Introducing... The seriously minimal graphic design of Icelandic studio GUNMAD

GUNMAD is Guðmundur Ingi Úlfarsson and Mads Freund Brunse, one Icelandic and one Danish graphic designer working together between Rekjavík and London. Stylistically these guys are at the very edge of minimal, striving for typographic purity and structural perfection, with no white space disturbed by imagery or text unless absolutely necessary.

They’re also incredibly experimental, channeling an enormous amount of energy into research in a manner that’s rarely seen outside of academic institutions. The walls of their studio are thick with typographic sketches, slices of inspirational imagery and any other snippets of visual paraphernalia that might expand the scope of their practice.

Like their work, Guðmundur and Mads are sparing with their words, but their answers below reveal some fascinating truths about designers working in the digital age.

Where do you work?

By e-mail and Skype. Since 2006 we haven’t lived in the same city, but have kept on working together despite that.  At the moment we live in Reykjavík and London where we have our own studios, though we try to get together when projects allow it.

How does your working day start?

With coffee and tea.

How do you work and how has that changed?

We always start throwing ideas around by email or Skype conversations. We each research in our own corner and then start sketching. Sometimes, when we’ve agreed on a sketch that is worth pursuing, one of us takes over and finishes the work. If the projects are big, we meet up and take working sessions. It’s a very interesting working method actually, it hasn’t really changed since 2007. At some point we’ll be at the same place and then things will change. 

Where would we find you when you’re not at work?

At band practice or listening to records.

Would you intern for yourself?

It would be quite interesting to intern for us right now.