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Undesign is a graphic design practice based in Turin that was established by Michele Bortolami and Tommaso Delmastro in 2003. In addition to the professional work they do for firms in the private sector, the practice has also built a reputation for its commitment to public utility graphics (such as the image for Turin Pride, the graphics for the Royal Workshop at the Castle of Racconigi and for the MIAAO – International Museum of Applied Arts Today) and for operations transmitting design culture (the Turin Tour guide and the AfterVille project and magazine).

What basic assumptions and what underlying philosophy are behind Undesign’s identity?
The message is: knock down the walls of prejudice, work with an open, receptive spirit. Build bridges between yourself and the world, forge connections between thoughts and people. Bring joy, work with passion and design accessibly: design is for all. That’s the vision we have embraced, the result of a very clear philosophy: our philosophy.  

How do you apply the ‘un-design’ approach when developing your projects?
We design identities and we do so by combining various different aspects of function, communications, form and emotions. Basing our approach on the interrelationships between design and branding, we have developed and apply a planned system of design that we call “un-design”, like the name we chose for our practice: in English, “un-design” means just that, the move to achieve a formal synopsis by subtraction. To summarise: we design less so as to design better.

In your experience, what issues and skills contribute to defining a system of identity?
An identity is the external expression of a brand or a firm and includes everything, from its name to its symbol, from visual aspects to verbal issues.
It comprises all those elements that contribute to creating a strong personality and to defining a characteristic style, so that the brand or the firm can be recognised and will be chosen by its customers.
An identity system tells us about a whole world of values, which we can summarise primarily in the form of a sign: the logo. These values and meanings are condensed into a graphic element that has to be designed in such a way that it will stand the test of time.
To achieve a result of this kind, you have to work using semantically correct and technically effective processes.
We un-designers like to take every aspect of the creative process into consideration when we work, because we are convinced that a well-designed co-ordinated identity system is best capable of telling the story of all the care that is lavished every day by a company on doing its work.

Can you name one example of your work that represents this design approach particularly well?
All our output is the offspring of the same design approach and we feel well represented by everything we do. If you want us to name one as an example, then there’s the co-ordinated identity design for Maxema, an Italian ballpoint pen manufacturer, as it’s a job where you can read our way of going about graphic design very clearly: a synthetic logo designed for internal proportions, the use of our favourite typeface, Helvetica, and the templates that crop up on all the supports designed.

www.undesign.it