It was a classic graphic designers homeschooling for me. I got my hands dirty with all the usual suspects like club promoters, small business owners,friends and family in need of l'arte. Anyone who needed design work and was willing to pay for whatever came out of the bag. It’s a hard life financially but it made me appreciate creative freedom and taking time to explore. A few years later after having done both my own thing and toured the local studios I applied to Hyper Island to study in digital media program. 

2007—2008
HYPER ISLAND

In going back to school after years of work I guess i wanted to tap into whatever art school vibe I felt I missed out on going straight into doing corporate design. Finding found a lot of what I had hoped for at that school it felt like time well spent after all. A respite from the regular work in being able to spend time with design untethered to making a living as well as like minded escapists that was looking for a setting to really indulge in the profession. While the year in school gave me time to pick up general and adjacent skill sets on a mental level, my profession had gone from a profession into a vocation.

2008—2011
YOUR MAJESTY 

In the summer of 2008 I left school for New York City and an internship at Your Majesty. Having been rather obsessed with the webdesign scene, flash animation and the minutia of its various styles and originators the agency headed by James Widegren and Jens Karlsson had been on my radar for some years already.

Very fortunate as I was to be taken in by a shop like theirs in the intense and formative period as your internship is and as such I now owe them a lot of what I now know about tonality, and detailing with brand impression in mind. 



It was not until a few years later i realised that more than anything the creative leadership at Majesty instilled in me a great respect for what branding can do to the user experience. How design research and understanding what's appropriate, what's tradition and whats purposeful design all works to strengthen both your own character in the work you do and how design becomes a two way energy where you get as much back as you give to your output. These learnings and general attitudes towards my vocation turned out to be fundamental in how I now approach work, both in work ethics, moral but also in how I value the time I decide to invest in what I do.

Lars Vaular Vi tests, 2019

Studio, Malmö 2019

Above Agency, Malmô 2017

Selfie, 2018

2011-2012
STINK STUDIOS

We left New York in 2011 and moved to London. I started an Art Director position at Stink Studios and while it only lasted about a year it was one of my most productive periods yet. At stink I had the great pleasure of working with an EP+CD duo that got an amazing amount of high calibre briefs and together with them I churned out treatments like never before. I had a lot of first hand experience in shaping relevant brand experiences for a digital landscape that was just coming to grips with tech enablers like the iphone, wireless, gyros, cameras, sound etc.

My time at Stink also exposed me to film, photography and motion graphics like never before and they eventually became cornerstone skills for. I never thought I would be moving on from that amazing studio because there I had found sincerity and energy in the work that was new to me and getting to banter about tricky executions and what street trends could do for us was nothing short of a very good time in the office and the strange places our line of work takes us.

2012—2013
FANTASY INTERACTIVE

I had been in talks with Fi. for a year or so about coming on in NYC before I finally accepted a position to start up design efforts in a new London Office. It was an incredibly arduous agency to work in and it took a lot out of me in every regard but the rewards were immense. Where previously my work had generally focused itself around campaign efforts, at Fi I got my first real experience in designing and deploying full scale design systems and brand executions for major FF500 properties. Here was a tremendous shift in effort required to incept, deploy and maintain design aimed to scale and carry full localisation but the people around you that helps you fulfill these high ambitions made it all quite special.

Coming into Fi I felt that I had a good grasp of what makes a brand, visually. I also had a range of concepts in how to market and campaign through design. All in all fairly good experience with all that goes into writing, designing and executing on small to medium treatments made to convince and impress. With the help of Anton+Irene, design and ux directors respectively the knowledge pillar we call user experience was opened up to me. 

It was the first time someone really challenged me to produce great usability through my designs and to be responsible for expansive end deliveries. This all came with a physical and mental toll however, no doubt about it but you have to be thankful for as long as you learn and move on when that is no longer the case. 

2013—
FREELANCE

In 2013 I revived my old company and studio of one. I was decidedly into lifestyle brand at the time and started to divide my team between photography of product in context and the more typical digital brand work that was my bread and butter. An interesting few years passed by that saw me design in a freelance capacity for old and new friends. I ended up spending the most time with Google and Andre Le Masurier doing some great treatments and even greater sites. It was mostly  a great labour of love that even earned some plaudits on the awards circuit.

