MacThemes: After many, many years of waiting, the Microsoft MacBU unit has finally released Office 2008 for Mac. Give me a quick rundown on how you were involved in the project.

Jonas: Well, I guess it was just one of those things that happened. One cold November day back in 2006, I suddenly had an email in my inbox from the User Experience Lead Manager at MacBU. We talked on the phone, and we had a chat about my involvement with Enhanced Labs. He then chose me and Philipp Antoni for their graphics needs over the course of 2007, as well as a couple of other artists.

MacThemes: How did you reconcile the differences between your Mac-nurtured icon aesthetic and the new ribbon/gloss aesthetic that Microsoft’s been using?

Jonas: When you look at it closely, the small icons used in Office 2008 are not that different from the other Mac toolbar icons out there. They had a specific style that they wanted to go with, so it was just a matter of getting into that feel/style. After a while, you just use that style everywhere, so the long working relationship made it easy.

MacThemes: Were there any tough battles, or did your ideas mesh well with their own?

Jonas: Of course there were. They have branding departments and marketing departments as well as their own user experience team. Our conceptual say was pretty limited most of the time. That’s the nature of dealing with a client of that size. I think it’s fine. It ensures that there’s no deviation from the concept/brand that they set out to keep. But whenever I got creative freedom, we simply worked together to get it right for both parties.

MacThemes: Some people on the forums have already started releasing icons replacing the included Office icons. Do you take it personally?

Jonas: Haha, not at all. I even made my own, which I’m not so sure I can release any time soon. That’s why there’s a MacThemes or a DeviantArt though.

People need to customize to their own tastes. It is something that I really believe in, since it’s why I started doing icons in the first place. If you take a look at my portfolio, you can see that most of the icons in there are replacement icons for apps that I use, but where the icon just didn’t fit my taste.

MacThemes: The Mac customization community spans quite a few different countries and cultures. Do you feel you bring something different to the table given your cultural background? Or do we all become nationals of the Mac design community, bound more to a certain aesthetic principal rather than our own cultural references?

Jonas: Well, I don’t really bring anything Danish to the table, as such. But the guys at Hybridworks or Mikworks, for example, are pretty good at taking cultural elements and putting them into icon design. One thing I do know is that I have been sucked into the Mac culture, so creating Windows graphics is getting increasingly harder for me to do.

MacThemes: We often forget that many of the talented artists contributing their work to MacThemes do so for the sheer joy of it and are often pursuing quite different careers. In your case, in addition to your work at Enhanced Labs you’re also studying medicine. Which one do you think you’ll end up considering for a “day” job? Or are you aiming for a new hyphenated “Doctor-Designer”?

Jonas: I have been asked that question many times. The fact of the matter is that I can’t justify sticking with both, the reason being that I would end up not being 100% focused on either, which is not fair to either of the two professions.

In late 2006, I found myself in a position where I had to make a choice between the two. I took a long time to think about it, and decided to stick to medicine. It was no easy choice, since I love doing both, but it was a necessary one. I will probably never stop drawing stuff, since it is such a great way for me to express myself. But as a career I have definitely chosen the path of medicine, which to this day I still find incredibly fascinating and captivating.

MacThemes: How long until you retire from the Mac design scene? When do you switch full-time to Medicine?

Jonas: Haha, well, I’ll probably never retire completely. Maybe just tone it down to a bare minimum, and enjoy all of the amazing stuff from the real designers.

MacThemes: And that’s it. Thanks a lot for “sitting down” with us, Jonas.

Jonas: It was my pleasure, Luis.

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