a little collection of weather...

inner and outer space.

the go-getter

I loved this film. Made me wanna steal a car and go.

that's an asshole burning!

That's the smell of an asshole burning from Stina Johansson on Vimeo.
A bit pathetic and typical, I know. But still quite funny to watch.

finally the fall!

A met deadline. Crappy outcome, but what does it matter. I've enjoyed the freedom of not having a project today. Not worried sick over dissertation research, or the anxiety of not having a strong idea. This freedom, however short, is freakin amazing. So I, and my dear house mates, whatched a movie tonight. A movie I've longed to see for a very long time: The Fall. I think it was absolutely wonderful. Beautiful. Inspirational. Recognisable. And with an extremely cute and chubby little girl and wow-he's-awesome Lee Pace. Sweet. I think I'll sleep well tonight.

no bright tomorrow, mr chamorro!

Ah, since nobody reads my blog, I feel no shame whatsoever to publish this little drawing. I had the idea while I had my morning shower, and it kind of made my day, I think. Such a lovely new mantra... Because unlike perverted, inpregnating, sickos from 3rd world countries - I do have a bright tomorrow. So fuck you, Mr Chamorro - really - fuck you!

inspiration.

All of a sudden I long even more to go back to New York. I'm going to have so much fun there, and hopefully United States will be a better country by then. I really love the fact that he mentions his campaign as the best in history in this speech, because it's rather hopeful for a graphic designer to know that perhaps as little as the right message on a poster can change things.

Smile of the day...

Welcome to Tom Cruise's house

This entry is a little overdue, but still worth mentioning... This is my final piece of exhibition design about the Tom Cruise conspiracy. You're supposed to read the stuff on the website before you come to the exhibition, because the whole physical place is intended to feel as Tom Cruise's actual house, and you can see all the proof for yourself. Tom Cruise's house

Gehopsen?

In die sofa gehopsen, oder nicht in die sofa gehopsen.

Trophies

Have been drawing millions and millions of Penelope Cruzes, Nicole Kidmans and Mimi Rogers'. Right up is drawings of lazor beeming Toms.

fucking awesome!

http://www.csleboda.com/

Thanks, Simon, for the link.

i'm in love...

... the dinosaur talk, damn, that's were he blew me away...

Design event 08 in Newcastle

Leaving Carlisle for just a few hours is like an adventure to a different country. Today I went to Newcaslte with my friends Rushe and Mikaela. It was such a thrill. Just going by train is something extraordinary, which is quite silly. We went around in the city for a while, then we headed for the Design Event 08 talk from Timorous Beasties (such a weird name!). It was awesme! Wallpaper and textile design are normally not my field, but it's infuenced by graphic design (or vise versa), so in that sense it was highly relevant to what I'm doing too. It was really interesting anyway and very inspirational. Before we jumped on the train back to Carlisle, we went for sushi. Mmm, just such a perfect ending to a great day! All of a sudden it felt (and looked) like I was back in Korea. Nari, if you read this, I really miss you!

http://www.timorousbeasties.com

A commited design

"A commited design needs to be backed up by a commited designer and vice versa", meaning: A good design should have a designer who can talk about it in a good way, likewise an articulate designer should have work that meets the same standards as the talking. This little thing came to light through a conversation with my dear friend Rushe. I stayed up until 2.30 to finish the drawing inside my sketchbook, which is perhaps why there's a typo in it...

Beauty by numbers

According to the golden ratio I'm only partly beautiful, or perhaps not at all.

Being president is fun!

http://www.palinaspresident.com/

This guy is hilarious!

Makes me want to have him around in the house to do crazy stuff and cheer me up whenever I'm down.

Eduardo Recife vs. Lucky Street

I think Eduardo Recife (misprintedtype.com) has been to Lucky Street... He has a gorgeous new website up by the way. I'm creatively suicidal everytime I have a look at his work.

