Tranhuset
Tranhuset
Tranhuset
Discover the North Atlantic like never before at Tranhuset—a dynamic new learning and experience center in Copenhagen’s historic Blubber House. Designed to bridge the cultural gap, Tranhuset immerses Danish children and young adults in the vibrant present-day life of Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands.
Discover the North Atlantic like never before at Tranhuset—a dynamic new learning and experience center in Copenhagen’s historic Blubber House. Designed to bridge the cultural gap, Tranhuset immerses Danish children and young adults in the vibrant present-day life of Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands.
Discover the North Atlantic like never before at Tranhuset—a dynamic new learning and experience center in Copenhagen’s historic Blubber House. Designed to bridge the cultural gap, Tranhuset immerses Danish children and young adults in the vibrant present-day life of Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands.
Project
Course Project
DIS Copenhagen
Graphic Design Foundations
Project
Course Project
DIS Copenhagen
Graphic Design Foundations
Project
Course Project
DIS Copenhagen
Graphic Design Foundations
Skills
Visual design, branding
Skills
Visual design, branding
Skills
Visual design, branding
Timeline
Sep 2024 - Dec 2024
Timeline
Sep 2024 - Dec 2024
Timeline
Sep 2024 - Dec 2024
Prompt
Prompt
Prompt
scroll→
For centuries, Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands have been part of the Kingdom of Denmark, evident in their interwoven families, work, education, trade, and politics.
Yet while the regions are acutely aware of this, there is often little education about the North Atlantic in Denmark itself. The North Atlantic Art and Culture Center has just received grants to establish a new experience and learning center, Tranhuset, in order to expose the Danish public to the culture and society of these communities.
Our task was to create a visual identity that could introduce Tranhuset, and kickstart the theme of the experiences.
For centuries, Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands have been part of the Kingdom of Denmark, evident in their interwoven families, work, education, trade, and politics.
Yet while the regions are acutely aware of this, there is often little education about the North Atlantic in Denmark itself. The North Atlantic Art and Culture Center has just received grants to establish a new experience and learning center, Tranhuset, in order to expose the Danish public to the culture and society of these communities.
Our task was to create a visual identity that could introduce Tranhuset, and kickstart the theme of the experiences.
For centuries, Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands have been part of the Kingdom of Denmark, evident in their interwoven families, work, education, trade, and politics.
Yet while the regions are acutely aware of this, there is often little education about the North Atlantic in Denmark itself. The North Atlantic Art and Culture Center has just received grants to establish a new experience and learning center, Tranhuset, in order to expose the Danish public to the culture and society of these communities.
Our task was to create a visual identity that could introduce Tranhuset, and kickstart the theme of the experiences.
Deliverable
Deliverable
Deliverable
Overview
Branding
I used a grid to create my basic elements for the pattern tiles
The pattern can be deconstructed into a primary, secondary, and tertiary form
The primary pattern is a V-shape inspired by the stitches and the mountain peaks, though it's now constructed out of four triangles as opposed to two parallelograms
The secondary pattern was an abstract form found in the negative space of the grid
And then the tertiary form is very subtle, but it adds a little ornament reminiscent of beads found in the Greenlandic collars
Branding
The Tranhuset logo highlights the foundational element of the identity, and is only otherwise really enhanced by a subtle font customization where I slightly rounded the top right and the bottom left of the letters in order to contrast the rounded and sharp edges
Other than that, the logo really just uses the Gotham font, and the same is done for the North Atlantic House logo
I chose only one font family to preserve simplicity and form when used with more elaborate patterns, but Gotham as a superfamily is very diverse and versatile, so it was more than enough in my opinion
Branding
Color-wise, I based it off of imagery of both natural and manmade elements in the cultures, so I pulled from glaciers, muted grass, as well as painted houses and bright beads
I also chose to use the cream as a more nostalgic and less industrial alternative to white
The tones that I chose weren't particularly varied, so black can be added in 10% opacity increments as necessary for contrast
scroll→
Amongst the provided themes, my final deliverable aimed to spotlight the North Atlantic's stunning nature with its rich history in craft & design; visually, I sought to draw on the idea of scale, where I noticed that many of the sweeping peaks were replicated in motifs of the minute knit patterns:
Peaks and Patterns —
When considering Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, it’s impossible to overlook their breathtaking, natural panoramas. But what exactly takes our breath away? In scientific research, awe has been a recent topic of interest for the way this profound emotion is able to transcend our understanding of the world, and improve our collective sociological and psychological well-being. The nature of the North Atlantic is the perfect vessel to draw upon awe and promote wonder in a learning experience.
