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Form/Colour/Function
The simplicity of Scandinavian Design has its origin in these three elements.
In Scandinavia we have a long and well-established tradition for our approach to the design process, and we are respected for it worldwide. Modern Scandinavian design dates back to the beginning of the 20th century; it is based on – or supported by – a moral and humanistic attitude that goes further back, to Lutheranism.
We have also established a tradition of cooperation – architects, industrial designers, graphic designers, textile designers, interior designers – that ensures a professionalism in the products or buildings that is implemented from the very beginning.
The cooperation between Sweden and Denmark, producing the Öresund Train, is an example of this Scandinavian design tradition and of this cooperation among designers of different disciplines. I was asked to join the design team – to make the colour setting for the train. With focus on the three basic elements, I started experimenting with colours in the different materials of the train: glass, metal... letting the colours eventually become the guidelines for the entrances, placing of the doors, sections, and so on.
Another brilliant example is the SAS, the Scandinavian Airline System: Form, colour, function – and the cooperation of designers – beautifully illustrated. The result is magnificent, elegant, and carried through down to the minutest details.
Danish Air Transport, DAT, is a Danish airline, operating everything from fixed scheduled flights to charter and transport assignments. During the early nineties I created a corporate identity programme and colour palette for the company. When I was introduced to the project in 1990, Danish Air Transport had bought a small airplane. They asked me to ‘add’ something to it, build its identity, make it be seen on the runway among the established airline companies. I started adding colours that strongly emphasized the plane’s form, especially when it was standing alone among the other, bigger engines.
Within a short period of time Danish Air Transport gained the reputation of ‘the company with multicoloured planes’. DAT bought additional planes within a year of their foundation. They were of course coloured the same way – but suddenly the ‘small affair’ had grown big. It had become serious business! We had to rethink the whole idea of the airplanes. The logo and the colours of the aircraft had to illustrate the diversity of their product range. The solution now was a complete design program, with logotype, identity and more. The design process – from ‘for just one plane’ to a large business – was what made the project so exciting. ‘We are not afraid of appearing a bit different; we are just like our aircraft: flexible and colourful,’ the founders boast. The ‘small’ concept survived and added to their success. Choosing this kind of colour palette has made it possible for DAT to establish its own, distinct visual identity. No one can be mistaken: ‘Here comes a plane from Danish Air Transport.’
Finn Nygaard, Fredensborg (Denmark), 2006
Essay taken from 'AGI: Graphic Design Since 1950' by Ben & Elly Bos