- And woman! Pictograms are used in lots of different ways. Today you can see pictograms on everything from dairy-products to toilet-doors and on the web. This is a symbol or little picture that illustrates in the simplest way what it stands for. This prevents us from having to use loads of text and verbal information. Other places where you can see lots of these symbols are airports and on road-signs.

There is a nice book written by Rayan Abdullah and Roger Hubner about pictograms. They have taken photos and collected lots of symbols and written the book: Pictograms Icons and Signs. (A guide to information graphics)

I have made a very typical symbol for rest-rooms this time. I made the background red to give it some extra visibility. The man and woman symbols have to be alike but still tell the difference, in a clear way, between gentlemen and ladies. I think this button kind of pictogram with the white reflection gives you an extra feeling for pushing it. So it could be made into a door-handle at the same time. I have made some signs for a company working with information-boards – these will of course be some of the symbols that I, or they, will use. This is a project that spans over some time so I might show you some more pictograms later on in the near future.

So now I’ve been away for a few days and have enjoyed every minute. Travelling really inspires you to lots of things - especially in design. Not to get too carried away I made a little ”pictogram” for coming home. The pictogram itself is a little box. To make it a little more “homey” I made a little roof so that it would feel like a little house. Very few people live in a building like that – but many people associate houses with some kind of living. So this symbolises my ”home”. I put a little text in the middle to make sure one would see that it is a pictogram representing home. The home-pictogram could also be used as an informative arrow and point out were one lives or where ”home” is for you. I used the same font as in the last ”Gone surfing” design to show that it can illustrate different feelings. Last time it was more of a soft and flowing font feel. This time it has a more ”correct” and appropriate style. I used a light blue background to enhance the information ratio. Like in some countries road-signs are blue with white print on them.

I’ve, as I said, got lots of fun ideas up my sleeve from this super trip – so see you soon with more design. Keep getting inspired!

The New Year is here and it calls for a symbol - a tree - a year of growth. So this is a new fresh year that’s coming a long. We are going to present several designs and groovy stuff this year. Come by and tag along on the tour.

For 2008 I’ve taken a look at the dynamics of the numbers zero and eight. It’s really a nice combo. Circles are always pleasant for the eye. These two numbers give an easy flowing feeling - an asymmetric symbol of a growing tree. You might even see that it’s a tree too. This is enhanced with the stem of the tree and its roots growing down into the ground. This gives the logo stamina and a bit more of an interesting approach. The circles of course show the two numbers and also symbolize the leaves.

A tree gives, with the roots in the ground and branches in the air, a “being” from two worlds just like a human, being a communicator between up and down. People have in olden days even worshiped trees.