According to a recent study, 34 % of the design professionals in Norway are working with graphic design across a wide range of industries and sectors. Graphic design combines type, form and images to create strong visual communication, and the result can be seen in various formats and scales from complete visual identities, wayfinding systems, marketing material, illustrations and visualisations to animation or any kind of visual artwork for digital platforms.
Boosting brand awareness
Graphic design has a long tradition in Norway, but the scene really expanded in the early 90’s, when big brands such as the Olympic Games in Lillehammer, the new Airport Express Train and Tine, Norway’s largest producer of dairy products, successfully boosted their market share and popularity by investing in comprehensive new visual identities.
Another example of this positive effect is ANTI’s design for a revamped visual identity for Bergen International Festival. Four years after the launch in 2013, the festival’s number of visitors had increased by 108 % and their income had improved by 32 %. Read more about the project here.
International acclaim
Other graphic design projects have also put Norway firmly on the international design map. When Neue’s design for Norway’s new passports was announced in 2014, with a modern interpretation of the Norwegian landscape, CNN described it as “possibly too beautiful to spoil with smudgy visa stamps."
An instant design classic
Also in 2014, Norway’s Central Bank chose to combine two different sea-themed designs for the country’s new bank notes. The front of the notes features scenes from Norwegian maritime history by Metric Design and illustrator Terje Tønnessen, while the reverse side is an abstract cubic pattern designed by Snøhetta, based on the Beaufort scale for measuring wind speed. The unusual combination gives the notes both a traditional and modern look and won recognition world-wide long before the notes were even launched. “An instant design classic”, according to The Guardian.
For more information on Norway’s vibrant graphic design scene, you can read about other projects here and make sure to visit Grafill, the organisation for the visual communication professions in Norway.
