Emil Oscar Lanne

About Me

About Me

Growing up in Sweden, my world was immersed in art, design, and architecture from the start. My curiosity for creation found its home in computers, where I played with graphic design and photo manipulation, composed music, and experimented with coding—each avenue a canvas for my creativity and constant desire to learn new things.

Professionally, I ventured into web & digital design just as the internet was becoming a thing in the early days. Learning by doing, I embraced the fresh and uncharted technologies that came my way, which is still true to this day. My career journey took me from Stockholm to London in 2001, and then to New York in 2005, which has been my base & home ever since.

Now, with over twenty years behind me in agencies of various kinds, I've spearheaded creative projects in design and user experiences for a diverse array of clients and industries. My path through creative agencies has been a blend of brand transformation and a constant push towards innovation, facing each new challenge with a strive to make unique and never before seen designs & experiences.

My work has been recognized with Webbys, Clios, and D&AD pencils, and in 2019, I found my name among AdWeek’s Creative 100. As a Creative Director, my role sits at the crossroads of technology and user experience, crafting spaces both physical and digital, while working with talents from around the globe.

Still, at heart, I'm a extremely hands on designer, with a solid foundation in technology and a persistent wonder at how design paired with tech can create amazing experiences. AI image generation, generative music and Archtectural renderings are my current passions, and I’m channeling this into professional and personal projects, aiming to shape the new era of technological experiences.

Outside the office, I pour my energy into creative projects that feed back into my professional life. Whether renovating homes, making music, or brainstorming new ventures, you’ll find me there. And then there's Campground, our craft beer shop and café — a place that brings together my love for designing spaces, brands and experiences for the love of the community I live in.

Skills

Skills

Concept Development. Creative Strategy. Physical Design. Architectural Rendering & Visualization. User Experience. Graphic Design. Interactive Advertising. Web Design. Motion Graphics. Online Advertising. Typography. Digital Strategy. User Interface Design. Experience Design. Graphics. Advertising. User Experience Design. Brand Development. Digital Media. Integrated Marketing. Animation. Corporate Identity. Logo Design. Illustration. Photography. User Interface. Storyboarding. User-centered Design. Branding & Identity. Digital Marketing. Information Architecture. Interactive Marketing. Social Media Marketing. Content Strategy. Social Media.

My Journey

My Journey

A chronological and detailed look at my experience working at agencies in Stockholm, London & New York for the past 20+ years.


2024 - Present

New York & Global

One Man Army - Experiental Creative Director & Spatial Designer

I run my own consultancy business, specializing in the rapid development of creative concepts and ideas for experiential retail, events, workplaces, and more. This venture allows me to focus on what I enjoy most: generating innovative ideas, bringing them to life, and collaborating with like-minded individuals from around the world.

2022 - 2024

New York & Global

Gensler - Global Creative Director DXD

Part of the global new ventures team focusing on Digital Experience Design across all of the offices at Gensler. 

2016 - 2022

Brooklyn & Global

Huge - Global Executive Creative Director.

I came back to Huge to lead one of the creative groups in the large brooklyn office. after a few years however, my job transformed into a more free roaming global creative role where I spend most of my time on project & pitches all around the company. My time was pre-pandemic times filed with insane amounts of traveling all over the world working on physical digital and physical user experiences powered by technology. In my role today I employ a healthy mix of branding, experiental and physical design work. All with a tilt towards innovation and design.

2014 - 2016

New York

Critical Mass - VP, Executive Creative Director.

The CCO at Huge left to go to Critial Mass, and persuaded me to come with him. I graduated into a ECD title and got the mission to build up this Canadian agency’s New York operation. We transfomed rapidly from 4 people in a crappy midtown  space up to 70 people in a cool office loft in Lower Manhattan. I built up a crazy talented design team and filled my days with pitching every  opportunity that came through the doors. We managed to win clients like Apple, Marriot and McKinsey during my time there and build the foundation for a profitable New York operation. 

2012 - 2014

Brooklyn

Huge - Group Creative Director.

While at LBi i managed to hire an amazing designer / ACD from Huge. She came over for 6 months, but changed her mind and went back to Huge. While working with her, my already large admiration for them increased. Through some luck and determination, I managed to snag a job at Huge. I spent an few insanely productive and creative years at Huge working as a Creative director on wide range of projects. I felt at home.

