Tove Arland — Rotterdam, since 2013
About
Self portrait, paper
I’m an independent designer working across identity, interface and signage, which is a long way of saying I like the moment a mark has to survive outside the slide deck. On a tram door. On a box someone drops. On a screen at two in the morning.
I started out hand-lettering shop windows and spent six years in studios before going solo in 2022. The window work still shapes how I design: decide the big thing first, test it from across the street, and only then worry about the kerning.
Most engagements are with small teams who need one person to hold the whole picture. I write, I draw, I build the front-end when it helps, and I bring in collaborators when it doesn’t.
Booking from January
What I do
Three ways in
01
Identity
Marks, systems, and the rules that let other people use them well without me in the room.
02
Interface
Product design and component libraries for software that has to be calm at the end of a long day.
03
Signage
Wayfinding and environmental type, drawn to be fabricated by people with real tools and real budgets.
01
Big decisions first. If the idea doesn’t work in one colour at thumbnail size, more polish won’t save it.
02
Fewer, stranger drafts. Three honest directions beat twelve variations of the safe one.
03
Design for the person who maintains it. Every system ships with the boring documentation nobody asked for.
04
Say the budget out loud early. It is the most useful design constraint and the one people are shyest about.
Previously
Studio Fenn — Senior designer
2019—2022
Ferry Press — Designer
2016—2019
Sign painter, freelance
2013—2016
Talks & mentions
Dutch Design Week — Talk on wayfinding
2025
Willem de Kooning Academy — Guest critic
2024
Typographica — Knife Cut in review
2024