Lottery Winners
SUCCESS STORY
karlssonwilker inc.
Lottery winners
Design innovators Hjalti Karlsson and Jan Wilker find
inspiration in Adobe® Illustrator® CS2 software
Designers Hjalti Karlsson and Jan Wilker of
karlssonwilker inc. get along like few design
partnerships, yet they got off to an unusual
start. Along with some help from their parents,
the two garnered financing from a scratch-off
lottery ticket that Karlsson purchased on a
lark in his homeland of Iceland. They got their
hands-on design experience while working at
world famous design studio Sagmeister Inc. in
New York—the only place where either of them
wanted to launch their careers.
When they met at Stefan Sagmeister’s studio, they
discovered they had a lot in common. Jan is from
Germany, yet Jan and Hjalti both share similar music,
clothing, and food preferences—not to mention their
love for karaoke. They also have a knack for playing
off each other and have a “j” pronounced like a “y” in
their names. The two quickly became like siblings.
Then, when Stefan Sagmeister decided to go on his
infamous year-long sabbatical, the two decided to
take off on their own adventure.
wilkerkarlsson or karlssonwilker?
“We get our inspiration In 2001, Karlsson and Wilker founded their own
from a lot of things:
studio and were quickly being lauded in trade
being in New York,
publications as “New York’s most innovative new
design firm.” Perhaps their biggest challenge was
hanging out in our
selecting a name, but even that was relatively easy.
studio, watching
After considering Rocket, Millennium Design,
Wilker-Karlsson, Karlsson & Wilker, and a few other
movies, taking the
monikers, they decided upon karlssonwilker inc., and
subway—but among
soon were creating designs for a bevy of recognizable
clients like Capitol Records, Anne Klein, DreamWorks
Karlsson and Wilker met at renowned designer Stefan
Sagmeister’s studio, where they discovered they had
our biggest sources of Records, MTV Networks, Puma, MoMA, MOCA,
a lot in common. Both share similar music, clothing,
inspiration is playing Warner Brothers Records, Worldstudio Foundation,
and food preferences—not to mention their love for
and The New York Times Magazine.
karaoke. The two have since become like siblings.
around in Adobe
Serendipity in software
Il ustrator CS2. With
One thing has remained consistent since the studio’s
al its possibilities, the founding: a love for Adobe Illustrator software. From
logos and book design to CD covers and posters,
filters, effects, and
Illustrator CS2 is the studio’s primary software tool.
other tools, it lets
“We get our inspiration from a lot of things: being
you do so much.
in New York, hanging out in our studio, watching
It often surprises
movies, taking the subway—but among our biggest
sources of inspiration is playing around in Adobe
us by showing us
Illustrator CS2,” says Wilker. “With all its possibilities,
things that we could
the filters, effects, and other tools, it lets you do so
much. It often surprises us by showing us things that
never have thought
we could never have thought of ourselves.”
of ourselves.”
Always exploring
Jan Wilker,
While Karlsson and Wilker are by now world-
cofounder,
renowned innovators, they are also design and
karlssonwilker inc.
media generalists who can create print and
interactive projects with the same ease and aplomb
as new products, web sites, and motion graphics.
“One week we might design a shoe upper for Puma,
the next we’ll be creating some branding and motion
graphics package for MTV, and the next we’ll do the
cover for Print magazine,” says Karlsson. “We love
having all these different projects and trying things
we’ve never done before.”
karlssonwilker’s work is unusual, with arresting images that
catch viewers’ attention. Projects typically begin in Adobe
Illustrator CS2 software.
“Adobe software is a great deal for the money, and it lets us
design anything, absolutely anything. There is nothing else out
there anyway, so what else in the world would you buy?”
Hjalti Karlsson, cofounder, karlssonwilker inc.
Company
karlssonwilker inc.
New York, New York
www.karlssonwilker.com
Challenges
• Create a successful design studio
in New York
• Develop print and interactive
projects with the same ease as
new products, websites, and
motion graphics
• Find cost-effective, advanced
software tools that continually
evolve to meet designers’ needs
Solutions
• Use Adobe Illustrator CS2 software
to create everything from logos
and book designs to CD covers
and posters
• Rely on the Adobe Creative Suite 2
Karlsson and Wilker ask where inspiration comes from on this
and Adobe After Effects® software
cover for The New York Times Magazine. For this dynamic
to deliver print, interactive, web,
design team, inspiration emanates from being in New York,
and motion graphics projects, as
hanging out in their studio, watching movies, taking the
well as to design new products
subway, and experimenting in Adobe Illustrator CS2.
Benefits
• Established successful
Wilker and Karlsson credit Adobe for helping
design studio
them move fluidly from one medium and project to
• Lauded as “New York’s most
the next. According to Wilker, one reason Adobe
karlssonwilker inc. used Adobe Illustrator CS2 to redesign this
innovative new design firm”
software works so well is that Adobe is in close
lamp for an auction. All proceeds went to scholarships for
• Created compelling designs for
touch with the design community. “What I like most
disadvantaged students in art, architecture, and design.
a variety of media
about Adobe is that the Adobe people care about
• Relied on cost-effective, progressive,
their products,” says Wilker. “They are active in
and constantly improving software
asking questions about how they can improve their
plot and process. This approach makes the work more
from Adobe
products, they listen to the suggestions—they take
of an inner experience than a direct eye stimulus.”
their job just very seriously.”
Since founding their studio and advancing their
Toolkit
• The Adobe Creative Suite 2.
Design as inner experience
design work, Wilker and Karlsson have made a lot
Components used include:
of discoveries and changes. Having been in business
At karlssonwilker inc., the results of two fantastic
• Adobe Illustrator CS2
for several years now, they stress a little less about
creative minds and powerful software such as
paying the studio rent, try to eat much healthier, and
• Adobe Photoshop® CS2
Adobe Illustrator CS2 are often startling and always
no longer drink endless cans of soda. They also try
• Adobe After Effects
compelling. In a culture that has become more visual
not to work every single weekend.
• Apple Power Mac G5 computers
by the minute, with images flashing by to the point
running Mac OS X
that we hardly notice them any more, Wilker and
“Adobe software is a great deal for the money, and it
Karlsson’s sense of design stands out. Says one client,
lets us design anything, absolutely anything,” says
“The image never seems to be the center of their work.
Karlsson. “There is nothing else out there anyway,
What you see is an organization of ideas that has a
so what else in the world would you buy?”
Adobe Systems Incorporated • 345 Park Avenue, San Jose, CA 95110-2704 USA • www.adobe.com
Adobe, the Adobe logo, After Effects, Illustrator, and Photoshop are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States
and/or other countries. Apple and Mac OS are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. Power Mac is a trademark of
Apple Computer, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
© 2006 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.
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