- Visual identity
- Web development
- Brand voice & copywriting
Enerless is a consulting firm offering energy efficiency solutions for businesses. The challenge was to create a concept that communicates the brand’s core idea, less is more, in a minimalistic way, that flips the apparent meaning of ’less’ in Enerless into something positive. The business idea is simply a risk-free service of reducing energy costs and carbon footprint by fine tuning already existing property automation systems, with no need for any investments, generating only wins for all parties — an equation in which there are no losers. The ’less is more’ philosophy was brought to life through a sleek visual identity, compelling brand voice, user-friendly website and a LinkedIn campaign.
The concept and content were designed originally in Finnish, and the examples here are translated into English where applicable.
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Visual identity, web developer and senior copywriter
Emilia Kaupinmäki
Junior copywriter and content writer
Antti Huhtanen
Client
Enerless Oy
2024
- Graphic design
- Illustration
- Music video script and animation
- Website
The visual art and design of the druid metal band Unshine’s album Karn of Burnings has been the most fulfilling project in quite some time, not only because of the album’s themes closely aligning with my personal projects and interest in occult symbolism, but also for all the artistic freedom and trust.
Client
Unshine
2024
Website
Symbolism index
☉
Sun; the cycle of life, an endless loop, finite and infinite, the Universe, consciousness, omphalos, millstone, eye
+
cross; as above—so below, four seasons and the four elements
🜨
sun cross; Sun worship, and all the overlapping meanings with the Sun and the cross symbolism
웃
human; a vessel, a seer, a dualistic being
꩜
cone; the pineal gland, consciousness, symmetry, dualism, perfection, fibonacci, sacred geometry, the Universe, connection with nature, anima mundi
🜂
fire; a force of life that purges, destroys, renews and illuminates, an element contributing to the ever reccurring cycle of life
Hjul
The first single is Hjul, ’wheel’ in Swedish, a song about the ancient celebrations and life revolving around the Sun in connection with the nature. A pine cone burning in the painful bliss of truly seeing was my choice to symbolise the subject.
The pineal gland is the seat of the soul, said philosopher René Descartes. It’s a pine cone shaped melatonin producing organ located at the center of our brain. It’s been referred to as the gate to higher consciousness by philosophers and in several spiritual traditions. It’s the third eye, the Eye of Horus, the eye of the shaman seer—looking both ways, inward and out. In the end all these different metaphors refer to the same metaphysical structures and tendencies of the human mind seeking a broader perception of existence, trying to understand its own role and the interconnectedness of all things, finding balance in the recurring fractal structures of nature and life. It’s about the dualistic far ends of one in relation to all, taking a higher view of the oscillation between the two, that then reveals itself to be a big wheel of dukkha that’s never still, travelling a full circle from the beginning to the imminent end. The cycle of life, the nature, the universe, the net of being, channelled through an eye wide open.
Maa jälkeen ihmisen
The second single Maa jälkeen ihmisen paints a picture of a post-apocalyptic world that’s replanting its roots in harmony after man-made imbalance, slowly purging itself of pollution in the wasteland of ignored causality. For this subject I revisited an old illustration about the correlation of death and beginning, and the end seen as the light shed to the path of rediscovering balance as the ego faces the inevitable entropy. The mind and the soul, released by the chaos of our perishing body, all turning into nothing, returning to the All. Death invites that which is separate back into unity, the solitary fountainhead we all call home.
Aettarfylgja — music video
R3M is an ongoing two-person interdisciplinary project combining written and illustrated musings, drawing inspiration from modern occultism, esoteric symbolism, and psychology, spirituality and philosophy in general, with a particular interest in alchemy and hermeticism.
Illustration and symbolism
Emilia Kaupinmäki
Stories
Antti Huhtanen
In Filth It Will Be Found
In the alchemical process, first there is the blackness, nigredo: prima materia, the dark unconscious chaos of the mind. By unifying the opposites it transmutes into albedo, the whitening, the spark of enlightenment. The final stage is rubedo, the reddening, the end of great work, symbolised by the color of blood that washes away the last traces of blackness.
In filth it will be found, in sterquiliniis invenitur, saying from medieval alchemy explored vastly by Jung, referring to this ascension from the filthy black shadows into the red dawn of understanding the Self as a whole — when the body, soul and spirit are reunified into one.
The Green Lion
The Green Lion (agua regio, 🜆) devouring the Sun (gold, ☉) is an alchemical metaphor for the supressed urges, the terrifying animal mind behaving based on instinct — the underlying duality of the unconscious–conscious split — overpowering the ego, which is represented by the Sun. The image is about spiritual transformation: the unconscious behavior devours the ego, which dies, in order for the higher self to be born as the new Sun with the golden glow of purification and newly obtained awareness of ones primordial aspects that, with the ego, are tamed to serve the Self. The seven stars represent the seven planetary metals (Sun/gold, Moon/silver, Mercury/mercury, Venus/copper, Mars/iron, Jupiter/tin, Saturn/lead) aligning in the inner cosmos to make this transmutation take place.
