OFFF Barcelona 2017: Wrap Up
OFFF Barcelona 2017 marked the 17th edition of OFFF, and this year’s event was bigger and better than ever, with a range of captivating keynotes and experiences that keep OFFF Barcelona’s eclectic community growing each year. Held at the Disseny Hub Barcelona, a cultural landmark in Barcelona, the three-day event saw an international assortment of pioneering creatives come to the southern Spanish city to dish on the latest trends in art, design, urashion and other creative industries.
The energy at OFFF Barcelona 2017 was truly remarkable. Three days of workshops, exhibitions and discussions provided the festival’s attendees with both thought-provoking entertainment, as well as helpful advice on how to make the most as a professional creative.
For the fourth year running, fluoro was a proud media partner of OFFF Barcelona and were on-gorund to brings you highlights from this standout edition. From Emmy-nominated creative director Michelle Dougherty to design legend Lance Wyman, read on for our highlights.
The first day of OFFF Barcelona saw a presentation from food-centric graphic design studio Studio Furious. Based in Paris, collaborative duo Thomas & Quentin founded Studio Furious based on their obsession with food. It began as a lunch-shift moonlighting project that quickly evolved to photographically documenting their love (and consumption) of hamburgers. This morphed into magazine advertisements for both savory and sweet consumables and eventually to the publication of their book Fat & Furious Burger. Their work has become known for its colourful, chic style and they continue to experiment with new techniques as well as make use of mainstream online fascinations with “the useless”.
Castilian artist and filmmaker César Pesquera, who also presented on day 1, has a close connection with the city of Barcelona, which he traveled to years prior in search of inspiration. Having come from a graphic design background, Pesquera confesses that many of his contemporary film concepts were originally inspired by the graphic work he had previously created and then forgotten about. Later he would exhume and repurpose these ideas and by so doing discover thematic connections. He described the importance of creating soulful artwork in both personal and commercial circumstances as well as the necessity to surrender at times when being involved with collaborations. Read our pre-OFFF interview with Pesquera here.
The innovative marketing of Atipus brought a unique product-focused element to day 1. Atipus was established in 1998 as a five-person studio specialising in minimalist design to achieve simplicity. Over the years, team made a name for themselves, originally by creating several unique bottle labels for up market wine brands. Later their talents were used to inject a youthful fresh style into older projects that needed overhauls such as the Poble Espanyol architectural museum turned music venue in Barcelona. Keeping the studio small allows them to maintain creative freedom however they also mentioned that restrictions such as budget sometimes helped narrow their focus in the early stages of brainstorming new work.
Hungry Castle made headlines when they used Kickstarter to fund their creation of a giant inflatable sculpture of Lionel Richie’s head to be interacted with at music festivals. Inspired by meme humour and pop art, this playful group proudly wears bright yellow jump-suits when on the scene to maintain synonymy with the under-construction theme found in their continuously evolving work. They have since expanded into retail with their humorous brand Cool Shit and have made an art of convincing clients to willingly come on board with their many zany ideas such as sausage forests, and a pooping bird sculptures for The Secret Garden Party UK festival. Read our pre-OFFF interview with Hungry Castle here.
We also saw Emmy-nominated creative director Michelle Dougherty and founding member of Imaginary Forces Karin Fong both present an impressive portfolio of Title sequences for some of the most popular television programs today. These highly aestheticised and contemplative projects displayed a keen attention to detail derived from extensive subject research. By employing fine art and retro style filming techniques to dynamic typography, these creatives have gained recognition for sequences from Stranger Things, Boardwalk Empire, Band of Brothers and Marvel’s Jessica Jones.
Day 2 brought another impressive lineup to the forefront, with a presentation from design and production studio CLAUS. Justin Harder has come a long way from his beginnings living out of a caravan in Malibu to now running his own design and production studio called CLAUS. They came in search of fulfilling a dream to present his youthfully spirited style of graphics and animation to a broader audience and he has achieved just that. Having created end titles for some of the highest grossing films such as Deadpool, Thor and The Book of Life he also uses his illustrative approach to tackle very different subject matter as in his first children’s book, Finding Happi Ness.
