December 9, 2009

Beautiful and Functional

Yes, beauty and function go hand-in-hand – in fact it’s the perfect match.

As I’m patiently waiting for my parents back in Denmark to send me their favorite wild rabbit recipes, I’m searching the net to find inspiration. This Friday I’m going to cook two wild rabbits provided by a good friend from Bethel. I will share the dish at a party in honor of her husband and mother-in-law.

Why am I writing about food? Well, along with design, this is a huge passion of mine and I’ve been a foodie since my teenage years living in the countryside of Denmark. I remember coming home from school and going straight to the kitchen to make crepes for snacking.

I just stumbled upon this Alpine Rabbit Stew recipe from FX Cuisine and I have to share the site. This is an example of beautiful, step-by-step food photography. The only complaint I have is that there should be more recipes and more pictures. I wish this guy did this for a living.

Is the website well-designed? No. But, there’s soul in the photography and I feel immediately inspired to cook.

It’s not enough to make something beautiful – functionality is a key ingredient. These pictures take me through the recipe from start to finish and within a matter of seconds I can decide whether or not I want to follow the recipe.

December 3, 2009

Ornament the Holidays

This Saturday, December 5th I’m going to be part of an artist-made jewelry and ornament sale at the International Gallery of Contemporary Art

Super talented artists such as Holly McQuinn, Hanna Eklund and Sonya Kelliher-Combs will be selling their work, too. Stop by the gallery between noon and 4pm and check out the goods.

International Gallery of Contemporary Art
427 D Street
Anchorage, Alaska 99501

November 25, 2009

Know Your Type

Choosing a typeface is about the end-user: The reader. Ultimately, legibility and readability should be the main focus. Incredibly enough some of the absolute best designed and most legible fonts were designed decades ago.

Back in 1996 when I was starting out as a designer in Denmark, I was lucky enough to assist an extremely talented art director for three years. Today, Lars Cortsen is the Creative Director and co-founder of Triple CPH. I remember being quizzed on fonts, scrambling for an answer and how it taught me to appreciate the art of typography design.

Challenge yourself with this awesome designer dorky FONT GAME from I Love Typography. At first try, I scored 24 points out of 34. Should I be proud or work harder?

November 17, 2009

Games of the North

Games of the North is a documentary about four Inuit athletes competing in the ancestral games of strength. Acrobatic and explosive, these traditional sports are necessary for survival in the unforgiving Arctic. Watch the trailer!

I’ve gotten around to creating a little portfolio piece featuring some of the work that I’ve done for the documentary.

Working alongside director, Jonathon Stanton and crew, I created the visual identity, art directed photo shoots, designed business papers, created fund–raising pieces, a 40-page educational kit, a small promotional website and more.

November 14, 2009

A minimum of 20 local designers

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Along with a group of local designers (listed below), I have been helping to organize the Anchorage design community in order to start a local AIGA (The professional association for design) chapter in Alaska.

On Friday, November 13th we had a very successful mixer for designers wanting to learn more about AIGA and take advantage of the great benefits AIGA offer. Guest speaker Jeff Barlow, President of AIGA Seattle, gave an engaging and inspirational talk about his own creativity, inspiration and about AIGA in general. Jeff owns a small design studio: Jelvetica

AIGA has been advancing the value of design since 1914, acting as the collective voice of the profession. In my opinion, the best benefits of being a member are: Apple discounts, Adobe discounts, annual design book, annual design salary publication, community gatherings, inspiration and education. AIGA Benefits

We need 20 local designers as members to sign the petition to start the AIGA Alaska Chapter, I think we’re almost there! If you’re a designer and you haven’t signed up yet, do it now: Join AIGA

The Committee Members:

Alexis Roskelley, Creative Director at Solstice Advertising
Cary King, Co-owner, Red Carrot Design
Colleen Shannon, Owner, Bus 11
Eric Buhrman, Senior Art Director at Solstice Advertising
Karen Larsen, Owner, Creative Space
Laura Feraco, Laura Feraco Design
Lindsay Renkert, Umiaq
Marie Conover, Owner, Bounce Creative
Vered Mares, Art Director at Todd Communications

And, me ;-)

November 10, 2009

Identity Design

vellum_portfolio

I’ve recently finalized identity design for Andrew Mitton, founder and owner of Vellum LLC. Andrew approached me with a wish of a minimal and contemporary identity for his new business.

Andrew started practicing law in Alaska in 1997 and is now specialized in designing compliance and ethics programs for large corporations.

November 8, 2009

Website Statistics

statistics

Now, here’s something that isn’t exactly in my field of expertise, but I know enough to give you a taste. Website statistics are essential for any organization wanting to learn more about their users, optimize their online presence and better meet their visitors’ expectations.

You can get rich insight into your website traffic and marketing effectiveness.

A free example is the statistics WordPress offer when you have a blog or website built on WordPress. I can see basic things such as search engine key words that visitors use to find my website, referrals (links that send visitors to my site) and visual visitor statistics just like the image above.

Many companies offer advanced website statistics solutions that can be customized. Two examples are Webtrends and Google Analytics. There are pretty much endless amounts of information to gather and if you use it to your advantage you’re sure to succeed.

When I design websites, I work with Mike Hondel who takes care of technical development (and more). Mike is – in the contrary to me – what I would call an expert when it comes to website statistics and is excellent at what he does.

November 4, 2009

Daily choices made by designers can have a huge impact

our_choice

Designers have a huge responsibility when it comes to creating sustainable and green products. Don’t forget that everything is designed – even the most common daily tools such as potato peelers and light switches.

We, as designers can actively influence what paper is used to print the 5000 annual reports or work towards wasting as little materials as possible when designing the production line of that Apple laptop.

I just ordered Al Gore’s book Our Choice and I’m excited to read it. It’s a plan for us as a global team to solve the climate crisis. It’s about the solutions and how to implement them.

Recently, I designed a website – alaskarenewableenergy.org – running on wind power, meaning that the host server is powered by wind power only. Paper manufacturers have come a long way, too. It’s possible to choose paper for those 5000 annual reports that has been made without chlorine, is FSC certified, carbon neutral and all of this comes with great quality, good looking paper. Neenah Classic Crest is a good example.

Today, there is no excuse not to be green.

Our Choice