You might not have heard of the OFFF festival, but consider it the Coachella for branding & design nerds like us. Last week our team jetted off to Barcelona to soak up some sun and some world-class inspiration on design, branding and motion, and we walked away with eye-opening bits of wisdom that we can’t wait to bring to our client work.
Curious what we learned? Consider this your backstage VIP pass.
OUR TOP TAKEAWAYS
01
If you were lucky enough to witness Talia Cotton’s jaw-dropping talk – wow. Her energy, enthusiasm and passion for her work was mesmerizing . We really latched onto this soundbite: “The tools are the same, the difference is in the process.” Meaning, let the work dictate the process, not the process dictate the work. This is exactly our approach at Crown. We attack every brief with a fresh point of view and, for better or worse, truly treat each project like a snowflake. It takes trust – but we’re here for the wild ride.
The difference
is in the process.
02
Make some noise.
If pictures paint a thousand words, sound shares a thousand feelings. We were overwhelmed by the power of audio throughout the festival and its ability to continue communication beyond the visual. From ManvsMachine’s carefully crafted audio effects, to Buck’s sonic branding and Rob Draper’s rock & roll intro – its impact was palpable. Our top takeaway? Let’s make some noise.
Tension tells a story.
03
Mike Alderson’s (of ManvsMachine) closing talk had the whole room entranced, including our entire team. Particularly when it comes to the concept of establishing healthy tension in a project. Whether it be Style vs Substance, Premium vs Playful or Timeless vs Trendy – one doesn’t mean you can’t have the other, in fact, embracing the tension between both often is what makes the project interesting.
We are playgrounds.
04
We love the sentiment of play from creative powerhouse BUCK. What better reminder to embrace the mess? The process of creating, making, breaking, problem-solving and collaborating that makes up our everyday. It’s refreshing to see that even the biggest and most impressive of studios are leaving space in their process to ‘Think + Wonder,’ ‘Play + Explore’ and ‘Make + Make Better’.
Small studio,
big impact.
05
We were delighted to see this year’s lineup littered with small, boutique studios. It was apparent throughout that huge brands are increasingly interested in investing into smaller agencies in a bid for truly creative output – something we champion here at Crown Creative. We also loved seeing the openness to collaboration between many of the freelancers, speakers and small studios on stage, shoutout HeyStudio, Ashleigh Robertson and Stuart Langfield.
06
Logos are in.
Duh, right? It seems obvious, but this snippet landed with each and every one of our team. Today, we’re quick to ditch the art of logomaking in favour of rushing to create big shiny brand systems, mesmerizing motion graphics and catchy copy. And while we love creating those too, logos are still just as powerful and salient as ever. As Mucho rightfully stated “Logos tell your brand’s story”, and they do so within the blink of an eye – what could be more powerful in a brand’s toolkit?
Some for the story,
some for the glory.
07
Jessica Hische’s anecdotal approach had us in stitches. Her humility and honesty were a welcome relief and a reminder that the work we do should be full of fun and expression. The above quote along with other winners like ‘Some for Show, Some for the Dough’ and ‘Work begets Work’ really resonated for us as we continue to prioritize the pursuit for great work over all else.
08
Art directed AI.
How could we write about our top takeaways and not mention the elephant (or rather, robot) in the room? A topic swarming this year’s talks; and rightfully so. Having been hesitant about the impact of AI on our studio and the industry as a whole, our team came away cautiously optimistic about the impact it will have thanks to an engaging panel discussion from Joshua Davis, BUCK, Stephy Fung and Vallée Duhamel.
Our outlook is to lean into it, make it our tool and wrap our arms around this new era of design. At the end of the day, ‘The machine needs us as much as we need it.’ We’ll be looking at how we can use AI to art direct, imagine, and how we can implement better processes to take away some of the brunt work, leaving more time for us to do what we do best… Think, make, create and play.
Just this. A simple but inspiring point to remind us that just because something has mass appeal doesn’t mean it needs to be boring. And as designers – it’s our responsibility to make sure even mainstream moments have a unique POV.
As a studio full of young 20 & 30 somethings, who often work in the world of huge hotel and hospitality groups, we thrive off of making scaled and “corporate” experiences more and more relevant for the modern world. ManvsMachine’s work for BBC1 captured this sentiment beautifully, as did KOTO’s work for Bolt and UberEats, you can check it out here.
Make mainstream cool.
09
Closing out with our favorite quote from the festival. Above all else, spending time together as a team, sharing our creative musings and immersing ourselves in our industry left our team bubbling with energy, inspiration, enthusiasm and ready to jump head first into some incredible projects at Crown Creative.
The team beats the genius, everytime.
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