Serifalaris recap

You probably all know by now that we’ve been working on this edition of Serifalaris; you can see it in our projects section. But this time we wanted to do a little recap of what the team (or the part of it that wasn’t working quite so hard) experienced.

On 9 and 10 May we dived headfirst into Serifalaris, a Visual Design and Creativity Festival held at Muxikebarri, Algorta’s Art, Culture and Conference Centre. They were two days packed with innovative ideas and plenty of inspiration, interviewing and listening to creatives from Spain and abroad share their creative processes, their challenges and the projects they’re proudest of.

Festival day one

The event kicked off with the brothers Juan and Alejandro Mingarro, otherwise known as Brosmind, a Barcelona studio that filled the room with freshness and optimism. They began with a reflection on creative freedom, reminding us how important it is to always keep our work fresh and spontaneous. They also treated us to their funny take on how to make fair decisions between brothers, and showed the reality of freelancers and creative studios through comics that kept making us smile.

To recharge, we had a coffee and “galletras” break, one of the festival’s icons. The next creative talk brought us Sander Plug, known for his work with the British edition of The New York Times. As well as being a director, photographer, visual artist and designer, Sander is an expert at getting surprising results from simple concepts. Next came Annie Atkins, the Welsh graphic designer famous for her work on “The Grand Budapest Hotel”, who creates props and graphic elements that enhance the look and storytelling of films.

After the lunch break, we continued with the talks, this time with Fuego Camina Conmigo, a creative agency based in Barcelona. They drew us into their world through their modern take on the opening of Charles Dickens’s novel “A Tale of Two Cities”, exploring the content era and constant media noise. Later, Iseo brought the music, sharing how she shapes her artistic work, reading an extract from her book and delighting us with a song on her guitar.

“I make things with letters” was how Catalan graphic designer Paula de Álvaro introduced herself (which, let’s face it, is what we all tell our families). She showed designs defined by typographic play and her passion for stickers, which add fun and versatility to her work.

Behind the pseudonym “Ponente Pepino” (Speaker Cucumber) was Fernando Beltrán, a master of words who opened his talk with “You’ll never amount to anything”. A powerful statement that many in the audience surely identified with. A poet who plays with words to name companies that stand out, and with whom we wrapped up the first day of Serifalaris, laughing at his examples of what not to do in the world of naming.

Round two

Day two’s talks got going with Manuel Moranta, a Catalan creative director and visual artist who seeks maximum simplicity through aphorisms and conceptual drawings. An approach that can convey complex ideas simply and visually: “When an idea is good, it can be explained with very little.”

Next up was Clase Studio, a branding agency that advised us to turn clichés on their head and reminded us that communication can fail. We saw a project in which they showed a corporate identity for a Basque company created through the eyes of a Catalan studio. Next on the list were the team from Little Spain, straight from Madrid. C. Tangana’s production company told us about their work, their commercial division, called Plaza, and their ambitions.

The architect Izaskun Chinchilla picked up the talks with a different approach: as well as showing her work, she made us think about sustainability and equality. Even though we’re giving it fewer words, it was the talk we liked best (most of us, at least).

There was also room for Hey Studio’s podcast, “Women at work”, hosted by Ane Guerra, which aims to inspire women in creative and leadership roles. Cristina from Little Spain, Noe from Clase Studio and Izaskun Chinchilla shared their perspectives with motivating lines such as: “You have time to get things wrong. No decision is that momentous” (Cristina Trenas). “You have to be ready to reinvent yourselves every five years”, “If you really want to do something, do it” (Izaskun Chinchilla).

This time, under the alias “ponente guindilla” (Speaker Chilli), we found Ana Esmith, actor, performer, scriptwriter and journalist. Playing Mss. Beige, she offers a perspective on deconstructing female identity. She showed images of her work between quotes to reflect on, such as: “Creating for the sake of creating makes no sense. It’s in our job: to create creative thinking. That’s what moves society forward.” The festival’s grand finale came from Britain’s Patrick Thomas, a visual artist who currently lives and works in Berlin.

Between talks, we spent our time at the market, chatting with the different stalls (some run by friends). And after two intense days of work and inspiration, the curtain came down and we left with a heap of fresh ideas.

BTW, Serifalaris has decided to become a biennial festival, so we’ll have to wait until 2026 for the next edition.