Graphic Design | BLE BLVD

Concept
Visual Identity
Magazine Layout
Project Management
Web Design and Development

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.

Visit:
taideseinajoki.fi

Client:
Taide Seinäjoki -verkosto / Art Seinäjoki Network
2019–2021

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

Each issue has one main color.

TYPOGRAPHY

ILMIÖ 1/2019

ILMIÖ 2/2019

Poster Campaign for the issue 2/2019

Graphic Design
Lettering
Illustration

Design, illustration and custom lettering for Törnävän kesäteatteri, the loveliest summer theatre in Seinäjoki.

Client:
Seinäjoki City Theatre
2019

Graphic Design
Illustration

Fictional posters for Ingmar Bergman’s play Höstsonaten (Autumn Sonata / Syyssonaatti), directed by Jukka Keinonen for Seinäjoki City Theatre in 2019. The posters are props for decorating the set: they are fictional concert posters from the 70’s and the 80’s – from the youth of the main character, Charlotte Andergast, a famous pianist.

Syyssonaatti premieres in Seinäjoki City Theatre on 7th November.

Client:
Seinäjoki City Theatre
2019

Visual Identity
Illustration for a Web Site

Vastuullinen eränkäynti is a web site project promoting responsible hunting in Finland. I was asked to design the visual identity and co-design the web site with the client and the developer. The web site was developed by the awesome Mikko from Mikrogramma Design.

Visit:
vastuullinenerankaynti.com

Client:
Nordic Distribution Oy
2018

The identity was built around the paw print of a bear. In Finnish mythology, the bear is the king of the forest, maybe the most important sacred animal and one of the oldest gods, who was believed to be descended from the stars. In the past it was considered such a mythical creature, that in Finnish language the bear has over a hundred euphemisms – it was believed that if its real name was spoken, the feared animal would appear. When a bear was successfully brought down, a special celebration called karhunpeijaiset or kouon häät, ”the bears wedding”, took place. In this celebration, the bones of the respected creature were ceremonically taken back to the woods and the skull was hung on an old, tall pine. So the bear was escorted back to his ancient birthplace, to the sky.

Even today, a modern version of peijaiset is still celebrated after a successful hunt.

The bear used to and still does represent respect, strenght and justice. The mythological background and the respectful traditions directly linked to hunting made it the best choice to become the symbol for responsible hunting.

”Missä Ohto synnytelty,
mesikämmen käännytelty?
Kuun luona, tykönä päivän,
otavaisten olkapäillä.
Sieltä on maahan laskettu
hihnoissa hopeisissa,
kultaisissa kätkyissä”

Visual Identity
Web Design

Koskenkorvan Trahteeri is a place for extraordinary events, enjoyable saunas, summer bed & breakfast at the traditional farm and a very special museum dedicated to the small Finnish village’s pride, Altia’s Koskenkorva spirit plant. The visual identity was renewed along with the generation change of the family owned business.

The website was developed by Mikko from Mikrogramma Design.

Visit:
trahteeri.fi

Client:
Koskenkorvan Trahteeri Oy
2018

The Indentity

The word ”trahteeri” is traditional Southern Ostrobothnian dialect. It means ”a place, where the guests are regaled exceptionally well”. The challenge was to create an identity, that would combine their four services: the saunas, the bed & breakfast, the event venue and the spirit museum.

The main elements of the logo are fire, water, a roof and a cup, all overlapping and linked together.

Fire

Fire is needed for heating the sauna, cooking for the guests, warmth for a good night’s sleep and even the distillation of spirit. Fire cleanses, warms, illuminates and creates – it connotes concepts of vitality, nourishment and rebirth. It’s the stove, the heart of the house and the light in the Finnish summer night.

Water

When the fire symbol is reversed, it becomes the symbol for water. It rinses the dirt, it’s the giver and maintainer of life – the basic element for all life. It’s the counterpart for the fire. Like fire, water also links to all the four areas: in the sauna, it’s thrown on the hot rocks that are heated with fire. It’s also used for making food and it’s the base ingredient of spirit.

The Roof

The roof is an obvious reference to the bed & breakfast.

The Cup

The cup is meant to carry the thoughts to both the Koskenkorva spirit and regaling.

Logo Design

Logo design for an equine lifestyle boutique.

Client:
Black Beauty Oy
2017

Visual Identity
Graphic Design
Web Development
Illustration

My work as an in-house graphic designer at Seinäjoki City Theatre included creating the corporate visual identity, managing the look through seasons 2012–2017 and building a responsive website on WordPress.

Visit: seinajoenkaupunginteatteri.fi

Photographer: Jukka Kontkanen

Client: Seinäjoki City Theatre 2012–2017

Kartta

Graphic Design
Illustration
Animation

Promotional illustration and poster design for a theatrical adaptation of Väinö Linna’s Under the North Star (Täällä Pohjantähden alla) trilogy. The story follows the life of a Finnish family from 1880, through the First World War, the Finnish Civil War and the Second World War, to the 1950’s. Through the lives of ordinary people, it describes the clash of ideals in Finland’s language strife and the struggle between the Whites (nationalists) and the Reds (socialists) in the movement to Independence and Civil War.

Client: Seinäjoki City Theatre
2017