Memento Mori
The inevitable entropy facing us all, illustrated as an alchemical metaphor. The mind ☿ and the soul 🜍, released by the chaos of our perishing body 🜔, all turning into no-thing, returning to the All. Death invites that which is separate, into the unity of the opposites, the solitary fountainhead we all call home.
Surf Party at the Lake of Fire
”Just hang loose” Bab said, but the waves were gnarly compared to what my life had been up to that point, mostly just wading through ankle slappers and chunder. Was it fresh? Hell no. But it had been safe.
The SPATLOF was held in the brimstone canyons of the underworld, just beyond the pit of despair. I was stoked to be there after the seemingly unending fields of nihilism, but the sense of imminent doom was still clinging to me like a lonely face hugger.
”You can worry about grubbing, or you can choose not to, either way, eventually, you will burn out, no matter how bitching your skills are. So, do we do this the horrible way or do you want to enjoy the ride? You decide.” And then Bab just stood there, waiting, scraping of spark barnacles with its hooves from the underside of an asbestos twin fin as I hesitated, mulling over my options and fears on the beach of annihilation.
”Is it gonna hurt?” I asked. ”If it does, that too shall pass” Bab answered. And there, at the end of things, I had to face that there was no turning back now, not after what I had witnessed, but against all that I had come to expect, there was a party here for crying out loud. Fresh? Hell yeah.
And so, as the sulfur wind dried the farewell tears for what once was, we paddled into the heart of the crucible, where the blastwaves began to break, and we carved out a magnificent run.
As a Paw, So Meow
”That which is a paw is from that which is meow, and that which is meow is from that which is a paw”, was the message that Hermes Meowgistus gently scratched on the side of Emerald Tabbylet. It was the powerful cataxiom that Hermes used to tear up the Veil of Isis, thus granting him a knowing glance from the goddess. ”I shall call this the law of purrespondence” whispered Emerald to Hermes. And then they ate some fish.
I Don’t Give Two Hoots
Look Inside and You’ll See
Our dreams grow from the ground of experience, from the womb of the mother. Our dreams are the projections through which we explore and familiarize ourselves with the inner structures of our being and the relationship with that which temporarily is the other.
Weaving Mother
She’s the femme fatale, she’s the eternal mother. She eats and creates, over and over. Death and rebirth, the infinite cycle of destruction and creation woven in the cosmic web that entangles us all.
Path
A human, a dualistic creature, on the path to balance, transmuting the opposites, the both sides of everything.
- Logo design
- Typeface design
Logo and custom typeface for an equestrian company.
Client
Bona Causa
2022
- Font Design
- Lettering
Bletypus is my font design project in the works. The design combines the classic didone shapes with italic and script elements. The first variant of the typeface will be released soon with contextual alternates, funky ligatures and elegant swashes.
The Maker of Emotions
- Concept
- Visual identity refresh
- Copywriting and refining the brand message
- Video script and production
- Motion graphics
Concept and visual identity refresh for Seinäjoki City Theatre’s 60th anniversary. The identity and copy were introduced at the beginning of the year 2023 with a video ad, updated graphics and new set of slogans. The theatres minimalistic red and white visual identity has become so recognizable and unique in the Finnish theatre field, that the anniversary update was made respecting the original identity guidelines, celebrating the original tragedy–comedy symbolism derived from the logo.
Client
Seinäjoki City Theatre
2022–2023
Video Sound
Riku Metsä-Ketelä
Voice Actor
Mari Pöytälaakso
- Visual identity
- Art direction
- Illustration
- Photo edit and manipulation
- Web development
My work as an in-house graphic designer at Seinäjoki City Theatre included creating the visual identity with a focus on designing a consistent visual language for all the plays, managing the look through seasons 2012–2017 and building a website on WordPress. This scalable, versatile and recognizable visual system was well adapted and is still in use — after 2017 I’ve continued working closely with the theatre on a freelance basis. The promotional images presenting actors are done every season in collaboration with the house photographer Jukka Kontkanen.
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Photographer
Jukka Kontkanen
Client
Seinäjoki City Theatre 2012–2024
- Concept
- Visual identity
- Magazine layout
- Magazine production
- Project management
- Web design and development
- Article editing
Kulttuurilehti Ilmiö is a magazine covering artistic and cultural events of the city of Seinäjoki: theatre, music, visual arts, museum and literature. The challenge was to create a scalable visual and thematic concept that would gather all the different fields and events into a solid, logical but fun to read magazine. The concept was also requested to be somehow linked to Seinäjoki’s slogan, which is ”Avaruuden pääkaupunki”, ”The Capital of Space”. (Just to clarify, Seinäjoki quite literally has a lot of space.)
