Talented students!

One of our Digital Media students in Karlskrona, Simone Magurno, was recently chosen to participate with his artwork in an art book from an Australian design community called Semi Permanent. I met him a couple of weeks ago and asked him some questions about it:

What is your artwork about?
- It is entitled "Future", and it was produced in October last year as a good omen for the new year.


What did you do to get your artwork published?
- They ask artists from all over the world to send in their artwork. There is no theme or anything. You can send them what ever you like. And then they chose the ones they like the most.

Where can I get the art book?
- It is for sale on their website: http://semipermanent.com/book_08.html


Have you published anything else?
- Yes I had another artwork published on Deleted Scenes, (www.deletedscenesmag.com), a new magazine dedicated to visual arts. I've been requested to participate in the launch issue of Deleted Scenes and create an artwork around the theme of "silence". I worked on the antinomy of the original meaning of the word and i've entitled the artwork "Dire spazio pieno" (tialian for "Saying crowded space").

Hyper Island in the media again

Proffice has a big article about the Hyper Island sucess in their latest issue. Have a look here!

Hyper Island at Almedalen, pt 3

Lots of people were interested in listening to Hyper Island CEO Mattias Hansson when he talked at the seminar at Almedalen last week. Here is an article about the event. And here is a picture of Mattias and Signhild Arnegård-Hansen, from Svenskt Näringsliv.

Hyper Island in Almedalen, pt 2

As I have mentioned earlier, Hyper Island CEO Mattias Hansson will participate in a seminar in Almedalen this thursday. I took the opportunity to ask him some questions about the seminar and his summer plans. This is what he replied:

Who is responsible for the seminar?
- The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svensk Näringsliv) is responsible and I will be on stage together with their chairman Signhild Arnegård-Hansen and others from the political field.

What is the seminar about?
- It's about the future of education and the upcoming global talent shortage.

Why have you been invited?
- To talk about the succes of Hyper Island; how we have incorporated the industry in our teaching method; and how super attractive our students are for the global industry to employ. And answer some of the usual "why" and "how" questions. I also want to take the opportunity to explain why it is so important for the Swedish educational KY-system to survive any blowing political winds that may or migth not want otherwise.

Is this your first visit to Almedalen?
- This is my first time as participant in Almedalen, the largest and most wellknown Scandinavian political "fair". Even though I don't expect a Las Vegas-like sourunding I have heard that is is a real intersting spectacle. I'm glad Hyper Island is invited and get the opportunity to make our voice heard in front of the leading politicians and media.

What else will you be doing this summer?
- I always try to visit Scandinavian rock-epicentre Roskilde Festival. This was my 17th year there and I had one of my finsest moments ever this last Friday when I got the opportunity to actually be ON stage with Nick Cave when his Grinderman performed. Totaly mindblowing! Otherwise: Spending time with family in beautiful Swedish regions Skåne and Dalarna. And in my sparetime I'm producing an old friends Sommarprat-program (popular show on Swedish Radio P1 each summer). Hear the result with comedian David Batra on August the 9th. But right now: My focus is on Almedalen and to represent Hyper Island the best way I can there.

When and where is the seminar?
- Wisby Strand Kongresshallen 080710, 11.00-13.00. It's free! Register here.

She wants more women in the industry

When Hyper Island student Martina Tranström was out doing her internship at Big Spaceship in New York, she couldn’t help but notice that out of 40 web designers, only two were female.

- This made me think about the male dominance in the entire industry. Lots of women want to work with design but somehow women who want to work with webdesign end up as project leaders, Martina says.

And she decided to do something about it. As her final project at Hyper Island she has designed and created a website for women in web design.

- The purpose of the site is to be a forum and a platform for women who want to be inspired and get advice from others in the industry, she says.

Why, in your opinion, aren't there more women in the industry today?
- I think a lot of women believe that is a lot more technical than it is. Working as a web designer is so much more. It is the best job ever. It is international, creative and interactive.