The question then becomes how can we carry awe in us without the weight of mountains? How is awe threaded into our everyday lives? In these North Atlantic cultures, it’s through crafts. My project juxtaposes
the large and the small,
the complex and the simple,
the traditional and the modern,
the rugged and the lush,
in order to explore how nature is interwoven into craft to elicit awe.
Amongst the provided themes, my final deliverable aimed to spotlight the North Atlantic's stunning nature with its rich history in craft & design; visually, I sought to draw on the idea of scale, where I noticed that many of the sweeping peaks were replicated in motifs of the minute knit patterns:
Peaks and Patterns —
When considering Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, it’s impossible to overlook their breathtaking, natural panoramas. But what exactly takes our breath away? In scientific research, awe has been a recent topic of interest for the way this profound emotion is able to transcend our understanding of the world, and improve our collective sociological and psychological well-being. The nature of the North Atlantic is the perfect vessel to draw upon awe and promote wonder in a learning experience.
The question then becomes how can we carry awe in us without the weight of mountains? How is awe threaded into our everyday lives? In these North Atlantic cultures, it’s through crafts. My project juxtaposes
the large and the small,
the complex and the simple,
the traditional and the modern,
the rugged and the lush,
in order to explore how nature is interwoven into craft to elicit awe.
Amongst the provided themes, my final deliverable aimed to spotlight the North Atlantic's stunning nature with its rich history in craft & design; visually, I sought to draw on the idea of scale, where I noticed that many of the sweeping peaks were replicated in motifs of the minute knit patterns:
Peaks and Patterns —
When considering Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, it’s impossible to overlook their breathtaking, natural panoramas. But what exactly takes our breath away? In scientific research, awe has been a recent topic of interest for the way this profound emotion is able to transcend our understanding of the world, and improve our collective sociological and psychological well-being. The nature of the North Atlantic is the perfect vessel to draw upon awe and promote wonder in a learning experience.
The question then becomes how can we carry awe in us without the weight of mountains? How is awe threaded into our everyday lives? In these North Atlantic cultures, it’s through crafts. My project juxtaposes
the large and the small,
the complex and the simple,
the traditional and the modern,
the rugged and the lush,
in order to explore how nature is interwoven into craft to elicit awe.
scroll→
Overview
Branding
I used a grid to create my basic elements for the pattern tiles
The pattern can be deconstructed into a primary, secondary, and tertiary form
The primary pattern is a V-shape inspired by the stitches and the mountain peaks, though it's now constructed out of four triangles as opposed to two parallelograms
The secondary pattern was an abstract form found in the negative space of the grid
And then the tertiary form is very subtle, but it adds a little ornament reminiscent of beads found in the Greenlandic collars
Branding
The Tranhuset logo highlights the foundational element of the identity, and is only otherwise really enhanced by a subtle font customization where I slightly rounded the top right and the bottom left of the letters in order to contrast the rounded and sharp edges
Other than that, the logo really just uses the Gotham font, and the same is done for the North Atlantic House logo
I chose only one font family to preserve simplicity and form when used with more elaborate patterns, but Gotham as a superfamily is very diverse and versatile, so it was more than enough in my opinion
Branding
Color-wise, I based it off of imagery of both natural and manmade elements in the cultures, so I pulled from glaciers, muted grass, as well as painted houses and bright beads
I also chose to use the cream as a more nostalgic and less industrial alternative to white
The tones that I chose weren't particularly varied, so black can be added in 10% opacity increments as necessary for contrast
Overview
Branding
I used a grid to create my basic elements for the pattern tiles
The pattern can be deconstructed into a primary, secondary, and tertiary form
The primary pattern is a V-shape inspired by the stitches and the mountain peaks, though it's now constructed out of four triangles as opposed to two parallelograms
The secondary pattern was an abstract form found in the negative space of the grid
And then the tertiary form is very subtle, but it adds a little ornament reminiscent of beads found in the Greenlandic collars
Branding
The Tranhuset logo highlights the foundational element of the identity, and is only otherwise really enhanced by a subtle font customization where I slightly rounded the top right and the bottom left of the letters in order to contrast the rounded and sharp edges
Other than that, the logo really just uses the Gotham font, and the same is done for the North Atlantic House logo
