About
How a one-man wrecking crew does things differently.
Jonas Strandell outside London Design Museum.
Sailors & Mermaids is a tiny content and marketing studio run by me, Jonas Strandell. I’m an award-winning marketer, designer, and writer based outside Stockholm, Sweden.
Growing up, I always wanted to be a “comic book person.” But, as it turned out, it was a somewhat limited business to be in. Who knew!? My parents have always supported my decision to pursue a creative career. My mom used to draw for a living, and my dad’s title was Typographer, which is incredibly cool.
Later, I went to film school to become a screenwriter. Quite possibly an even more narrow career choice with about three jobs in Sweden.
Then along came the Internet.
I created my first website using Netscape and a 14.4k dial-up modem in the mid-90s, and I was hooked. I’ve been creating things online since. I have had this website since, gosh, 2011!
I’ve spent over 20 years building marketing teams at tech companies. My time in the trenches has allowed me to lead marketing teams at companies such as Cosafe, Besedo, Lavendla, Pingdom, Dooer, and SolarWinds. I’ve built global teams and created content and marketing efforts around world-leading software and products. Those efforts won awards and deserve the spotlight, not me.
I have been fortunate to work with companies such as Ben Sherman, Sega Games, MTV, and others.
My wife Josefine and I reside just outside Stockholm, but we dream of someday living on or near a vineyard in northern Italy. If you’re going to dream, it might as well be big enough to need irrigation systems, right?
Not like the other kids
Small studio with disproportionate output. After all, it’s not the size of the boat but the motion of the ocean.
We’re obsessive about the craft because we know how to take what you love about your product and make other people feel that too. But remember: if your fidelity to perfectionism is too high, you will never do anything.
Always add value
Working with Sailors & Mermaids will always add value, let’s call that AAV. The kind that drives growth, builds trust, and makes people actually give a damn.
Dive in, ask the right questions, and above all – be helpful. Because if we’re not, then what good are we?
Whether content, design, or brand positioning, the goal is always the same: make it clear, make it useful, make it work.
Have any questions? Check out this FAQ. There is also a media kit available.
Jonas Strandell and wife Josefine on vespa. Pixel art forever.
Colophon
The current version of this website was created in fits and starts, with considerable delays and indecision. Most ideas spawned during evenings and weekends, and the previous versions of the website are in the bin, where they belong.
All design and development was done in-house (literally). The website itself is built from the ground up in Framer with duct-tape, tweaks, and handmade code. Illustrations, patterns, animations, icons, and pixel art were created using a mix of pen & paper, Procreate, Figma, and Adobe Photoshop. I use MailerLite for the newsletter.
Oh, and I have sprinkled some subtle easter egg animations all over, and they are all done in Lottie Editor.
I have used responsive design techniques to ensure the site is nicely readable on many devices. While the site has not been widely tested, it should be fine on all modern browsers.
Typography
The wonderfully charming headlines are set in Moranga from Fontspring by Sofia Mohr. And the main body text is a beautiful typeface called Circular from Lineto.
Made by a human
No AI was used in the making of this website. Every word, illustration, and wobbly line of extra code was made by me. That means any typos, bugs, or questionable jokes are all mine. Sorry mom.
Features, interviews, etc.
Evo nordics
The Clean Feed
Precis Digital
Guldstänk
Dagens Industri: Årets Gasell
K10k
Pixelpushers
