Friday 20th of May – the workshop venue, normally a place where they do plastic surgery (!!) but this day was all about type. (check out the “E” in the building fasade)

I’m tired (from last nights Karlovackos) but ready for som typeface to face with the Croatians.

HOWtoWOW goes HelloTypo™.

We handed out letter cards to the workshop participants. The plan was to get the crowd to make the letter from ready mates they found round and about. But first we had to fill their heads and hearts with typographical joy and inspiration.

Aasmund with the last minute touch.

The CBS lunch room wall from the 1960′s by Herb Lubalin.

Aasmund talking about the statistics of typefaces used in a street in Melbourne. Not surprisingly, Helvetica is over represented…

But after a couple of hours talking about typography, it was time to make some.

The task: “Go out. Find ready mates. Build a letter. Take a photo” The crowd went out for fifteen minutes and came back with all sorts of sweet stuff. Flowers, dried up dog shit, bananas, car tires, medication, sugar, toys, rocks and loads more.

#

V

k

A

Ø, W, ö, Ø, M

k, X, Q, M, o, d, I

Sliding typography.

Free buttons before lunch.

Lunch. Discussing typography, Flash, billboards, Busta Rhymes, beer prices and The Pope.

Q

Typface all over the place.

Checking out what we did before lunch.

The famous kerning discussion.

&, t

Æ

A

A

Now we’re going to make a bitmap font of the ready made letters, free for download. It will be up in a couple of weeks.

We finished up the workshop with showing some type treatment done by the HelloTypo™ club members. The image over is of the font See Ark Sheep by Stian and his compadre.

I started the day out tired, and ended the day tired. But I was a happy camper. Oh’ the joy! We enjoyed to do the workshop, it was great fun.

We (Aasmund and Ståle) where invited to do a workshop at How to Wow in Zagreb the 20th of may (tomorrow). So today at 0530 AM we started our trip from Trondheim to Zagreb.

Waiting for the bus – the gif.

Tweeking the workshop whilst airborn.

Fun ad at Oslo Airport Gardemoen. Duplo ♥.

Flight two done, now to the last one. (the tee reads “Death to Helvetica”)

Stewart: “Do you want anything to drink?”

Ståle: “Do you have beer?”

Stewart (looks at Ståle like Ståle was born yesterday): “Sir, this is a German flight. What do you think?”

Ståle gets a beer…

Candy Script represented in Zagreb.

More beer label design.

The workshop is getting a finishing touch at the hotel.

Right now, this is one of 250 slides… This workshop is going to be a blast!

To Be Continued….

My good friend and Tibe T colleague Aasmund Reitan Hegglid and myself where kindly invited to Zagreb to hold a typography workshop at the 20th of may. Of course we rapidly replied with the CapsLock pressed in: YES! We are going to hold the workshop for the cream of the crop of advertising agencies in Croatia, at the event How to wow. We´re really looking forward to this event. We´re plotting the event as we speak, and it will be nine whole hours in typography heaven. If you are in Zagreb, be a clever type-junkie and come join us for a day of fun.

helloVARSKO! is history. The event was so smooth. People enjoyed the day from A to Z. VARSKO!, Kreativt Forum Trondheim and Grafill Trøndelag, helped us to unfold an amazing happening. Two great and inspiring talks from one of our favorite sweeds Robert Lindström from North Kingdom and Spanish designers Alex Trochut & Marta Cerdà.

Aasmund and Alex preparing the equipment. Soon the magic begins.

Robert going through the steps of the Adidas Teamgeist case. The crowd applauded every showreel he presented. Very cool.

Marta talking in living color.

Alex on how he made the font Neo Deco. Marta and Alex actually did they first ever talk together as a team at helloVARSKO! We recommend their talk to anyone, everywhere. People came up to us and said they was so inspired they had to run home to draw asap.

Both the swede and the spanish couple got a small present from us. A book by Norwegian photographer Rune Johansen, and a pair of jeans from local jeans brand Johnny Love.

After the talks, the movie and the barbecue, The Last Ninja played to an exited audience. Click here to see video.

Amazing Margaret Berger played with a full band. Super sweet. People danced till they spilled their beer on each other. Lovely.

If you missed out on our marvelous.

More pics and videos to come…

The helloVARSKO! posters have landed. Ah, beautiful. What a line up! It´s designed by the magical CMNCTN. The backside is designed by the spanish wonder Alex Trochut for helloVARSKO! The poster is printed at Fagtrykk and the very cool people at Arctic Paper is responseble for the lovely paper.

Holy Cow! Interactive Art Director and Co-founder of North Kingdom, Robert Lindstöm, aka Designchapel, is coming to helloVARSKO!.

We understand that you are shocked *the sound of jaws hitting the ground*. If your jaw did not hit the floor, it´s probably because you haven´t heard about North Kingdom or Designchapel. Well, you are in for a treat. Robert and the North Kingdom guys are one of the most innovating dudes around. For the second time the last three years, they are on the 2010 Creative 50 list. It’s a list where Ad Age and Creativity celebrate the year’s most inspiring thinkers and innovators (other people on that list: Lady Gaga, Daniel Ek, Michael Lebowitz and Spike Jonze and a 45 others…

In 2004 North Kingdom created Vodafone Future which became the worlds most awarded website that year. They have won a pile of shiny awards at the Cannes Cyber Lions, a couple of D&AD awards, gold here, gold there. Gold everywhere. They work with clients like Vodafone, Adidas, Coke Zero, WWF, Toyota and so on…

So now, with the line up we have put together, you no longer have an excuse for not participating in our fabulous event.

While you wait, take a look at this:

helloVARSKO! will make you smarter, more creative and prettier. No Lie!

