Non-Format

Non-Format is a contemporary graphic design team based in London and founded in 2000 by Kjell Ekhorn and Jon Forss. The partnership has an Anglo-Scandinavian character, reflected in the founders’ backgrounds and in a design practice that operates across the British and wider international creative industries. Rather than functioning as a consumer-goods brand, Non-Format is a professional design identity whose work is commissioned by publishers, record labels, musicians, and editorial organizations. The team’s documented practice centers on visual identities, album and single artwork, publication design, and art direction. Its music-related work includes projects for The Leaf Label and an especially close relationship with Lo Recordings, for which Non-Format designed a large majority of more than 60 releases. This body of work established the team as a recognizable contributor to independent and experimental music culture, where packaging, typography, sequencing, and visual systems are often treated as integral parts of an artist’s identity. Non-Format also created artwork for Stateless, covering both the group’s album and singles. In publishing, the team became associated with The Wire, the British monthly music magazine, for which it was responsible for a complete redesign and subsequent art direction. This work extended its role beyond individual covers or illustrations into the construction of a broader editorial system, including the visual treatment of recurring content and the magazine’s overall presentation. Available reference material presents Non-Format primarily through its portfolio and client relationships. It does not provide verified information about corporate structure, ownership, revenue, legal status, a formal headquarters address, or a comprehensive chronology of later projects. Accordingly, Non-Format is best characterized here as an independent or studio-style professional design practice rather than as a conventional mass-market brand. Its positioning is defined by commissioned, culturally oriented graphic design for music and publishing clients, with particular visibility in independent record-label and specialist music-media contexts.

Non-Format was established in 2000 by Kjell Ekhorn and Jon Forss as a London-based Anglo-Scandinavian graphic design team. The available reference describes the practice as working primarily in the publishing and music industries. Its output is therefore associated with commissioned visual communication rather than with a manufactured product line or a conventional retail brand. A substantial part of the team’s early documented profile came from its work for independent music clients. Non-Format worked with The Leaf Label and developed a particularly extensive relationship with Lo Recordings. The reference states that the team designed the vast majority of more than 60 releases for Lo Recordings, indicating a sustained contribution to the label’s catalogue and visual identity. This type of continuing label relationship distinguishes the practice from a studio known only for isolated cover commissions. Non-Format also produced artwork for Stateless, including work for both an album and associated singles. These projects demonstrate the team’s involvement across multiple formats within an artist campaign, rather than only in one-off packaging assignments. In publishing and editorial design, Non-Format was responsible for a complete redesign and art direction of The Wire, a British monthly music magazine. The project broadened the studio’s role from cover and release artwork into magazine-wide visual direction. It also connected the team’s music-sector expertise with a recurring editorial publication whose identity depends on a consistent relationship between typography, imagery, layout, and content. The supplied material does not establish a detailed chronology of the studio’s later work, its current operating structure, a legal company name, ownership arrangements, or a verified official website address. Those details remain unresolved in this dossier.

• 2000

  Non-Format is founded

  [1]Non-Formaten.wikipedia.org

  Kjell Ekhorn and Jon Forss establish Non-Format as a London-based Anglo-Scandinavian graphic design team.

• Work for The Leaf Label

  [1]Non-Formaten.wikipedia.org

  Non-Format undertakes graphic design work for The Leaf Label as part of its music-industry practice.

• Extensive Lo Recordings release work

  [1]Non-Formaten.wikipedia.org

  The team develops a long-running relationship with Lo Recordings and designs most of more than 60 releases for the label.

• Stateless artwork

  [1]Non-Formaten.wikipedia.org

  Non-Format creates artwork for Stateless’s album and singles.

• The Wire redesign and art direction

  [1]Non-Formaten.wikipedia.org

  Non-Format completes a redesign and provides art direction for the British monthly music magazine The Wire.

A contemporary, culturally focused graphic design team serving publishing and music clients, with a practice spanning record packaging, editorial systems, and art direction.

• Graphic design service

  Music release artwork

  Non-Format designs visual materials for albums, singles, and other music releases. Its documented work includes projects for The Leaf Label, Lo Recordings, and Stateless, combining cover art and related release graphics within broader artist or label presentation systems.

• Music branding

  Record-label design systems

  Through its extensive work for Lo Recordings and work for The Leaf Label, Non-Format contributes repeatable visual approaches across independent record-label catalogues. These assignments place individual releases within a coherent graphic language while allowing separate artists and records to retain distinct identities.

• Publishing design

  Editorial design and art direction

  Non-Format provides publication-focused design and art direction. Its documented editorial project for The Wire involved a complete redesign of the British music magazine, extending beyond isolated illustrations or covers to the magazine’s overall visual presentation.

1. 1Non-Formaten.wikipedia.org