I chose only one font family to preserve simplicity and form when used with more elaborate patterns, but Gotham as a superfamily is very diverse and versatile, so it was more than enough in my opinion
Branding
Color-wise, I based it off of imagery of both natural and manmade elements in the cultures, so I pulled from glaciers, muted grass, as well as painted houses and bright beads
I also chose to use the cream as a more nostalgic and less industrial alternative to white
The tones that I chose weren't particularly varied, so black can be added in 10% opacity increments as necessary for contrast
Promotional Posters
Promotional Posters
Promotional Posters
Nostalgic Duo: Poster 1
Putting it all together, I made two sets of posters, the first is a duo that is a little more nostalgic and intricate, so it is definitely more connotative of a sweater pattern or snowflakes and flowers
Nostalgic Duo: Poster 2
Mockup
Because it is more intricate, I envisioned them to be shown statically to emphasize their detail
Bold Trio: Poster 1
The second set is a bit more bold, simple, and modern
Bold Trio: Poster 2
Bold Trio: Poster 3
Mockup
Because of their simplicity, I wanted to add little rotating animations to enhance them
scroll→
Posters: Nostalgic Duo
Putting it all together, I made two sets of posters, the first is a duo that is a little more nostalgic and intricate, so it is definitely more connotative of a sweater pattern or snowflakes and flowers
Mockup
Because it is more intricate, I envisioned them to be shown statically to emphasize their detail
Posters: Bold Trio
The second set is a bit more bold, simple, and modern
Mockup
Because of their simplicity, I wanted to add little rotating animations to enhance them
Posters: Nostalgic Duo
Putting it all together, I made two sets of posters, the first is a duo that is a little more nostalgic and intricate, so it is definitely more connotative of a sweater pattern or snowflakes and flowers
Mockup
Because it is more intricate, I envisioned them to be shown statically to emphasize their detail
Posters: Bold Trio
The second set is a bit more bold, simple, and modern
Mockup
Because of their simplicity, I wanted to add little rotating animations to enhance them
Magic Folder: Pages 8 & 1
Magic Folder: Pages 2 & 3
Magic Folder: Pages 4 & 5
Magic Folder: Pages 6 & 7
Magic Folder: Story & Poster
Magic Folder
Magic Folder
Magic Folder
Magic Folder: Pages 8 & 1
Magic Folder: Pages 2 & 3
Magic Folder: Pages 4 & 5
Magic Folder: Pages 6 & 7
Magic Folder: Story
Magic Folder: Poster
scroll→
Magic Folder: Pages 8 & 1
Magic Folder: Pages 2 & 3
Magic Folder: Pages 4 & 5
Magic Folder: Pages 6 & 7
Magic Folder: Story & Poster
Animation
Animation
Animation
scroll→
Process Presentation
Process Presentation
Process Presentation
1
2
Just to begin, this is my general concept
3
4
The presiding challenge that we were faced with in this project was cultural representation, but it was also about education
When we first started ideating then, I really wanted to think about what constitutes a memorable and impactful learning experience in general
5
For our scenarios exercise, I pulled together some existing learning centers and environments that felt appealing
I realized that all the ones that felt really enticing to me utilized spacing, lighting, and nature to cultivate this sense of vastness, and it did sway me towards choosing biodiversity as my theme because I felt it was a really effective way of engaging learning
But the big question was how can we really transmit this engulfing, multi-dimensional feeling into a two-dimensional visual language? And what is really culturally-specific about nature?
So while nature seemed to check the boxes for education, it felt more like a science museum than a culture center
6
On the other hand, if you know me, you know that I am a huge crafter, and I took up knitting in particular this semester - actually, here’s a picture of me and a bunch of old ladies knitting at the airport on the way to Norway
So knitting, and crafting in general, is a huge part of the North Atlantic cultures
7
For a little while then, I also experimented with the craft & design theme following popular motifs, like the Faroese shawl, the Icelandic Lopapeysa, and the Greenlandic beaded collar
But, I still felt like I couldn’t commit to the single theme, because while it was much more culturally-inclined, I struggled to find an appealing educational narrative towards it
It just felt a little traditional and outdated, which I then couldn’t really picture as a relevant brand identity in the context of a much more contemporary and minimalistic Copenhagen cityscape
It also just was a little limiting because these knits have such a distinct and established visual identity on their own, that I didn’t want to reduce my interpretation of their cultures to just be this commercialized image that I then replicate onto my own brand identity
Thinking even further, I realized that knitting is gendered in some way, and I wanted to make it feel more accessible and interesting to all children
8
So I ended up at this really weird cross section between overgeneralization and hyperspecificity, both of which felt wrong when trying to represent these cultures
9
What I did then, was try and figure out how these cultures are representing themselves - what is important to them to showcase?
