Arcadi Oliveres, we have to disagree. Design in times of crisis

Design in times of crisis

On Thursday 21 February 2012, Illa design school invited us to take part in a working group to discuss the future of design. Arcadi Oliveres gave a brief introduction to the global economic climate.

Arcadi adopted a very realist discourse that we were already too familiar with. His speech was identical to the ones he has given in the press a thousand times before. And he’s absolutely right. But we don’t think that’s the best way to start off a working group to discuss the future of the profession among students and people who work in the industry. We would have liked to hear a discourse with a more utopian vision of the future, more focused on our industry.

Xavi Garriga i Arcadi Oliveres

These are difficult times and we don’t want to fool anybody, but we would love to convey an optimistic message to our young designers. These are the people who need to change the world. And if they are the ones who are going to have to do it, then they should start off being optimistic and cheerful about it; otherwise, the future will be as grey as the current crisis.

Another of our conclusions on the working groups: wonderful! We learnt about what a professional association does; we talked about fears of professional infringement; we also discussed the different models of graphic designer, qualifications, specialisations, honesty as professionals, the importance of design in society… We learnt a lot.

It was a real pleasure to discuss these topics with friends like Kim Herrero and professionals committed to promoting and defending the profession, like the teachers at Illa design school, Jesús del Hoyo and Magda Batlles from the Professional Association of Graphic Designers of Catalonia, Álvaro Sobrino, Chairman of ADG-FAD, and all the students at Illa design school. It’s too bad that Arcadi Oliveres couldn’t stay and chat with us.

Disseny-en-temps-de-crissi

24/02/2012

Merry Christmas

23/12/2011

Cèl·lula at the Art Director’s Club’s Chill Laus series in Barcelona

Some days ago, Xavi Boronat invited us to give a Chill Laus conference. The Chill Laus are a series of events organised by Spain’s Art Director Club ADG-FAD, where notable designers or studios present themselves.

Conferencia diseno grafico Chill Laus de Cel-lula

Martí Sáiz and Miquell Munill

We were honoured, obviously, and glad about the opportunity to explain our work and design philosophy. It’s going on 20 years now! Corporate identity, web, book and magazine design, brandmarks, posters; big clients, small clients, serious work and a bit of fun: our studio’s holiday greetings, like estamos grabando.
Reduced video (in Spanish) here:

You can see the full conference here (Spanish).

16/12/2011

Graphic design for everybody

Today we want to talk about a commission which will never win a LAUS or Art Directors Club award. We do like the award winning kind of projects, but many times they seem to be made mostly to appeal to other designers, and sometimes even can make graphic design look like a frivolous profession.

Some time ago we designed a book named “Viu l’envelliment actiu”, “Live ageing actively”, for Obra Social “la Caixa”. As the title says, it’s a book about the ageing process and its possible, or probable, effects on our physical and mental abilities.

I remember when Lourdes from Obra Social “la Caixa” first explained the project, and gave some specific requirements: big font size, good chromatic contrast, weight, size, and so on, all about good readability for seniors.

It was a complicated job which lasted over almost a year. Each and every graphic decision was made taking in account optimum readability. At some point it resembled more an investigation than a job, and stretched the budget to breaking point. But looking back we feel a special satisfaction: graphic design at its best, fulfilling a social function.

10/11/2011

Visual bombardment calls for graphic design eficiency

Famous publicist Luis Bassat from Bassat Ogilvy & Mather, in 1994 estimated that the number of visual stimuli a person is exposed to amounts to 2.000—daily. And that was 17 years ago.

Studio Smack of Breda (Holland) has taken a taken a walk through a city and has then isolated the graphic design elements found on the way. The film’s name “Kapitaal” invites a critical refecletion on the plague of visual stimuli in our time.

As graphic designers we have the responsability to avoid unnecessary graphic noise and streamline visual communication to make it more effective, for the best of our clients and innocent passer-bys.

06/06/2011

Graphic Design, etc.

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Design in times of crisis