Hasta La Ideas

An Icelandic series of stuffed monsters designed to help sick children feel better

VeikYndi (Icelandic for “SickNices”) are the offbeat monsters created by Reykjavik-based graphic designer Hildur Hermanns. Like a psychedelic version of Care Bears, Hermanns designed the plush characters to cheer up sick children. She came up with the concept as part of her graduation project from the esteemed Iceland Academy of the Arts, and hopes to see them fully developed into a cartoon one day.

Each of the eight colorfully empathetic monsters battles a distinct sickness and needs someone to care for it. For example, Hákon (pictured top right) suffers from heatstroke—with red eyes and yellow dreadlocks pulled into a ponytail, he needs a loving child to feed him water and cool him down.

As imaginative and thoughtful as her characters, Hermanns (pictured top left) works as a freelance graphic designer as she continues writing VeikYndi stories that blur comics with childrens books.