Voices

“There is a symbiotic relationship between the Venice Biennale and the city itself,” explains Antonio Romano on the eve of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition, titled “Foreigners Everywhere”.In 2001, Inarea designed the brand identity for the institution—an identity that is still in use today. Inspired by the iconic column in Piazza San Marco, the logo transforms the column’s shaft into a bold red field, a color deeply rooted in the culture and history of the Serenissima. This red frame highlights the name in white, while the stylized lion reinterprets the original bronze winged sculpture—once a chimera, later given wings.The logo features a strong vertical layout, balanced by a red square next to the column. This square serves to frame and emphasize the content it represents: a system of cultural and artistic events—Art, Architecture, Cinema, Dance, Music, Theatre, and the Historical Archive. This broad scope makes the Biennale a global point of reference and a powerful reason to return to Venice throughout the year. Why has this brand identity lasted so long? “Because it’s simple. It acts like a frame that highlights the content and the cultural structure of the institution. It becomes a system of symbols—a coherent and recognizable design that extends across all the various events and exhibitions. It serves as a kind of umbrella, unifying not only the cultural program, the institutional exhibition, and the pavilions of the participating nations, but also the signage and public communication throughout the city. Credit goes to the Institution for having implemented this system effectively and without disrupting the urban fabric.If the brand identity has helped make the Biennale recognizable, the Institution has made Venice more attractive by ensuring quality, enriching the visitor experience, and offering a new relationship with the city itself—transforming it into a destination not only for tourism, but also for cultural events. There exists a bond between the Biennale and the city, in which one is part of the other. And the Biennale becomes an all-encompassing entity: although there are many biennials around the world, the term immediately brings to mind the one in Venice.” What are the foundations of place marketing through cultural initiatives? “At the core lies the recognition of a system of values and symbols embedded in the territory. Place marketing begins with a process of simplification: the more the result is a synthesis of elements that can be linked—even implicitly—to a specific place, the more effective it becomes. Over the decades, we have developed various city branding projects: from Roma Capitale, where the famous acronym SPQR and the red and yellow colors (a transposition of imperial gold) have become so deeply rooted in the collective imagination that they serve as its emblem—see also the later brand identity project for Sapienza, University of Rome, which replaced the institution’s traditional blue with red—to the city of Milan [see also “Milan, City of the Spotlight”], where the rigor of the cross from the heraldic symbol becomes an organizing element capable of coordinating communication.” “Also worth mentioning are the cases of New Administrative Cairo Capital – City of Arts and Culture, and Pompeii.”. Although the latter is no longer a living city, the project of brand identity and the signage & wayfinding project for the archaeological site includes elements that resemble the organization and information accessibility of a ‘living’ urban environment. Faced with the need for simplified mapping, international usability, visual clarity, and durability of signage elements, the project follows the same principles of attractiveness, user experience, and ease of use that underpin urban place marketing.Similarly, for the new City of Arts and Culture in Cairo, we created a brand that combines international references to the pyramids with the wings of Saladin’s eagle, a national symbol of Egypt. We then developed a complex wayfinding system with pedestrian and vehicular routes that extend from the external world into the interior spaces, unified through a common signage language.It is a newly founded city, intended to host over six million inhabitants, in which I would hope to see a symbiotic relationship with the urban fabric—similar to the case of the Venice Biennale.

Milan Design Week is a showcase of potential and leadership recognized worldwide. It is rooted in a unique vision of design—specifically furniture design—that has developed historically within the very fabric of the city. Since 1961, this has been represented by the Salone del Mobile, the international furniture fair, and since 1990, by the FuoriSalone, a city-wide network of events initiated by Interni magazine. “The real question today,” comments Antonio Romano, “especially in an edition where the industry must also grapple with tariffs imposed by Trump, is how to strengthen the identity of the Salone del Mobile and define the role that Design Week is meant to play. Looking ahead, we cannot limit everything to furniture design (and its closest derivatives), particularly at a time when the word design is one of the most widely used adjectives in every vocabulary… even the philosopher Luciano Floridi defines his field as conceptual design! What truly concerns me is when success turns into self-celebration. That’s why Design Week must open up to the many dimensions of the discipline, exploring their interactions and building on Milan’s long-standing ability to attract creativity.” How Can Milan and Design Week Stay Attractive? “We need to rethink FuoriSalone without weakening Salone del Mobile. It’s essential to promote a city-wide program of events that go beyond what happens at the fair and the furniture sector—preserving the quality of Milan’s genius loci while embracing international experiences. Milan must remain in the spotlight by enhancing its appeal across different creative and industrial fields.However, if the event becomes too focused on spectacle or turns into mere self-congratulation, its future is uncertain. The key shouldn’t be the obsession with the present moment or the relentless pursuit of the ‘new & more new’ driven by likes and instant metrics.” What does Milan represent for Inarea? “We opened our Milan offices in 1988: Enichem had become an important client, and we needed to ensure a near-daily presence. Shortly after, Snam and Union Carbide joined, and with the latter, we began a collaboration at a European level. Because Milan at that time was also this: a design capital where you could meet international players. Our first foreign clients were gained precisely because of our presence here.In 1999, we won the competition to redesign the city crest and reorganize the identity system for the Municipality of Milan. This project allowed us to capture the essence of the city at a critical moment in its history, highlighting the distinctive Milanese combination of a deep attachment to tradition and a passion for innovation. The new design of the crest quickly replaced all previous versions, but the core of the project was the intention to turn the word ‘Milan’ itself into a brand. After all, many businesses (starting with Prada) had already associated their brands with their Milan identity, clearly proving that the city itself was (and still is) an added value. We designed a new typeface – aptly named Milano City – and separated the word from the phrase ‘Comune di Milano.’ The project was halted when the Albertini administration ended; though it still exists, it has since been modified.During these years of profound urban transformation, we also completed significant branding projects for real estate developments that reshaped the city’s skyline: Milano Santa Giulia, followed a few years later by Milano Porta Nuova, and later Pirelli RE (now Prelios). Staying within the realm of Milan-based institutions, it’s worth noting our rebranding work for Borsa Italiana and Edison. Additionally, in the energy sector, we also created the name and brand for the new Lombard multiutility, A2A.” Within the same broader field, though in more recent years, we’ve seen the rebranding of Snam and Italgas, and—just to name a few from memory—the brand identities of the Italian Infrastructure Fund F2i, Fondazione Cariplo, Fondazione Fiera Milano, the Milan Conservatory, Casa Milan, as well as many other projects that may have originated in Milan but were destined for broader horizons, such as the brand identity for the Venice Biennale, which certainly deserves to be remembered.There are also long-term projects that directly impact the daily lives of Milan’s citizens—like the rationalization of ATM’s wayfinding system, which included a redesign of signage (the pictogram system) and the creation of a dedicated display typeface, Metro Type.