The five year period between 2013 and 2018 has been more or less back to back engagements with big and small agencies like Google Labs/Brand Studio, Elespacio, Stinkdigital, Tool of NA, Raleigh and Drake, Propane Studio, Sony Music Entertainment and more.

tDR book in the studio, 2019

Posterity Selfie, Above 2019

Studio, 2018

Norban Vi test prints , 2018

We left London for Malmö, Sweden in 2014 to try and a bigger studio space and get closer to nature. Since then I have been taking comissions as acting art director or designer with agencies and production companies. While the majority of my time has been spent with Google these past few years has seen more varied work coming my way than ever before. I always knew this was the sort of position I wanted to be in a designer but you dont expect it to take 15 years to arrive there. 

2018—2019
ABOVE AGENCY

I first walked into Above’s studio space in the summer of 2017. I got talking to the design director and his technology counterpart and what they told me about their company got me so excited that what started as a freelance discussion quite soon ended up being a permanent role. Above is in the unique position of being situated in Sweden and keeping a book of high profile, international tech clients.

I took up duties as Principal Visual which saw me expanding on a skillset I thought I was proficient in as well as add a few new ones. A  very busy for two years followed, both with well known actors like Ikea, Sonos, Suunto next to design system projects for big and small startups. I could best describe this period as one where I got to exhaust the realm of applied design systems in branding. Both from a style perspective but also in operational deployment.

It’s been very satisfying work because at a shop like Above its coupled with real industrial design and technology development. Use cases with actual physical prototypes is being fashioned next to UI and UX models they are intended to pair with. More than anything prior it gave me a birds eye view on the start to end user impression of both digital and physical design. 

Professional
History

2020—
California

2013—

London, Malmö

2018—2019
Malmö

2012
London

2011
London

2010
NYC

2009
NYC

2008
Amsterdam

2007—2009
NYC

2007
NYC

2007-2008
Sweden

2007
Gothenburg

Apple
Senior Art Director

Studio of Erik Jonsson
Freelance Art Director

Above.
Principal Visual Designer

FI.
Art Director

Stinkdigital.
Art Director

Your Majesty.
Art Director

Your Majesty.
Senior Designer

Blast Radius.
Designer, Freelance

Your Majesty.
Designer

Your Majesty.
Designer, Intern

Hyper Island.
Digital Media Program

Daddy.
Designer, Freelance

Awards & Recognition

Google.
Beyond the Map

Google.
The Performing Arts

Google.
Inside Abbey Road

Nike.
My Time Is Now



 

Geox.
Amphibiox



Stella Artois.
A Christmas Carol

Google.
Devart


FWA: Site of the Day

D&AD Wood Pencil
Adobe Cutting Edge
FWA: Site of the Day

Cannes Silver Lion
D&AD Wood Pencil
FWA: Site of the Month
FWA: Site of the Day
Adobe Cutting Edge

Oneshow: Interactive Gold
Cannes Lions: Silver in Websites
Cannes Lions: Bronze
Cannes Lions: Bronze
FWA: Site of the Day

Oneshow Interactive Gold
Cannes Lions Gold
Cannes Lions Silver
Cannes Lions Bronze
Cannes Lions Bronze
FWA: Site of the Day

FWA: Site of the Day

FWA: Site of the Day

Digital Design: Websites

Websites
Websites

Websites
Interactive Film
Interactive Video
User Experience


Visual/UX Design
Clothing, Footwear & Accessories
Photography
Best use of Branded Content
User Experience

Publications

Brasil Cine.

Posters & Cover Art

Posters & Cover Art

Motion Graphic Short

Portfolio Feature

Adweek Talent Gallery

Echoes of the Future
© 2011 Gestalten

FONT - Classic Typefaces for Contemporary Graphic Design
© 2011 Rotovision

00 Vol1 — Black Material
© 2010 Collective V

Bovee & Thill: Business Communication Essentials