A pop icon who has set a great foot-print in music worldwide. Hit after hit and sales that shot to the sky. A star was born.

Radio-stations all over are playing his songs. MTV are sending out a little memory-trailer with a few words telling the story of Michael Jackson. Not a very long one – but I guess they will be putting something together to show some kind of tribute to “The King of Pop”. They are also displaying a sign with the artist’s name and the years he was alive, 1958 – 2009.

I made a stencil, or pictogram if you wish, that symbolizes one of his famous and characteristic poses. He was great performer and someone that really built a brand of himself and his name.

A pop icon is dead, so no more music from Michael Jackson - a sudden end to his life - at least from my point of view. I thought he would live much longer - even though one has seen a lot of changes to his appearance through the years. I remember rumours of him sleeping in gas chambers and many other things that could make one wonder why… but one thing is for sure – his name and music as a legendary performer will live on.

This time I have drawn a pictogram symbolising his hit “Smooth Criminal” – the characteristic view of Michael leaning forward in his white suite. I inverted it so it would be a clear pictogram and symbol.

Who hasn’t enjoyed a lot of his music through the years? ….... He must have inspired thousands of artist and creators all over the world! He has inspired with the music, performances, clothing videos and much more. He has definitely inspired me.
R. I. P. Michael

This is my son Theo on the beach in Phan Thiet in Vietnam. His head is almost covering the sun in the late afternoon which gives some nice effects from the sunbeams.

Vacation somewhere away from home is really something special. It is relaxing in a special way since you don't have to do any of the usual stuff like cleaning, washing, cooking etc. which gives you time to think about other things and to stress off. I wonder when and to where next vacation will go.

I made a few more designs for the UnderWearRevolution competition. Here is also a sporty design with graphics. This is to give the underwear a bit more of a young and sleek look. I thought these would give a fresh look too if they were white and grey. The logotype and symbol could be in platinum or silver. Made in some kind of metal or embroidered onto the leg as you can see in the sketch. I also made a little cut to keep the same feeling as in the last design I posted the other day - just so one keeps the underwear line in the same feeling for the first launch. Good luck to all that have joined the competition.

They didn’t mention if they had a symbol or logotype - which I think is essential to a brand. So I made a little suggestion for that too. It is the three main letters in the word Under Wear Revolution. A “U” lying down on its side, and that also is part of the “R” and finally the “W” inside the “R and U”.

Change underwear every day.

The other day I saw an ad on Facebook about two guys who wanted to start a new line of underwear for men. They have called it UnderWearRevolution. Nice that someone is getting into some more cool underwear for men!

I thought I would send in a sketch or two with some ideas. Here is one idea that is a sporty kind of look with a nice rounded cut at the leg. I think it would be nice with some graphics on the right leg. As you can see, the colours I chose on this specific pair are red and white. I made a little “v” in the white lining to give some extra exclusiveness.

I will post a logo-suggestion too in a day or so.

An old Scandinavian tradition is to celebrate Midsummer. In some parts of Sweden this is when the sun never sets – the day never ends. The Midsummer celebration and tradition is also well known in many parts of Northern Europe. This picture is taken on the island of Möja, in the village Löka, where a lot of people come to enjoy the summer games and dancing round the midsummer-pole - as you can see in the picture.

I try to get out to the archipelago as often as possible, and we usually go to Möja, where we have a house in the village Berg. Especially at Midsummer we really try extra hard not to miss out – to go there and welcome summer.

Happy Midsummer everyone!

When I was designing the crown pictogram the other day I drew a few more. So I thought it would be nice to show this one too. It is a pictogram of a more strict crown – not like the other one that was more of a joyful character. I put in a slight shading to give it another kind of feeling without adding several colours and shapes. It gives a little bit more of a sophisticated look to it.

The crown is a symbol used many times to enhance the feeling of royalty and gives the logotype, or what ever it is for, a more reliable look.

This crown has three visible spikes – but there are several ways of portraying a crown. This one is very clear – that it is a crown pictogram.

