The concept, which transcends the abstract digital and printed format to become a reality, uses different spaces and personalities to present the new trends in work and contract environments, where furniture enhances wellbeing and productivity.

The Alicante-based furniture company, (and winner of this year’s National Design Award) presented this philosophy, which it calls, “Cool Working” during Orgatec 2016.

“Cool Working” by Actiu has been proclaimed one of the best international communication campaigns of the year, being rewarded with the Red Dot Award. The jury assessed the development and design work of a selection of more than 8,000 projects from 50 countries. The award, which this year celebrates its 25th anniversary, will be presented at a gala in Berlin on 27 October.

So, what was the aim of the project, and what makes it so damn special?

The objective of “Cool Working was to continue illustrating trends in the world of work throughout the world. Concepts such as wellbeing at work, new forms of collaboration, spaces for socialising, flexibility and autonomy are transmitted via six different characters, each one from a different part of the world, with very different personalities and jobs. These characters help to blur frontiers, cultural differences and working hours to illustrate general and global trends with regard to the working environment that prioritise health, wellbeing and happiness in the new employment paradigms.

In order to recreate different working formats throughout the world, the Odosdesign team planned and characterised each one of the personalities according to their lifestyle, work and tastes. Once the characters had been defined, they were associated with the new paradigms of the world of work, reflecting different values. The designers used these characters to present the firm’s new products, associating each one with the products and precise furnishing solution that suit their way of working.

The key objective here was to recreate a specific graphic identity, allowing this philosophy to be transmitted via a “Travel Guide”, a printed document that Actiu handed to its contacts and which sets out in detail the new trends and solutions in office design.

To achieve this, Odosdesign planned a whole coordinated strategy that covered everything from the artistic direction to the design of spaces, editorial design and graphic design of all the publications and communications connected to the “Cool Working” philosophy. This material provided the graphic contents for the “Travel Guide”.

In this way, the project goes beyond the digital and printed format to spatial and real location, becoming a unified communication tool that can be exported to all the firm’s channels: from its external and internal communications, press material and presentation of new products to stand design and audio-visual productions. A challenge in planning and strategy, where not only the design itself but also the selection and characterisation of the personalities, the editing of the video, the story telling and the video recording of sequences all played a key role.