Last week I was in Barcelona for ISE 2024, a massive tech show. So massive that I walked over 12 miles in one day around the halls. It was spectacular, a real hub of activity, learning and exploration. The energy within the spaces is infectious, it’s also exhausting.
I was carrying out some strategic research for the clients we work with who operate within this space. Yes I am ‘that guy’ taking lots of photos and video, writing copious amounts of notes every 15-20 minutes throughout the day.
The show is an excellent opportunity to observe trends, competitor activities and collaboration opportunities, getting a hands-on view of the innovation and the associated communications. Of course I was learning, there is always learning, it’s part of what I love about my work developing brands. The day was full on, especially when you factor in the travel to and from the event.
In the past I’ve often taken what I thought was the optimal route time-wise, keeping things neat and tight with little to no wriggle room, let alone factoring in down time. This year I decided to do things differently. The last time I was at ISE was 2019 in Amsterdam and I remember just how long the days were, how my head was full of information and ideas for what we could do within the space.
I knew that an even bigger show would bring with it an even bigger mental overload, so I built in some down time. This allowed me to replenish my soul with some self-indulgent, me-time at the museum of modern art (MACBA) in Barcelona, and it was absolute bliss.
White, white and more white
As a fan of the less is more approach to communications, design and art, anything where the building echoes some of those beautiful aesthetics of art nouveau is going to win my heart. When that building is a pristine, flat white on almost every surface (to be honest it’s not pristine white, it’s more weathered but in the sunlight it looks amazing). So I’m in heaven – maybe there’s more symbolism here than I’ve thought about before? Not sure, could be going too deep!
Bye bye business
Stepping into MACBA I left the hustle and bustle of Barcelona’s incredibly varied and vibrant streets behind me. I really admire the use of space within this building, the feel that this creates – a peaceful tranquillity. Yes everything really is white and minimal, much as you’d expect it to be but it’s done in such a way as to be both breath taking with the scale and architectural features, but also warm and welcoming. Yes I did say warm and welcoming with no other colour than white on every surface other than the floor, which is black and glass. But the surfaces themselves are a feast of finishes, from concrete to stone, to glass and plastics. They all conform to the dresscode, but also bring a wealth of sensory texture to the space.
What caught my eye
There was some great work on show, BTW I should point out that I didn’t overthink my visit. I wanted to go somewhere that would replenish me, somewhere that I could relax and recharge, I wasn’t being led by FOMO, in fact I had no idea what was on display – something that I find refreshing, today there are too seldom the opportunities for this kind of discovery, we are usually drip fed so many of our experiences via social media, going old school, just turning up and seeing what’s what is in itself something of a novelty.
Visual poem by Joan Brossa, part of the Visual poetry series, created between 1967 and 1989. This work uses typography and typographic forms to great effect. It very much follows my passion of less being more, with many of the pieces within the series being purely black and white. When colour is used, it is used sparingly, which enhances it’s impact and power.
The large poster hanging within the main atrium of MACBA, promoting the visual poetry series was striking. Here Brossa uses perspective to great effect, blending words that ordinarily, simply wouldn’t blend visually, it’s a really simple idea that is beautifully executed.
Daniel Steegmann Mangrane was the featured artist at the time of my visit. He uses light and 3D shapes to explore many themes, often focussed on nature and natural forms, particularly leaves. I was drawn to his series of coloured rectangular boxes, each depicting a colour from the world of print – cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The effects of looking through these transparent shapes, overlaying and obscuring various aspects created some stunning geometric shapes that reminded me of my early days in print, and the effects that you could achieve by simply moving these 4 colours around. I’ve never had the opportunity the explore the process colours in this way. It was fun and a great reminder of the simplicity, and versatility of the printing process, where every colour imaginable can be created from just 4 source colours.
The overall affect
I was in the museum for just over 2 hours. I could have stayed longer, but it was a beautiful spring day outside and I wanted to drink in some of that. Given the intense levels of activity that I’d been involved with for the past day or so, taking 2 hours to explore and indulge myself was absolutely the right thing to do. I’m sure that I could have ploughed on, writing up notes, following up emails and other messages, but I know (from experience) that I would not have been in the best place to be productive in those tasks.
Over the years I’ve learnt the power of stepping away, refreshing and coming back to things ready for action. I see a lot of parallels in this approach when working with my clients. Everyone is working hard delivering, developing and generally do-ing, whether that’s client side or agency. Asking them to step away can feel alien, unnatural, and even, dare I say it wasteful. Yet the truth could not be more sharp in contrast.
Whenever we have taken client teams off-site, into fresh environments, the combination of the ‘space’ and the time has always produced fantastic results. These explorative sessions have often been pivotal in the development not only of the project, but of the business direction, and how we can support that. Creating a buzz requires openness and trust in all directions – with clients, suppliers and across our internal team.
Developing a brand is a team sport in every sense, and your team will function better when they have had a rest. Breakout sessions and away days are perfect for developing strategy, reflecting on what’s come before and the challenges of the next chapter. Wherever you are in your brand journey, from start-up to established business, give yourself and those around you, the opportunity to ‘breathe’ to soak things in, experience things away from the ‘coalface’. It’s not only powerful, it’s productive too. Thanks for reading.
If you’re looking for more insights to MACBA and the work of Daniel Steegmann Mangrane, I’ve covered some of his other work in a post on the DressCode website, where I’ve looked at the incredible detail and colour work he has produced over a 15 year period observing nature in his back garden.
Busy as AB 