I’m Bodil, a book and identity designer from Trondheim, Norway, holding a PhD in Typography & Graphic Communication from the University of Reading. My research interest concentrates on the verbal and visual presentation of health messages on food labels dating from 1850 to 1970. Please read my blog and have a look at my work. Feel free to get in touch if you think there is something I can do for you. Get in touch ›
– a blog about my work, research, ideas, typography and passion for books.
TRAVEL, WORK AND INSPIRATION | Ten days in Berlin bringing my design work from home, writing an application for a new project, visiting Fotografiska Berlin, The Buchstabenmuseum, drinking brilliant coffee, and buying too many books. A fantastic trip meeting a lot of interesting people, among them the inspiring and talented Anja Lutz. Anja is an art book designer and a co-founder of the publishing company The Green Box. She has also founded A–Z, a space in Mitte Berlin for experimental graphic design.
PHD RESEARCH / INSPIRATION | Bringing my Mac, books, many articles and proper shoes to Norwich for a few days to write, think, be inspired, walk, drink good coffee – write more, read more, think more, drink more good coffee
PHD RESEARCH | Nice to be in the Department at this time of the year. Just finished my second research paper Working towards a definition of “Health message”, which is presented as part of a research seminar in the Department.
TRAVEL AND INSPIRATION | Staying in London is always great, working in nice cafes, visiting bookstores and Tate Modern, walking along the streets looking for signs, typography and illustrations.
TRAVEL AND INSPIRATION | OFFF takes place in Barcelona annually and is inviting all those who are eager to learn to participate and get inspired in a three-day journey of conferences, workshops, activities and performances. It’s a combination of Offline/Online designers, Motion Designers, Thinkers, Sound Designers, Graphic Designers, Theorists, Developers, Professionals, Students… Putting the titles aside, OFFF is made for the curious.
Together with author Gunn Merete Roll and graphic designer Kirsten Stangvik I went to the OFFF festival in Barcelona in May to get three days of inspiration. Barcelona itself is fantastic and also very inspiring; Ten days looking at outstanding architecture, signs, typography, colors, the beach, tasting good coffee and food – just to mention something.
TRAVEL AND INSPIRATION | Went to London for a week to work and get inspiration. Bringing my Mac, working in cafes in my neighborhood, wandering around to look at typography, signs, visiting museums, galleries, bookstores, listening to Messiah by Handel in Royal Albert Hall, walking, drinking coffee. Having a great time. 15 years since I went to London College of Communication. Nice to be back.
WORK | A new client including two days workshop, resulted that I had to go to Brooklyn, New York. In familiar style I extended the trip with a week where I worked in different places, letting me be inspired by The Big City; wall illustrations, typography, galleries, shops, manholes, people, coffee, food, architecture and everything else New York has to offer.
It was freezing cold, but the coffee and the porridge was warm and delicious.
I always try to find something that makes me happy. When I was looking for something that could freshen up my head, I bought a bright yellow wallpaper with colorful birds to have by my kitchen counter. Four pages in Norsk Ukeblad this week where I am interviewed about my great apartment, two sofas in the kitchen, colors and how I work.
TRAVEL AND INSPIRATION | It´s always a great inspiration to visit Berlin. Even though it was a short trip this time, I brought my Mac and did some work. Otherwise I spent the days to let me inspire by everything Berlin has to offer; shops, wall illustrations, posters, signs, coffee, typography, smoothie, colours, the language and food to mention a few things. I also bought some books, one was Designing patterns by Lotta Kühlhorn, a great and inspiring book about how the author work and design various patterns.
PERSONAL PROJECT | An important part of 2013 was a study trip to Japan. The trip was related to support from The Scandinavia – Japan Sasakawa Foundation, where the gain was to get an insight into Japanese visual communication. The annual report for previous year is therefore characterized by the trip and my experiences with what I observed combined with a course in Japanese bookbinding. I have within the report played and experimented with Japanese and Western typography. What happens when these two merge and we get a brand new expression? To make an annual report every year for my own company is a great way to document all my work and write about my experiences in my own way. I try to challenge myself every year to approach a new theme and a new way of using images and typography.
