Men looking at an internal wall map of the Design Museum of Denmark

Danish wayfinding & typography: leading the way to hidden treasures at the Designmuseum and beyond

Date: 30 September 2021
Time: 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Online via Zoom
Past event

Denmark-based Urgent.Agency explained their approach to wayfinding and place activation at the Designmuseum Copenhagen and share ideas on how typography has evolved in response to wayfinding needs. This was a fascinating talk about Danish design history and legacy, a unique museum building and how Urgent helped discover a hidden treasure! Michaela Pihl Olsen (Urgent.Agency) explained how the consultancy’s team approach wayfinding, focusing on how they solved the issues at the museum to successfully accommodate the skyrocketing number of visitors. Kristian Rise gave his perspective on how Designmuseum Danmark collaborated with Urgent’s design team and the unique wayfinding challenges they faced and overcame. Mads Quistgaard (Urgent) shared his thought-provoking ideas on Danish typography, a brief history and why revitalising type is necessary to meet the demands of today’s society.

About our speakers

Michaela Pihl Olsen is Head of Wayfinding and Place Activation at Urgent.Agency. Michaela has a multidisciplinary approach to her work merging architecture, graphic design and wayfinding to create meaningful experiences for environments and brands. She has an MA in architecture and always combines a conceptual and rational approach to her work. She has previously worked at Kontrapunkt (Denmark), and Duncan McCauley in Berlin. Michaela currently teaches at The Royal Academy, Copenhagen.

Kristian Rise is Head of Development at Designmuseum Danmark. He is responsible for operations and strategic direction, working with fundraising and partnership initiatives, as well as the museum visitor experience and commercial profile. Kristian is in charge of the visitor experience for the museum, supporting the exhibition and communication teams in the current transformation and renovation of Designmuseum Danmark. He has previously worked at The Royal Academy, The School of Design and various design companies, organisations and public agencies in Denmark.

Mads Quistgaard is CEO and Design Director at Urgent.Agency as well its founding partner. He is also Professor at The Royal Danish Academy. Mads is a specialist in connecting design practice and strategy and has spearheaded a broad range of design and branding projects for clients including The Royal Danish Academy, DTU, Novo Nordisk, NREP, Designmuseum Denmark and the Swiss Embassy. He has 15 years of professional experience, including three as Creative Director at Kontrapunkt.

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