Every design begins somewhere.
When I was asked to create a logo for my beautiful friend Marte Marie Forsberg, the first drawings were full of references, symbols and story. I began with her love of Italy, drawing in the forms of gondolas and vines, alongside a helmet to reference her Norwegian heritage. The early version was decorative, layered and almost emblematic, a small world of personal meaning gathered into one image.
As the work developed, the design became quieter but stronger.
The final logo moved away from ornament and towards something more restrained: a simple line-drawn face held within a loose circular form. Much of the original symbolism was stripped back, but the feeling remained. The process became less about showing every reference and more about finding the essential mark.
I often find this happens in drawing. The first version carries all the thinking. The final version carries the atmosphere, the essence.
What began as a fuller, more illustrative idea became something pared back, feminine and timeless, a mark that still holds memory, place and identity, but with more space around it.
For me, this is where drawing becomes most powerful: when the line is simple, but the story remains.
