I’ve put together an exhaustive array of computer/mobile wallpapers based on my t-shirt designs for TeePay. Here’s a list of all the sizes available.

• Lorensson-240×320.zip
• Lorensson-480×800.zip
• Lorensson-640×480.zip
• Lorensson-800×600.zip
• Lorensson-1024×768.zip
• Lorensson-1280×720.zip
• Lorensson-1280×854.zip
• Lorensson-1280×960.zip
• Lorensson-1366×768.zip
• Lorensson-1440×960.zip
• Lorensson-1680×1050.zip
• Lorensson-1920×1080.zip
• Lorensson-1920×1200.zip
• Lorensson-2048×1536.zip
• Lorensson-2560×1600.zip
• Lorensson-2560×2048.zip

You don’t say fannypack in Britain

But this post isn’t about being pigeonholed or even being a specialist. It’s about another passion of mine, bags. For many years I’ve been obsessed with backpacks, daypacks, messenger bags, heck I’ll even admit to bum-bags (that’s fannypacks for my American friends, and sorry to my British friends for mentioning it ;-). I love how bags are such a core part of my daily life. I spend all day going around town on my bicycle with all my work stuff: laptop, mouse, various cables & chargers, pens & paper etc. With how mobile I am it’s important for me to be organised, and my bag is pretty much what makes that happen.

My baggy history

I started making my own bags when I was 17. I asked mom if I could borrow her sewing machine and show me how to use it. My personal taste back then looked much more like John Denver than Keanu Reeves (which, obviously, is what my taste is like now); I was salvaging old Levis and bomber jackets from charity shops for material. The bags weren’t great, but they worked. Even my first one was halfway decent. It was well-made, but most importantly, it was custom made. It fit my stuff perfectly, which is what was bugging me about some of the bags I had purchased—my stuff never seemed to fit just right. I needed a custom bag.

The following years I continued to make bags. They got better and better. I began ordering specific fasteners and clips for them. I even sent off a few bits of material to be embroidered with a logo I had created. After a few years my skill at construction improved, thankfully, alongside my taste. I developed a system of design, patterns, prototyping, ordering parts etc. I watched for usability issues in my previous bags and addressed them in new designs. Of course, back then, I had never heard of the term usability. Little did I know it would become a big part of my work in the coming years.

Early on, I didn’t really like messenger-style bags. I didn’t like how they looked and I didn’t like how they felt. They tended to never feel like they ‘fit’ very well, so I always used backpacks. When I first started making bags, though, I started with messenger bags because the thought of constructing a backpack scared me. They seemed really complicated and I was unfamiliar with any sense of ergonomics. It didn’t take long for me to break through this barrier, though, as I only made 3 or 4 messenger bags before I felt confident enough to tackle a backpack. It took a few prototypes to build a backpack I would actually use, which was a big deal because each bag was taking me about a week to make.

Fast-forward to today

I haven’t actually made a bag for several years now, but in late 2010 I started thinking about it again. It felt very different because I had over 10 years of graphic design under my belt now. My newly-seasoned mind now forced me to approach things differently. After having worked years in different types of workflows like Agile and being a full-time freelancer my brain just worked in a different way. I knew this immediately because I remembered that when I first started making bags there was no design process at all. I remember setting my (then titanium) Powerbook on a piece of fabric and tracing a line around it, then setting a copy of Tokion magazine on top of that line and tracing around it. This was how I designed. (Needless to say, many of my first prototypes had such a tight fit that they were too cumbersome to use regularly.)

