Keepin’ Up With Krippa: The Boys Behind The Rising Design Studio

Be it through their Weekly Design series, their numerous artworks for Vicetone, Nervo, and others, or the various other graphic beauties that grace their website, the boys at Krippa have more than earned their place and reputation in this industry. It was a bit of a shock when we stumbled upon them and saw that they had in fact created tons of artwork we’d spent hours fawning over, for tracks we couldn’t get enough of. Krippa’s graphic work completely compliments the product they’re trying to represent, with the only constant being the clean, modern feel that oozes through all their art. Have a read to get into the minds of the men who worked with your favourite producers creating some of your favourite artwork, and to get a view of the life of a graphic artist in this industry.

How did you get started in graphics and artwork for this industry?

Actually, it all began with a boring lesson in school. Arvid sat back, and while almost falling asleep he sent an e-mail to a DJ-duo named Paris & Simo—they weren’t as big back then as they are now. We were asking them if they needed any graphics work to be done, and when they later replied saying yes, we were both extremely hyped up. Krippa Design was born and had its first clients: Paris & Simo.

How did you make your way onto the radars of major labels like Dim Mak, Spinnin’, and Protocol, and of major DJs like Borgore, Nervo, and Vicetone? 

Since we’re still young, and don’t have a very big budget for any advanced marketing tactics, we pretty much used the “door-knocking” method and tried to get as many clients as possible via e-mail. But while we work for someone, they tell their friends about us, so word of mouth is also a great for our marketing. As we work more and more, our contact network continues to get bigger and bigger. It has grown pretty quickly over the past year. Sometimes we also get job requests via our website, where people can fill in a contact form and send it to us.

 If you could work with any label/artist, who would it be? Why?

Carnage, because he’s so damn dope. He’s definitely the heaviest guy in the game right now. His music, style, and everything he does is on top—seriously. If we would have to choose a label to work with, it would probably be Dim Mak Records. We’ve worked with them before, but we would love to make more cover arts for them. The music they release is crazy.

What’s your process when you’re making a design for something? Where do you get your inspiration? 

We often get information about how it should look, but we always add our own artistic touch to it. Our inspiration mostly comes from the music, whether it’s EDM, indie, pop, or hip-hop. We also get inspired by other talented designers like Ruud Van Eijk, Fabian De Lange, Rebels Studios, and many more. The process runs smoothly and quickly, as we try to deliver the product as quickly as we can. We’re always connected to the client we work with, and won’t let go until they’re 100% happy with the work.

You’re a pair, so do you collab on the work or do you each have your own clients? 

Arvid handles all contact with clients, and manages the whole “business” part of the company, like economics and accounting. Christoffer is the only designer and makes all the work you see on our website and social media accounts, be it artworks, flyers, logotypes, or visual video edits. We both think the work’s split up in a great way, and we always make it as smooth as possible for each other.

There’s a huge concentration of Swedes in every facet of the dance music industry. Considering you’re Swedish yourselves, why do you think that’s the case?

Swedes are very creative and have a “work for success” mentality. We think that the big Swedish dance music stars like Avicii, Alesso, Prydz, and the old SHM gang inspire young guys to do the same thing they did. Programs like FL Studio are very easy to get and there are a lot of people that can help you with it, which is why there are so many young talents in Sweden. With all these artists there come other things like managers, record labels, and assorted things they need, such as graphic design. Not all artists have a strong visual profile, and that’s where we come in. There are so many people that work in the industry, and it continues to grow bigger and bigger. Actually, we both tried once to make music in FL, and it’s always been a dream of ours to become big DJs, but we realized after an intense week in our “bedroom-studio” that the track we made would most probably not hit the Beatport charts, haha. Now, a full-time job with Krippa Design is what we dream to achieve.

Your Linc Music designs are unreal. Can you tell us a bit more about your work with them? 

Thanks— that’s very appreciated! We’re also very proud of those designs. Linc Music is a new electronic music label founded in 2014, and it’s a sub-label to its big brother label Sony Music. The owner contacted us and asked if we wanted to make all the cover arts for them. Unfortunately, the collaboration ended a couple months later.

When you’re working with a client, do they guide you as to what they want, or are you given full creative liberty? 

A few give us very good information and restrictions about the way they want to go, which is sometimes very much appreciated, but it can kill the creative process a bit if you are too restricted. Mostly, we just exchange ideas and thoughts with our clients before we take on the job. We always try our best to make the service as smooth as possible, and we work with the client until everyone’s happy with the final product.

Why dance music graphics, and not another industry?

Both of us have a strong passion for EDM. We attend festivals in different countries, and we’re always updated on the latest music—we are two real house nerds. It’s also funny because we’ve been listening to DJs like Nervo, Vicetone, and Borgore for a very long time, and now we’re making designs for them. It’s really cool! Other than that, it’s a very funny industry to work in. All the people are happy and cool to work with; it’s not like some boring office with people that sit in a store 8 hours a day. These people love what they do, and we love to work with them!

What do you guys have coming up in 2015?

We’re going to attend Airbeat Festival in Germany, which we’ve worked for, and another thing that we’re very proud of is our collaboration with Weekend Festival—Finland’s biggest music festival. We had the opportunity to create the whole graphical profile for this year’s edition, and we’ve loved working on it. Other than that, we’re just going to keep doing our thing: working for new clients, hopefully set up new collaborations with big brands, and continue our current collaborations with Nervo and Vicetone. We can’t tell you much more, but there are a few more big things coming up, so keep updated on our social media!

Interviewer: Alex Levy

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