Susi Sie and Remo Gambacciani lead a creative studio in Berlin named after the very thing that inspires much of their work. MATERIA: that which has mass and volume, embodies the organic and textural nature of the work they create. Both use their respective skill sets in the analog and digital realms to create mesmerising work by filming veritable micro universes at high speeds. Selected by Vimeo Staff Picks five times and then later being involved in the creation of the Rio Olympics Opening Ceremony has strengthened their reputation. However, their hands-on methodology is also fertile ground for collaborative initiatives with the University level workshops they host regularly.
OFFF Barcelona 2017 also brought a new design segment: BLANC X OFFF. Taking place on day 3, the project brought together an international line-up of graphic designers for a special live experience.
BLANC X OFFF: ESPADAYSANTACRUZ. The diversely talented studio explained how it spreads its creativity into a variety of visual experiences – both for commercial consumption, as well as interactive installations and visual mapping to tantalise and engage audiences. Never shy to take on technical challenges that go beyond conventional design, they recently teamed up with Samsung to create the “Blind Cap” for the visually impaired Para-Athletes at this year’s Rio Olympics. The cap has a built-in vibration system linked with Bluetooth for mobile devices to signal the swimmer at the exact moment of the turn.
BLANC X OFFF: Tavo. Tavo studio, founded in 2004 and based in Madrid, works with several clients such as Nike, MTV and Nissan to create beautiful 3D, digital motion graphics. The studio showed how it places a strong emphasis on creating the story and concept around each one of their projects to broaden the visual experience.
BLANC X OFFF: MR. CÄRTÖN. Barcelona-based studio MR. CÄRTÖN communicates their craft through a philosophy of fun, as evidenced by their workshop. They take a particularly youthful approach in the conveyance of graphic, interior and furniture design and conduct a variety of workshops to continue their involvement with other passionately creative individuals.
BLANC X OFFF: Mayúscula. Next, we saw an appearance from Mayúscula, an independent branding agency specialising in cross cultural and multilingual concepts. They strongly believe that design has the power to transform minds and erase metaphorical borders. By creating culturally relevant content and being involved with education in emerging markets they enrich our awareness of human similarities and differences globally.
BLANC X OFFF: Toormix. Toormix is a Barcelona-based design studio that has a strong brand design portfolio with an attention to typography. Their workshop showed how they follow a formulaic design process involving strategising, experiencing and then applying method – or as they like to say, “think first and design later”. Toormix have also collaborated in the creation of the “Design is Future congresstival” which acts as a tool for innovation by tracking the evolution of design through new trends and methodologies.
BLANC X OFFF: Akatre. The Parisian creative studio Akatre showed us they are not afraid of making a mess during the creative process. We saw that their habit of playing with and manipulating materials during photo shoots and for sculptural installations allows them to come to design solutions organically. In additional to their visual work, they have expanded their studio to employ audio and musical creation to further their creative communication.
French/Swiss directorial Ben and Julia also showed us their passion for the surreal on day 3 at OFFF Barcelona. The duo applies their playfully whimsical style to some of the world’s top brands, including Nike and Diesel, as well as creating animation and music videos for online audiences. To realise their aesthetic vision, they often organise large team collaborations, create elaborate studio shoots mixed with dance choreography as well as experimenting extensively with blue screening and visual effects.
Perhaps the most notable event from day 3, if not the whole festival, was a keynote from design icon Lance Wyman. Wyman is one of the legendary pioneers of design who gained international acclaim with his involvement in the creation of the iconic visual accompaniment to the 1968 Mexico Olympics. He spoke about how his early days as the son of a commercial fisherman working in factories and then eventually becoming a cartographer for the military sharpened his skill set for what was then an uncertain future in design. Almost five decades later, he has single-handedly helped define what is known today as environmental graphics. Many times, as in the case of the Olympic identity as well as the transit systems of Mexico City and New York, he relies on symbols rather than language to convey information effectively. Many of these icons are still used today. Read our pre-OFFF interview with Wyman here.
OFFF Barcelona will continue feeding the future next year and we’ll be there to bring you the highlights from what will certainly be another year of innovation and creativity.
Research and photography: Julian Luskin.
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