Moleskine inspiration

There's a whole series of these things on youtube. Some are truely great!

Finally finished...

The "Dinosaurs of America today"/statistics brief is finally finished, which means my dino-mania will hopefully cool down a little bit.

I won the battle!

I had a photographic battle with my dear dad at my sister's wedding. We both took hundreds of pictures and competed in taking the best ones. And looki looki, who is the photographer of the picture they choose to put in the news paper?

Can't stop designing...

This is a tribute to deliciously ugly photographs from the 60's, to my family and to a very good song by Regina Spektor. The time is 0.42 and I just can't stop designing...

Today's soundtrack

The latest video!

Be creative, not a creationist. from Stina Johansson on Vimeo.

Look mummy, I've learned how to ride a dino!

Bye bye!

Technology has never been my thing, and I'm not into having cool gadgets. All I need is my baby Macie, my sketchbook and colour pencils. Getting rid of expensive baggage sure feels good! But I must say it's funny that Stina is such a hard name for English speakers to dial into their heads. (I noticed this over in United States firstly, where they called me Dina, Christina, Satine and Sanity - geez!) I must have come off as a real goof to the buyer of this Cintiq Wacom, revealing my name's not Tina after several conversations on the phone and in messages...

When I was dying without creativity...

Inspiration from Stina Johansson on Vimeo.
Found this when I was searching for old pictures. This video is 3 years old, and from the time when I was working as a slave with news paper deliveries and as a full-time cashier in a food store. Back in these days I was literally scared to death if I didn't have anything creative in my life. Even though my spare time was tops 3 hours per day, I used it all to draw, paint, take pictures, write, create designs in the computer and learn how to sow and so on. This movie is quite sad to took at, because there was such a melancholic feeling to everything I did. But it also makes me positive. I know that if I don't do anything creative, the creativity will always hunt me down and find me, no matter where I am. The imagery was shot in Sweden, Norway, France, Czech Republic and Greece.

I am creative, not a creationist.

After seeing a couple of lectures online on dinosaurs and creationism, it strikes me that these people actually wants to cover up extremely important parts of history, just to make everything match in their little happy fairytale about garden of Eden. Kind of like what the Nazis did about jewish people in the WW2. They have kidnapped dinosaurs and use them as a tool to promote their brainwashing bullshit! And it's becomming bigger and bigger in the United States. This is a slap in the face to every scientist on this planet. When candidates for the American presidency actually believes dinosaurs and humans coexisted, we should really start to do something. So that's why I am a designer against creationism.

Don't be a dinosaur!

Some dinosaurs were just a litte bit smarter than plants...

Jesus cares for all baby dinos

Can it be any more stupid than this?

Feel free to comment, I'm speachless from this stupidity.

Movie of the day

Mogollon

A new favourite.
http://mogollon-ny.com

Dino fat

current project: dino statistics vs. fat americans.
(did you know that 100% of all dinosaurs slept naked, although they were huge and fat)

A gift!

Came back to Carlisle yesterday and was happily met by two lovely housemates and a package from an anonymous sender. The package contained a notebook and these coiour pencils. As it turned out it was all some freebies from a company called Derwent, and a girl working there with the name Rebecca. Apparently she had seen my website and liked my drawings, and since she was an ex student at my current school, she decided to surprise me with these lovely gifts. Thank you so much, Rebecca! That made my day!

I miss Korea...

Korea from Stina Johansson on Vimeo.

Hats off to real students!

Hats off to the students who have a schedule and attend lectures everyday. Hats off to those who are members of student assosiations or organisations and take the time to attend meetings beside the studies. Hats off to the people who write essays in an academic language from the first week at uni. Hats off to the teenagers who study from 08.00-23.00 just to get the grades necessary to be able to apply for a university. Hats off to the kids who spend their summer holidays by doing extra homework and having private tutors. Hats off to the ones who have tests and exams.
You all make me feel like a morron, like an American produced television documentary. Because I am nowhere near those acheivements or put under that sort of stress. I am not wipped with that knowledge, I don't have that resource of education and correct and precise answers. And it makes me feel ashamed whenever somebody asks. Because I'm not a morron, I'm not lazy or wasting my time looking for the right feeling. I'm just a graphic design student at the wrong place, and I find it really hard to explain why I'm going back to a 3rd year of this. I guess I'm just the kind of person who can't give up on anything.