“In a world saturated with images, sound is one of the most powerful attention triggers—even with eyes closed,” begins Enrico Giaretta, musician, composer (or rather, “cantaviatore”) and Sonic Brand Director at Inarea. After various experiences with overseas agencies, Giaretta brings to Inarea a unique approach to sound design, centered around a core concept: a ‘pure sound source’ as the foundation for multiple outputs. The goal is to provide the brand with a communication tool that seamlessly integrates into its identity world, much like a symphony. In general, creating a sound is not complex; what is challenging is crafting one that can integrate across all levels and forms of corporate communication. It’s similar to the red used by Valentino Garavani, which, regardless of the garment it’s applied to, is always associated with the designer. How is a brand’s sonic identity built? “Once we understand the content, values, and meanings associated with a brand, as well as its existing sonic elements and characteristic phonemes,” Giaretta continues, “we then identify the physical and digital touchpoints where the brand can be perceived. For example, sounds below 80 Hz are not audible on all mobile devices, while in environments like a stadium, frequencies can drop well below 80 Hz. Next, we define the brand’s sonic DNA: that unique and recognizable source that allows the brand to be instantly associated with its sound. For example, the sound essence of Banca Ifis is characterized by a “glissando” that recalls its payoff “the value of growing together.” For Bauli, we selected the A3 note (at 440 Hz), the tuning reference for nearly all instruments, which we associated with the animation of the letter “i” at the end of the sound logo.” The sound logo is usually less than two seconds long. The shorter and more essential it is, the more effective and memorable it becomes, and consequently, the more enduring over time. Towards a Sonic Future: Inarea’s Musical Alphabet If words are increasingly intertwined with sound, and sound itself is deeply connected to perception—since the human brain reacts more quickly to auditory stimuli than any other, interpreting a sound in just 0.146 seconds—then the next step could be enabling a brand’s communication through music alone. With this goal in mind, at Inarea, we are developing the concept of a “sound alphabet,” which assigns a musical note to each letter, creating a universal language. This is a pervasive and engaging tool that, starting from a simple identifying sound cell, can transform into small melodies and even into complex brand themes. A prime example of this is Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, which emerges from the evolution of a simple rhythmic cell composed of just four notes.

“A century ago,” begins Antonio Romano, “Giovanni Treccani and Giovanni Gentile brought together the brightest minds of the time to create a ‘national’ identity, expressed through the unity of Italian cultural heritage.” The first edition of the Treccani Encyclopedia was published in 1929 and completed in 1937: 35 volumes, plus one of indexes, which have served as a backdrop to many portraits of important figures. It became an ‘interior monument’ that has grown over time and enriched the knowledge of many. Then, with the advent of digital technology, this heritage became dematerialized but did not lose its authority. The entries in Treccani represent the most credible and accurate source, even in Google searches: a certification that provides certainty in contrast to the randomness of Wikipedia or the approximation of social media, or, more generally, the internet. What is the significance of an online encyclopedia in the digital age? “Although the vision of encyclopedic, unified knowledge may seem rather outdated in the age of Google, the true contemporary significance and value of the Treccani Encyclopedia lies in being a universally recognized reference. This is a crucial merit in an era of fake news, where we are no longer able to interpret phenomena through cause-and-effect relationships. The digitization process of Treccani was initiated in 1993 by Rita Levi Montalcini, then president of the Institute of the Treccani Encyclopedia, with the goal of making it a reference point for new generations. What was then unforeseeable, and what makes its online accessibility even more relevant today, is that with digital technology and social media, we have transitioned from a visual culture, typical of the last century, to one centered on written words. Everything is consumed through Google search strings, which, to quote Alessandro Baricco, has changed our posture towards life.” “How can the heritage of an encyclopedia be translated into a multimedia format?” “At the core of the rebranding developed in 2020 was the desire to establish a connection with an intangible identity that carries authority. We had to realign the brand architecture, which had been structured around a system of editorial products (and more), making it unified and adaptable to the multimedia nature of the digital world. We modified the ‘tree’ T and replaced the previous font with a Sans Serif (bastoni, without serifs) to ensure better readability, even at smaller sizes. Finally, we translated the theme of the frame, which defines the structured composition of Treccani publishing and draws from both rationalist culture and the tradition of bookbinding, into recurring frame motifs across all new editorial formats, from digital to print.” “Read Antonio Romano’s description of the visual identity for Treccani.”