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Q&A

positive reinforcement of side projects and work that

you find interesting helps you generate more work of

that nature. On the next slide, I unfortunately present

‘The Circle of Boring,’ which shows how the type of

work we’re doing, even if we find it uninteresting, has

a similar reinforcement.

Most people think that the good projects are just

around the corner, but that’s not how it works. I think

it’s important to occasionally stop and look in the

mirror to see if you’re in the right circle.

How do you get inspired when your creative

batteries are running low?

I thrive on being involved in multiple projects.

Staying busy and juggling multiple challenges fuels

my creativity. The way we solve a problem in one

project might inform a solution in another. You

become better at formulating the task at hand, at

framing the creative challenge, and at actual problem

solving and execution.

Working on many projects also helps me avoid

burnout. This might sound counterintuitive, as one

always needs to be mindful of commitments and

stress. However, by switching from one creative

battle to the next, I find I’m more invigorated than

when I spend a long time on the same challenge.

What made you decide to give workshops on

designing app icons?

Icons are the most important visual aspect of a brand

the user interacts with. It’s what everyone thinks of

when they think of your product. No other aspect of

design plays such a major role in people’s perception

of – and relationship with – a product.

But maybe more important, icon design is

essentially design distilled. Most of the qualities

of a good icon are universally applicable to every

discipline out there. So by mastering something as

specific as icons, you’re training in almost all aspects

of good design, namely working to create great

results under constraints and making something that

is recognisable, scalable and appealing.

So my workshops geek out over icons and we get to

play around with tools and terminology to improve

our skills in iconography. But what the participants

are really learning is much bigger.

What’s the design scene like in Copenhagen now?

A lot of new people are coming into the industry and

the startup and design scene is booming. Eight years

ago, we struggled to get 20 people together for a

creative meetup. Today, events with hundreds of seats

sell out in an afternoon. I run the largest design Slack

channel in Denmark (http://www.designdk.org), and

it’s been amazing to see the community grow.

MICHAEL FLARUP

Q&A

You’ve launched a lot of your own products. Which

are you most excited about right now?

I’m super thrilled with my new resource platform

applypixels.com, which is a place where we create

industry-standard design tools for icon and UI work.

This is empowering both veteran designers and

newcomers, as we give them downloadable UI and

icon templates, allowing them to jump over technical

obstacles and get results faster. Being the canvas for

other people’s creativity excites me.

I’m also very happy with the work I’m doing with

my little game studio, Northplay. We’re following

our hearts and making games and entertainment

products. The standout right now is Conduct-

Franchise at conductthis.com.

What makes you so entrepreneurial?

A guiding light of my career has been a childlike

pursuit of creative work that I genuinely think is fun.

You’d be surprised by how many people don’t do this.

Some aspect of this always makes it into my talks

and I usually present two circles to the audience. One

I call ‘The Circle of Fun,’ where I demonstrate how

The Danish designer and entrepreneur

explains why being childlike leads to

successful web projects

INFO
job: Designer
w: flarup.co
t: @flarup