:: The Norvegian adventurer, Erling Kagge, published the his latest book, Philosphy for Polar explorers this autumn. Now the English version and a pocket version is released.

… and now the book won the first prize for non-fiction publications in Norvegian design competition, Årets Vakreste Bøker (This Years most beautiful books). Hey!

:: The Norvegian adventurer, Erling Kagge, published the his latest book, Philosphy for Polar explorers this autumn. Now is the English version and a pocket version released.

:: Baskerville is a newly established Norvegian publisher, publishing dirty realism and feelgood books that 'bites'.

We've made the identity as well as the first 3 bookcovers:

Brenning
Spindelraptus
Pulp

:: Nils Henrik Asheim (improvised organ) won the Norwegian Spellemannsprisen (equivalent to the international Grammy) for best album of contemporary music. Congratulations!

Our cover had probably nothing to do with it.

:: 4 new issues of the magazine 3t is out.

The covers:
Issue 17
Issue 18
Issue 19
Issue 20

:: Charlotte Rivers' book Type Specific out now on Rotovision, presents typefaces (among them my own Kit Fat and Friends) designed or customized for a specific purpose or organisation.

It reveals the many considerations and problems this process involves, from minute details to overall expression and identity, and makes for an interesting insight into many nerdy typedesigners minds.

“We're nothing but the nerds they say we are!” –Anonymous voice on a track by Kid Koala.

:: Marius has unleashed a monster: a project focusing on generative art – a blog, a seminar and an exhibition. It's called generator.x… and hosts a number of the most significant players in this field. Highly rewarding also for us outsiders.

The visual identity and interface are designed with Marius, almost like the old days at Play.

:: We've designed 3 new CD covers for the innovative music label Fabra this spring. Fabra specializes on contemporary music often commissioned directly from the composer.

Asheim - 19 March 2004, Oslo Cathedral
Imrpovised organ

Geir Inge Lotsberg - Works by: Apollyon, Skouen and Åm
Music for solo violin (and electronics)

Nostos - Works by Kruse, Kverndokk and Ødegaard
Music for chamber orchestra and traditional hardangerfiddle

:: We are the proud provider of The Norwegian snowboard federations new visual identity.The program is on the 'lean' side, with emphasis on a large degree of freedom when it comes to the use of colours and graphic style. Even the logo is open for playful interpretations - it can be tweaked and squeezed to fit any imaginative idea or need that may come.

The program will be presented in its full glory here when it has been properly implemented in the organisation later this year.

:: A self-promotional poster is featured in Charlotte Rivers latest book, "Maximalism" (RotoVision).

The icons/graphics used in the lay-out of the spread in the book is not taken from my original artwork - but added by the designer of the book. (Yes, I find this a little puzzeling, not as a principle–but when showing only a detail of the original artwork they can be easily misunderstood as elements from the artwork presented).

The poster is the 2002 edition of a Memento Mori motif I've used before depicting a skull on a favourite mountain and the text: You are gonna die. Also included is a calendar of weekends - dysfunctional in every aspect except for deciding which days falls on a weekend during the whole year.

:: Kit Fat out now! Go buy! :-)

:: I just caught up with the latest works of UPP (Kirsti and Andreas) and was overwhelmed by the strength and freshness it radiates. Highly inspiring material. Go look!

:: We are happy to be included in Die Gestalten Verlags book, Sonic - Visuals for music. The book is filled with superb examples and a wide variety of expressions. But - designer of music related stuff par excellence - Martin Kvamme, seems to be all over the place. Together with Rune Mortensen, Halvor Bodin and Kim Hiorthøy he is representing the Norwegian design scene in a priceless way. A definite must-have.

:: A long vacation has hopefully helped reset my mind and restore my powers - the next few days will show whether I remember how to do this - designing stuff.

Just before taking a leave I finished two issues of the excellent magazine, 3t. (Issue 13 and 14).

:: There's been a long time since I flexed the rock n' roll full on maximalist muscle but here we go again: an ad (and soon a poster) for the touring art exhibition, Detox. A collaboration between Play and Union.

:: Marius has redesigned Unlekker, check it out and make sure to also see what he did to Voss Open… Beautiful!

:: To make up for the lack of a thriving activity on our site I reach for the retrospective handle:

The latest album from Tweeterfriendly Music (2002) is about to be released in Japan and so I want to draw attention to the video we directed, designed, shot, animated and edited for Tweeterfriendly Music. (It also contains the first prototype versions of Friends.) Enjoy!

Oh, and here is a somewhat better presentation of the surrealistic creature Marius created for this video.

:: I've moved on from my position as Head of Art in Saatchi & Saatchi Oslo and become a partner in Union Design.

Union have a glorious history of housing some of Norways most excellent designers producing outstanding work for the last 10 years.

PS. The site of Union will soon be redesigned and relaunched.

:: Fanny and her comrades at Flink has finally launched USE AGAIN, an excellent idea for the recycling of vectors. A must see.