Damn I'm good!

Just finished and published my website Stingosaurus! I feel mighty proud and am going to spoil myself with ice cream because I've been so good and hard-working for the last three days. Make sure to check it out here: http://www.stingosaurus.com - especially all you intern-seeking design companies!

Life is great after all.

Wow, I'm for real working on my website now. And finally I get up early in the morning. Everything because of new experiences and knowledge from faraway countries. I don't know what to say to not make this post cheesy, but I'm just so thankful for everthing this summer. For everyone who spent it with me and made me feel safe in my skin. I love you all.

The cutest country in the world!

Wondergirls - I'm so hot
(They play this song EVERYWHERE all the time - and yes, I know the moves!)

I'm writing this at the end of a very nice trip to Korea - the cutest country I've ever been to. My impressions from this place are very friendly, nice, delicious and happy. There are mountains everywhere and cute little characters on all the posters and logos and signs. The people are sometimes looking at me in a very strange way because I'm a foreigner. It's quite oncomfortable sometimes, but I guess I sort of stand out from the black-haired brown-eyed crowd. Whenever I see another foreigner I tend to stare in the same way and it's almost as though I see a likeness in these people, as if we are the same, neighbours, friends, of the same kind. We always greet each other, give a friendly nod or smile.

During the first four days in Korea I spent some time in Seoul with my friend Nari and her sister Nare. We saw old royal temples, a food-eating contest, went to the cinema, saw a musical (in Korean) and went to the zoo. I was dazzled by the city lights at night in Seoul and amazed by all the little details that seem to be on all things. Everything screams 'happy', a little bit like Japanese manga/ carzy game show culture, but with a softer and more calm touch.

On the first sunday, after visiting the zoo we went by train to Pusan (city number two), to Nari's family. They litterally live on a hill and I could smell the ocean from leaving the train station. For the last eight days I've been around this city and grown more and more fond of it. It's kind of the perfect city in my eyes; a beautiful sandy beach, good shopping, really nice views, good hiking-opportunities, attractions and parks etc. It is a big city of 3 million people, but it feels much more calm and friendly than Seoul. Not to mention, it's much cheaper. Nari and I, along with various friends and family members have been on so many adventures now, seeing so many places, experiensing so many new things, I don't even know where to begin. Not only my camera knows all the things we've done.

Perhaps my strongest memory from here will be all the delisious food we've had. Nari made sure that I would try as many different kinds of food as possible. And it has never been bad. I'm a total sucker for the Korean cuisine by now. Eating with chop sticks and all (with various success), sometimes sitting on the floor, sometimes grilling the food right at the table.

Yep, to sum up - I love Korea!

Lucky Street # 13

The summer is moving forward into August with typical Swedish weather. I'm stubborn in my decision to not wear socks, although it's bloody freezing. My days are filled with kisses, Harry Potter- escapism, fear of the second floor (yes, I'm such a baby), weird weird dreams and movies. My uncle and his kids were staying for a couple of days, which made everything a little bit more noicy and fun, but now I'm just waiting for the sun to come back. In a way it's very peaceful and simple. Just living and not worrying too much. But I know it's just the nature of summer. Soon I will really have to think about a 3rd year of studies. Another year to undure Carlisle and a year to really prove that I know something about design. The things is just that... I don't even know what graphic design is. Still.

and I just love this song too...