I developed a simple design process

When I recently started thinking about making bags again the first thing I did was to make a list; not a list of things I wanted to fit, but a list of things I wanted the bag to accomplish. Some of the items on this list were:

• protect my gear without being too heavy or bulky
• be easy to get things in and out, but not so roomy that things would flop around inside
• make sure my electronics would be protected from the rain, as I am always on my bike
• be somewhat stylish
• be built well enough and from good enough materials to last a couple lifetimes with strenuous use

I transition from milk to meat

I began sitting in my spare time, staring off into the distance, thinking about these various goals and the issues surrounding them. I pictured the designs in my head, thinking about what they would feel like (after so many years of being a bag-geek I could actually do this quite successfully). I realised the charity shops couldn’t be my source of materials if these bags were going to be great. This list became several sheets of sketches, notes with arrows, a list of material and component suppliers, notes about the performance qualities of certain materials and more sketches. I researched the compression qualities of neoprene, the thermal properties of merino wool, the stress tolerances of different types of plastic and compared the weight ratios between plastics and metals.

I remember when I first started sketching I was really unhappy with not being very good at drawing three-dimensional objects. I asked a talented friend of mine for a crash course on perspectives and proportions, which helped tremendously. You can see the result of some of these sketches here.

What I learned about the pack market today

Another thing I began doing was researching competitors’ products and taking a closer look at the collection of bags I already owned. I made notes about what I liked and didn’t like about the bags I had, and tried to address those issues in my own designs. One thing I was surprised to find was that, though my collection of bags probably cost a small fortune (as they are mostly from quite respected companies), it became clear as I took a closer look that these companies had made concessions—probably to keep production costs down. This made me think well, is there anyone who’s not cutting corners and just making an amazing bag? (The answer is ‘no’.) When I asked this question it took me down a deeper rabbit-hole.

Today’s bag industry is a lot like modern Western economies in that there’s a huge gap between the rich and the poor, except that with bags that gap is between the consumer and the professional markets. There’s not a lot in-between, but the one constant seems to be that everyone has to minimise their production costs in order to remain competitive in their market. So everyone’s penny-pinching, even in the pro market. To this day I have yet to find a bag that comes even close to the quality of construction, componentry and materials that I am designing, which is mostly down to a choice of materials and components. This is not to big me up, it’s just to state that the market is not a perfect one. It’s a lot different from, say, the automobile market when you can actually buy something like a Bugatti Veyron or a Nissan GTR or a Rolls Royce Phantom. There is a ‘best’ to be had, as long as you’ve got the dosh. Rolls is not cutting corners on the Phantom. With bags, you simply can’t buy a ‘best’ bag for your needs—it’s always a compromise. This ‘gap through the middle’ is huge.

However, that’s not to say that there aren’t good options; but bags, like cars, must be chosen according to your needs and budget. For example, if you want to get somewhere fast and you’re rich you’ll buy a supercar. If you want to get somewhere fast and you’re not rich you’ll probably do something like I did and buy a Subaru Legacy. It’s always a compromise between budget and needs.

With bags it’s a similar situation, except that the supercar is not available. To put it simply, with bags, there is a ‘best’ bag you can buy off-the-shelf— it’s just not as good as it could be.

But what if there was?

About the packs I’m designing

This is what I have set out to do, but not across the board. I’m passionate about designing bags for my own needs, and so that desire narrows my market down a lot. I’m not about to try and be all things for all people, I’m planning to stick to what I love, and hopefully that love carries me through the hard times to an amazing product. Basically, the bags I’m designing are designed for someone like me; someone with a need for quality, ruggedness, usability and style who’s willing to pay a heck of a lot of money for the right bag because it has such a huge impact on my day-to-day life. I’m the first to admit this is a narrow market, but hey.

My skills kind of cross-over, I’m learning as I go

But the thing is, on-paper, I don’t design physical products. Sure, a lot of my skills cross over or are somehow complimentary and give me a bit of a leg-up, but I have no formal training and I’m learning as I go. I’m not very far along, either. I just have some designs which need to be prototyped, tested, redesigned, prototyped and tested again. I have some specs for some very high-quality componentry, materials and design languages. The whole time I’ve been following my personal design mantra function equals form, which means I believe that if any given function is identified, researched and tested properly, that it’s natural form will be inherently beautiful. This design philosophy has worked for me for over 10 years and I’m not about to change it now ;-)

Am I starting a pack company?