A pictogram is a very interesting way of using symbols to group different categories in lots of ways. The good thing about a pictogram is that you can even use it in one colour. The symbol itself should be clear enough to understand without having to give it lots of colours. What one can say is, that if it works as a black and white symbol for instance, then it will usually work in other colour combinations too. It is not completely wrong to colour pictograms in lots of different colours and shades. It is just that you have to be more careful how clear the pictogram is. A pictogram sometimes comes with several other pictograms and then they have to go in style. Fit each other you can call it – look like they belong - a family.

This time I drew a crown – this will associate to royalty, kings and queens, etc. In this case I have made it look a bit more playful by adding circular shapes, a kind of ball, on top of each of the crown spikes. This almost gives it a more “Joker”-like look - a kinder and more joyful crown.

Keep on having fun being the king.

A few weeks ago I was on a business trip to Frankfurt to attend a training course. On the flight back home the airplane flew up above the clouds on it's way up to 10.000 meters. And at that time just when we reached the top of the clouds I saw a different and very special sunset above the clouds. It was amazing!

Check out the photo above. The clouds look like a landscape themselves like hills but only white instead of green. And the sun which is more white and has more hazy edges than normal is about to set. I only had the camera in my cell phone so the quality could be better but nonetheless this one will almost be a framed one on my wall.

Some plain and nice decks from Wohill - this time I have just made some simple graphics that give a clean and nice look - so the skateboarder gets to wear them down. A couple of scratches and stickers would give it a personal feeling too. I have used the Wohill flamingo in white. The flamingo has a very clear silhouette.

Each deck’s main colour is still kind of earth-like - just like the board-decks I did the other day. These have more of a seventies look - which is enhanced by the bubbles too.

Skate when you get the time.

This time I have been inspired by the colour scheme from the seventies and maybe even the sixties - but I have mixed it a bit with the graphic shapes that separate the different colours. I have also used the Wohill flamingo. So one could actually call them Wohill skateboards. Now in the future, I wouldn’t mind making a few boards for Wohill - and maybe some nice sneakers too.

These boards that I have designed today, I would say, are traditional shapes of today’s boards. I remember the first time I saw a board shaped like this. It was a friend of mine that got a “Vision”. All the friends in the gang thought it was quite a remarkable board - compared to what people were riding then! The graphics on the boards then were very different too - although today’s boards do have some resemblance of the ones from back in those days.

I also like the nice long-boards for cruising – I will make some graphics for boards like that in the future.

Don’t forget to SK8!

A few weeks ago I drew a cartoon to enter a competition. The competition challenge was to write why you wanted to win a pair of DC sneakers, a pair of DC Journal more exactly. I thought about it and the idea popped into my head right away. So I started drawing the cartoon.

A few weeks later I got the pleasing e-mail from Mats at Mediapuls, the company that organized the competition. They “make” the magazine ”Sportguiden” that is distributed here and there, for free. I had won the sneakers! You should pick up a magazine if you see it some day when you are out on town. It’s got a few good articles and stuff to read.

They look really nice – the DC sneakers - white, or bright white right now, with brown details.

I’m off for a run on the skateboard and going to cruise around in my brand new sneakers.

I use a lot of different fonts and typefaces to give a special feeling or look to some of the designs I make. A lot is said with the font, even graphically. One can make patterns and shapes built with the different styles and their characteristics. This time I have used a font that is often used as headings and for text that you want the public to read - a “look at this” kind of font. I made it into a pattern that gives a city feeling to it. Like roads and streets crossing each other.

I have used our names – Randolph Guy and Niklas Waller - and also Wohill Design and Development as the text in the graphics.

This weekend the Stockholm marathon was on. It was a super day, might’ve been a bit hot for running, but the sky was blue and there was a bit of a breeze. I just want to congratulate Paul Kipkemei Kogo who won the race. It must be a great feeling to run the marathon. I myself have never run the marathon, but maybe will someday in the future. Great challenge! I do run now and then, but I must say that I run much shorter distances.