The Ting Tings - That's not my name
I can't get this song off my head. It's ideal for running exercise and I have started to wake up with this song in my head. Just love it! I think this is going to be the new summer pain (haha, don't know if that's the correct Englisg translation, but it's what it means in Swedish)

riding my bike in dispair

This is my new favourite bicycle-song. Especially when crusing around the outer parts of the town, watching the yellow fields, blue sky, ragged road and feeling my way-too-long hair flow in the back of my head. Or watching people eat ice cream in the harbour and minding my speed when I suddenly come to a curve on the pavement. I like to take rides on my bike.
Today I rode in dispair. After an aweful, animal-like scream of pain and death last night, and the morning conclusion that Amie didn't come for breakfast, we all suspected the worst. On the search for the missing cat I said to my mum: "When searching for a missing person, one shall always consider the person alive until proven otherwise". But I had strong doubts myself.
Just the bare thought of having to spend the summer without her broke my heart. She's my little sweety, whoever would want to hurt her? She's the cutest thing in this world! It made me feel like 8 years old, scared and misplaced and to such an incredible extent powerless - all I wanted was to be able to hold her again.
Shortly after coming home from my ride, our neihgbour invited us to fika (strangely enough in our own garden, but that's just the way it is over here). And after about half an hour of talk something dark suddenly appeared in the corner of our eyes. We could barely believe our eyes, but there she was, alive and well - our little Amelie. Mum almost cried and we spoiled the cat with a thousand of kisses and candys. For her it was probably just another ordinary day, and she must have wondered what the hell all the fuss was about.

Just admiring general greatness...

Sketch by James Jean, who has now made a name of himself as a major inspiration in fashion through a fantsy influenced wallpaper design for Prada. I wish I could steal this guy's drawing skills... http://www.jamesjean.com


Lucy McRae and Bart Hess's photographs of the human body in a completely new and cool way through fashion and archetecture. Truely amazing! http://www.lucyandbart.blogspot.com/

God, I'm so lazy! I can't even start working on my website. What piece of crap for a designer am I?!

Hats off to Spain!

I don't know what it is with Germany. They are always so hated in fotball (soccer for you americans...). We say that they are boring, their game is boring. But I think we, somewhere in the back of our heads, involve world history into the sport when we find our favourite teams. Nazi Germany is more known to a wider audience than the cruel civil war of Spain. But putting that apart I still think that Spain was the best team of the Euro 2008 and a worthy winner. They have a very fun and interesting game that is good fun to watch. And it doesn't hurt to see Casillas in action... But perhaps my main reason why I wanted Spain to win and not Germany was simply because Germany always ends up in the final or semi finals. They are like the popular kid in school who always win the prizes, gets the hottest girls and probably look naturally gorgeous. Spain, in the other hand, is the brilliant kid with the undiscovered talent and lack of self-asteam. He's not really bullied, but he knows his place and can therefor never be best at anything. And that's why I love to see Spain win, to kick the ass of the popular kid who will get everything he wants anyway. That's the way life should always be. Congrats to Spain!

The Happening

I went to the oh-so-big city of Skövde to see The Happening tonight with my family. Had been looking forward to see this movie for a while now. I am quite a fan of M. Night Shyamalan. Saw the trailer on a huge screen while waiting for a train in London and was quite hooked from what I saw. But I was a bit disappointed. From the start it was very predictable and lacked in credibility and the explainations for things were very lame. The main story was, however, very fascinating and just like all Shyamalan's work - very scary. And I liked Mark Walberg and Zooey Deschanel's characters, they felt like people I would have liked spending a chilled out evening at home with. Reckon it was about time for Shyamalan to make his characters something else than depressed and slow-moving. I kept thinking all the time that maybe the story was an idea he had after recieving complaints of his characters being too suicidal.
On the way back home my brother and I made jokes about feeding our cat with our own arms (if you don't see the movie you will not get that...)