The exclusive line of speakers we have had in the four year history of VARSKO! looks like this: Bjørn Brochmann (NOR), Yokoland (NOR), Dizel&Sate (S), Chris Rubino (USA), Si Scott (UK), Ian Anderson (UK), Alex Trochut (ESP), Marta Cerdá Alimbau (ESP), Robert Lindström (S).

A few days ago we booked the last band for our event. We were suppose to revile the name of the band next monday, but we can´t wait. We´re to eager to tell you about our beautiful booking. The Trondheim located, Binary pop playing band, The Last Ninja is the pixel-topping on the cake.

The Last Ninja is a band who makes their music with, among other things, old Nintendo machines. They are fast. They are visual. The rumor on the street tells us that they will bring some really sweet graphics to raise their show to a higher level. An unlocked level. We hope you have a secret extra life, because this is going to be a toll for your dancing shoes.

While you wait, see this music video ten times in a row.

Become a fan of The Last Ninja on FaceBook.

helloVARSKO! gets better for each day. Yay!

We already look forward to July 3rd, no doubt about that, but now we are so pleased with our plans for the day that we want to fast forward and have fun now! Not only are we screening Typeface, and getting a visit from one of the very best designers in Europe. No, no. That is not enough for us. We want you people to dance. So we have booked three marvelous artists whom will finish up our fantastic day.

CAPTAIN CREDIBLE is pleasing our ears/eyes with his computer generated crazy music show. While you wait take a look on his site and enjoy this video of him from Pstereo 08

MARGARET BERGER is also coming to sprinkle sweetness over us at Byscenen on July 3rd. We so are looking forward to seeing Margaret do her thing and taking helloVARSKO! to the next level. (Bonus info: helloVARSKO! is all about typography and designer Joakim Jansson custom typography for each page in the booklet of Margaret Bergers album, Pretty Scary Silver Fairy. This we like.) Check out this and rehearse on your super groovy dance floor moves.

last but not least mr NILS BECH is joining the party and brings his friend BENDIK GISKE. So helloVARSKO! is going contemporary up in this. NILS says it best on his MySpace: “Nils Bech is a classically trained singer with a focus on performative aspects. An integral part of the Norwegian art, fashion, and music scene, he has taken part in exhibitions of contemporary art in New York, Miami, Milan, Zürich, Basel, Berlin,Cologne, London, Vienna and Oslo, as well as performances at the Norwegian Opera House and the National Theater.” And now he is making us look good. Our guess is that your dancing shoes will be worn out, and that you´ll learn a few new dancing moves while your at it. Enjoy Nils live at Øya 09:

helloVARSKO! -> it´s getting better and better and better.

A graphic design student at NKF named Gunn Helene, is eagerly looking forward to hearing Alex Trochut talk about his work on July 3rd. So much that the teaser design he made for helloVARSKO! is now pimping her desktop. She sent it to us. Smart. You, Gunn Helene, will get a helloVARSKO! prize.

This we like.

(If you got any helloVARSKO! material (in any way), send it to us (staale@varsko.org). Perhaps we have a prize for you.)

Oh, yes. You better believe it. It is true. HelloTypo™ and friends delivers again. We have been so lucky that the Spanish wonder, mr Alex Trochut, have decided to pay us a visit. 3rd of july he and his talented girlfriend (and coworker) Marta Cerdà Alimbau are taking the podium and going to do a show&tell. We are so pleased that Alex and Marta is taking the trip up to the capitol of mustaches, Trondheim, to do a talk and drink Dahls with us. So in addition to the Typeface screening we now give you two sweet lecture holders. Lucky you!

Alex even made a teaser design for us.

Want to see more of the magic work of Alex and Marta click “read more”.

The five images above is made by Alex. Be a clever noodle and bookmark his Behance site also. (we presume you all ready have bookmarked his personal site)

This one is a collaboration between Alex and Marta.

The last images is made by Marta. Check out her profile on Behance also!

So now you can start saving up your paychecks. Come to Trondheim and Byscenen to enjoy a full day of VARSKO! heaven at helloVARSKO!

helloVARSKO! is a VARSKO! and HelloTypo™ initiative in collaboration with Kreativt Forum Trondheim, Grafill Trøndelag, Byscenen and BrukBar/Supa. You better get your party shoes polished, this is going to get rough.

As we´ve stated earlier, we are collaborating with the design festival VARSKO! to make the sweetest  typographical event known to mankind come to life in Trondheim. The city of our heart. Now we can release the first name on our beautiful list. We´re proud to announce that we, on the 3rd of july, are screening the award winning documentary Typeface. We have blogged about the movie before, but now we give you the Norwegian premiere.  Typeface, by Justine Nagan, is a a documentary on American typography and graphic design. Read more here.

Enjoy the trailer:

On the 3rd of July VARSKO! will be hosting an event at Byscenen, Trondheim that will blow your mind. VARSKO! and HelloTypo™ merges to create a mix of graphic design and typography. We will collaborate with Grafill Trøndelag and Kreativt Forum Trondheim to make it extra awesome. Book the date in your calendar, tell your friends and stay tuned for news coming your way!

Magnus Holder Bjørk

Knut-Erik Øverjord

Alex Trochut

Our friends at Varsko has organized this year’s Christmas calendar in Trondheim. 24 artists have agreed to decorate the church in December. A new piece of art is revealed by the day. The pieces are displayed on the facade of the church, at the top of Nordre gate. Take a look at Varsko for more goodies.

We’ve got some great names contributing on the VARSKO! wishes starting 1st of december here in Trondheim. A great projected christmas calendar on Vår Frue Kirke (Old historic church in Trondheim). We can’t wait to see the results of artists like Alex Trochut, Si Scott, Chris Rubino, Are Kleivan, Jens K Styve and many more. Here’s just a taste of the work Alex Trochut are making.

Check out the site here for all the action.