:: Kit Fat, the coolest typeface I've made (in my own opinion), will soon be available from Die Gestalten Verlag. Originally drawn in 1998 I've now included some vital characters (different currencies among others…) and prepared it for distibution.

Look out for Kit Fat!

:: Friends - Now available from Die Gestalten Verlag!

Friends is the first font from my hand to be released for commercial liscencing. It is the friendly and highly usable font seen in a lot of our design projects - last chosen for the identityprogram for an official marking of the 100 years since Norway was given its independence back from Sweden!?

Next out are the Kit Family (Kit Fat, Kit Lean an Kit Ideal). Expect it to be on sale from early March 04.

We hereby turn totally business and urge You to go out and buy yourself a new font!

(Thanks, Mika!)

:: Amoebas legendary Evolutionzone has got a brand new suit - but You can still find all the goodies from the early hey-days of digital k-u-l-t-u-r-e…

A classic, looking all fresh again!

:: The violin player, Lars Eriik ter Jung, has made an album of contemporary music together with guitarist, Thomas Kjekstad. The duo is titled Twitter Machine as is the album.

The compositions are commissioned from 5 different composers (Vaage, Buene, Hellstenius, Adderly and Weizenbaum) but Twitter Machine makes them sound like one piece of work. They perform them with a continoues abundance of organic energy from the first bar to the last: quiet parts vibrate – others roar. Heavy… and beautiful.

:: I reckon You (Creativity Between Communication) have read the last issue of IDEA (Idea issue 302) lately but I don't have a clue what YOU have written about US (since I don't read Japanese). Anyway, it generates a lot of hits and your site looks mighty fine – so thanks for putting us up :-)

:: guu.nu is a site presenting news about the Norwegian design scene with, what seems to me, a motivation for bringing young aspiring designers to the front. Very sympathetic!

:: Here is a collection of the links leading to fairly clean presentation of some of our fontdesign.

Kit Fat 1
Kit Ideal
Kit Shiny Rounded
Kit Shiny
Kit Human
Kit Family
Kit Fat 2
Miscellanous Kit fonts
Tee

:: Recommended source for fellow workmen in music, design, art… find it all in one place: Club Sandwhich.

:: This weekend big white hit home. Surfing deep snow in Gummiskogen (Hemsdal, Norway) injects a much needed dose of potent energy in my veins and corrects the general perspective of life -- makes going back to work an incredibly odd thing to do.

Go big, be bold, focus on your line -- not the trees.

:: At last we have something for the ones of You that read japanese: some angel has translated an article about our work for Gasometer Town in Vienna. Thanks!

:: A new stellar constellation shines from the sky above us: Oslo Collective (expect the site to be up by the end of January).

Four of the most distinguished designers (and writers) in Norway stand behind this initiative:

Halvor Bodin
www.superlow.com

Adam Leonard Cable
www.adamcable.com

Martin Kvamme
www.unitdeltaplus.com

Claudia C.Sandor
www.dowec.com

:: Hi, hope You're allright! I know we are…

:: A logo for Diaz' radioshow, Gatemusikk, that would translate as 'Streetmusic' or shortly: rap.

:: Another article on Scandinavian design was set inthe french magazine, Ètapes (Issue 91), featuring an interview with Marius.

:: The de luxe japanese design magazine standing above all, IDEA (Issue 302), includes us in an article on Scandinavian design. We are honoured and greatly thankful for such an attention.

:: Oslo Stringquartet has released a somewhat unconventional album coming from them, known for a repertoire of classical music. The album presents 14 'popular tunes', from Abba to Quincy Jones!

:: Sondre Lerche has released an EP, 'Don't be shallow' in the US of America. In addition to 4 songs from previous releases it contains 4 live recordings presenting Sondre onstage alone with his guitar demonstrating what a brilliant performer he his.

We very much look forward to his next album due out early next year, though we won't have the pleasure of designing the cover.

:: Bissi-bissi-bissi. All work and no time for Play. Marius, though, has set up a site for presenting his work (as well as some Play work - The Smart car). Check it out on: Unlekker

Our submission to the Smart car project and Gasometer.

:: P.o.Play plays with words in Localmotives 220 pix + 220 pix forum. It's completely meaningless, called TickerPlay and wears out your eyes after a little time.

:: The Swiss Scrolls opened and a good crowd came to see.

As the first round of snaps shows, the room and the lighting could have been a lot better, but as I tour the exhibition the lousy architecture fades to zero and The Swiss Scrolls comes to shine!

The works shown are brilliant – Thank You, all!

(I'll put up some more descriptive snaps real soon.)

:: Brilliant Norwegian designer , Eirik Seu Stokkmo aka Teipu™, exhibits at Galleri Falsen, Norsk Form, Oslo.

If You are lucky to be in that part of the world, don't miss this! – if not, download a hi-res preentation of his work.

The Teipu™ site.

:: The Swiss Scrolls…

(if You have'nt heard about it, please read the note from 15.09.03)

…is coming together. The list of participants is almost complete and I've started to recieve the actual work.