2010 - 2012

New York

Lost Boys International - Group Creative Director.

I managed to get a job with LBi in New York heading up the creative department for a a year or so until a ECD was hired. It was my first real job working in a slightly larger agency with more process and rigor. I think I learned a lot and got exposed to a healthy mix of both interactive and digital assigments, but also physical installations and marketing work. A large amount of my time was spent on designing e-commerce and websites for Neutrogena.

2007 - 2010

New York

Your Majesty - Co-Founder & Creative Director.

While at BBH I met some new and old Swedish friends. We decided to start an agency. I was part of the founding and the first initial 3 years of the agency when we built it up to a ~20 person operation. In many ways an amazing experience, but also fundamentally the wrong chemistry between the original founders. We parted ways and I exited the company. End of story.

2005 - 2007

New York

Bartle, Bogle & Hegarty (BBH) - Senior Art Director.

My long term plan had always been to get to New York. After travelling there for the first time in 98, I just KNEW it was my destiny. The opportunity came along to help Dare Digital in London set up their New York Operation through the help of BBH. Although I hated leaving Poke, this was an opportunity hard to say no to. I got my Visa, and made my way over. But by the time I was actualy installed, Dare’s plans had cooled down, and the job transformed into being the “digital guy” at BBH. Something they had never had before. An amazing experience where I got to see the inner workings of a true Ad Agency in New York. In retrospect I think I was completely overwhelmed with impressions with this completely new experience that was so different from anything I had ever done before. But Some great work and lifelong connections came out of it.

2004 - 2005

London

Poke - Art Director & Coder.

London was great, and I loved being there. However, I was looking for more innovative and tech driven work. At this time I was all about flash. Coding Actionscript 2 and creating crazy ideas for webexperiences. I managed to get in touch with Poke who were just starting up. I came in as emplyee number 2 or 3, working alongside the amazing group of founders creating digital experiences of all sorts of flavors. It was an amazingly creative period of my life, surrounded by some of the best people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.

2000 - 2004

Stockholm & London

Abel & Baker - Art Director & Coder.

While working on a promotional “Design your own T-Shirt” competition microsite for Zoovillage, we hired a small agency in Stockholm called Starlet Deluxe. They were the coolest small agency in town, and it was a dream for me to be working with them. I ended up designing the whole site together with them, and they promptly offered me a job straight after - which I took. Starlet Deluxe was shortly thereafter aquired by Abel & Baker. A creative digital agency who were also the hot shit, just slightly bigger. I spent the next few years in Stockholm, and then transfered within the company to their London office around 2001-2002 (It was a gradual move, first spending longer multi-month long stints there before moving permanently). 

2000

Stockholm

Zoovillage.com - Art Director.

Looking for a new gig, I was hired by online Streetwear e-commerce site based in Stockholm. Surrounded by uber hip streetware fashionistas, I learned the ins and outs of e-commerce and witnessed the insanity of the late 90ies dot com boom from the inside. I re-designed the e-com site a few times,  created endless promotions and interactive marketing sites, all helping to sustain the “burn-rate”. During the the course of this I started to learn how to code and design in flash, which created the foundation for my next job.

1999 - 2000

Stockholm

Framfab - Designer.

During the hayday of the dot com boom, Stockholm was a hotbed for digital creativity. I landed a job at one of the biggest agencies at the time. Framfab or Framtidsfabriken as it was called when I joined were around 1500 people when i started and over 4000 when I left. Crazy times where I spent most of my days designing websites for companies and organizations that probaly don’t even exist anymore and went to wild parties thrown by agencies all over Stockholm.

1997 - 1999

Stockholm

Capital School - Designer & Instructor.

I attended a Hyper Island-esque “multimedia” education shortly after getting out of my military service. I liked it a lot, and they liked me a lot. It was a place where people my own age taught you the ropes of how to use computers to build websites, make sick graphics and code. I spent so much time there and surpassed many of the people who were teaching us that the school offfered me a job as a instructor. I spent a few years working both as a instructor to new students but also doing side hustles and projects alongside for an internal agency structure. What a great way to get started in the business!

Emil Lanne 2024.

Sthlm

London

New York