How did you work with this project?
- I started by contacting She Creatives, a Swedish network for female web designers and a London based network called She says. She creatives wanted me to make this website for them, but I wanted it to be in English and for the members of She says and other women in the industry as well. As I wanted to know more about what women wanted from a website like this, I interviewed women who are already in the industry. And to find out why there are so few women in the business I interviewed young women who are studying media in Highschool.

What did the survey show?
- That lots of girls want to work with web design, but as I said, many of them think that it is too technical. But working as a webdesigner is not technical at all, and I found that the more the students knew about the work that web designers really do, the more interested they are. So what they need is more knowledge and other women to inspire them.

And what functions would I find on the website?
- One function is "A day in life", where you follow a web designer during one day, to see how she works. Another function is the forum where you can discuss things and ask others for advice. There will also be videos where role models in the industry answer three questions such as: 1. What inspires you? 2. Why do you work with web design? 3. What is the best part about working with web design?

Was it difficult to get people to participate and share their stories?
- No, sometimes they hesitated, but when I told them who else were in the project they did it.

What inspired you when designing the website?
- I looked around at other websites that I liked. I didn’t want it to be girly or pink and cute. I wanted it to be simple.

What is the next step?
- I really want to make this project work and I am now discussing different ways of funding. We’ll see how it works out.

Hyper Island in Almedalen

This week politicians and others gather in a town called Visby on Gotland, an island in the southeast part of Sweden to discuss politics and make plans for the future. Hyper Island CEO Mattias Hansson will talk about the secret behind Swedens most successful education at a seminar held by Svenskt näringsliv on Thursday. Have a look here for more information!

Hyper Island and the Grand Prix

A couple of weeks ago many of our former Hyper Island students did very well in the “world championship in advertising” in Cannes, France. The winner of the Grand Prix was a company called Perfect Fools, which is the work place of eleven former Hyper Island students. Here is an interview with one of them: John Wolst.

Congratulations John! What did you do to win?
- We were nominated in the The Cannes Lions festival which is regarded as the the most prestigious international advertising festival. Together with Forsman & Bodenfors we won a Grand Prix lion in the Media category with a campaign we produced for AMF (a Swedish pension fund). By uploading a picture of yourself from the campaign site or sending it as a MMS from your cellphone you can see how you might look as a 70 year old.

That does sound interesting. Why do you think you won the Grand Prix?
- I think it was the combination of a great idea and a unique and easy way to interact with the campaign by using your cellphone. Regardless of where you encountered the campaign, if it was through the TV commercials, banners or posters on the street, you could directly take a photo and send it. A few minutes later you got an image back of how you could look as a 70 years old. I think those things made it a winner.

How does it feel to have won such a huge award? And what does it mean for the company?
- What can I say... it feels great! And it confirms that we at Perfect Fools are on to something in what we are trying to do and what we as a company believe in.

What kind of work does Perfect Fools do?
- We are a digital agency producing innovative online campaigns.
For lots more about us and our most recent work check out our website at www.perfectfools.com.
Eleven out of a staff of 34 come from Hyper Island, why is that?
- Hyper Island's focus on digital media makes it a great education for people who want to work with the web. I think that is the main reason why there are so many former Hyper Island students working at Perfect Fools. We have also welcomed many interns from Hyper Island through the years, which of course is another reason. That was for example how I got in.
When did you graduate?
- I was a part of Crew11 so i graduated in 2007.

When you look back, what do you think of your own Hyper Island experience?
- I had a good time at Hyper Island. We put a lots of energy in most of the projects and I remember all the long nights we where working to make our deadline.

What did you learn at Hyper Island that you find useful today?
- The best thing with Hyper Island was gaining the experience of working with so many different personalities. You had to find your roll in each of the project groups and learn how to cooperate with all sorts of people. I got to know myself much better, how I ticked in different situations and groups.