In the meanwhile, check their sites:

Norm
Happypets
Vectorama.org
Lineto
Büro Destruct
Martin Woodtli
Electronic Curry Ltd.
so+ba

…are all delivering the goods!

:: Long time - no see. Aside the usual amount of too-much-work and too-little-time-to-Play, a whole lot of machinery related bad has happened lately. And I've found that I'm not alone in this world right now waiting for Apple to ship me a new Powerbook…

Anyway, The Swiss Scrolls is the aptly named exhibition I'm setting up on behalf of GRAFILL (The Norwegian Assosiation of Illustrators and Designers). It will hopefully present the most important contributors to the changing of our idea about Swiss design from sober, clean and elegant to vivid, dirty and… elegant.

I'm hoping to show work from:
Norm, Happypets, Vectorama.org, Line.to, Büro destruct, Martin Woodtli, Electronic Curry Ltd., etc.

It will all come together during the next days and the openeing is set to the 26 September at 18.00.

The final list of participents will be announced here.

By the way, our good (and Swiss) friends, Vectorama.org celebrate their 3 years jubileum today! Go there and splash some champagne on their canvas. Congratulations!

:: Shiny stars - Rusty red (see the feature from 06.06.03).

The poster is being printed right now. Hope it turns out nice…

:: Marius Watz is about to launch his public art project on a website of the Norwegian government: Odin. If everything goes as planned it will be up and running by noon tomorrow. (Guess he's frantically tapping away on his laptop right now – making last minute changes to the code).

It's called "Tegnemaskin 1-12", and that is exactly what it is: twelve drawing engines – or computer programs – rendering individual images by random within parameters set by the artist (i.e. Marius).

Marius has been tinkering with computational art since the eighties and he is an international capacity within this specific artform. It seems only right, then, that it is him that opens the party and is credited with the first piece of public art in the virtual official Norway.

:: Shiny stars - Rusty red (the site is Norwegian only as of this date, but will probably be updated with an English version in the nearest future) is the name of Elisabeth O. Sjaastads new documentary on Wang Yuelun, a young filmdirector from Beijing, China.

Yuelun has success directing commercials and music videos but longs for something more challanging - he wants to make full feature films…

We've made the motion graphics as well as a the logo and a font used throughout the film.

To see the film, check the programs of international film festivals. Some of the animations will be presented on this web real soon.

:: Sondre Lerche is currently working the United States of America. A big job that won't be finished in a day or two… We whish he'd soon release his new album, though. It's ready, put on hold just to test our patience and mental stature.

In the meantime we'll have to do with the task of dressing up Americans in heraldic ornament and silhouettes, You know, the cool clichèes of Scandinavian Design.

It's gonna be my favourite t-shirt this summer!

:: This is either Eastcoast nor Westcoast, this is Jessheim, Norway!

Diaz' new album is out by the 12th of May. 'Velkommen hjem Andres' is a highly personal collection of stories from, and about, his home turf Jessheim. All in native toungue, Norwegian… Jessheimian.

Front, a spread and the back of the cover. Oh, and the label.

:: The second album from Tweeterfriendly Music has finally gone to production. We've lived with it for nearly a year now, and already included it in our mental archive of immortal pop music. A must for all musiclovers!

Front of folded cover
Inside of folded cover
Inlay
Behind the CD
The label

:: We've proud to have added some cartoonish (thanks, Walt) typographics to Diaz' last video, Hvem er denne karen? Some screenshots can be seen here, or you can sneak a preview the whole thing on Norways mostselling tabloid, VG. (Though, I don't know how long this link will live…)

:: HÖREN SIE BITTE UND SPRECHEN SIE NACH: Our friend, the photographer Geir Egil Bergjord, is staying in Berlin for a while… His diary is updated every day with a new snapshot. Highly enjoyable.

:: Still working on the artwork for Tweeterfriendly Music… as well as finishing typographic animations for a video and a single cover for Diaz, the man.

:: We have moved. Again.

Marius is lost to Berlin, pushing his personal work to the forefront for a while. Erik is getting cosy with Saatchi & Saatchi and have taken the Play offices with him to the very center of Oslo:

Our new address is:

Products of Play AS
Grensen 16
0165 Oslo

:: A new album fromTweeterfriendly Music is on its way. We're currently working on the artwork for the cover bringing in the old pencil and ink skills again…

:: Just want to draw attention to the intiative by the great HPee and Kato the Wiz: By establishing their own recordlabel, New Records, they cover everything from writing songs and producing some of the most interesting artists around to putting out records that otherwise probably would'nt see the light of day. The first releases are Sgt. Petter, and The real Ones. Both of whom confirm the notion that the norwegian music scene is flamboyently alive… And be sure to check out the beautiful sleeves designed by some of our favourite collegues, Andor Pandor & His Spouse.

:: Kit Human, the first font to be commercially lisenced from us, is in its final stages. Take a look…

Kit Human

:: Erik is hereby officially selling out to Saatchi & Saatchi . Dividing his time between them and Play, when will he have time for the fun? His family? His friends?