That is why today I have drawn a cartoon that is someone out running. He is giving it his best and he has a pair of giant soles on the shoes. So I, myself, better keep up the running to stay, or get in shape, and I congratulate all you runners who ran this weekend.

Keep on running!

I like black birds or black animals in general. They are mystic and beautiful. And there are really not that many that I can think of if I try really hard. Maybe you can do better

In Sweden we have two very black birds that come to my mind (except for the neb) and that is the raven and the blackbird. On our trip to Venezuela we took a trip with a boat in a delta and there I spotted two rather large black birds up in a small tree. I have no idea what they are called but to me they seem to have typical seabird features.

I heard that there was a competition going on for the Sami People’s theatre. They are looking for a good name and logotype. The Sami People live in the northern part of Scandinavia - Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. As an old tradition they have used drums and in particular one special kind of drum that has a very characteristic oval shape. The “Nċjd” used the drum. “Nċjden” was a kind of medicine-man. So I suggested that the theatre should be called “The Drum Theatre”.

I have then used the shape of the drum as a logotype. The skins on the drums often had drawings on them. That is why I have placed two “Ts” inside the oval shape. The “T” is a Sami “T” with an extra bar crossing the vertical bar. The two “Ts” stand for “Teahter Trumman”. A lot of old drawings and symbols were often written in red or dark-red. So I thought the red would be a good symbolic colour.

If you ever travel to Scandinavia – take your time and visit the Sami People.

The scroll has been used on many different occasions and in different ways…

This time I felt like making a scroll in a tattoo inspired way - a designed scroll that has leaves and plants growing around it and with the text “The W” written on the scroll. “The W” in this case referring and meaning Wohill - a scroll from Wohill.

To make the design a bit more interesting I have made the letter “W” growing out of the paper and becoming part of the leaves and plant. This gives the whole picture, or tattoo, a better feeling as well as giving the eye of the viewer an extra treat. I have given the scroll and plants a “spotted shades” style. This is to make the shading a bit smoother.

What more is said on the secret scroll from Wohill is a story for the future - but I can assure you there will be more designs to come.

Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, also referred to as Saigon, was the city in which we landed with the plane on our vacation there earlier this spring.

The tourist guide explained to us that the city has around 8 million habitants. About 300.000 of them own a car and about 4 million of them own their own motor-bike. Owning a motor-bike is actually status over there and you get really amazed of how common it is.

Today's photo is a picture of a typical street corner in Ho Chi Minh. Some road-users are driving while the others are waiting for their turn. Note the protective masks seen of some of them. This is very common and we heard it is due to pollution.

Also note the electricity pylon and lines in the background. It's amazing how their electricians can manage the structure of this. Randolph recently put up a similar picture from Thailand where this seems to be common as well.

On Monday I posted a font that was inspired by old-styled lettering with a modern feeling to it. This time I have drawn a font inspired by plants and nature. I have written the word “love” as you may be able to see. The first two mushrooms are not included in the first letter. They are there to get the right feeling and look to the whole word. The next mushroom or plant-like thing with leaves round the stem is the letter “L”. After that, the flower is the “O”, the next plant with thin leaves twirling upwards is the letter “V” and finally the bigger thicker leaves make the last letter “E”.

It is a powerful word as I said last time and it is not always meant to be easy to tell what it says right away. I have made the letters feel like part of nature and still have a message if you look carefully – in this case it is the word “LOVE”.

One could actually call it “Flower Power”.

A while back I drew a font that I thought I might use for Niklas and myself if we would write a Biography or story about Wohill and ourselves. So I sketched on some different styles of fonts and posted a few letters on Wohill. I thought they would work well and give nice character to a book – a style that is modern but still gives resemblance of the old days.

A few days ago I got a comment from Kourtney, who liked the font, and asked if I could put together the word “love” in this font. I have now put together a similar style of font and it turned out as you can see above. Hope you like it Kourtney.

Hope also that who ever gets it will enjoy it too. The word is very powerful in many ways - and used in a nice sense, it can make someone really glad.