In today’s age, when I looked on their social medias, it was an overwhelming number of posts of nature and mountains, and while it doesn’t seem necessarily culturally specific at first, I think it shows their relationship with nature and their awe for it
10
In Western psychology, there are 6 basic emotions: happiness, anger, fear, sadness, disgust, and surprise
But awe is a complex emotion not included in this model - it is this feeling of being in the presence of something so vast that it transcends your understanding of the world
Recent research shows that our bodies physiologically respond differently when we are experiencing awe than when we are feeling simply happiness, fear, or surprise
Instead, the power of awe renders us powerless, and this has the potential to regulate our individual psychological and collective sociological well-being, and nature is commonly prescribed to be able to evoke this feeling
Awe is also known to positively affect learning and curiosity, so evoking awe with nature opens people up to this feeling that there is more to life than just what they currently know, and then pairing that at the entry point of cultural identity makes people much more receptive to learn about cultures beyond their own
So clearly, the people of the North Atlantic experience awe from their home, and that is really what they want to share about their culture
11
I then dug into how the people have historically shared and represented this relationship with the surrounding nature, and found this quote about Iceland’s Lopapeysa:
“It resembles the country’s rugged nature and reminds us of the history of farming and fishing when it provided its wearer with a vital shield from the disastrous weather one can encounter in the wild.”
12
So while today, we may represent our awe for a culture through photographs, in the past, it was represented through what they knew and what they were capable of, knitting
This is what began to pique my interest in the idea of time and scale in representing culture - how can we break down the concept of these big, beautiful, timeless topographies into pieces that can be carried with us in our changing, contemporary, everyday life? How do we grapple with feeling small against an awe that is so big?
13
As I was approaching this realization, there was an intermission, where we went on our Travel Week to the Netherlands
I hate to do this again, but it was part of a turning point in my project, and these were some of the takeaways that really helped develop my understanding of the direction that I wanted to take my ideas
The faces activity was super fun, but it really showed me to find meaning in simple forms
This was then furthered by our introductions to Escher - though we didn’t get to go inside his museum, I did some further research on his tessellations and it was so impressive to see complexity arise from simple tiles
14
What I ultimately did, was turn my concern into my idea
Overgeneralization and hyperspecificity are dependent on the scale at which you examine a culture, and I realized that you can find culture embedded in each increment
15
So instead of overgeneralization and hyperspecificity, I turned my project into an exploration in how dichotomies transition into each other, whether it’s from large to small, from complex to simple, from tradition to modern, from rugged to lush
Visually, I wanted to connect biodiversity to craft & design through patterns of V-shapes that mimic peaks of mountains and stitches in knitting
And then narratively, I tied the nature to the materials through going through the lifecycle of a sheep, i.e. how the sheep uses mountain resources and then gives back through its wool; this way, there's this larger sense of a natural pattern and lifecycle, but also a literal sense of pattern in terms of knitting
16
Once I had the core idea of my project down, that’s when I could really start looking for more concrete inspiration
17
I then began creating my own patterns and tiles, and playing around with logos, types, and colors. I really needed to nail down what the tile looked like, because there was a fine line between the stitch looking too organic, like a leaf, or too rigid
18
This ended up being my first solidified iteration, which employed those tiles I was aiming for, but there was something still too outdated and static about it, and it didn't really feel like I had much to go from after this
19
So I went in for a little extra studio time, and Morten recommended this book on flexible visual systems
In it, Lorenz, the designer, uses grids to create these uniform patterns, but they're also extremely playful and, like the title alludes, flexible
20
I made my own grid, and played around with a few designs, and the one that we were most intrigued by was when I filled the negative space of the original knit pattern
We really liked it because it was dynamic, and there was also a slight quality of illusion, where though everything is straight, it produces a curved effect, which really embodied the contrast of soft and sharp that I was trying to achieve