Oh I’m glad you asked. Well, not right now. I’ve been reticent to just start my own bag company. Between running Lorensson&Co., Alleycats.co and Upptäcka Network and Press, I’m pretty busy as it is. I’ve been talking a little with Chris Araujo who designs packs for Columbia Sportswear and some of the guys from Crumpler and from what they’re telling me, to really get into the game in a serious way, you need to know a lot more than what I already know. This is not a surprise.

When I first got into publishing with Upptäcka Press I was well aware I was entering an industry that I didn’t know, and that it would be a sharp learning curve, which has proved true, but we’ve sold a few books and are growing steadily.

When I started the fixed-gear cycling directory Alleycats.co in 2009 I knew I was doing the same thing—getting myself into a space I had no business being in. I had no experience running online directories, I had never done any design projects for The Yellow Pages or anything. All I knew was that people who were interested in fixed-gear cycling needed a way to get more involved in their cities. But after launching with just one city (Bristol, UK) in 2009 we received a massive influx of requests for more cities. We’ve continually improved the performance and design of the directories and it’s still growing today.

All this experience of jumping into the deep-end is something which, though I never intended it, has become a sort of hallmark of my professional life. It just keeps happening.

With bags, one day, I hope to have the time to get some prototypes made that I can test, refine and redesign. I’d love to collaborate with some people who are already making great bags like T-Level, Mission Workshop and Porter. I’m always fascinated with people like me who are passionate about bags and just get on with it, like Dan from the Bristol-based Levrier. It’s a really competitive industry that is uniquely fragmented into categories like cheap bags, fashion bags, cycling bags, climbing bags, camping bags, traveling bags, camera bags, school bags etc. It’s hard to carve out your niche, but as far as I can see, there’s loads of room for improvement.

I’m really looking forward to working on more designs and getting some prototypes made. Until then, have a look at what i’m working on.

United Arts & Enterprise Collaborative brochure

UAEC is a youth programme designed to encourage, educate and employ youth through training & mentoring using the arts.

‘Two by Two’ illustration

This was a piece of artwork for the LA art collaborative M4TH Community’s first work-book. Produced in Illustrator.

Film title for ‘My Name is Sorrow’

Title design implemented for poster and website for HandyCloud Productions‘ second film ‘My Name is Sorrow‘.

Paediatrics Ward illustrations

Vector illustrations and a character in different poses for Royal Berkshire Hospital Trust. We had to fit a lot of doors in a small space, which kids could click to visit the various wards. Signs were designed to label the wards, and signs for each ward’s home page and notices.

T-Shirt designs

Howies was running a really cool DIY t-shirt design website called Teepay, which is sadly now defunct. I designed about six or eight tees, these were ‘staff picks’, featured on their home page.

‘Kindling Wood’ by Mahali O’Hare

Mahali was Spike Island’s artist-in-residence. This is the work-book from her exhibition.

Bushido concept collection

I have always been fascinated with the aesthetics of furnishings. This concept set was inspired by some of the old 17th century Japanese aesthetics in a range of home-made products.

End-table with flip-down cabinet door, magnetic latch.

Single-seater chair could be modified to extend to a 2-4 seater.

Coffee table with glass shelf.

BristolUrbanFøto

A ‘designed’ photography project to promote the lesser known qualities of Bristol to tourists. Download the set. (1.8mb zip. 1280×800 desktops)

BristolUrbanFøto was originally intended to be a fundraiser for a faith-based social action group on Stokes Croft. I wanted to use various local photographers (such as myself) to take photos of the lesser-known areas of Bristol—you know, the bits that don’t normally make it to postcards, and then print them on posters, postcards etc and sell them online with a new image each week and limited print runs throughout. This never happened due to lack of initial funds and time to run it, but I’m always interested in new ideas.