July 6, 2009 by jotysk
I went to see an exhibit about IKEA at Liljevalchs (a major art gallery in Stockholm) the other day. The interesting thing about IKEA is that IKEA manages to bundle up all the things that are great about Sweden in one blue and yellow box that spreads cultural values in much more powerful ways than any cultural institute or politician or royal family could ever do…
So what is Sweden then according to IKEA blue and yellow box? Sweden is financial responsibility, democratic values, children´s rights, gay rights, “beauty to the people”, Sweden is common sense and childlike spirit, being mindful about natural resources… List goes on and I think it´s pretty amazing that these things can be expressed through something as simple as a couch with a changeable cover (embedded idea that children have the right to be free and messy and the home should be set up accordingly).

IKEA logos from back in the day

IKEA campaign around the time of Obama´s election. Under the slogan “Change begins at home” IKEA set up an Oval Office furnished with IKEA furniture at Union Station in DC, complete with the IKEA flag next to the American flag
. I like
!

IKEA and gay pride

My favorite item at the exhibit, so beautiful!
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July 1, 2009 by jotysk
Went to see an exhibit at Färgfabriken today, photography by Hannah Modigh, Indian-born and living in Sweden. The photography series is from a worn-down community in Virginia. Trashy beauty is sometimes more beautiful than beautiful beauty, or maybe it´s the feeling of staring into another person´s soul that creates the sense of beauty..?






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June 28, 2009 by jotysk
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June 19, 2009 by jotysk
Was flipping through some of the work of documentary photographer Paul Hansen today on Dagens Nyheter´s website (a major newspaper in Sweden) and wanted to share. Pictures below are from Kongo and Gaza – amazingly dramatic, compassionate images that leave you with no words. It´s good to be lost for words sometimes.




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June 14, 2009 by jotysk
I met with design firm Sandberg&Timonen the other day and was super inspired by their elegant, subtle, spacious designs. I´d say this is Scandinavian design at its best with lots of room to breathe, to think, to imagine new worlds… Gorgeous
!!





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June 9, 2009 by jotysk
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June 6, 2009 by jotysk
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June 5, 2009 by jotysk
… contently looking down at his toenail polish
. I strive to be him.

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June 2, 2009 by jotysk
So I would like to give a little sneak peak of this iphone game project that I´m currently working on with web firm Lonely Duck. It involves aliens, cuteness, brutal deaths, a fat, spoiled princess, a sicko without legs, axes, bombs, you name it… Super fun
. Final characters are below, more pictures to come in the next few weeks!

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May 31, 2009 by jotysk
I also checked out the final exhibit at Berghs School of Communication (design school craze is almost over now
) and would like to share my two favorite projects.
The first project is a communication campaign for an IT consultant firm. The campaign aims at questioning the pricing of the industry and making the point that this particular IT consultant firm doesn’t charge a higher rate than what the market deems appropriate. So, the whole idea is to have an online auction where the consultant is the auction item. The picture below is from the banner campaign leading to the campaign site – it displays the face of one of the consultants and shows how you can drag and pull the poor dude’s face with your mouse as if he was any product on sale. Interesting and funny idea that would probably only work in a country with strong trade unions and high minimum wages and worker’s rights. Come to think about it, it would probably only work with male auction items too. Oh well, I love the pulling and dragging the dude’s face either way
.

Second project is a Graphic Design-project expressing the city of Stockholm through a typeface named Stockholm Sans. The design student told me he researched old street signs from the “folkhemmet”-era (the building of the Swedish welfare state in the 50s) that all expressed a modernist kind of standardization. He also incorporated the proportions and shapes of landmark buildings in Stockholm, and allowed some “flaws” to symbolize the modernist folkhemmet-approach that maybe didn’t always live up to its own expectations. Pretty clever
.


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