21
With this, I ended up making a ton of really cool, individual patterns and animations, and I even ended up with this poster - but again, I was starting to stray, and after talking to Katja, we agreed that it really began to feel a little too abstract, and I was losing the actual craft that I was trying to emulate
22
And that's when I started to actually end up at my final product
23
I continued to use the grid to create my basic elements for the pattern tiles
But, I created a pattern that could be deconstructed into a primary, secondary, and tertiary form
The primary pattern is still that V-shape inspired by the stitches and the mountain peaks, though it's now constructed out of four triangles as opposed to two parallelograms
The secondary pattern was that abstract form found in the negative space of the grid
And then the tertiary form is very subtle, but it adds a little ornament reminiscent of beads found in the Greenlandic collars
24
The Tranhuset logo highlights the foundational element of the identity, and is only otherwise really enhanced by a subtle font customization where I slightly rounded the top right and the bottom left of the letters in order to contrast the rounded and sharp edges
Other than that, the logo really just uses the Gotham font, and the same is done for the North Atlantic House logo
I chose only one font family to preserve simplicity and form when used with more elaborate patterns, but Gotham as a superfamily is very diverse and versatile, so it was more than enough in my opinion
5
Color-wise, I based it off of imagery of both natural and manmade elements in the cultures, so I pulled from glaciers, muted grass, as well as painted houses and bright beads
I also chose to use the cream as a more nostalgic and less industrial alternative to white
The tones that I chose weren't particularly varied, so black can be added in 10% opacity increments as necessary for contrast
26
Putting it all together, I made two sets of posters, the first is a duo that is a little more nostalgic and intricate, so it is definitely more connotative of a sweater pattern or snowflakes and flowers
27
Because it is more intricate, I envisioned them to be shown statically to emphasize their detail
28
The second set is a bit more bold, simple, and modern
29
Because of their simplicity, I wanted to add little rotating animations to enhance them
10
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
1
2
Just to begin, this is my general concept
3
4
The presiding challenge that we were faced with in this project was cultural representation, but it was also about education
When we first started ideating then, I really wanted to think about what constitutes a memorable and impactful learning experience in general
5
For our scenarios exercise, I pulled together some existing learning centers and environments that felt appealing
I realized that all the ones that felt really enticing to me utilized spacing, lighting, and nature to cultivate this sense of vastness, and it did sway me towards choosing biodiversity as my theme because I felt it was a really effective way of engaging learning
But the big question was how can we really transmit this engulfing, multi-dimensional feeling into a two-dimensional visual language? And what is really culturally-specific about nature?
So while nature seemed to check the boxes for education, it felt more like a science museum than a culture center
6
On the other hand, if you know me, you know that I am a huge crafter, and I took up knitting in particular this semester - actually, here’s a picture of me and a bunch of old ladies knitting at the airport on the way to Norway
So knitting, and crafting in general, is a huge part of the North Atlantic cultures
7
For a little while then, I also experimented with the craft & design theme following popular motifs, like the Faroese shawl, the Icelandic Lopapeysa, and the Greenlandic beaded collar
But, I still felt like I couldn’t commit to the single theme, because while it was much more culturally-inclined, I struggled to find an appealing educational narrative towards it
It just felt a little traditional and outdated, which I then couldn’t really picture as a relevant brand identity in the context of a much more contemporary and minimalistic Copenhagen cityscape
It also just was a little limiting because these knits have such a distinct and established visual identity on their own, that I didn’t want to reduce my interpretation of their cultures to just be this commercialized image that I then replicate onto my own brand identity
Thinking even further, I realized that knitting is gendered in some way, and I wanted to make it feel more accessible and interesting to all children
8
So I ended up at this really weird cross section between overgeneralization and hyperspecificity, both of which felt wrong when trying to represent these cultures
9
What I did then, was try and figure out how these cultures are representing themselves - what is important to them to showcase?
