About the logo

The logo in the upper right corner, is part of the first letter in my name. It’s Ø – a letter used only three places in the world; Norway, Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Wikipedia says…

The vowel is not to be confused with the slashed zero.

I always write my name Oyvind online, as most people wouldn’t even know where to find Ø on their keyboards. So on Facebook etc., I’m Oyvind (see next column).

I may try other fonts in the logo later, and experience with the colors. Here’s how it is at the moment:

Oyvind logo

The orange and red colors are from Edvard Munch’s world famous painting “The scream”. Maybe the world’s most famous painting (battling with Mona Lisa), The Scream is referenced in just about all art and culture ever made. Wikipedia has an extensive list if you’re curious.

The Scream

“The Scream” – by Edvard Munch – can be seen at Munch-museet (The Munch Museum) in Oslo.

Munch himself said about “The Scream”:

I was out walking with two friends – the sun began to set – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an endless scream passing through nature.

The orange and the red in the logo is picked from the painting. So is the almost black on the headlines and some greens. So that’s my little tip if you want a color scheme for a project, website or product. Steal from the real masters of color. Find a piece of art you really like (I love “The Scream” – it’s an amazing piece of art), put it into Photoshop and sample colors from it. Make a palette. If you’re on OS X, drag the colors to the color palette all apps use, and you’ll be able to use them on the web, in graphic programs, word processing etc.

What do you think?

I wasn’t sure that I needed a logo. But I was playing with Photoshop, and tried out parts of letters for another project. Then I hit the Ø by mistake (I was trying other letters), and the idea was born. The square and “The Scream” colors came later. Opinions welcome in the comments or anywhere else you see me (online and for real).