Since you clicked the “About” button, you probably want to know who I am. Well, my name is Morten Rand-Hendriksen and I am the Creative Director of Pink & Yellow Media - a small digital media company based in Burnaby, BC. I created this blog as a learning-through-teaching experiment when I switched to Microsoft Expression as my main web design platform. Over time I intend to grow it into a full-fledged design blog to share what I’ve learned with anyone willing to listen.As my name suggests I’m originally from Norway. My background is actually in philosophy and politics but I got interested in design when I couldn’t find anyone to build a photography website for me. Or rather I found plenty of people willing, but their designs were lackluster and messy. So I decided to make one myself. Over the years my scope expanded and now I work with print and digital design as well as photography, Flash animation, broadcast- and motion graphics, video editing and pretty much anything else that can be done with a computer.

For me design is about communication. The whole idea of design is to create something beautiful and functional that carries the desired message to the viewer in a memorable way. Otherwise all you’ve created is fancy eye-candy with no purpose. Since beauty really is in the eye of the beholder it is important to make designs that are clan, intuitive and clear. In many ways it’s just like taking a photo and that’s how I approach it: The subject has to be in focus - the rest is just filler. But if the filler is hideous, no one is going to notice the subject.

I’m an intuitive designer - both when it comes to graphics and code. I create what I think looks good based on nothing more than my own impressions. I don’t think design can be taught. When it comes to code, I can understand it better than I can write it.

I design using PhotoShop, Illustrator and Expression Design. I code using Expression Web and Note Pad. When I’m not behind my computer working on something, I’m probably behind the controls at the Pratt & Taylor Show on Rogers Sportsnet, reading philosophy or science fiction or at a ballroom dancing class. That’s me in a nutshell.