△
Primero Primera
Identity and stationery for a hotel.
This boutique hotel was the home for two generations of a family. When starting the project we realized that it would be nice to reflect all the memories of this 7 brother family. So we collected personal pictures in which parts of the house are in the background, or important events for them during the time they were living in the building. We based the identity in making collages with the images. For the brand and signage we designed a stencil font that contains special characters that allowed us to mix in a unique way certain characters like the “i” an the “m” in the word “primero”.
Typefaces used: Primero Roman, Helvetica
△
Thinking Furniture by Pepe Andreu
Book Design
This book collects the work of Pepe Andreu, a furniture designer who came to the profession by carpentry. Pepe’s furniture and the way he think are full of details of functionality but they are very respectful with the tradition of artisan furniture. It is therefore that the design of the book should be viewed as an object consistent with his view, the form of binding, the pace of the book (not linear) and the typeface and colour choice breathe the idea of the reinvention of the classic.
The first part of the book is interspersed with ideas, thoughts and pieces from his collection (light green). In the last part the collection appears again but this time the furniture appears in lived, in-home environments. These photos are presented on cards with technical characteristics of the furniture. This card system allows us to produce new cards to complement the collection of Pepe as the production increases, thus making the book into a communication tool for the designer with his audience.
For this book we were interested in using an inline font and for the sake of consistency we decided to design a special cut of Akkurat Outline that for this book we called ‘Peppurat.’
△
Escolà
Identity and packaging for a wine shop.
△
Alma Hotels
Barcelona City Guide Book
Barcelona City Guide for Alma Hotels, a boutique hotel based in the exclusive Paseo de Gracia area. The content created by ‘It Comunicación’ is based on conversations among influential citizens from Barcelona, structured as Q&A’s. To link the image to that of the hotel (based on graphic drawings of the garden trees), a massive illustration of Barcelona was produced, portraying some key buildings, but also some hidden city treasures. This illustration was then used for the cover and inside dividers, giving identity to the publication. This was also brought to life by Rodrigo Diaz Wichmann’s fantastic photography of the conversations in a documentary and unforgiving manner that contrasts nicely with the graphic illustrations.
Fonts used were Alma’s own Helvetica Neue 75 Bold, plus DTL Fleischmann, in display and display italic versions for headlines and text version for the body copy.
△
Buenas Migas (Focaccia) Restaurant
Corporate identity
Buenas Migas is a quality fast food chain of restaurants, which mixes Cornish with Genovese gastronomy to produce simple, fresh and tasty but healthy dishes at a value for money price. Their main distinctive trait when compared to their competitors is the high quality of their product, as a result of their artisan approach to their work.
When producing all of the communication materials: ranging from packaging pieces and poster promotions to signage, the main drive for the design was to show their core values of nature and craftsmanship. The idea is simple: everything they do is handmade, so all of the communication is handmade too—all of the products, the posters, the blackboards, the signage, the pricing tags, the service materials and any piece included in the restaurants is drawn by hand. Obviously, the pieces that are produced at a large scale are reproductions, but their initial design is handmade, and there is no serialized process allowed that can take away this truthful spirit to natural drawing, both of the type and the illustration.
A chunky, very commercial Futura Condensed Bold was chosen to complement this handmade approach. The use of this font tempers an otherwise ultra naturalistic view of the restaurant, and offers a commercial counterpoint which combined with the delicacy of watercolour illustrations we hope gives the whole image an edgy mainstream natural feel.
△
‘Un año en Pago de los Capellanes’
DVD Packaging
△
Andres Sarda: Fashion Love and Art
Book Design
Andres Sarda is a brand of lingerie and swimwear and a pioneer in haute couture and prêt-à-porter in Spain. After 50 years of life, they decided to publish a book containing photos, material fashion, editorials and highlights of its own history. This book consists of chapters, not organized in a linear way, opinion pieces relevant signatures and personal experiences of the designer in these 50 years. They asked us to design a series of pieces for an exhibition and book launch event. All pieces play with the sensuality of nudity in a graphic way, in the invitations and book, the cover paper can be unfolded to see the main image. In the pieces ‘Opi Totem and Bus’ we play more graphically with the number 50 so that it surrounds the picture and interacts with the silhouette of a woman.
△
Murmuri
Identity and naming for hotel and restaurants
The identity plays with the repetitive character of the word ‘Murmuri’, using feminine typography but with attitude like the hotel. The graphic result is contemporary but respectful to the 19th century origin of the building. From there and based on that typography the identity of the restaurant and bar were created. The restaurant combines the two M’s and looks like an oriental ideogram, playing with superposition of grids. ‘Bar Marfil’ is the name of the bar and is rescued from a bar in Barcelona from the 50′s–60′s. This place was an icon of glamorous Barcelona. To visualize the identity we used a collage of old pictures saved from that period.
△
Blau Restaurant
Menu design
Blau is a Mediterranean cuisine restaurant in Barcelona. For the menus, we based the idea on creating kinetic effects with the patterns inside the shape of the dishes. All the dishes are silkscreened on wood. We used the typeface: Calend (by atipo).
△
Andres Sarda
Various Projects
△
No Somos Hormigas: We Are No Ants
Book Design
This book dwells on the following idea: as a species, mankind is nowadays better off than ever, but there are certain issues unresolved which we have the obligation to address. It then shows a few initiatives, which are taking place, that to the author’s understanding are heading in the right direction towards social equilibrium and human relation with the environment.
The book is a compilation of strong concepts that are backed up by visual display of data. We had to create a visual language that was engaging enough, strong enough, and vindictive enough, but which kept the positive message that the book provides, while still being true to the statistics that illustrate each concept.
△
Arte y Mecenazgo
Type Specimen
△
Arte y Mecenazgo
Identity
An art foundation asked us for an identity. This foundation’s aim is to connect collectors, founders, galleries and artists in many different ways. As an important part of this project we created a typeface. The result consisted in designing a classic outline font using a geometric and rational approach often used in Sans Serif outline fonts but never in Serif. Based on the structure of a Didone typeface we designed a display and headline weight that could allow us to compose in a very classical way but with an edge, or be more daring in the composition and typesetting.
Some of the results of the type applied can be seen in these boards as well as a special edition type specimen designed for the board of trustees of this particular foundation. These pages also offer examples of the application of the typographical identity, event invitations and graphics.
A Few Words from the Editor
What better way to kick start the new year, than with a very generous selection of work (as is the SI way) from Mucho a studio that may come as a pleasant surprise to many who may not have been familiar with their work before. Project information and typefaces used are notably absent from today’s feature, but they’re on their way don’t you worry! :)
Big thank you to Pablo, Marc, Ximena and the team for making this feature possible and for supporting SI :)
About the Studio
Founded in 2003 by Marc Català and Pablo Juncadella having worked at Grafica (Madrid/Barcelona) and Pentagram (London) respectively, Mucho is a visual communication and graphics studio based in Barcelona, Spain.
Ideas are at the heart of every project they undertake and all work is done with the intention of it being unique, with a constant effort to avoid repetitive formulas. Mucho values the visual ambition of projects as much as the commercial will, and considers excellence its permanent objective.
The studio specializes in art direction, strategic and corporate identity, editorial design, packaging, graphic communications, digital design and motion graphics for small clients through to large brands.
This post is tagged Barcelona, Books, Branding, Communications, Identity, Mucho, Packaging, Print, Typography
17 Comments