In today’s age, when I looked on their social medias, it was an overwhelming number of posts of nature and mountains, and while it doesn’t seem necessarily culturally specific at first, I think it shows their relationship with nature and their awe for it
10
In Western psychology, there are 6 basic emotions: happiness, anger, fear, sadness, disgust, and surprise
But awe is a complex emotion not included in this model - it is this feeling of being in the presence of something so vast that it transcends your understanding of the world
Recent research shows that our bodies physiologically respond differently when we are experiencing awe than when we are feeling simply happiness, fear, or surprise
Instead, the power of awe renders us powerless, and this has the potential to regulate our individual psychological and collective sociological well-being, and nature is commonly prescribed to be able to evoke this feeling
Awe is also known to positively affect learning and curiosity, so evoking awe with nature opens people up to this feeling that there is more to life than just what they currently know, and then pairing that at the entry point of cultural identity makes people much more receptive to learn about cultures beyond their own
So clearly, the people of the North Atlantic experience awe from their home, and that is really what they want to share about their culture
11
I then dug into how the people have historically shared and represented this relationship with the surrounding nature, and found this quote about Iceland’s Lopapeysa:
“It resembles the country’s rugged nature and reminds us of the history of farming and fishing when it provided its wearer with a vital shield from the disastrous weather one can encounter in the wild.”
12
So while today, we may represent our awe for a culture through photographs, in the past, it was represented through what they knew and what they were capable of, knitting
This is what began to pique my interest in the idea of time and scale in representing culture - how can we break down the concept of these big, beautiful, timeless topographies into pieces that can be carried with us in our changing, contemporary, everyday life? How do we grapple with feeling small against an awe that is so big?
13
As I was approaching this realization, there was an intermission, where we went on our Travel Week to the Netherlands
I hate to do this again, but it was part of a turning point in my project, and these were some of the takeaways that really helped develop my understanding of the direction that I wanted to take my ideas
The faces activity was super fun, but it really showed me to find meaning in simple forms
This was then furthered by our introductions to Escher - though we didn’t get to go inside his museum, I did some further research on his tessellations and it was so impressive to see complexity arise from simple tiles
14
What I ultimately did, was turn my concern into my idea
Overgeneralization and hyperspecificity are dependent on the scale at which you examine a culture, and I realized that you can find culture embedded in each increment
15
So instead of overgeneralization and hyperspecificity, I turned my project into an exploration in how dichotomies transition into each other, whether it’s from large to small, from complex to simple, from tradition to modern, from rugged to lush
Visually, I wanted to connect biodiversity to craft & design through patterns of V-shapes that mimic peaks of mountains and stitches in knitting
And then narratively, I tied the nature to the materials through going through the lifecycle of a sheep, i.e. how the sheep uses mountain resources and then gives back through its wool; this way, there's this larger sense of a natural pattern and lifecycle, but also a literal sense of pattern in terms of knitting
16
Once I had the core idea of my project down, that’s when I could really start looking for more concrete inspiration
17
I then began creating my own patterns and tiles, and playing around with logos, types, and colors. I really needed to nail down what the tile looked like, because there was a fine line between the stitch looking too organic, like a leaf, or too rigid
18
This ended up being my first solidified iteration, which employed those tiles I was aiming for, but there was something still too outdated and static about it, and it didn't really feel like I had much to go from after this
19
So I went in for a little extra studio time, and Morten recommended this book on flexible visual systems
In it, Lorenz, the designer, uses grids to create these uniform patterns, but they're also extremely playful and, like the title alludes, flexible
20
I made my own grid, and played around with a few designs, and the one that we were most intrigued by was when I filled the negative space of the original knit pattern
We really liked it because it was dynamic, and there was also a slight quality of illusion, where though everything is straight, it produces a curved effect, which really embodied the contrast of soft and sharp that I was trying to achieve
21
With this, I ended up making a ton of really cool, individual patterns and animations, and I even ended up with this poster - but again, I was starting to stray, and after talking to Katja, we agreed that it really began to feel a little too abstract, and I was losing the actual craft that I was trying to emulate
22
And that's when I started to actually end up at my final product
23
I continued to use the grid to create my basic elements for the pattern tiles
But, I created a pattern that could be deconstructed into a primary, secondary, and tertiary form
The primary pattern is still that V-shape inspired by the stitches and the mountain peaks, though it's now constructed out of four triangles as opposed to two parallelograms
The secondary pattern was that abstract form found in the negative space of the grid
And then the tertiary form is very subtle, but it adds a little ornament reminiscent of beads found in the Greenlandic collars
