#nonformat

Non-Format is a company which studios are located in Norway and in the USA. They are very versatile graphic designers who are best known for their typography work. Non-Format make posters, album covers, branding and many more for big companies known globally as well as the smaller ones.

Their style is very minimalistic - they use a lot of geometrical shapes and straight lines. A lot of their designs consist of typography only. As opposed to be frank!, they are focused mainly on the artistic aspects of their designs which is especially visible in their web design projects (including their own website). Although they look beautiful, they are not easy to use, intuitive and they are monotonous.

Non-Format Design Agency was founded by Kjell Ekhorn and Jon Forss. They have two agencies on either side of the Atlantic; one in the Twin Cities, USA and one in Oslo, Norway. They are a diverse design company that create projects from typography, editorials, image making, apparel, music packaging, brand development etc.

“Despite our reputation for expressive imagery and custom typography our firm conviction is that each and every one of our design solutions must balance the desire to connect with individuals on an emotional level with the need for direct, strategic and effective communication.”

I chose to look into this design agency after finding some of their beautiful editorials on Pinterest. When I went on their website I discovered they had created many more of the same calibre. I particularly like the way they use a strong typographic element in their spreads. 

I admire the use of imagery and typography in the Cultural Initiative - Event Programme. Designed for an art, fashion and music festival hosted by Sanahunt, the luxury fashion store in Kiev, Ukraine.  This one stood out to me as inspiration for my own look-book as the agency actually designed their own typeface for this project and their use of imagery is interesting. The geometric shapes of the typography is detailed and a compelling element to the design.

I haven’t used my own typeface but I have took inspiration in the sense of using a drawing tablet to integrate my own handwriting into my look-book.