decorated farmhouses of hälsingland
spring 2020 • identity + brand, print, & ux/ui
During my last semester in college, I took a class called Graphic Design Synthesis. For this class, my peers and I were tasked with selecting a site from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site Organization to create a specific brand & identity and a full suite of designed items and assets for them. The UNESCO World Heritage Site Organization allocates funds to protect landmarks or geographic areas that hold cultural, historical, scientific, or another form of significance.
I chose the Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland, which are seven out of thousands of lavish Swedish farmhouses designed by anonymous Dalarna artisans for rich farmers. These farmhouses were built during the 19th century when the farmers in Hälsingland valley were prosperous and began to invest their wealth in building their homes. The farmhouses featured large rooms, designed in baroque and rococo style, that were used to host festivals and important life events like weddings. The rich history of craftsmanship, vernacular architecture, and artistry in these farmhouses helped me create a sophisticated brand. I implemented this brand over various mediums and designs.
about the brand
The Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland hold deep historical significance in Sweden. Drawing inspiration from the decorative style of the farmhouses, we created various elements that would showcase the unique beauty of these landmarks. The brand identity seeks to uplift this artisanship by directly pulling from the unique visual language of the lavish and intricate structures. Another key goal of the brand is to raise global awareness of this little known cultural treasure.
research & inital designs
I began this project by researching different World Heritage Sites. I selected the Decorated Farmhouses in Hälsingland because of the detailed craftsmanship, my Swedish ancestry, and a desire to learn more about Scandinavian culture. As a first step of building an identity for the site, I pursued three creative directions for the logo. To the left are some of my initial designs.
brand identity
For the Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland, all the brand elements were inspired by the exterior and interior designs of the farmhouses. I created a floral square logo mark to represent the craftsmanship that went into building the homes. The typefaces, Soleil and Hatch Italic were selected for Soleil's geometric typographic style and structure and Hatch's ornate flares. The fifth element of the brand, which is usually a pattern, is a floral and bird pattern rooted in the rococo style seen in the interior design of the wall paintings found in the homes.
stationery suite
For the stationery suite I designed a letterhead for everyday correspondence, a formal letterhead, two corresponding envelopes, an informational sheet to be handed out at the locations, and a set of three different business card designs.
advertisement series
We were also asked to design a set of three New Yorker advertisements to promote an exhibition of artifacts and photographs of the cultural site. I chose to show images of the farmhouses now, historical photographs of the farmers that lived in the Hälsingland valley, and the Dalarna artisans that designed the homes.
site sign
As part of the brand identity, I designed three-dimensional signs to be displayed at one of the farmhouses in Sweden. The signs tell a brief description of the importance of the Decorated Farmhouses and were typeset in the six major languages plus the site's native language.
For my site, I chose to hang the signs from ornate timber frames to echo the doorways in the Decorated Farmhouses. There are eight signs in total. Seven out of the eight have a description of the site in Swedish, English, Chinese, Arabic, Spanish, French, and Russian. The eighth sign has a large Decorated Farmhouses’ logo. Each sign is 9 feet tall and 6.75 feet wide.
website design
In addition to the print and site sign designs, I created a landing page for the Decorated Farmhouses website. For the website, I wanted the historical importance of the site to be at the forefront of the design. I achieved this by highlighting the historical events that took place in the copy and used historical pictures alongside current photographs of the farmhouses. To ensure that the web presence felt connected to the other designed objects, I incorporated the patterns and color blocking seen in the advertisements and the booklet. I also built out what the landing page would look like at different screen sizes.
booklet
I created a booklet that would inform individuals who visited the Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland about the history of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Organization and their goals as an institution. This booklet also contains two articles discussing the cultural and historical significance of the Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland.
I designed the booklet to be two squares. The larger square booklet contains the UNESCO World Heritage Site article, and the smaller square booklet contains the Decorated Farmhouses articles. The two booklets were bound together using saddle stitch binding.
* Due to my inability to travel to the Decorated Farmhouses while working on this project, the photography I used was found on the internet. Here are some of the photographer's work that I used: Single Decorated Farmhouse Bortom Åa by Jakob Dahlstrom, and "Room with wall mural by the Blue Painter'' photograph by Jakob Dahlstrom. The photograph used in my site sign mockup is by Albertine Slotboom. All historical photos can be found on www.regiongavleborg.se.