24
The Tranhuset logo highlights the foundational element of the identity, and is only otherwise really enhanced by a subtle font customization where I slightly rounded the top right and the bottom left of the letters in order to contrast the rounded and sharp edges
Other than that, the logo really just uses the Gotham font, and the same is done for the North Atlantic House logo
I chose only one font family to preserve simplicity and form when used with more elaborate patterns, but Gotham as a superfamily is very diverse and versatile, so it was more than enough in my opinion
25
Color-wise, I based it off of imagery of both natural and manmade elements in the cultures, so I pulled from glaciers, muted grass, as well as painted houses and bright beads
I also chose to use the cream as a more nostalgic and less industrial alternative to white
The tones that I chose weren't particularly varied, so black can be added in 10% opacity increments as necessary for contrast
26
Putting it all together, I made two sets of posters, the first is a duo that is a little more nostalgic and intricate, so it is definitely more connotative of a sweater pattern or snowflakes and flowers
27
Because it is more intricate, I envisioned them to be shown statically to emphasize their detail
28
The second set is a bit more bold, simple, and modern
29
Because of their simplicity, I wanted to add little rotating animations to enhance them
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
scroll→
1
2
Just to begin, this is my general concept
3
4
The presiding challenge that we were faced with in this project was cultural representation, but it was also about education
When we first started ideating then, I really wanted to think about what constitutes a memorable and impactful learning experience in general
5
For our scenarios exercise, I pulled together some existing learning centers and environments that felt appealing
I realized that all the ones that felt really enticing to me utilized spacing, lighting, and nature to cultivate this sense of vastness, and it did sway me towards choosing biodiversity as my theme because I felt it was a really effective way of engaging learning
But the big question was how can we really transmit this engulfing, multi-dimensional feeling into a two-dimensional visual language? And what is really culturally-specific about nature?
So while nature seemed to check the boxes for education, it felt more like a science museum than a culture center
6
On the other hand, if you know me, you know that I am a huge crafter, and I took up knitting in particular this semester - actually, here’s a picture of me and a bunch of old ladies knitting at the airport on the way to Norway
So knitting, and crafting in general, is a huge part of the North Atlantic cultures
7
For a little while then, I also experimented with the craft & design theme following popular motifs, like the Faroese shawl, the Icelandic Lopapeysa, and the Greenlandic beaded collar
But, I still felt like I couldn’t commit to the single theme, because while it was much more culturally-inclined, I struggled to find an appealing educational narrative towards it
It just felt a little traditional and outdated, which I then couldn’t really picture as a relevant brand identity in the context of a much more contemporary and minimalistic Copenhagen cityscape
It also just was a little limiting because these knits have such a distinct and established visual identity on their own, that I didn’t want to reduce my interpretation of their cultures to just be this commercialized image that I then replicate onto my own brand identity
Thinking even further, I realized that knitting is gendered in some way, and I wanted to make it feel more accessible and interesting to all children
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So I ended up at this really weird cross section between overgeneralization and hyperspecificity, both of which felt wrong when trying to represent these cultures
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What I did then, was try and figure out how these cultures are representing themselves - what is important to them to showcase?
In today’s age, when I looked on their social medias, it was an overwhelming number of posts of nature and mountains, and while it doesn’t seem necessarily culturally specific at first, I think it shows their relationship with nature and their awe for it
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In Western psychology, there are 6 basic emotions: happiness, anger, fear, sadness, disgust, and surprise
But awe is a complex emotion not included in this model - it is this feeling of being in the presence of something so vast that it transcends your understanding of the world
Recent research shows that our bodies physiologically respond differently when we are experiencing awe than when we are feeling simply happiness, fear, or surprise
Instead, the power of awe renders us powerless, and this has the potential to regulate our individual psychological and collective sociological well-being, and nature is commonly prescribed to be able to evoke this feeling
Awe is also known to positively affect learning and curiosity, so evoking awe with nature opens people up to this feeling that there is more to life than just what they currently know, and then pairing that at the entry point of cultural identity makes people much more receptive to learn about cultures beyond their own
So clearly, the people of the North Atlantic experience awe from their home, and that is really what they want to share about their culture
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I then dug into how the people have historically shared and represented this relationship with the surrounding nature, and found this quote about Iceland’s Lopapeysa:
“It resembles the country’s rugged nature and reminds us of the history of farming and fishing when it provided its wearer with a vital shield from the disastrous weather one can encounter in the wild.”
