In order to celebrate the centenary of the birth of architecture historian Bruno Zevi (1918-2000), the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo hosted an international seminar in September 2018, organized by the school in conjunction with the Istituto Italiano de Cultura, the University of Rome '' La Sapienza '', Fapesp and Fondazione Bruno Zevi.
The focus of the meeting was the Italian researcher's relationship with Latin America. The printed poster was the centerpiece of the event's visual identity. To produce the piece, some concerns had to be addressed. How to refer to the numerous relationships built by the influential historian? How to represent Latin America without resorting to overly simplified images or slipping into common clichés?
After reflecting on these subjects, I proposed the concept of “circulation of ideas”, which, in graphic terms, materialized in the base element of the poster: a map of the circulation of winds over this part of the American continent, where dashed lines and arrows indicate flow directions and intensities. Starting from just two elements, the dashed lines indicating wind circulation and the expressive size (Barlow) typography, the poster, printed on 90 g/m2 yellow printing paper in 640 x 940 mm, is designed by alternating the colors black and magenta.
The main purpose of the poster design was to express the images of Bruno Zevi and Latin America, and to materialize the concept of “circulation of ideas” proposed. In other words, to honor the great influence and resonance of the work of the Italian historian in the countries of the region.
The layout design strategies were as follows:
a) Use only two colors (black and magenta) to highlight the name of the researcher. Choice was to stress his name in large typography, in magenta color, rather than using his image, since the best photos available are recurrently explored in other materials, which would compromise the uniqueness of the poster.
b) Reinforce the coincidence of the repetition of the letters “E” and “A” in the layout of the title (in Barlow, the same font used throughout the project). This created compositional force and, at the same time, movement.
c) The drawing of the dashed lines, derived from the wind map of Latin America, is printed in black when such winds coincide with the physical territory of Latin America, and in magenta when those winds blow over the oceans.
d) Overlapping the map with the title created an interference in the typography, thus reinforcing the visual identity of the event.
The two elements, wind map and typography, provide the basis for the design of the event poster and other graphic pieces, such as the abstracts booklet, the brochure describing the seminar and the images produced for online and social media marketing.
By basing the project on a little-known or remembered image of Latin America, escaping the commonplaces, the poster and the other pieces created an expressive visual identity with concise elements. At the same time, they managed to convey complex ideas such as the notion of movement (the circulation of Zevi’s thought) and to honor this important architectural historian.
