Barcelona Design Week 2018 by

From transformation to social critique

Before 2017 the event focused on design for designers, however, last year the challenge was to take it outside of just the design field, to understand design more as a driver for change and as the key to transforming society. Our aim was to reach everyday people by creating a homage to six pioneers of our time who passed away recently and whose legacy has been driven by the evolution and change of mindset within different fields. This year we wanted to push the concept further, taking the idea of design as a performance or act and focusing more on how design can make you think about the world around us. Collaborating with the combined teams at both FAD and BCD, we worked closely with them to envision everyday situations and develop a critical dialogue for each scenario. 

Design is a powerful tool for changing society

This year’s Barcelona Design Week encourages people to re-value the concept of good design for the ultimate purpose of serving society. The event focuses on the fact that we cannot continue with the current model of production and consumption. Every day we have an overwhelming desire to buy things which we are often aware we do not need. A few people question how they were made, what they bring us, where they come from, what materials they were made with, which hands and technologies made them possible and what their working life will be. But not enough of us. We needed to develop a powerful and thought-provoking campaign to shed light on this issue.

What does it mean to revalue?

The central idea is that we need to rethink processes in order to redirect the system toward more sustainable production and society toward more critical and conscious consumption.  With the concept of ‘revaluing’ at the core of all communication, the campaign invites the design profession and the public to re-value everything which surrounds us and to offer arguments which question how we should consume in the present in order to achieve sustainability in the future. In order to engage people and develop a sense of inclusivity, our first step was to open up the debate to the public during the pre-campaign phase. By doing so we wanted to directly involve people as part of a wider discourse, sharing ideas and preparing our audiences for a good reception. Above all we wanted to stress the social nature of the campaign.

Engaging the public in the debate

We created a web portal in three languages (Catalan, English and Spanish) asking people to define or describe an example of what it means to ‘revalue’. The question was also distributed through the various Barcelona Design Week social channels to create expectation and encourage participation ahead of the event. We used the web portal as a tool with which to capture and share these definitions, generating a database of ideas and knowledge, many of which we would later use during the campaign as key messages, combined with a set of illustrations. We used bright, bold colours to align with last year’s campaign, combined with a more structural, block layout. Much of the roll out, both digital and printed, followed this binary code, with a split screen or parallel blocks enhancing the overall structure of question & answer, concept & definition, illustration & messaging.

Satirical illustrations

With the concept of “Revalue” we envisioned a series of situations, where objects, spaces – literally anything – could be revalued, reconsidered, used or perceived in a different way. World renowned Portuguese graphic designer and illustrator, Bráulio Amado, brought these situations to life through six satirical illustrations revealing different social criticisms. Each illustration combines with a specific message about re-thinking current models of production, consumption and technology, allowing for diverse interpretation and encouraging widespread debate. The first illustration was unveiled on May 9 by Barcelona Design Week with a newsletter. Following this an illustration was distributed every few days with more information about the events and activities of the Design Week. Each illustration is animated to bring it to life wherever possible via social media and digital advertising.

Applying the system across different formats

As well as developing the landing page of Barcelona Design Week’18 we also designed a 64 page programme in booklet format using a regular grid structure, highlighting the main events and providing detailed information about each of the activities available. The booklet is divided per day, each spread includes an introduction on the left with highlights and the programme of events on the right. The design follows this year’s identity and colour palette – green for the conferences, blue for the prices, pink for the highlights and white for the breakdown of events and activities.

A big part of the process was working together as a team to give the event and the messaging a strong presence in the street. Beyond the graphic campaign we advised on how to bring the campaign closer to society, speaking not just to the design community but to everyone. The graphics not only worked for digital, but they were rolled out across flags around the city, bus vinyls, BDW city stickers, opis, tote bags, and large scale vinyl facades for the Disseny Hub building. Throughout the project, we worked hard to stay aligned across all teams, sharing ideas and creating everything in partnership. 

Creating international visibility

We initially made contact with It’s Nice that in order to gauge their interest in being our international media partner for the campaign. Having confirmed this we found out that instead of doing an announcement before the event, they were more interested in a doing full round up of the campaign. We liaised with them consistently during the pre-campaign stages, keeping them informed of any significant developments, particularly regarding timings and updated assets. Once we had all the finalised assets we shared them with It’s Nice That along with a press release for publication ahead of the event. As a follow up we also sent the press release and a selection of images to our wider national and international graphic design focused media list. 

Adapting the campaign across multiple platforms

An important part of the process was deciding how best to diffuse the campaign across social media as well as via the physical assets designed to catch people’s attention on the streets. The campaign had to be spread in a way that would not only reach but be understood by many different sectors of society, catching the attention not just of the design community but of society as a whole through a combination of playful imagery alongside thought-provoking messaging.