While we already knew Uncommon created the striking visual identity for OFFF Festival 2026, today revealed a surprising secret about the way it was made. Introducing "Cultured" during his opening keynote this morning, Nils Leonard asked creatives if they'd been to any of the series of mixers held by Uncommon, supposedly designed to ask them for their opinions on the identity. There was an audible gasp in the audience as he then told us what the mixers were actually for – to harvest the bacteria of the attendees.
It's a genius set of ideas that perfectly encapsulates the identity of the brand it represents. Not only is it an identity made of identities, but the process of growing mold from bacteria also reflects creativity itself. "It begins with a spark, grows through shared input, and evolves through collaboration" Uncommon's medium post explains.
"Rather than presenting creativity as a solitary pursuit, the campaign foregrounds the communal nature of making and the notion that ideas are shaped by obsessive collecting, curation, and the influence of others," it continues.
I caught up with Nils, the founder of Uncommon, at OFFF Barcelona, who shared his insight into the project. "I've always believed that great design can incorporate a story, incorporate a magic trick," he told me. "So the work we've done for this festival has got a mission behind it that's kind of beautiful, which is that it's made of all of us."
"But it's also new. I look at it and think, when was the last design or brand platform you saw made of actual human people? When I saw the renders I realised they are gorgeous."
They are gorgeous. The cultures look vibrant, eye catching, and there's a brilliant, experiential story attached, which is where design needs to be sitting in this age of sameness, of ease and technology-first creation. This is literally the antithesis of that – it's not only made BY humans, it's made OF humans. And named "cultured" – could it be any more perfect for OFFF?
The typographic system is inspired by experimental, biomorphic letterforms and Modernisme, and the Uncommon team made a custom typeface named Hyphae – which is inspired by the organic and asymetrical balance found in fungal networks. You can see the parallels here, too – creativity's tendency to grow on its own against all odds is much like the resilience and bounty of fungus
OFFF also partnered with Dasha Plesen (The Mold Queen) to make some stunning images that accompany the campaign. She uses bacteria as a medium for art, and applies her skills to this project to add a bold textural collection that adorns the walls here at OFFF.
Find out some of the illuminating tips Nils Leonard gave creatives during his energetic keynote. And find the rest of my OFFF coverage here.
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