Brief
Eventyrlysten: The Joy of Norway is my response to the International Society of Typographic Designers student award 2024 competition. The brief centred around the idea of 'Joybringers' and focused on how in an increasingly tense and anxious world, the need for joy to improve mental health and well-being was more essential than ever.
The brief was clear that not only should personal Joybringers be explored, but also promoted and supported with evidence and personal experience. The audience should feel encouraged and inspired by a typographic tour-de-force to embrace the Joybringers explored.
Research and Development
The project began with looking at finding a definition of joy that could be used throughout the final concepts. Through looking at scientific journals I discovered that 'joy is often found between love and surprise' on emotional charts and that joy itself is the result of a 'feeling of communion' with the natural world and our intimate community.
I also noted that the brief mentioned how Finland topped the World Happiness Report year after year and began to research why a country with such extreme winters had such high satisfaction levels.
In 2018 I was lucky enough to live in Arctic Norway for ten months. My research then focussed on the Joybringers I found living in Lofoten, the different definitions of Joybringers in Scandinavian culture (Lykke, Friluftsliv and Koselig) and what I learned about finding joy in surprising places.
Strategy
To tie the project to my personal story and encourage others to embrace the Joy of Norway, I decided to create a piece that was inspired by my own travel journals. This is reflected in the size of the book, the paper stock selected to make it and the image treatment and styling.
Most importantly, I also selected typefaces and styles that replicated the feel of a memory book or travel guide. In particular the use of Menlo reversed on black was selected to feel like labels used to categorise photos.
I wanted both a feeling of nostalgia and excitement to come from this book so that it reflected my personal journey but also inspired others to adopt some of the concepts for themselves.
I also use typefaces from Scandinavian type foundries throughout as a way to bring the clean, functional yet characterful nature of Scandinavian design into the piece.
The book is an exploration of Norwegian concepts that are introduced with Section Dividers and followed with an explanation of the words meaning. Throughout the project I was reminded that my stay in Lofoten was ultimately one of the biggest adventures of my life so far. For this reason it is titled 'Eventyrlysten' which means 'adventurous' or the 'joy of adventure'
