was in the newspaper yesterday. It is a part of a Grib project - where the members have teamed up to make an illustration each day for the local paper JP during the festival.

I went to my daughters kindergarden with photographer Pernille Holm Andersen - who is so clever when it comes to childrens portraits - and we asked the children what they think a Festuge/Festival is - and we got some very wise answers - some great portraits - and some self-portraits drawn by the kids - and afterwards I put it all together.


Here´s the final result - with the kids´ answers to the question - What is a Festival?
You play loud music- and dance...
Maybe there´ll be a timemachine!?
The men drink beer and eat sausages - and the women drink wine.

Wedding planner

Now that my bachelorette party is over - I´m really looking forward to our big wedding party in August (we got married at Christmas). The party will be held at a restaurant inside the local amusement park - and above you can see my moodboards - and our wedding invitation, which I designed to look like a ticket for the amusement park.

I would have loved a letterpress invitation but it´s hard to find a letterpress in Denmark - so instead I printed it on some lovely thick paper on my inkjet printer - and handpunched the top and bottom circles and created a dotted "tear of effect" with a stich marker/paper perforator. The envelopes were handwritten by me - and stamped at the back with a custom made stamp with our names. Easy - simple and very inexpensive compared to a letterpress invitation.

The top and bottom picture is from the restaurant.

Typenuts

I recently got an Iphone - which I heart a lot - so I was happy to find these free type-themed & type-inspired iPhone & desktop wallpapers at Typenuts. via Swissmiss

What applications do you use or recommend for Iphone?

Clever

I wish I had seen this beautifull poster by Jason Munn before I designed our wedding invitation - it´s graphic design at it´s best - clever, simple and strong! You can get it as a poster at The Small Stakes poster shop - and make sure to see all the other great posters there.

Ebon Heath

A friend who went to Typo Berlin this year - introduced me to Ebon Heath´s amazing visual poetry. He has created an art series entitled “Stereo.type” with big laser cut typographic mobiles that take visual poetry to a new level. For more information see this recent interview with him on Yatzer . Wauh!

l´affiche moderne

I get so happy when I see clever illustrations for children and the young at heart! - like these above from the French company L´affiche Moderne by illustrator Sigrid Martinez and Marion Billet.

And I´m also happy to welcome new Norwegian readers on my blog - after my blog got mentioned in the Norwegian magazine ROM123 (while I was off-line this weekend in our summerhouse).
I´m half Norwegian and have spent many summer and winter holidays in Norway as a child - so "Hei Norge!"

And if one of my Norwegian readers wish to make a magazine swap with this issue of Rom123 and a Danish magazine - please let me know.

repeat pattern

I made the logo above for a client/crafter with a cute shop named Tulipaner & Tomater, Tulips & tomates. And today I turned the logo into a repeat pattern while I kept saying to myself "the guides and grids are my friends." phew! The design is now uploaded to Spoonflower - and I´m sooo excited to see the pattern printed on fabric - and turned into little projects like the pillow below made for my daughter by Tulipaner & Tomater.