Lavafilm as

The project was made in collaboration between me and Henrik Wold Kraglund.



Who is the public of Lavafilm? 
Lavafilm works mainly with film production within the fashion and advertising industry, but are also sometimes involved in major film productions. Lavafilms target audience is design and advertising agencies, mainly in Norway.



How did you design the logo?
When we developed the project we experimented with an alternative solution, where the sum of all visual elements were the cornerstone of the identity. This is in opposition to the standard, where the logo is the most important element. Our solution is identity-building at all levels, and each element of the identity creates an equivalent recognition-effect.

During the process we decided that we wanted the identity to function without any logo. Instead we developed a symbol that would function as an element on equal to the other elements. We called this symbol "The Lava Factory".

"The Lava Factory" is a dynamic symbol that at all times will inform about the company. Its based on small graphical changes. Since there are two people working at Lavafilm, there are two air shafts. If they decide to hire another person, the factory will grow larger by adding another air shaft. We also developed a set of different versions of "The Lava Factory" with different amounts of smoke coming out from the chimney. These versions can then be used as they are appropriate, based on how hard Lavafilm feel they are working.



With which typeface based on your alphabet?
One of the main items of the identity is a typeface developed specifically for Lavafilm. We have explored what happens when combining a Serif font with a grotesque. We wanted to test how far it was possible to explore different styles without compromising similarities within the font-family. "Lava Sans Avec" results from the merging of two of the most used fonts: Futura and Times New Roman.



How many version of each letter did you design?
As of today there are from 4 to 13 versions of each letter. We have made a deal with Lavafilm that the project will never expire, and that the alphabet will keep on growing continuously. That way the identity will stay fresh and updated.

We came up with the different styles by taking apart all the letters, and then putting them together again in many different ways. When we had done this a few days, we gathered the various styles into categories and started developing different alphabets. "Lava Sans Avec" consists of 15 different alphabets which are more or less finished.



Could you explain the concept of Lavafilms identity?
The concept for Lavafilms identity is inspired by natural disasters, such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. During an earthquake, solid objects will divide and move to random positions. This has been the basis for the development of our solution. The concept developed for Lavafilm is based on their company name and their company values.



Why did you choose to use only black and white?
We saw no reason to mess around with colors on this project, so we only used black and white.