Folch and Bráulio Amado's identity for Barcelona Design Week sheds light on issues of consumption

For the second year in a row Barcelona-based studio, Folch, has created the identity for its home city’s design week. Following on from the previous theme of “transformation” which showcased the work of sculptor Wilfrid Wood, the studio’s 2018 identity revolves around the concept of “revalue”, making use of the recognisable and well-loved illustrations of Bráulio Amado.

Opening tomorrow, Barcelona Design Week features a host of conferences, documentaries, exhibitions, parties, awards and presentations until 14 June. For the 13th edition, the focus is on “design as a powerful tool for social change”. Folch’s campaign, therefore, sheds light on some of today’s major issues around production and consumption, suggesting that we need to adapt our everyday processes in order to move towards more sustainable methods.

This concept was developed in close connection with Barcelona Design Week and is a continuation from the previous collaboration, explains Folch’s communication director and art curator for brands, Emmy Koski. “[The concepts] are related to each other as they both state that design is a result of a process, a mindset of changing certain unsustainable behaviours to create an environment where new disruptive and engaging ideas can take place,” she tells It’s Nice That.

Barcelona Design Week offers a schedule that allows people to revalue the concept of good design but to kick this conversation off before the events even begun, Folch developed a participatory web portal. The portal asked people for their definition of what it means to “revalue”, as well as distributing a series of questions in teaser videos via the portal and social media.

These questions were accompanied by a series of illustrations by Bráulio, depicting scenarios developed by Folch where “objects, spaces or systems can be reconsidered, used or perceived in a different way”. In true Bráulio fashion, the illustrations are satirical yet pertinently critical. “The tension between playfulness and the satirical approach in his drawings gave both an approachable image and a critical identity to the different scenarios,” Emmy explains.

Ultimately, Folch’s aim with this campaign is to reach wider audiences, outside the design community. The campaign has been rolled out across the city on buses, stickers, tote bags, large-scale vinyls and a programme. “By opening the audience reach, we believe that we are going beyond the obvious target to generate visual impact to a larger assembly. Mainly because we consider that these issues concern everyone,” Emmy adds, concluding that “design shouldn’t be a fancy, elitist niche, but something that involves everyone in society.”