55 Degrees North: Contemporary Scandinavian Graphic Design

In the last five years a new wave of designers have put Scandinavia at the forefront of graphic design. Their prolific output, especially on the web, has influenced designers and design audiences worldwide. Many are now working abroad in cities such as London and New York. Scandinavian designers are producing cult sites, for example the Danish k10k.com (designed by Toke Nygaard and Michael Schmidt) and Swedish collective Acne's online gaming community netbabyworld.com. At the other end of the scale is Norwegian illustrator Kim Hiorthoy, an important and original new voice in graphic design whose work is distinguished by its seeming rejection of the perfection of digital design in favour of painting, collage and photography. Through a sequence of varied work, 55[degrees] North reveals what contemporary Scandinavian graphic design is, who produces it, where they live, which media they use, and what influences them in their work.

By: Patrick Sundqvist