From Cobi to title credits: brief preview of the new graphic design exhibition

The starting point for the new exhibition of the Museu del Disseny: "Do you Work or Design? New Visual Communication. 1980-2003" falls on 9th June, a show curated by Raquel Pelta that brings together more than two decades of transformations in graphic design in Catalonia and Spain. This is a brief preview of some stories you'll find.

The Olympics of design

Edgy and fresh. The daring of the graphical communication for the Olympic Games (who can forget the astonishing Cobi by Mariscal?) created a watershed and placed Barcelona as one of the benchmark cities in the international world of design.

The goal was to differentiate itself from previous Olympic designs and, at the same time, convey the city’s Mediterranean identity. And it more than achieved this aim.

Design also means commitment

The communications of the political organisations of the incipient Spanish democracy defined the graphic design of the eighties.

In addition, graphical communication played a part in causes of high social impact such as "No" to the permanence of Spain in NATO or the amnesty for anti-Franco prisoners, as well as many other kinds of social demand.

The first Macintosh, keys to digitisation

In the same way that the appearance of the iPhone began the era of smartphones, the popularisation of the first Macintosh computers in Spain (especially in the professional sector) facilitated experimentation and innovation.

The power and possibilities of these computers (a benchmark at that time) laid the foundations for digital graphic design.

New televisions, new graphic identities

The launch of autonomous and private television channels coincided with the first three-dimensional editing programmes. And this allowed the creation of innovative digital identities, and moving and interactive images.

The first minutes of the films, a display of the best design

Spanish cinema underwent an interesting process of internationalisation and modernisation during the nineties.

One of graphic design’s contributions to this field was the title credits, which had become a key artistic component of film productions around the world.