BCBF Visual Identity Workshop

The first Visual Identity Workshop (VIWS) was launched in 2017 with the aim of enhancing the image of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair each year by involving young illustrators selected from among the 300 finalists and 80 winners of the Bologna Illustrators Exhibition.

It should be called the “Visual Imagination Workshop”, as it challenges the notion of identity based on a single illustration with a clearly defined format, colour and shape. It won’t be easy:

“[...] imagine [...] it isn’t hard to do [...]
You, you may say I’m a dreamer,
but I’m not the only one [...]”.

The VIWS is based on practical activities designed to investigate and analyse the theme of the year, exploring the visual and structural elements that characterise it. The aim is to understand how these elements can be linked together through a framework which, when shared with the working group, meets the diverse communication needs of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair whilst ensuring that the illustrator’s work is respected.

The VIWS is led by Beppe Chia; alongside the selected illustrator, participants include Alex Weste, Jessica Cantoni and Michele Tomasini from Chialab, along with a few guests.

Mr. Brandmark loves difference. Once upon a time, there was a red circle and an orange one. The red one had two small red triangles touching its circumference. The little triangles and the two circles were supported by four magenta-colored diamonds. The diamonds, in pairs, balanced upon an orange rectangle and a red one. This whole orderly architecture went by the name of Mr. Brandmark, and it was the sole emblem of the largest children’s book fair in the world.

Every spring, beneath arcades and exhibition halls, it welcomed masters of color, type, images, and stories. A great bustle of curious people spilled into the squares. Mr. Brandmark, hieratic and indolent like all brandmarks, kept his geometric posture, letting things happen around him. Everything worked, everything was in its place.

But then it happened: a handful of illustronomist designers, followers of the movement If it works, it is obsolete, were entrusted with the care of Mr. Brandmark. They precisely defined his contours, his colors, and his rigorously white clear space. Mr. Brandmark said nothing. Taking advantage of his silence, they first placed him alongside some strange typographic characters, and then with a troupe of icons disguised as fairy-tale figures. At one point, the slogan We love difference appeared. Mr. Brandmark was delighted: from taciturn he became talkative, and with every spring he asked for new clothes, a new visual identity.

So the illustronomist designers began inviting young visionaries from different parts of the world into their workshop. Illustrators were welcomed into the Bologna Children’s Book Fair Visual Identity Workshop, where one would draw, cut, sew, and tell the story of a different, tailor-made garment.

Everyone took delight in it, and with every spring they began to expect a new story. All it took was turning the page.

Taken from “10 Vision 2017-2026.
The Open Visual Identity of Bologna Children’s Book Fair”
the book in which we recounted the 10-year history of the VIWS.