OFFF Barcelona 2023

Inspiring weekend

I booked a single-day ticket for Saturday - excited by the lineup, which included the brilliant Omse, a super-talented London-based branding agency. Eddie Opara from Pentagram and the enigmatic and wonderful Universal Everything, who do such pure work, were also present. The main draw for me was headliner Brian Collins - whose company We are Collins has just smashed it these last 24 months with some truly inspirational work.

I went along with Mark Bloom - founder of Co-Type foundry and advisor to Design Future. Mark is also a Co-Director at Barcelona School of Arts and Design, a newly-formed Online Masters in Design. On our first night, we met some of Mark’s fellow colleagues, such as Marina Soto who is the other Co-director, who knew all the best local places. We were joined by some other folks who were attending the festival like the super-talented 2D Pete, who's ironically one of the best 3D type artists out there, and Phil Garnham, who is ECD at Monotype UK.

For these designers, art serves as the secret ingredient that elevates their work so it transcends from the rest. It's the inclusion of personality, life experience and taste that makes their work unique and captivating.

Takeaways included:

• Don’t get fucked with the locals on the first night
• Be your own client
• Really great Design studios may not be making much money
• Do insanely great work for clients and go beyond expectations.
• Ditch using military language - like target audience
• If you want to be original go to the origin
• There are so few black designers
• Jamhot was the best talk of the weekend
• There’s a fantastic Design festival happening in Birmingham in the summer.
• Universal Everything and Matt Pyke are still (after all these years) doing the best most inspirational projects
• Festivals are so inspiring Design Future could do more of this
• Collins’s work is some of the best in the industry
• Wtypefoundry.com & Family Type are lovely
• British humour can get lost in translation
• Getting out of your routine, even for one day, inspires a lot of creativity
• Spring is a great time to visit Barcelona

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