The project was managed, designed and carried out by me from concept to both a paper and an online magazine. The magazine is now being published twice a year, and is distributed free of charge to all the inhabitants of the whole province. It has found its audience well, especially as a physical publication.
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Client
The City of Seinäjoki & Art Seinäjoki Network
2019–2023
Concept
ART
Art is refined expression of human imagination. Art can as well be a physical object as, for instance, some theatrical, musical, literatical or interdisciplinary piece. Whether art imitates nature or consists of abstract elements, it’s created to be perceived and interpreted by an observer.
The subject can be approached by reviewing the senses needed for observing the piece. Art can be experienced in several ways: a painting is seen, a book is read, a composition is heard, a play is seen, heard, smelled or even felt. No matter what the medium, art evokes sensations and feelings, which lead to an interpretation.
INTERPRETATION
As something meaningful, a piece of art needs an interpretation. All art can be interpreted, and every interpretation is a chance for a different conclusion. No matter what the conclusion, a piece of art is perceived as a meaningful phenomenon.
PHENOMENON
The magazine’s name Ilmiö means ”a phenomenon” in Finnish. A phenomenon is something that can be experienced through the observers senses, just like art needs a perceiver to interpret its meaning. When people gather together, it’s also a phenomenon, whether it be a concert, exhibition, performance or any other event. No matter what it is, a phenomenon can be experienced. A phenomenon is something unusual, interesting and meaningful.
Symbolism
LIGHT
Light can mean immediate feeling and experiencing. Light connotes as well to creating, knowledge as realization. In numerous cultures our main source of light, the Sun, symbolises immortality, which can refer to art as a way to reach immortality, as art can live on after the artist has passed.
STAR
A star is an appealing and extremely common symbol in numerous cultures. Stars twinkle inspiration and realization, and they are truly creators: they create energy, light and life.
PENTAGRAM
A pentagram is a five-pointed star, a closed figure that can be drawn with one stroke. Nowadays it’s usually linked to occultism, but it’s an ancient symbol which can be found from the Egyptian hieroglyphs, Christian iconography, alchemy and the symbol of the Pythagoreans, just to name a few.
The dimensions of a regular pentagram follow the golden ratio, which has undeniable importance not only in mathematics, but also in aestethics and art.
A pentagram has a beginning and an end, just like art: art begins as an idea and ends to the interpretation of its perceiver.
A pentagram also symbolises microcosm, the inner cosmos of man. The idea of macrocosm and microcosm reflecting one another originates from Ancient Greece, more specifically Pythagoras. The concept travelled through the writings of Socrates and Plato all the way to the Renaissance, when alchemy was becoming popular.
The European alchemy was not only about the transmutation of more common metals into noble ones, but more and so a philosophical theory about refining and perfecting the human soul and the connection of microcosm and macrocosm. Alchemy recognizes the classical elements of the Ancient Greece: earth, water, air, fire, and the fifth element aether – the element from where all spiritual and creative actions originate and thus of course art as well – and the symbol of these five elements is a pentagram.
GEMSTONE
Gemstones are hard minerals, that can be cut and polished: like art, they are carefully crafted and refined. A gemstone doesn’t shine on its own, not until light pierces it, just like (yes, you guessed it) art needs an observer to decode its meaning.
Icons
There’s a symbol for each cultural field with which every page is marked: visual arts, literature, theatre, music and museum. Under each field there are subcategories to indicate what kind of an event the article is about: painting/sculpture/photography…, novel/poems/philosophy…, musical/comedy/drama…, classical/jazz/rock…, exhibition/educational and so on.
The basic idea for the subcategory icons is about what sense is needed to interpret the piece of art or event. The visual system can however be used in more concretical way as well, if it illustrates the subject better.
All icons are paired with titles for clarity.
Colors and graphics
Each issue has one main color. The color system consists of three shades of the same color: light, medium and dark, which can be used in combination with black and white to create structure and tension to each issue.
Typography
Ilmiö 1/2019
Poster Campaign
- Visual identity
- UI + UX design
- Icons
Visual identity and UI + UX design for an online ticket platform.
Client
NetTicket
2020
UI design
Concept
The visual identity and the site layout are based on this basic idea of a perforated ticket. I designed a new logo to go with the new look, but the client decided to keep their old one for practical reasons.
Typography
The circle shapes are repeated both as decorative elements as well as in the typography itself.
Colors
Icons
- Book layout
- Illustration
A cook book for couples. The content was structured like a cook book, but the main topics were about relationships. Each section contained an article and 1–4 recipes.
Client
Lakeuden omaishoitajat ry
2020
