Mathias Mikkelsen – Founder, Designer and Entreprenur

TV Interview with TV 2

Wed, 08 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0100

In relation to the launch of Timely, I was invited to do a live TV interview on Norway’s biggest news channel, TV 2. In addition to Timely, I was also asked about life in Silicon Valley. I have never been on TV before, so there’s a bit of a nervous fella you’ll see in the first seconds below, but then it quickly calms down and ends up being a blast! A really fun experience.

PS: Sorry for the Norwegian-only version! If you manage to get through the whole thing, I promise there will be some English words.

A Timely Relaunch

Wed, 08 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0100

Oh, how time flies. I was supposed to update this blog on launch day, but things got bigger than I had ever imagined, and I had to drop everything and focus on answering emails and doing product development. Anyhow… Timely relaunched a month ago. It’s completely new redesign from our previous version.

I like to look at it as the time tracking app to end time tracking. It’s a merger of scheduling and logging hours. When you plan your time, you’re already logging hours, and there is no point why these two tasks should be separate.

I really think we’ve made something different in a very crowded marked, and would love for you to check it out and make up your own mind. Head on over to timely.com to see it. Below is a little launch video I made:

Hello, San Francisco

Sun, 15 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0200

San Francisco fog by Shelly Prevost

San Francisco and Silicon Valley. So much stuff, so much history. The tech, the creatives, the diversity, the geeks and the culture. But maybe most important of all; the companies. Oh, The Companies. The technological behemoths and the scrappy startups. The disruption and the disrupted. The rags-to-riches stories and the comeback legends.

I’ve heard so much about this place and been wanting to come here for quite a while. I’m super-excited to be here for the next three months! After that, we’ll see what happens. I’m always available for a coffee or a beer, email me on me@mathiasmikkelsen.com if you wanna meet up!

New Website and an Updated Portfolio

Thu, 12 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0200

It’s that time again, where I finally manage to get a personal, up-to-date website out into the world, after spending way, way too much time on it and throwing away too many finished versions.

This time around, it’s not a complete redesign as I’ve done before, but rather a greatly refined version of the old one. And it’s fully responsive and retina-ready. The latter made the portfolio take some extra time to get done. Anyhow, let me know what you think on @matmik!

Here’s an overview of the Work-page. Head on over to view full-size.

Launch: Timely App

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 +0200

I’m very glad to announce that Timely, a beautifully simple time tracking app, has now officially launched! Head on over to the brand new marketing page on timely.com and take a look.

Introducing Timely for Web & iPhone

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0200

Super-excited to finally introduce Timely – a simple, beautiful time tracking application for the web & iPhone. They say a picture says more than a thousand words, so here’s a video:

Timely is launching in late May, but sign up today on timely.com and I’ll invite you to the beta trial.

“Everything around you that you call life, was made up by people that were no smarter than you.”

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0200

Steve Jobs, in 1994, talking about his perspective on life:

When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money.

That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact, and that is – everything around you that you call life, was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.

The minute that you understand that you can poke life and actually something will, you know if you push in, something will pop out the other side, that you can change it, you can mold it. That’s maybe the most important thing. It’s to shake off this erroneous notion that life is there and you’re just gonna live in it, versus embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it.

I think that’s very important and however you learn that, once you learn it, you’ll want to change life and make it better, cause it’s kind of messed up, in a lot of ways. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.

The quote is from PBS’ “One Last Thing” documentary, which aired on TV in 2011.

New Career: Full-time Freelance

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 00:00:00 +0200

It’s official! From this day on, I’m a full-time freelance designer, employed by my own company with the highly creative name; Mathias Mikkelsen AS.

I’ll be designing all kinds of digital products; mobile, tablet and web applications, regular websites and everything in between. Shoot me an email if you wanna say hi.

My office at St. Olavs Plass 2, 0165 Oslo. Drop by if you’re in town!

If you’re in town visiting Oslo, don’t hesitate contacting me. I’d love to chat over a good cup of coffee. I’m sharing offices with the newly-founded Notch, a design & development studio founded by my good friends Simen Øian Gjermundsen, Henning Gjerde and their partner Christopher Einarsrud.

Two Prizes at the WIF 2012 Finals

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0200

We managed to snatch two prizes at the WIF (Webdesign International Festival) 2012 Finals in Limoges, France! Our team – Tomato Tomato – won the best innovation prize, as well as the region of Limoges’ intercultural prize.

The finale lasted for 24 hours straight. All teams are given the same brief, and are then required to come up with an idea and concept, create a prototype and presentation. Teams all over the world qualified to the finale, from Brazil and Argentina, Germany, France and all the way over to China og Russia.

Myself, Henning and Simen’s entry was called Spring. Spring is an idea on how we can help students all over the world have a better education. Visit our Spring Presentation Site.

Here’s two articles from the press regarding the victory:

Hjemme fra Frankrike som dobbeltvinnere (Kreativt Forum, Norwegian)
Trekløveret fra Isobar ble dobbeltvinnere i Frankrike (INMA, Norwegian)

From left to right: Simen Øian Gjermundsen, Mathias Mikkelsen, Henning Gjerde

Young Lions, in Cannes Lions

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0200

Cannes Lions, The 59th International Festival of Creativity, is now officially over. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to go all the way in the finals. The Cyber Lions are fully focused on creating advertisement banners, a stretch from what we normally do. But none-the-less, the festival was an amazing experience I hope to be a part of again.

Myself and Simen qualified by winning the norwegian qualifier earlier this year. At Cannes, we competed against teams of two from over 90 different countries. Our task was to come up with an idea and produce an advertisement banner for The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation within 24 hours. Great fun, and hopefully we’ll get a new shot at the finals next year.

Highlights from the festival included meeting a ton of interesting people, watching a talk by Bill Clinton, being very inspired after hearing amazing speakers each and every day, having highly creative dinner talks, and of course; enjoying the beautiful beaches and partying late into the night. Cannes, we’ll meet again.

The main entrance to the festival.