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When my sister asked me to design the identity for her new sailboat, I didn't hesitate. The name she'd chosen — Stormhvalen, Norwegian for "The Storm Whale" — said everything. It demanded lettering that felt like it had been carved by wind and salt water, something you'd trust on the open Nordic sea.
I drew the lettering by hand, leaning into bold, deliberate strokes that carry a sense of weight and motion. The forms are rooted in Scandinavian craft traditions — sturdy, unadorned, built to last. Every curve and terminal was considered against the image of a hull cutting through grey northern water.
It's a small project in scope, but one of the most personal I've done. Seeing the name on the boat — exactly as I'd drawn it — felt right. That's the whole point of this kind of work: identity that belongs to the thing it names.