Eriks DesignBuss

Who says designers have to work in brick-and-mortar offices?

"I wanted to explore my role as a designer,
travel and find clients."

Not Swedish design graduate Erik Olovsson, who is currently travelling around Sweden in a refitted camper van, going by the name of Eriks DesignBuss, whilst working for a variety of different clients. 

Olovsson explains "Maybe the local pizzeria needs help with new menus, the dentist a new business card, the local gallery a better logo, or the farmer a new sign… It is rare that a designer gets a deeper insight into a client’s business these days. It’s easy to hang around at the office and surf design blogs instead of finding inspiration in real life. Technology means we don't leave the office, we have Skype meetings and email contact instead of conversation around a coffee and a face to face contact. I wanted to change this.”

Eriks DesignBuss acts as a mobile studio and even contains its own print shop and photo studio.

Olovsson’s whereabouts and itinerary can be followed on his website.

Thanks to Pad19 for the information and research for this article.

Oil disaster turned into Art

In 2010 BP was responsible for the largest ever oil-spill in the history of the petroleum industry. During 87 days oil flowed unabated into the Gulf of Mexico, causing extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats.

Many cleanup activities and projects ensued but one in particular drew art from the disaster through the project OIL & WATER DO NOT MIX.

Belgian communications agency Happiness Brussels teamed up with designer Anthony Burrill to create this poster.

With a limited edition print run of 200, the posters were screen-printed with the oil from the Gulf of Mexico disaster, with all benefits going to the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL), a non-profit organisation dedicated to restoring the Gulf of Mexico’s coastal wetlands.

The process involved some very dirty hands before achieving the final poster.

All the photos of the project can be seen here

Video of the OIL & WATER DO NOT MIX project

Many thanks to Pad19 for researching information for the blog post.