The Edit: five projects including Arauna Studio’s identity that’s reclaiming Barcelona’s pavements

Each and every day, we're lucky to discover dozens of interesting and inspiring projects from around the world. From global identities and campaigns to side projects and independently published books, The Edit is home to five of them; every two weeks.

Since 1906, ‘Panots’ have been the typical paving stones used for Barcelona’s pavements, serving as an (unspoken) signal for pedestrian areas. Under Barcelona’s tactical urbanism practices, which involve rapidly and inexpensively shifting street functions to adapt to new circumstances, the City Council is redefining the way people inhabit the city. Using the original ‘panot’ designs as a starting point, Barcelona-based Arauna Studio have created a flexible graphic system for applying paint to asphalt quickly and inexpensively, designating certain areas within the city as off-limits to vehicles. This system allows citizens to reclaim urban space while adding a more warm and human touch to a material that can often feel cold and impersonal. The graphic system is open-source and can be adapted in terms of colour, scale, figuration or abstraction to match the original ‘panot’ design, among other factors.

The Vaillant family, proprietors of Les Grandes Vignes, have been using organic and biodynamic wine-making practices since the 17th century. To capture this avant-garde spirit, London-based design studio Gunter Piekarski developed unique label designs for their wine portfolio. Each label features a typographic arrow from Polish type foundry Threedotstype, based on a grid of the terroir that surrounds the chai. Pointing in its own direction, each arrow represents the way the vineyards are spread across the estate, with the colour corresponding to the type of wine: green for white, blue for sparkling, and red for…you guessed it, red.

Based on the island of Trinidad, Burnt is a restaurant that exudes an urban, industrial, and slightly vintage vibe. The identity was crafted by brand designer José de Wal, under the art direction of designer and creative director Gert van Duinen. The typographic logo was intentionally kept simple to evoke emotion, yet capture the essence of the company’s vision and values. This is supported by an industrial-inspired visual language that seeks to evoke a sense of durability and craftsmanship, echoing the company’s commitment to producing high-quality products and services. Finally, the vintage touch injects a sense of nostalgia and timelessness, resulting in an authentic and heritage-filled look. 

As any designer will tell you, branding your own studio is one of the hardest projects you will work on. Having dedicated the time to define his own brand consultancy, Nine.SixThree’s Louis Kang wholeheartedly agrees. “Since I was starting from scratch,” he reflects, “I had the opportunity to reflect on how I saw my own work, and to create this identity based off of it. It was a blank slate in its purest form.” When it came to the look of his brand consultancy, “grounded in research acumen, strategic dexterity, and the ability to illuminate brand intuition,” it was important to signal dependability and reliability. As such, a simple, no-frills logotype reinforces their commitment to transparency. The rest of the visual language is led by a straightforward yet engaging typographic pairing of Lineto’s LL Riforma and ABC Walter Neue by Dinamo. Meanwhile the name itself, Nine.SixThree™, takes inspiration from the printing press – which represents the age of information – subtly alluding to the consultancy’s ability “to articulate and distil fresh realms of reality.” 

With a rich and radical history (activist owners, eccentric patrons and challengers of the status quo) Harlaxton Manor certainly isn’t your typical heritage site. And now home to the University of Evansville’s study abroad centre, Harlaxton College, it was in need of a brand identity that reflected the institute’s dedication to conservation, sustainability, learning, and internationalism, that also spoke to the changing demographic of US education systems. With an extensive strategic approach and subsequent identity, Brighton-based branding agency UnitedUs achieves this, highlighting Harlaxton as a place where people can pursue the extraordinary, solidifying the reputation of the heritage site as a place of transformation. A new stripped-back shield is the cornerstone of the new look, accompanied by an energised and youthful colour palette and typographic direction.