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So while today, we may represent our awe for a culture through photographs, in the past, it was represented through what they knew and what they were capable of, knitting
This is what began to pique my interest in the idea of time and scale in representing culture - how can we break down the concept of these big, beautiful, timeless topographies into pieces that can be carried with us in our changing, contemporary, everyday life? How do we grapple with feeling small against an awe that is so big?
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As I was approaching this realization, there was an intermission, where we went on our Travel Week to the Netherlands
I hate to do this again, but it was part of a turning point in my project, and these were some of the takeaways that really helped develop my understanding of the direction that I wanted to take my ideas
The faces activity was super fun, but it really showed me to find meaning in simple forms
This was then furthered by our introductions to Escher - though we didn’t get to go inside his museum, I did some further research on his tessellations and it was so impressive to see complexity arise from simple tiles
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What I ultimately did, was turn my concern into my idea
Overgeneralization and hyperspecificity are dependent on the scale at which you examine a culture, and I realized that you can find culture embedded in each increment
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So instead of overgeneralization and hyperspecificity, I turned my project into an exploration in how dichotomies transition into each other, whether it’s from large to small, from complex to simple, from tradition to modern, from rugged to lush
Visually, I wanted to connect biodiversity to craft & design through patterns of V-shapes that mimic peaks of mountains and stitches in knitting
And then narratively, I tied the nature to the materials through going through the lifecycle of a sheep, i.e. how the sheep uses mountain resources and then gives back through its wool; this way, there's this larger sense of a natural pattern and lifecycle, but also a literal sense of pattern in terms of knitting
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Once I had the core idea of my project down, that’s when I could really start looking for more concrete inspiration
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I then began creating my own patterns and tiles, and playing around with logos, types, and colors. I really needed to nail down what the tile looked like, because there was a fine line between the stitch looking too organic, like a leaf, or too rigid
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This ended up being my first solidified iteration, which employed those tiles I was aiming for, but there was something still too outdated and static about it, and it didn't really feel like I had much to go from after this
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So I went in for a little extra studio time, and Morten recommended this book on flexible visual systems
In it, Lorenz, the designer, uses grids to create these uniform patterns, but they're also extremely playful and, like the title alludes, flexible
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I made my own grid, and played around with a few designs, and the one that we were most intrigued by was when I filled the negative space of the original knit pattern
We really liked it because it was dynamic, and there was also a slight quality of illusion, where though everything is straight, it produces a curved effect, which really embodied the contrast of soft and sharp that I was trying to achieve
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With this, I ended up making a ton of really cool, individual patterns and animations, and I even ended up with this poster - but again, I was starting to stray, and after talking to Katja, we agreed that it really began to feel a little too abstract, and I was losing the actual craft that I was trying to emulate
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And that's when I started to actually end up at my final product
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I continued to use the grid to create my basic elements for the pattern tiles
But, I created a pattern that could be deconstructed into a primary, secondary, and tertiary form
The primary pattern is still that V-shape inspired by the stitches and the mountain peaks, though it's now constructed out of four triangles as opposed to two parallelograms
The secondary pattern was that abstract form found in the negative space of the grid
And then the tertiary form is very subtle, but it adds a little ornament reminiscent of beads found in the Greenlandic collars
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The Tranhuset logo highlights the foundational element of the identity, and is only otherwise really enhanced by a subtle font customization where I slightly rounded the top right and the bottom left of the letters in order to contrast the rounded and sharp edges
Other than that, the logo really just uses the Gotham font, and the same is done for the North Atlantic House logo
I chose only one font family to preserve simplicity and form when used with more elaborate patterns, but Gotham as a superfamily is very diverse and versatile, so it was more than enough in my opinion
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Color-wise, I based it off of imagery of both natural and manmade elements in the cultures, so I pulled from glaciers, muted grass, as well as painted houses and bright beads
I also chose to use the cream as a more nostalgic and less industrial alternative to white
The tones that I chose weren't particularly varied, so black can be added in 10% opacity increments as necessary for contrast
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Putting it all together, I made two sets of posters, the first is a duo that is a little more nostalgic and intricate, so it is definitely more connotative of a sweater pattern or snowflakes and flowers
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Because it is more intricate, I envisioned them to be shown statically to emphasize their detail
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The second set is a bit more bold, simple, and modern
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Because of their simplicity, I wanted to add little rotating animations to enhance them
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