For their 2026 festival campaign, OFFF Barcelona partnered with London and New York creative studio Uncommon to develop Cultured, a living design identity literally grown from the biological traces of the creative community it represents.
The premise is quietly audacious. Uncommon invited members of the creative community into their London and New York studios for mixer events, ostensibly to share ideas. What the guests did not know was that biological traces were being collected from shared surfaces throughout: imprints, fibres, fragments of presence. That material was then translated into a bespoke design system, with forms, textures and patterns derived directly from the people who had passed through the room. What was invisible became the visual identity of one of design culture’s most significant annual gatherings.
The campaign is called Cultured, and the title carries its meaning in multiple directions at once: cultured as in grown, as in biological culture, as in a community with shared values and practices. The strategic framework treats creativity as a living system, something that begins with a spark, grows through shared input and evolves through collaboration. In a period of rapid technological change and industry uncertainty, the campaign’s proposition is grounding: the industry is nothing but the people in it, and its future is actively shaped by those who choose to participate.
The biological material gathered at the events was developed into a full design and motion language, extended further through a collaboration with Dasha Plesen, also known as the Mold Queen, an artist who works with bacteria as a medium. Her contribution added a library of bold textural imagery to the system, alongside a colour approach drawn from nature’s most vivid palette. Typographically, the campaign is anchored by Hyphae, a custom typeface developed for the project, its letterforms inspired by biomorphic and Modernisme traditions and defined by the organic movement and asymmetrical balance of fungal networks.
“For OFFF, the community has always been the core,” said Pep Salazar, Director of OFFF Barcelona. “This collaboration with Uncommon makes that idea tangible. The campaign doesn’t just speak to designers, it is literally built from them. It’s a celebration of shared authorship and the power of gathering, exchanging, and making together.”
The campaign was officially introduced at OFFF Barcelona by Nils Leonard, the start of the 2026 festival season, and projected onto the facade of Disseny Hub, where it reached both the design community gathered for the festival and the wider city beyond.
Cultured, OFFF Barcelona 2026 festival campaign. Creative studio: Uncommon. Campaign identity developed in collaboration with Dasha Plesen. Custom typeface: Hyphae.
