Print is dead, long live the print! We at HA magazine love print – we publish it, read it and talk about it all the time. Each month, we will ask a like-minded fellow print enthusiast to share some favourites with us. First up, we talked to graphic designer Hörður Lárusson. Words: Hörður Lárusson. Photos: Rafael Pinho, Viktoria Ivicsics. Other photos: Courtesy of publishers Hörður Lárusson holds a BA in Visual Communication from the Iceland Academy of the Arts. One of the key figures in the Icelandic graphic design today, Lárusson works as an Art Director at Brandenburg. His works have been exhibited widely both in Iceland and abroad, and he has served in numerous juries and boards, including the Iceland Design Centre and DesignMarch boards of directors. You can see Hörður’s work here and here, for example. Here are the books (and posters) that inspire him: Hello I am Erik by Erik Spiekermann It’s the book I’m trying to read these days (but don’t find enough time to do). Not sure yet if it’ll be a book that inspires me, but …

What is beauty? At first glance, it may appear odd to ask such questions – don’t we all already know what beauty is? Guðbjörg R. Jóhannesdóttir, doctor of environmental philosophy, questions what we actually mean when we speak about beauty and aesthetics. Text: Dr. Guðbjörg R. Jóhannesdóttir / Artwork by Elín Hansdóttir We use the word ‘beauty’ frequently and in a variety of different situations: this is a beautiful view, that’s a beautiful sunset, what a beautiful composition, the eruption is beautiful, this is beautifully designed, that’s a beautiful thought, it was a beautiful moment, that’s a beautiful thing to do. But what do we mean when say something is beautiful? Most will no doubt assume beauty to be something relative and subjective; “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and all that. This would define beauty to be a matter of taste: what I find beautiful, someone else might deem ugly. Some might say that beauty lies within certain objective qualities, an ideal shape and dimension, for instance the golden ratio. This idea …

Reykjavík’s planning history is a story of big dreams that never come to fruition. Ambitious ideas that either failed to thrive or were only given life in mangled implementations. Its evolutionary history is the subject of three new books. Author: Pétur H. Ármannsson architect / Photographer Pétur Thomsen  In Reykjavík sem ekki varð (The Reykjavík That Never Was) historian Anna Dröfn Ágústsdóttir and architect Guðni Valberg reveal, replete with illustrations, some intriguing proposals for public buildings in downtown Reykjavík that never came to be. There are some real missed opportunities alongside ideas that thankfully never saw the light of day. The second book, Borgir og Borgarskipulag (Cities and City Planning) by city planner Dr. Bjarni Reynarsson, has a chapter on the history of building and planning in Reykjavík, which includes a convenient overview of the capital’s planning history in the context of international developments. The third book, Scarcity in Excess: The Built Environment and the Economic Crisis in Iceland, focuses on contemporary Iceland, the banking crisis and its implications on the built environment. The book …

The history of design in Iceland is neither a lengthy nor substantial one when compared to those of its neighboring countries. From a Nordic standpoint, one could compare the Icelandic design scene to a teenager, and as we all know, those are rough years. Arnar Fells – Editor in chief Your self-image is still forming during those emotionally tumultuous years, no one takes you seriously, and you feel small and inexperienced. As a teenager you rely largely on the support of those close to you, all the while wanting nothing more than the freedom to stand by yourself, unaided and independent. The Icelandic design community is very much at defining crossroads, not dissimilar to those teen years. We are slowly discovering our own strengths and are determined to be taken seriously, and not just in Nordic or broader international terms, but also by our own professional sector. We belong to a social group that truly understands the benefits of making long-term investments in design and the creative sector. We want to be included in decisions both …