My reason

Some members of my family can't stand the fact that every channel is broadcasting something from the Euro 2008. They can't see the fun in running after a ball for 90 minutes. Hehe, they just haven't seen it like I do. Just check this guy out and cross your fingers for a Spanish victory!



(He's name is Iker Casillas and he's the goalkeeper of Spain.)

mistery of the the day

Why am I so cold? Why have I spent the last few days under a blanket, watching movies, cuddling with cats and feeling sorry for the Turkish fotball team? I found the answer today; I think it's summer and therefor not wearing socks, and my mother has a passion for opening doors without closing them. And now, wearing ugly purple socks with an ancient name-tag, I feel like a new person. I have the answers to everything in this world and I feel like fixing my bike.

North Country

I saw a real good film the other day with my friends, it was a real feminist-evening. More people should see it, I think.

Hey Mike!

I've been printing some t-shirts this week. 3 of them turned into ink-bleeding disasters, but this one looked way better than I expected. It's a letter for Mike Perry. He sent me a t-shirt when his book Handjob didn't arrive on time, so this is my way of saying thank you. I hope he'll like it. And I suppose there's no secret I want to have an internship in his studio next spring. That would be a dream come true...

Climbing trees

I found a forest today. It was one of those happy mistakes you get sometimes when you go for a walk and chose a different direction than you normally take. So I walked into this forest, which even had a name (which I don't remember). Anyway, it was beautiful. Reminded me about the Pennsylvanian forest that surrounded my camp last summer (but without the bears), or the areas around the lake back home. It was such a thrill to, for once, discover something wonderful in this city. Made my mind imagine Robin Hood and his gang behind every tree-trunk. There were huge trees and nice paths and when I came to one particular tree I just got this childish desire to climb it. So I did. I, Stina Johansson 22 years old, climbed a tree. It was a piece of cake and damn it was high! But it was kind of made for climbing and I could have stayed there all day. Then two young guys, around 15-16 years old, came walking through the path and when they passed the tree they shouted "freak!". I strangely enough didn't take afence but it made me realise I was nowhere else than in Carlisle...

inspiration, a while ago

Seen from a car from Stina Johansson on Vimeo.
this was a little road trip I had with my parents and brother a while ago. they had flewn over from sweden to visit, and they rented this car so that we could go to liverpool. I was listening to this song (don't know who has done it, but it's called "graveyard girl") and it just felt so fresh and optimistic and just the feeling of sitting in a car, going far from carlisle, gave me such an inspiration an energy to create beautiful things. i had a hundred ideas during this ride.

stuck in Carlisle

I'm sitting in my room hearing Stefan and Anders play GTA downstairs. I have a project to do that I don't need to do (but if I keep putting it up for the future I'm afraid bad things will happen, it's a very cursed project). Everyone has gone home already and I miss them badly. I long for adventure and late summer nights, I'm almost looking forward to live in my grandma's old house for the whole summer, but most of all I just miss my friends to be frankly honest. I'm so fed up with this city and this country. I can't get my head around how anyone would ever want to stay here for ever. Or maybe the people who do stay here just have hell of a lot of friends with them...

maybe i should say hi?

I tend to start new blogs but I don't seem to stick to them for long. This time I've decided to just write whatever comes to me and I will not go under a theme. It's not for anyone in particular, just for anyone who wants to listen. So, yes, this is hello. My name is Stina and I like to think I'm a Graphic Designer. Many people out there seem to think that graphic design is all about looking cool and having a mysterious/ attractive attitude towards things. I've come to realise it's the opposite. For some people it works to be superficial and present a funky image. But to me that is like defeating the purpose of graphic design. No image is worth showing if it doesn't mean anything. Graphic design is a fucking struggle and a bitch, but I love it, because it's just like life in a way. It's all about communication and interpreting moods, styles, attitudes to convey a message. As a graphic design student, people always ask me where I want to be in this business after I graduate. I don't know the answer to that question yet, but hopefully this blog will bring me closer to it. You are more than welcome to join me on this quest.